Arizona State Cowbelles

Inducted in 2025

Mar 27

Inducted in 2025

In 1939, a group of ranchers and their wives in the vicinity of Douglas, Arizona, were meeting occasionally at one of the ranches to socialize, dance, and exchange “cattle” talk – rain, drought, cattle prices, etc. From that, the women formed a social club to offer friendship and goodwill among the wives and mothers of cattlemen in Cochise County. The group was organized in October 1939, and sixteen ladies chose “The Cowbelles.” as their name.

Membership grew rapidly, and cattlewomen in other parts of Arizona became interested in organizing local groups. The Cowbelle story was carried in the Arizona Cattle Growers' weekly newsletter, and interest in such an organization for cattle women began to grow. Both Wyoming and Texas asked permission to organize cattlewomen in their states.

In 1947, local Arizona groups began instituting a statewide organizational structure to promote the industry’s beef products. The Arizona State Cowbelles were organized, and the group meant much more than social activities to the ranch women in the state. The organization came to represent a venue where Arizona cattle women could communicate with each other about their collective identity and where they could promote their product (beef), their way of life, and their increasingly obsolete identity as rural women.

In the 1950s, Arizona cattle ranchers experienced more change than stability, with low cattle prices and terrible drought conditions through the first two-thirds of the decade. Ranchers feared for their economic viability and cultural “way of life.” The Arizona State Cowbelles stepped into this unstable decade. They promoted beef in three ways. They used the artistic language of place and engaged their understanding of the importance of their labor to the cattle industry based on gender. Third, they created promotional campaigns for beef to ensure continued economic and cultural viability.

The American National Cowbelles was organized in 1952, later changing the organization’s name to the American National CattleWomen (ANCW). The Arizona cattle women had transformed their social women’s club into a highly active and effective public organization that promoted both beef and the public persona of the Arizona cattle industry. Seven Arizona Cowbelles have served as National President of ANCW.

The Arizona Beef Council was established in 1970, and the Arizona State Cowbelles partner with the Council in promoting beef. They let the public know that Arizona’s beef farmers and ranchers care about their animals, care about conservation, and care about consumers. Cowbelles partner with the Arizona National Livestock Show in the Pioneer Stockman Association and the publication of 30 volumes of Pioneer Stockman Ranch Histories. Cowbelle scholarships are funded through various fund-raising Projects. Modern Cowbelles not only provide a historical record of life on Arizona ranches but form a unified, professional organization of generations of Arizona women who support the cattle industry, educate consumers and youth about nutrition, conservation of the land, and humane treatment of animals, as well as produce profitable businesses and essential community work.