The few Californio ranchers already living in California initially prospered as the sudden increase in the demand for meat drove up the price paid for livestock. Prices zoomed from the about $2.00 they received for a hide to about $30.00-$40.00 per cow when sold for meat. Initially most of the Californios prospered. Taxes, mortgages, squatters and the cost of proving ownership of their enormous land holdings they had got nearly free from the Indians combined with droughts that seriously decreased the size of their herds led many of the about 500 Californio ranch owners to lose some or all of their enormous land holdings within a few years.