But in the criollo, Gonzalez sees only potential: an animal that could rescue ranching and rangelands in the Southwest from their failing marriage to Angus and Hereford, the dominant British beef breeds. “Things are bad,” he says bluntly. “Everybody’s going broke. Everybody’s running out of grass. It’s all dry. Never are we going to get the same money for criollo as a big animal, but our costs will be lower. And at the same time, I think we’ll be saving our land.”