The eastern Colorado rangeland where Curt Russell, the new president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, summers his herd of 150 Simmental cows lies far from the spotlight. As far as the headlines are concerned, the biggest issues facing the state’s ranchers are extreme drought, lingering wildfires and — most prominently — wolves.
Those are Western Slope issues. The last president of CCA, Tom Harrington, had his livestock attacked by wolves near Aspen. But out here, near tiny and unincorporated Karval, the only wild dogs are coyotes, and the rain has been plentiful.
Russell took over as CCA’s President in June, after serving on the organization’s board of directors since 2017. Fire, drought and wolves remain inescapable priorities for his one-year term.
The CCA is working to assist ranchers harmed by major blazes like the Elk and Lee fires. He said that assistance may include leveraging grants through the United States Department of Agriculture to rebuild fencing. The organization is also helping ranchers move cattle from fire-ravaged pastures to the Eastern Plains temporarily.
“We haven't let the dust settle yet to know for sure what we can do,” Russell said. “But, we'll be there to help 'em however we can.” The Trump administration has approved disaster declarations for the fires, which unlocks federal funding for recovery.
Russell maintains CCA’s position that Colorado Parks and Wildlife should lethally remove wolves confirmed to have killed livestock. CCA also advocated for not introducing more wolves in the state until a more robust plan for assisting ranchers affected by depredation is developed. Environmental groups argue that more wolves need to be released to establish a stable population.
While they’ve taken a strong stance on the need for a more rigorous management plan, and even sued the state over the reintroductions in 2023, Russell emphasized that it’s not the organization's sole focus.
“I don't want to belittle the wolf thing at all because it is extraordinarily important for those people who it's affecting,” Russell said. “But it sucks so much oxygen out of the room for all the other issues that face animal agriculture today.”
In a recent interview with CPR’s Colorado Matters, Russell leaned against his pickup in the hot August sun as he described his personal priorities for his CCA tenure. Foremost amongst those is helping close what he calls “the urban-rural divide” through CCA’s lobbying work at the capitol.
“We need advocacy,” he said, “to let folks know how laws and rules and regulations that they make in Denver affect those of us out here with the grass and the weeds and the flowers and the cows, because most of them have no clue.”
In recent years, the CCA strongly opposed Denver’s plan to ban slaughterhouses. That measure failed. It was also against a statewide plan to require paid family and medical leave. CCA said it would hurt ranchers because it would add costs for all their employees. They often hire seasonal workers; many are migrants. That initiative passed and took effect last year.
Russell pointed to recent controversial appointments to government boards as evidence of the Polis administration not listening to the concerns of rural Coloradans.
Russell is also helping CCA’s membership navigate the ongoing effects of tariffs implemented by the Trump administration. It’s a double-edged sword to some degree, he said.
On one side, tariff negotiations have opened up international markets for Colorado beef that have been closed for decades, such as Australia. Meanwhile, exports to other major markets, like China, will drop. Ultimately, with tariffs driving up the costs of large equipment, the new regime presents a net negative for ranchers — at the moment.
“That's part of the problem too,” Russell said, “is just the uncertainty of where we're at.”
For the last five years, Russell has been experimenting with rotational grazing, a regenerative farming technique, on his summer rangeland. He split this 770-acre portion of his land into nine paddocks, moving his cattle from one to another every five to 14 days. Building all that fence and two additional water tanks was expensive, he said. But the ecological results have been well worth it.
“It's been tremendous, how much it's changed the way our pasture looks,” Russell said. “How much more grass was on the side of the fence where it'd been rotationally grazed as opposed to continuous grazing.”
It’s methods like this, which reduce water use and improve soil health, that Russell hopes to teach the next generation of ranchers. Yet, he worries about that future and what it takes to get started in the modern era.
“To get into a traditional cow-calf operation … you're going to need access to about $3 million of capital for land, cows, equipment, all those kinds of things. Where does a young person get that?” he asked.
It’s true that young farmers face barriers today. Land access, market volatility, and the high stress of farming and ranching play a part. The average age of American farmers is 58, according to the USDA.
Combine that with the fact that fewer young people want to work in agriculture, and Russell sees problems for his livelihood on the horizon. They are problems he faces himself. Neither of his two sons show much interest in taking over his ranch.
