Author: Western Horse Watchers

Journey to Marietta

Off-road trip to the Marietta Wild Burro Range by kingcidtravels.

The designation of ‘Range’ means the area is managed primarily for wild burros in accordance with the WHB Act.  It is the only WBR in the western U.S.

There are three ‘Ranges’ for wild horses in the western U.S.  Many of the remaining areas—which were set aside for wild horses and burros—are managed primarily for domestic livestock, a twisting of the law by the BLM to pacify the public-lands ranchers.

Reader Pens Rebuttal to Stewart and Lee’s Letter

Refer to this letter by a reader of the St. George News, in response to the letter written by Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.  The conversions from AUMs to cattle and sheep are not correct but it’s worth the read.

RELATED: Stewart and Lee: Pleaders for the Public-Lands Ranchers.

UPDATE: The AUM conversions would be correct if the cattle and sheep were on the range for one month per year, but six months might be a better estimate.  If that’s true, a cow/calf pair would consume six AUMs annually and the total available AUMs should be divided by six to obtain the number of animals.  Horse and burros are on the range year around and therefore the total available AUMs should be divided by 12 to obtain the equivalent number of animals.  For example, 1.5 million AUMs would support 250,000 cow/calf pairs or 125,000 wild horses.

Stewart and Lee: Pleaders for the Public-Lands Ranchers

A letter to the St. George News of St. George, UT, published yesterday, says “ranchers are being bankrupted by the cost of hay to replace lost forage for their livestock, and the number of starving and diseased wild horses is rising substantially,” because of a wild horse “population boom.”

It was written by Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Mike Lee (both R-UT).

Public-lands ranching is government dependency.

Benefits are not transferred directly.  Rather, they inure through the program itself.

Ranchers don’t own the land (except for the base properties).  Therefore, they pay no property taxes.

The grazing fee, $1.35 per cow/calf pair per month, is so low it can’t even be approached in the private sector.  The government pays about $60 per month to feed a wild horse in long-term holding, removed from its home range at the behest of the ranchers.

Some of those funds are plowed back into the program, to improve rangeland conditions for the ranchers.

If the number of wild horses in an area exceeds the amount the ranchers are willing to tolerate, typically one animal per thousand acres, the government removes them, at no cost to the ranchers.

In exchange, government bureaucrats tell the ranchers what to do and when to do it.

American taxpayers are footing the bill for this.  It’s a racket, a gravy train, a good ol’ boys network.

The authors noted that the Wild Horse and Burro Act was designed to “protect wild mustangs” but did not say from whom: Livestock ranchers, who nearly eradicated them in the middle of the last century.

Nothing has changed since it was signed into law.  The ranchers still despise these animals, because they rob forage from their cattle and sheep—on lands set aside for horses and burros.

It’s absolutely absurd, but we’re supposed to take these men seriously, you know, because they’re in Congress.

RELATED: Wild Horse Overpopulation?, Republican Senators Push for WHB Euthanasia, Don’t Buy Range-Fed Beef.

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