A sandhills town with cattle country in its blood — founded on the first well someone could trust this side of the dunes.
Monahans is the Ward County seat, set right on I-20 at the western edge of the Monahans Sandhills — the windblown dune country that defines this piece of West Texas. It's a small town with a big history and a lot of quiet ranch country stretching away from it in every direction.
Oil and gas built the modern town, but long before the wells came in, what drew people here was water — and the cattle that water made possible.
In the summer of 1880, an Irish immigrant named John Thomas "Pat" Monahan discovered water at the western edge of the sandhills — the well that gave the town its name. For a dry country like this, a reliable well was everything. Cattle outfits and, eventually, the railroad followed the water.
By 1900 the U.S. Agricultural Census counted 167 farms and ranches across Ward County, covering 424,000 acres. A decade later the county carried almost 14,000 head of cattle and 3,000 acres of cotton. Even today — with the oilfield economy long dominant — livestock still accounts for roughly 97 percent of Ward County's agricultural receipts. Cattle have always been the constant.
From our fields in Saragosa to Monahans is about an hour up I-20 — usually on a run that's also headed for Odessa or Midland. Ray can frequently add a Ward County stop without anyone losing a day.
Whether you're running a few head of cattle on the sand-country edge, keeping horses in town, or putting up a goat or two for the kids, we can set you up with premium custom alfalfa hay from our Saragosa fields. Mid-sized square bales, multiple cuttings per season, forage testing on request.
Give Ray a call or send a note. We'll tell you what's on hand, what's coming, and when we can get it to you — no pressure, no runaround.