A Pillar of Montezuma County Agriculture

It means a lot to carry the tradition forward.

This is a pillar of Monizuma County agriculture and we're losing family farms, we're losing

family ranches and it's important to keep the western heritage alive.

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Custard and Stake Burgers.

Cortez Livestock has been here since 1959 so it's 65 years old.

Back when it was started they didn't have internet, they didn't have a lot of trucking and

so it was important for the local ranchers to be able to come in, bring their livestock

and get them traded and you know bought and particularly for the Native Americans, this

was the only cell barn in the region for decades and so they would bring their livestock in

and they would sell and then they would frequent the stores here in Monizuma County.

We do have good buyers and good sellers and we do a lot of trade with the Native Americans.

A lot of them have been trading here for generations.

We get a lot of the old ranchers and farmers that they come just to have a cup of coffee and

catch up on their family and the families around here.

There's a lot of corporate buyers that will come in and just buy a bunch of animals off

of the hoof so this allows the producer to have a spot to come and sell their livestock.

I've grown up around auctions, going to auctions, buying whatever auctions and just finally

one day it just kind of clicked, that would be cool to do and so I just kind of started

looking and found a school that was affordable and into do and so I just did it.

A lot of it comes from rhythm and they teach you a basic chant and then you just kind of take

it and run with it. I grew up in Texas and around livestock and moving here and seeing the

history of this place, my grandparents were from around here and so just preserving the old West

feel. It's a big thing for the Native population to come sell their animals and buy and trade and

it's definitely a big part of the history of this barn. We're losing farmers and ranchers and we

want to be here to keep the tradition alive and they have a place to sell their livestock.

This is what this county is all about is preserving the things that we love and keep keeping our

businesses going. For more information visit the Fortes livestock auction Facebook page and for

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