ABOUT
HISTORY OF LAS DAMAS RANCH
Las Damas cattle ranch was founded in the early 1800’s as a support to the mining operations, supplying meat, leather, mules and donkeys to the succcessful operation of the mines. The original name of the ranch, Las Damas, which translates to "The Ladies", derives from the female saint names given to the mines located along the Sierra within the boundaries of the ranch.
Those were challenging times to make a living in that sacred area as it was inhabited by the Chiricahua Apaches. Many battles were fought between miners & ranchers and the Apacheria on this region. One of the most prominent battles took place in a location 10 miles north of Las Damas @ Tres Castillos, a place where the great Apache warrior Victorio was abated by the Mexican army.
The picture above shows a truck and equipment as well that was left behind from when the ranch was a mining land. You can also spot some small houses that were built during this time as well.
Pictured above are Rodrigo Carrillo (Alejandro’s grandfather), Alejandro, and Raul Carrillo (Alejandro’s father).
Alejandro Carrillo is the 4th generation rancher on his family in northern Mexico. It was perhaps the western movies he loved to watch, but Alejandro’s passion with the Chihuahuan desert started even before he was able to walk. His father took him to hunting adventures during the winter months since he was 2 years old looking for a mule deer. Alejandro also enjoyed spending his summers in desert cattle ranches doing roundups, and riding the range.
It was this early exposure that made Alejandro aware of the challenges and frustrations of cattle ranchers working in the desert grasslands. The number of livestock that ranchers could carry was in decline while the inputs required to maintain livestock were increasing every year, affecting also wildlife and livelihood.
ALEJANDRO’S UPBRINGING
Pictured to the right, is Rodrigo Carrillo, Alejandro’s Grandfather, the second line of the Carrillo family to continue the legacy of cattle ranching in the desert.
Pictured above, is Alejandro as a young child. Alejandro loved riding horses early in life. Here he was 7 years old wearing a black hat on a black horse.
After working for several years in the software industry in the financial sector in various countries, Alejandro went back to the ranch back in 2004 to help his father with the cattle operation. He wanted to do things different as the conventional way was not working anymore. He was very fortunate to find some of the best practitioners of Holistic Management not far from his ranch, who became his mentors on his regenerative journey. He took his first Holistic Management training back in 2006 from two of his future mentors: Jesus Almeida and Elco Blanco.
Alejandro and his group of forward thinker ranchers went on to keep educating themselves, traveling to many countries and continents to learn from the best grazers on regenerative practices.
Nowadays after many trials, Alejandro’s ranch is one of the best references worldwide of what Nature has to offer on an arid, brittle, low precipitation environment if the work done is in sync with Nature: water is infiltrated, rainfall is increasing, plant diversity is growing, wildlife is thriving, soil temperature is warmer in winter and cooler in summer, biomass is growing in plants and insects, livestock numbers are increasing, inputs are lower, and the bottom line of the ranch is improving. Alejandro has built a resilient, profitable operation.
Both pictures show Alejandro at the United Nations, after he got invited to speak about agriculture in 2008.
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