Pinal cattle rancher uses science to beef up industry
Owner Chuck Backus opened Quarter Circle U ranch, on the edge of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, more than four decades ago. He runs the ranch differently than when it opened, using scientific acumen to raise cattle in the Southwest. (Photo by Lurissa Carbajal/Cronkite News)
Green vegetation dots the mountain range from Quarter Circle U Ranch headquarters to the edge of the Superstition Mountains, where genetically selected black Angus cattle roam rocky trails, eating cacti and dry hay.
Chuck Backus is a ranch owner cloaked in science, his background in engineering leading him to choose the right genes for cattle to survive in the hardened landscape and heat of the Arizona mountains.
Regular cows and heifers, he said, “usually die.”
