Mission Farming & Livestock

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• Cattle — the most important! Raised for meat, hides (leather), and tallow (used for candles and soap). Peak total across missions: 180–296,000 head.
• Sheep — for wool and meat. Total: 137,969 head. Mission San Luis Rey alone had 26,000! 
• Horses & Mules — for riding, pulling carts, and herding. Total: 14,522 horses and 1,575 mules. Native vaqueros became some of the best horsemen in the world. 
• Oxen — strong animals that pulled wooden plows through the fields. 
• Goats, Pigs & Chickens — for milk, meat, and eggs.

These animals multiplied fast because California’s mild climate and huge open grazing lands were perfect!

This is one of the most amazing parts! 

California has a Mediterranean climate with rainy winters and dry summers, so grass stayed green much of the year. The missions used vast open ranchos (thousands of acres of hills and valleys) for year-round grazing — no need for giant barns or alfalfa (alfalfa came later).

During winter months, when some grass slowed down: 

• They stored hay and straw from the grain harvests (wheat and barley stalks cut by hand and stacked). 
• Native workers cut extra grass in spring and dried it into hay bundles. 
• Missions grew extra fodder crops like barley and oats just for animal feed. 
• In dry years they moved herds to greener hills or used stored grain.

No tractors, no balers — everything was done with oxen, sickles, and hard work. The system fed tens of thousands of animals perfectly!

The missions grew so much food they could feed thousands of people and still trade!

Main crops: 

• Wheat — the #1 grain. Planted in fall so winter rains helped it grow. Missions harvested 123,000 bushels of grain a year at peak. 
• Barley & Corn — for people and animals. 
• Beans, peas, lentils — planted in huge fields. 
• Orchards & Gardens — olives (first in California!), grapes for wine, oranges, lemons, apples, peaches, figs, pomegranates. Mission San Gabriel had the biggest vineyard.

Everything was watered by hand-dug irrigation ditches (acequias) that brought water from rivers and springs — an engineering wonder!

Every day started with the mission bell. Native families worked in the fields, tended animals, learned new skills, and built the huge system that made California an agricultural powerhouse. 

Together they created ranches and farms so successful that the missions produced enough to support soldiers, settlers, and trade all the way to Mexico. It was teamwork on a gigantic scale!

Some missions had more cattle than many modern towns have people!

• The missions introduced California’s first wine, olive oil, and citrus fruits. 
• One mission could produce enough hides and tallow to fill entire ships for trade. 
• Native vaqueros invented many of the cowboy skills we still use today. 
• By 1834 the missions had harvested 123,000 bushels of grain — enough to feed thousands!

But this amazing farming success also brought hard changes. Massive herds overgrazed the land and pushed out the wild plants Native families had gathered for thousands of years. New animals and crops changed the environment forever.

We honor the incredible work of everyone — priests and Native peoples — while remembering the deep impact on Indigenous ways of life. Their strength and knowledge still live on today.