William “Bilo” Wallace II and his family have operated the historic Hacienda Rancho Corralitos in northern Mexico for four generations. Wallace grew up on the 60,000-acre cattle ranch near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, and took over its operations after earning a bachelor’s degree in animal and range sciences from New Mexico State University in 1968.
Wallace credits his alma mater – and professors like Dan Dwyer, Jack Ruttle and Lewis Holland – for teaching him the skills that helped him grow the family ranch into a successful international business. Today, he raises upwards of 1,300 calves each year with four full-time employees, including his two sons, one of whom also graduated from NMSU.
“I’m a third-generation rancher, and I’ve lived here on this ranch all my life,” Wallace said. “We are very lucky because we’re only about 150 miles from the United States, and we raise our calves and ship them to the U.S. market.”
It was NMSU’s prime location along the U.S.-Mexico border that most appealed to Wallace, who decided early in life to follow his family’s footsteps into the cattle industry. NMSU’s proximity to Casas Grandes – a three-hour drive – meant he could easily visit the ranch on weekends. Although he was active in the agricultural fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho, Wallace said he mostly concentrated on school-work during his time at NMSU. After graduating, he went straight to working on his ranch, taking what he learned to streamline operations.
“What helped me the most was learning how to better our ranching practices and understanding the business side of things,” he said.
Even as he ran his family ranch, Wallace found time to serve as the president of the Chihuahua Cattleman’s Association, a role in which he became a leading advocate for livestock producers in Chihuahua. He also served as the head of the Chihuahua Animal Health Committee, which helps producers implement USDA regulations on steers and heifers entering the U.S., and was part of a binational committee working to eradicate tuberculosis and brucellosis in livestock.