Photo Essay: Cattle at Bill Kerr Dairy in Buckeye

It's hard to imagine, but at one point within the last century there were more cows in the Valley than people. The old timers will remember a number of long-forgotten pastures, ranches and dairies, or maybe the famous Cow Palace in central Phoenix. I was born in Phoenix in the early ’80s and even I can remember corners that once had mooing cattle — those same corners now have Walgreens and QTs, and within them $3.29 gallons of milk.

The cows have all been pushed out by development and by the urbanization of our desert frontier. Go west, my friend, and you will see where they have all gone. To Buckeye. To Palo Verde. To Gila Bend. To places where the air smells like cattle, but it least it smells fresh. 

View photographer Ray Thomas spent an afternoon following around the workers at the Bill Kerr Dairy in Buckeye, where the cattle are still king of the Old West.