Their colors are spectacular! Filmed 02/06/19 by Corey Stohlquist.
Author: Western Horse Watchers
Multiple Use Minute
To achieve a thriving ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on this blog.
Corolla Stallions Spar for Mares
Good grief, people are shocked when horses act like horses. An incident described as a ‘vicious brawl’ was captured on film and reported yesterday in The News & Observer of Raleigh, NC. The story was also picked up by other news outlets.
“It’s completely natural and a behavior that we like to see,” said one person interviewed for the story, suggesting that the fertility control program hasn’t totally screwed up the herd, at least not yet.
Last month, the same individual blamed the occurrence of ‘swamp cancer’ at the OBX on climate change.
2019 Grazing Fee Announced
Public-lands ranchers will pay the BLM $1.35 per AUM in 2019, down from $1.41 in 2018, according to a news release issued today.
An animal unit month is the amount of forage consumed by one cow/calf pair, one horse, or five sheep per month.
The new fee goes into effect 03/01/19.
RELATED: Grazing Fee for 2019 Pending.
Pine Nut Gather Called Off
Helicopters were grounded today, due to weather, but they won’t be flying again anytime soon. The roundup has been suspended according to a note at the top of this page, with 340 wild horses removed from the HMA at a cost of roughly $400 per head.
The BLM can expect to receive about $17 per year from the rancher to whom the excess AUMs are sold. The cost of caring for the displaced animal, assuming he’s not adopted, is about $730 per year.
That’s like buying a machine that costs $400 and earns $17 per year, while driving up your electric bill $730 per year. Nobody’s going to do that!
Unless you’re in government.
RELATED: Pine Nut Gather Resumed.
UPDATE: Refer to this BLM news release, posted today.
BLM to Return Wild Horses to Warm Springs HMA?
A report posted yesterday by YubaNet of Nevada City, CA, based on a press release issued the day before by the Animal Welfare Institute, says some of horses removed last fall for sterilization experiments will be returned to HMA.
The number and timing are unknown at this time, and an announcement has not appeared at the BLM news page.
Over 800 wild horses were driven from their home range, to provide test subjects for the ovary cutters at the off-range corrals in Hines, OR.
Wild Horse Overpopulation?
Congress tells the BLM to fix the wild horse ‘problem.’ Let’s look at the numbers.
Data from this post and this post, rounded, lands managed by the BLM:
- 9 million AUMs per year currently used by livestock
- 12 million AUMs per year available to livestock
- 155 million acres of public lands available to livestock
- 71,000 wild horses and burros currently on public lands
- 27,000 wild horses and burros allowed on public lands
- 27 million acres of public lands available to wild horses and burros
Assumptions:
- Livestock graze 6 months per year
- Horses and burros graze 12 months per year
AUM consumption, current conditions:
- 9 million AUMs per year allocated to livestock
- 0.85 million AUMs per year allocated to wild horses and burros
Animal population, current conditions:
- 1.5 million cow/calf pairs
- 0.071 million horses and burros
Population density, current conditions:
- 9.7 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres
- 2.6 horses and burros per thousand acres
Graphical summary:
AUM consumption, planned:
- 12 million AUMs per year allocated to livestock
- 0.32 million AUMs per year allocated to wild horses and burros
Animal population, planned:
- 2 million cow/calf pairs
- 0.027 million horses and burros
Population density, planned:
- 12.9 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres
- 1 horse or burro per thousand acres
Graphical summary:
There is no wild horse problem, only a livestock problem. Thanks to the public-lands ranchers, the contractors, the trade groups, their cheerleaders and political allies—all working together to eradicate wild horses and burros—on land that belongs to you.
Signs That Your Hay Is Crap
1. You find rocks and sand in the bottom of your feeders.
2. There’s uneaten hay all over the place. The horses use it like bedding.
3. When you finish cleaning the corral, there’s more hay in the wheelbarrow than poop.
4. Your poop pile is starting to look like a hay pile.
5. The feed store charges you $17 a bale for this stuff.
No New Details on Heber Wild Horse Shootings
The Forest Service continues its investigation, according to a report that appeared today in the White Mountain Independent, but no new information has been provided since the news release of 02/11/19.
Personnel from the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the 1-800-78-CRIME hotline, have also refrained from commenting.
At one time a $2,500 reward was posted by NCSO for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible but that has not been mentioned in recent reports.
RELATED: Investigation of Heber Wild Horse Deaths Continues.
Children’s Book About Velma Johnston Debuts Today
Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs shows how one woman, working tirelessly over a 20 year period, persuaded Congress to protect America’s wild horses and burros.
“When she saw mustangs being rounded up and killed to make room for ranchers’ livestock, she knew she had to speak up.”
Refer to this listing at Barnes & Noble for details.
What you will find in the book is a woman who truly understood wild horse advocacy, not like the wild-eyed feminists you have today pushing contraceptives and zero population growth onto unsuspecting herds everywhere.
RELATED: Remembering Velma.
Pine Nut Gather Resumed
Helicopters were back in the air yesterday, with seven more horses pushed off their home range, bring the total to 323.
The goal of the roundup is 575, which will free up 6,900 AUMs annually. As many as 1,150 additional cow/calf pairs could be placed on the HMA, assuming they graze six months per year.
The BLM is likely paying around $400 per animal removed, based on the cost of the Colville roundup, for a total of $230,000.
For this they can expect to receive up to $9,700 per year in additional grazing fees, for a simple payout of at least 23 years. If you add the cost of long-term holding, roughly $420,000 per year for 575 horses, there is no payout at all.
Where is the logic in this?
There isn’t any. It can only be described as redistribution of wealth, from American wage earners to the public-lands ranchers.
Is there any wonder that the ranchers, the contractors, the stock growers associations and cheerleader groups like Protect the Harvest want this gravy train going on forever?
All at the expense of America’s wild horses and burros.
RELATED: Pine Nut Roundup Delayed by Weather.
2019 Wildfire Season – February Progress Report
Last two months have been very wet and the hills are now velvety green. The dry season will begin in May with a bumper crop of fuel.
These photos were taken 02/17/19 in the same places as the previous report. Note the lowest rail in the pipe panels is now pretty much submerged.
The electric company installed these instruments last fall, presumably to monitor wind and humidity, and help them decide if power should be shut off because the risk of fire is too high.
Mustang Monday
On the Salt River with Laurel Strohmeyer.
Pine Nut Roundup Delayed by Weather
Helicopters were grounded Wednesday through Saturday last week, according to the BLM gather page, with 316 wild horses driven from their HMA. That means 3,800 AUMs per year can now be allocated to ‘other rangeland resources.’
Almost certainly the roundup was demanded by oil and mining companies, but you’d never know it because the government has done a great job of hiding the derricks and frac tanks.
Pay no attention to the cattle gates, stock tanks and T-post fences. They are decoys, to make you think the government is actually covering for the public-lands ranchers.
Winter Grass for the Mustangs
Strong to the finish ’cause they eats their spinach! Colt on the left, mom in the middle, filly on the right. Family unit, not locked in stalls. Adopted 2015.
Hiking for Horses in Utah
On the San Rafael Swell in central Utah with the Muddy Creek horses, courtesy of Backpacker Diaries. The HMA was gathered last September.
Letter to Editor Reveals Truth About Colville Roundup
Tribal leaders have great plans for the future, so they rewrite the law to suit their agenda and the horses are gone. Sound familiar?
Where are they getting the money to pay the contractor? Did they receive a ‘donation’ from the federal government?
Refer to the letter titled ‘Amendment to horse capture law: Horses being slaughtered for damage caused by cattle, logging, pollution’ in yesterday’s edition of The Safety Valve in The Wenatchee World.
RELATED: Colville Gather Underway.
Virginia Range License Plates Now in Production
The tags, available through the Nevada DMV, support the wild horse preservation efforts of various groups within the herd’s territory, according to a report dated 01/30/19 by The Storey Teller of Virginia City, NV.
RELATED: New Plate Captures the Struggle of America’s Wild Horses.
Partnership Benefits McCullough Peaks Ranchers
BLM reported today that its alliance with Friends of a Legacy provided ‘healthy wild horses and healthy rangeland in 2018.’ As suggested last week, those terms are euphemisms for ‘getting rid of the horses and giving their food and water to livestock.’
The volunteers, who convinced the state legislature to rename a highway east of Cody, are also known for their use of contraceptives to keep the size of the herd in check.
Birth rates have been reduced 70% according to the announcement.
This is not wild horse advocacy and certainly not wild horse preservation.
It is assent to the overpopulation narrative and capitulation to the anti-horse agenda.
RELATED: Livestock Grazing in Wyoming.
Advocates Fight ‘Arrogant Special Interest Agency’
No, it’s not the BLM. It’s the New Mexico Livestock Board and its ‘long-term culture against wild horses.’
Wild horse enthusiasts, who won the release of the Alto horses last year, are pushing back against a bill that would put the NMLB in charge of the state’s wild horses, arguing that the agency has a ‘clear vendetta’ against the animals. See this report, posted today by Ruidoso News.
Instead, they favor a bill known as the Wild Horse Protection and Habitat Act that would, among other things, conduct a census of wild horse herds, develop educational materials, create a fencing program and work with the DOT on safety issues.
They also support a bill that would provide for a special vehicle registration plate expressing support for wild horses.
RELATED: New Plate Captures the Struggle of America’s Wild Horses.
