COWBOY COUNTRY: Preserving ranching heritage

Charity Ann Saulsberry, a fifth-generation ranch kid, is a Jill of all trades. Growing up on a ranch taught her resilience and adaptability, which have become essential in modern-day ranching.

“While there are many ranch wives that work in town and tend to the house and kids, there are a lot of us that grew up working horseback alongside the men in our families. We basically do it all,” Charity Ann Saulsberry said.

Charity Ann Saulsberry and her husband, Chad Saulsberry, run a commercial cow and calf operation a couple miles outside of Magdalena on the Saulsberry’s family land. His family has a long history in Catron and Socorro counties, while her family hails from ranches in Lincoln County.

The two aren’t strangers to the arena either. Chad Saulsberry, a Magdalena High School graduate, was a professional bull rider in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Professional Bull Riders.

“I was a professional trick rider for several years before I realized my bouncer broke, apparently we get brittle as we get older, who knew?” Charity Ann Saulsberry said, with a laugh.

Now in her early fifties, Charity Ann Saulsberry has advocated for agriculture most of her life. She has been a member of the New Mexico Cowbelles, served as president and officer of the New Mexico Cattlemen’s Association, and even hosted a women-in-ranching radio show.

When she started her merchandise company, U Spur, in 2015, it was, in many ways, a continuation of her advocacy for beef. When she started her business, she felt that there was a lack of representation of cattle ranchers in country merchandise.

“Living my best life on coffee, sarcasm and American beef”, “Little miss sassy chaps”, “I let my babies grow up to be cowboys” and “But did you die?” are just some of the ranch mottos you’ll find on the tops, décor, hats, mugs and other products she designs.

“My target market is working ranch people because you don’t have to explain the punch line,”

Charity Ann Saulsberry said, “So I picked a cow I absolutely hated, she had big high horns, she ran me over the fence twice, she was awful. I’m not a sprinter but apparently, I’m a fence jumper. So, she ended up being my first mascot for my business.”

Her products are sold online and in over 500 retail stores in three different countries, and she recently opened her own print shop to offer custom and commercial print jobs.

Current state of farming

Committed to their heritage, the power couple keep their ranch going by supplementing their income with Charity’s merchandise business and Chad working as a cowboss for Double H Ranch and Cat Mountain west of Magdalena.

“The future of agriculture is looking grim. We’re aging out, we’re being taxed out of operation, we’re being regulated out of business, and we have a very large target on our backs. We all have pretty thick skin, and we’ll keep doing what we’re doing until we just can’t anymore,” Charity Ann Saulsberry said.

Charity Ann Saulsberry and her husband, like many ranchers in New Mexico, face a myriad of challenges. From wolf attacks on livestock to inflation, inherited debt, and legislation, the battle to stay afloat is a constant struggle.

“This is a very rough area to live in and it gets rougher by the day,” Charity Ann Saulsberry said.

She said every ranch in her area is getting hit by wolf attacks and even with the confirmed kills not one rancher has been compensated yet. Currently, they are missing 19 calves and haven’t found their bodies, leaving them no clues about what happened to them.

“I know the public says, ‘oh, you just lost cows’ but no, 19 lost with an average of 600-800 pounds of hanging weight, processed that’s over five tons of beef that will never hit the store shelves, so yeah it adds up,” Charity Ann Saulsberry said. “That’s where the public is confused, they see cows and we see food on your table. I’ve been trying to get the public to understand the actual math of what is happening.”

She said it use to be that running a 100 head of cattle was enough to make ends meet, but that is no longer the case for ranchers.

“Almost every ranch on this 100- mile stretch of highway is a family-owned operation that has been here 50 plus years,” Saulsberry said. “It’s very difficult for us to continue and for them to get started; if we can’t get new farmers and ranchers in to replace us and we can’t make enough of a profit for our kids to take over our operation, we all go away.”

She said since ranchers are considered self-employed, they often don’t have insurance, retirement, vacations, or sick time. Educating the public about the real challenges ranchers face is important to her.

“We are beating our heads against the wall trying to teach people. Never in my lifetime did it occur to me that we would be fighting to feed people,” Saulsbury said. “People don’t’ know that their food is 100% tied up in politics.”

Despite the challenges, Charity Ann Saulsberry remains dedicated to preserving her ranching heritage and legacy of advocacy. She is planning to coordinate a "Meet Your Rancher" day and a "Youth Ag" day on her ranch. Additionally, she is looking forward to showcasing and selling her products at the upcoming National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, as well as expanding to other venues.