Shareherding

Describing the shareherding contracts by which young men acquired the wherewithal to marry, he asserted that, "consequently, even in the homes of the poorest New Mexicans, there is never a dearth of the means to satisfy the necessities of life and even to afford the comfort and luxuries of the wealthiest class in the country.

Although the new shareherding arrangements are generally inequitable, and are disliked by herders, they are accepted because the alternative - exclusion from the pastoral economy and society - is even less attractive.

Overall, the disadvantages of saving in animals (opportunity cost for household labor, liquidity problems, lack of space, and the risks of shareherding) were usually considered to outweigh the advantages (relatively high returns given normal propagation).

In some cases animals are given out on a shareherding basis, to be cared for by people who live near better grazing lands.