NAHATA’ DZIIL, Ariz. – On June 24, Navajo Nation President Nygren met with the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR) Range Office to gain an understanding of livestock management by touring the Nahata’Dziil 14R Ranch, located on the Padre Mesa Ranch (PMR) Range House and Sale Barn.
By visiting the 14R Ranch, President Nygren learned about how a successful ranch operation works and how it supplies meat to the regional beef market. This field visit also served as a teach-in of how to get more ranchers across the Navajo Nation into the global supply chain with growing premium beef on their grazing lands.
While on this listening tour, President Nygren also advised the ONHIR Range Office to find a solution to continue services and expansion of its operations, so that all Navajo ranchers outside of Padre Mesa can benefit, too.
Padres Mesa spans about 62,000 acres and operates two primary herds: a spring-calving herd and a fall-calving herd. These herds are ear-tagged with electronic identification chips to ensure every animal’s lifecycle, feed intake, medical treatment, and movement are tracked.
This process then allows the livestock to meet the premium market standards of positioning Navajo Beef as a high-value product.
Some of the issues that the ranch faces are ongoing drought and elk overpopulation. Drought conditions create limited forage availability, which increases the burden on surrounding water systems. The elk overpopulation consumes similar amounts of water and grass as the existing cattle.
The Nahata’ Dziil 14R Ranch demonstrated that this is more than a ranching operation; it is an opportunity for innovation, education, and agricultural sovereignty. This allows Navajo ranchers and youth to receive hands-on instruction about vaccine schedules, animal handling, and health protocols, President Nygren said.
“This visit served as a critical way to support Navajo ranchers, especially those who undergo Navajo agricultural operations while addressing agricultural issues and finding solutions to preserve these practices,” said President Nygren.
