New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum Showcases 3,000 Years of Ag Heritage

Image Gallery New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

You'll find the best of two worlds at The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum: a collection celebrating 3,000 years of agricultural heritage, housed in a state-of-the-art facility.  

The sprawling 47-acre complex on the edge of Las Cruces consists of a handsome main building, dairy barn with interactive displays, corrals, apple orchard, gardens and amphitheater. Other outdoor exhibits: tons of implement classics, a 75-year-old blacksmith shop moved from a northern New Mexico ranch, a vintage Aermotor windmill spinning atop a 40-foot tower; and a herd of critters - longhorn calves to churro sheep, burros to goats-roaming the range.

The museum's galleries are located in the 90,000-square-foot main building. In addition to the permanent exhibits there, look for a restaurant, gift shop and theater.

The museum's just been open for a year, but the frantic pace won't slow down any time soon. Plans in the works: a Farmers Market, rodeo arena, dance bam, picnic pavilions, field crop demonstration areas (chile, alfalfa, onions, peanuts, lettuce and cotton), a working dairy parlor, interpretation centers, stables, additional livestock pens, and a reconstructed bridge. FC
For more information: The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM 88004; (575) 522-4100. Online at www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org.
Hours: Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Admission: adults, $5; seniors age 60 and over, $3; 5-17, $2, children 4 and under free.