Author: Western Horse Watchers

Price of Hay Unchanged, Still Too High

A bale of alfalfa-grass mix sold for $34 yesterday, 20 bales minimum, no change from last month.

The single-bale price was $35.

Although it’s off its high of $36 per bale earlier this year, it’s up 79% from the summer of 2021, when Bidenomics was unleashed on the American people.

An average horse would need around five bales per month, putting the cost at $170 per AUM.

The poor ranchers, forced to live in multi-million-dollar base properties, pay $1.35 per AUM to access forage on public lands.

Curiously, a headline today on Drudge says “Animal shelters across USA overflowing.”

RELATED: Cost of Hay Dropped Slightly!

How Much Private Land Do the Public-Lands Ranchers Control?

Nearly 120 million acres according to the Public Lands Council, with grazing privileges on more than 250 million acres managed by the USFS and BLM.

Consider the new off-range corrals north of Winnemucca.

If a private owner can care for 4,000 horses on 100 acres, the ranchers should be able to maintain 4.8 billion (4,800,000,000) cow/calf pairs on their deeded acreage.

There’s no need for permitted grazing!

Why do they want access to public lands?  Why do they view it as their birthright?

Profit, greed.  It’s a gravy train, a government giveaway.

They pay pennies on the dollar to feed their animals, compared to the Winnemucca corrals, which are subsidized by taxpayers.

Solution?  Confine the ranchers to their (multi-million-dollar) base properties, which they’re already doing, but make the off-season twelve months per year and let them pay the going rate to feed their animals.

As a result, AMLs can be increased and the landmass identified for wild horses and burros in 1971 (around 53 million acres) can be managed principally for them, as specified in the original statute.

RELATED: Winnemucca Base Property Hits Market for $11.2 Million.

AML-1

Adjectives for Equine Pests

The BLM recently paid the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses $91,865.50 to poison the Cedar Mountain mares with Zonastat-H, an ovary-killing pesticide.

CAAWH now refers to the herd as majestic, expanding the list of adjectives they use to describe the animals they’re trying to exterminate.

Majestic Wild Horses of Cedar Mountain 12-01-23

Apparently, they’ve found that this and other such terms are very effective in separating well-intentioned donors from their money.

RELATED: What Is a Cherished Horse or Burro?

Adjectives for Pests 12-01-23

Clan Alpine Roundup, Day 21

The incident began on November 8.  Results through November 28:

  • Scope: Clan Alpine HMA
  • Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement, rancher protection
  • Target: Horses
  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Category: Cruel and costly*
  • Better way: Thin the herd with ovary-killing pesticides*
  • Captured: 1,605, up from 1,468 on Day 19
  • Average daily take: 76.4
  • Capture goal: 1,594
  • Removal goal: 1,381
  • Returned: 1, no change from Day 19
  • Deaths: 22, up from 20 on Day 19
  • Shipped: 1,325, up from 1,237 on Day 19

The sidebar shows two stallions released but only one was documented in the daily reports.

The capture goal has been reached.

A mare was dispatched on Day 20 due to blindness along with a stallion for a broken leg.

The death rate is 1.4%.

The capture total includes 658 stallions, 737 mares and 210 foals.

Youngsters represented 13.1% of the animals gathered, suggesting the herd is growing at a rate of eight percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.2% were male and 52.8% were female.

Body condition scores on Days 20 and 21 ranged from 3 to 4.

The HMA and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.

*According to advocates.

Clan Alpine HMA with Allotments 06-17-23

Day 21 ended with 257 unaccounted-for animals.

To date, 81 mares have been treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.

They will be returned the range with up to 121 stallions.

Operations will likely conclude this week.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 19,248 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 16,040 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 979
  • Pre-gather population: 1,661 plus this year’s foals
  • Forage assigned to horses: 11,748 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 6,796 AUMs per year
  • Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: 566
  • True AML: 1,545
  • Stocking rate at new AML: 5.2 wild horses per thousand public acres
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Clan Alpine Roundup, Day 19.

Help Wanted: CAAWH Seeks Communications Director

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing effective communication strategies to promote the organization’s mission, raise awareness and engage the public, according to the description on Idealist.

In this role, you’ll convince reporters, donors and the public that you’re protecting wild horses while pushing back against the bureaucrats and ranchers when in reality you’re doing exactly the opposite.

The following org chart shows where you fit in:

Working Together for a Horse-Free Future 12-21-22

The job is not for normal people.

You will refer to Zonastat-H as a vaccine not a pesticide.

You will insist that it’s reversible.

You will claim that it is harmless.

You will describe it as a better way.

You will downplay concerns by other writers about baren mares, confused stallions, scattered bands, shrinking herds, injuries and infections, abnormal sex ratios, tiny breeding populations, loss of genetic diversity and subordination to livestock.

Salary $70,000 to $125,000 per year.

RELATED: Help Wanted: CAAWH Seeks Development Director.

Virginia Range Darting Program by the Numbers

Advocates with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses will need a zero percent birth rate and six percent death rate for 30 consecutive years to bring the herd of 3,500 wild horses close to the target of 500.

Future population = 3,500 * .94 ^ 30 = 547

Most of the mares will be sterile after five consecutive years, the current age of the program, so the field work can taper off and the herd will still implode.

The assumption of a constant death rate is probably not valid.

The average age of the herd is increasing, along with the death rate, because few if any new foals are hitting the ground, so the end may come sooner than expected.

The Virginia Range was easily carrying ten wild horses per thousand acres, which causes great embarrassment to the bureaucrats and ranchers, who claim the high desert can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

Instead of pushing back against the lies, the advocates ratify and reinforce them through their participation in the removals.

RELATED: NDA Designates Virginia Range Hatchet Man.

McCullough Roundup Looms?

Sisti puts on a good show in this video by KTVQ News but when you’re not looking she’s pummeling mares with PZP, an ovary-killing pesticide.

Contrary to the remarks by the BLM representative, there is no statutory warrant for cheating the horses in favor of the ranchers.

It is policy of the unelected bureaucracy.

Iron-Fisted Government 11-08-23

As of today, no activity has been reported at the gather page, wherein the BLM admits an abnormal sex ratio, a documented side effect sold as mares living longer.

RELATED: What the McCullough Advocates Are Trying to Protect.

Virginia Range Mustang Killed by Motorist in South Reno

The incident occurred today along Toll Road, according to a story by KOLO News.

The article did not indicate if it was female, which would take a little pressure off the darting program and save the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses a few bucks.

Regardless, the death moves the herd size in the direction they want it to go.

RELATED: Reno to Install New Barrier for Virginia Range Mustangs.

Clan Alpine Roundup, Day 19

The incident began on November 8.  Results through November 26:

  • Scope: Clan Alpine HMA
  • Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement, rancher protection
  • Target: Horses
  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Category: Cruel and costly*
  • Better way: Thin the herd with ovary-killing pesticides*
  • Captured: 1,468, up from 1,302 on Day 17
  • Average daily take: 77.3
  • Capture goal: 1,594
  • Removal goal: 1,381
  • Returned: 1, no change from Day 17
  • Deaths: 20, up from 18 on Day 17
  • Shipped: 1,237, up from 1,102 on Day 17

The sidebar shows two stallions released but only one was documented in the daily reports.

A mare was dispatched on Day 19 due to blindness along with a stallion for a broken leg.

The death rate is 1.4%.

The capture total includes 604 stallions, 673 mares and 191 foals.

Youngsters represented 13.0% of the animals gathered, suggesting the herd is growing at a rate of eight percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.3% were male and 52.7% were female.

Body condition scores on Days 18 and 19 ranged from 3 to 4.

The HMA and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.

*According to advocates.

Clan Alpine HMA with Allotments 06-17-23

Day 19 ended with 210 unaccounted-for animals.

To date, 81 mares have been treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.

They will be returned the range with up to 121 stallions.

Operations will likely conclude this week.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 17,604 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 14,670 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 979
  • Pre-gather population: 1,661 plus this year’s foals
  • Forage assigned to horses: 11,748 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 6,796 AUMs per year
  • Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: 566
  • True AML: 1,545
  • Stocking rate at new AML: 5.2 wild horses per thousand public acres
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Clan Alpine Roundup, Day 17.

Colorado Rancher Yields Grazing Preference to Save Bighorns

The permittee received an undisclosed sum from The National Wildlife Federation for vacating five BLM allotments and five FS allotments totaling over 100,000 acres in a mountainous area southeast of Telluride.

The deal will separate a herd of Rocky Mountain bighorns from nonnative domestic sheep according to a story dated November 26 by CBS News, reducing the risk of disease and death in the native sheep.

Although optimistic about the agreement, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society said he remains dismayed by inaction of federal land management agencies, noting that grazing is a privilege not a right, and that “We should not be relying upon third party NGOs to negotiate settlements and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in private funds to protect our bighorn sheep herds.”

Touché!  But the foot dragging makes sense if you understand the prime directive.

The article suggests that the permittee obtained access to some other allotments closer to home as part of the deal.

The Operator Information Report at RAS tied the permittee to five BLM authorizations and fifteen allotments.  The last two authorizations cover the vacated allotments.

  • 0503059 – SANDY WASH, PIPELINE, SHAVANO MESA, FRANKLIN MESA, DRY CREEK BASIN, SOUTH PINEY, DAVE WOOD ROAD, CANAL
  • 0503501 – LEE LANDS
  • 0504436 – BRUSH POINT
  • 0503955 – GLADSTONE, EUREKA, DEER PARK, ELK CREEK
  • 0504718 – MAGGIE GULCH

Utilization on FS lands cannot be determined at this time.

The Allotment Master Report for the vacated parcels puts all five in the Maintain category, offering a weighted average 68.3 AUMs per year per thousand public acres.

Etchart Allotment Calcs 11-27-23

That resource would support 5.7 wild horses per thousand acres, defying claims by the bureaucrats that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

Although the arrangement offers another approach to protecting wild horses and burros, can you imagine a headline that reads “__________ negotiates a settlement and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect our wild horse herds?”

Fill in the blank with your favorite advocacy group.

You’re much more likely to see a news flash about that same group beating the numbers down with ovary-killing pesticides, much to the delight of the public-lands ranchers.

RELATED: Pneumonia Killing Off Bighorn Sheep in Nevada?