Answer: When he competes with privately owned livestock for food and water—on lands set aside for him.  The term is often used to justify roundups.

“The BLM plans to gather and remove approximately 300 excess wild horses.”

An article published yesterday by the left-leaning digital news service Circa, offers a lengthy discussion of the issues on western rangelands.  As usual, the debate revolves around the horses for most of the story (overpopulation, mismanagement, excessive costs and what to do about them).

The issue of public-lands ranching is not reached until the end of the report.

“Grazing on public land costs cattle farmers a tiny fraction of what they’d pay on private farms.”

The amount of land available to the horses has been going down.  The number of cattle and sheep has been going up.  What could possibly go wrong?

The ranchers—along with their overlords, cheerleaders and political allies—are not going to let some pesky advocates interfere with this gravy train.

Refer to the story posted today by the Charlotte Observer.  The contraceptive of choice is PZP and it’s applied to mares aged five or less and fifteen and older.

A few miles to the south, at Shackleford Banks, fertility control was stopped in 2009.

What’s the difference?

There is a rule in the unwritten code of wild horse advocacy that says you don’t participate in anything that results in fewer horses on the range.  Fertility control, however, seems to be an exception.  The code word is ‘humane management.’

A news release issued today states that the National Advisory Board will meet in Salt Lake City October 9 – 11 to provide recommendations to the BLM on the WHB program.

The subject of the conference will be wild horses and burros.  The stated reason for the meeting is the adverse effects of WHB overpopulation on western rangelands.  The real reason for the meeting is the adverse effects of WHB on public-lands ranching.

The Board will visit a nearby HMA on the first day, presumably one that hasn’t been gathered this year (will be hard to find in Utah).

The last two days will probably be devoted to freeing up more forage for livestock, on lands set aside for horses and burros.

It’s not about saving money.  It’s not about saving an endangered species.  It’s about an unelected bureaucracy catering to a special interest against the wishes of the American people.

RELATED: Zinke: Treat Wild Horses Like Cats and Dogs.

The USFS will remove approximately 1000 wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT, beginning in early October, according to an undated statement at the Modoc National Forest web site.

The roundup will be conducted by Cattoor Livestock Roundup Inc.  The announcement did not indicate if gather operations would be open to public observation.

Presumably, horses removed from the range will be taken to BLM holding facilities where they will be checked by veterinarians and offered for adoption.

The WHT covers 308,000 acres and has an AML of 402, for an aimed-at population density of 1.3 animals per thousand acres.  It’s located in northeast California.

The announcement did not indicate if livestock were present in the area.  A video was included to document current conditions on the WHT (embedded below).

Livestock do not appear in the video and the term is not mentioned in the narrative.

Therefore, it must be those darn oil companies—or mining companies—demanding that the wild horse population be reduced.  After all, T-post fencing is a sure sign that drilling and digging are going on just out of frame.  Almost certainly there are derricks behind those trees the Forest Service doesn’t want you to see.

The muddy area at 4:07 was caused by the fence not by the horses.  Who put that fence there?  Not exactly what you’d expect to find in a wilderness area.

Apparently, media coverage of livestock on HMAs and WHTs is taboo, especially during roundup season.

He’s right.  Those darn horses have been breeding in back alleys, running through neighborhoods, driving down property values.  They should be spayed and neutered, just like cats and dogs.  Government takes thousands of them off the streets every year, why shouldn’t they do that for horses?

See the report posted yesterday by CBS-4 News in Denver.

As always, the debate revolves around the horses, never around the livestock that have been allowed to invade their territory.  The BLM has been an ally of public-lands ranchers and their overlords since Moby Dick was a minnow.  It’s a Good Ol’ Boy network if ever there was one.  And it needs to be broken up.

That would be your responsibility, Mr. Zinke.

RELATED: Mustang Meg Goes Drone.

A report posted today at The Daily Sentinel, titled ‘Volunteers understand why horses have to go,’ explains how the so-called advocates at Friends of the Mustangs are working with the BLM to remove 60 of the 190 horses in the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range.

“Gathers involving the Little Book Cliffs herd have tended to be less controversial…

[BLM’s Jim] Dollerschell said he thinks one of the reasons there is less contention in the case of Little Book Cliffs gathers is because of the longtime partnership the BLM has had with the Friends of the Mustangs in managing the herd.”

Maybe those ‘Friends’ are drunk on PZP fumes.

At the Pryor Mountains, advocates took legal action to stop a planned roundup.

At Sand Wash Basin, advocates brought in water to help the horses cope with drought.

But at Little Bookcliffs, advocates help set the traps.

What the hell is wrong with these people?  Couldn’t they figure out a way to keep the horses on the range by bringing in food and water?  Drought is a temporary condition, why are they making permanent changes?

The author of the report, possibly aligned with ranching interests, couldn’t resist taking a shot at the horses:

“The pressure the horses are currently putting on their habitat is made evident as travelers leave it and cross into a livestock grazing area that’s still replete with grass.”

Yeah, we should get rid of the horses and replace them with cattle.  Go pound sand, dude.

RELATED: BLM Plans Roundup at Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range.

The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program is at a crossroads, according to an article posted today by the American Veterinary Medical Association.  The author claims that HMAs are overpopulated by 100 percent to 1,500 percent.

“There were 81,951 animals on 26.9 [million] acres of public rangelands and 44,730 animals in corrals or pastures as of mid-2018…

To give some perspective, the BLM says ideally 27,000 of these animals can live in balance with livestock and wildlife on public lands.”

This is another example of misuse of figures.  The aimed-at population of 27,000 animals and available land of 26.9 million acres pertain to HMAs only.  The observed population of 81,951 animals corresponds to all lands, including HMAs.  You can’t compare 81,951 to 27,000 and conclude wild horses and burros are overpopulated because they don’t have the same land-basis.

Note that the combined AML of 27,000 animals (horses and burros) and available land of 26.9 million acres yield a population density of one animal per thousand acres, just one twelfth (8.3%) of the density typically allowed for livestock.

There are real problems and stated problems.  The stated problem is that wild horses are overpopulated on western rangelands.  The real problem is that they compete with livestock for forage, depriving public-lands ranchers and their overlords of benefits owed to them in exchange for their campaign contributions and political support.

What you see on the range is not private-sector capitalism.  The helicopters, the bait traps, the zeroing-out of HMAs and reductions of AMLs, the video propaganda and bogus news reports, all are the result of a special interest using the media and instrumentalities of government to achieve its agenda.  It needs to be broken up.

If you’re a numbers guy, this article in NorCal Fishing News, dated 08/26/18, will make you smile.  (Not sure how it got into a fishing report, might be a reprint of figures published elsewhere.)

The video below shows some vegetation on the side of a road in the Virginia Range near sunset on 08/24/18.

You might think somebody took a sickle to that brush but the work was done by wild horses.  Remaining stalks are about six inches tall, no trimmings to clean up.  It’s nature’s fire control regimen.

See also this story in Markets Insider dated 08/23/18.

The article also stated that the BLM typically allows eight cow/calf pairs per square mile, equivalent to eight wild horses per square mile.  That yields a stocking rate for livestock of 12.5 animals per thousand acres, compared to an aimed-at population density of one animal per thousand acres for horses on BLM lands.

Who benefits from this arrangement?  Is this what Congress intended on lands set aside for wild horses and burros or is it a twisting and stretching of ‘multiple use’ by the BLM, on behalf of the livestock industry?  Is this the meaning of ‘thriving ecological balance?’

The figures at the end of the article hint at the idea of replacing AMLs with pie charts that show how resources are allocated among consumers on HMAs.

Roscoe’s Oriental Rug Emporium.

A news release issued yesterday by Protect the Harvest blamed an unnamed ‘extremist’ group for persuading the folks at Colorado State University to withdraw from sterilization research on wild mares, calling the decision ‘disappointing.’

And rightfully so, because cutting ovaries out of wild horses is as mainstream as cutting unborn kids out of pregnant women.  Everybody does it.

Although many wild horse advocates filled out the computer-generated letter and sent it in, the driving force in the university changing its mind may have been just a few right-minded and highly influential people.

Can you spell e-n-d-o-w-m-e-n-t?

The folks at PTH, like the Clinton supporters on election night, can’t understand why some people—most people—don’t agree with the idea of ovariectomy via colpotomy.

Could it be the flow of mutilated ponies to the demonic futurity might be reduced?

Or is much more at stake?

Look at the list of the organizations in favor of sterilization.  Many are aligned with the livestock industry, cheerleaders for ranchers who fatten their cattle on public lands at fire-sale prices.

Gotta keep the gravy train rolling, reward the donors and political supporters, let more cattlemen suck on the sugar teat.  That means WHB populations must be reduced to AML, immediately, by sterilization or euthanasia.  Slaughter is another option.

A better approach would be to raise the grazing fee on public lands to $25 per AUM and require labels on beef that show where it was produced.  Educate the public on threats to our wild ones by public-lands ranchers and their allies at the BLM.  Admit the carrying capacity of the land is higher than publicly acknowledged and allow the horses to return to Herd Areas and beyond.

Put more land in private hands, waive property taxes on acreage purchased for sanctuaries and rescues, omit sales taxes on equipment and supplies procured therefor.

RELATED: CSU Withdraws from Wild Horse Sterilization Research.

Herb Alpert, A Taste of Honey.

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Down At The Twist And Shout.

Colorado State University announced yesterday that it would not participate in surgical sterilization experiments on wild horses sponsored by the BLM.  Refer to the report dated 08/09/18 from the Animal Welfare Institute.

RELATED: CSU Joins Search for Wild Horse ‘Final Solution’.

Check out the photo in this article of mountain biker Jeremy Hottinger going airborne at Wild Horse Monument near Vantage, WA.  The image was captured by freelance photographer Ben Herndon.  The venue is an unfinished sculpture on top of a ridge featuring wild mustangs.

The sculpture appears in the following video.

RELATED: Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies.

No, it doesn’t.  It benefits the government serfs who fatten their cattle on public lands at fire-sale prices.  Fewer horses on the range means more forage for livestock.  Keep the gravy train going, more cattlemen sucking the sugar teat.

The text posted with the video is propaganda, typical for the kooks at Protect the Harvest, who said earlier this year the Virginia Range had been decimated by wild horses.  (Go to the Index, scroll down to Virginia Range and look at the photos.)

Yep, female genital mutilation is good.  Nice job PTH.  Allahu Akbar.

Note the collaboration of BLM, Zoetis and Priefert on the project.

Researchers at Colorado State University will help the BLM perfect a rarely used sterilization procedure, known as ovariectomy via colpotomy, for removing a mare’s ovaries, according to a report dated 08/03/18 in the Coloradoan.  If approved, the study will begin in October.

Public acceptance of fertility control was a first step.  Now the focus is fertility prevention.

Who benefits?  Why would the BLM engage in such barbaric practices?

It’s not about reducing costs of the WHB program.  There are no plans to close departments, sell buildings and lay people off if the research is ‘successful.’

The move is a payoff to the livestock industry, with whom the BLM has been aligned for decades.  Ranchers look at the horses and burros as pests, consuming forage that belongs to them—on lands sent aside for the horses and burros.  The WHB Act, amended several times in their favor, has been a pain in their backside since 1971.

Eighty percent of Americans want these animals protected and preserved.  But it doesn’t matter, because the BLM doesn’t answer to the voters.

Two hundred mares, gathered from the range, will be placed in the program.  Of the 100 mares to be spayed, 30 will be returned to the range and 70 will go to adoption, some of whom may appear in the demonic Wild Spayed Filly Futurity.

Religion and politics, oh my!  H/T Michael Voris and the folks at Church Militant.

See also this post by Ann Barnhardt, dated 07/29/18.

See the report posted today at Intermountain Farm & Ranch about the Red Desert gather, which may begin next week.  The story addresses concerns about captured horses going to slaughter.

“Interested buyers are required to sign paperwork.”

No problems there.  Barack Obama took an oath to uphold the Constitution (and his administration was lawless).

The article also indicates that Wyoming is home to more than 7,000 wild horses, but the Appropriate Management Level is 3,725 horses.  Another case of misuse of figures.

The BLM spokesperson quoted in the article said research projects are underway that will help find more effective facility [sic] control methods, probably meaning fertility control methods, which is a code word for fertility prevention methods.

The report did not mention if AUM curtailment would be considered as a means of preventing overgrazing or if the grazing fee on public rangelands would be raised from $1.41 per AUM to $25 per AUM, in line with the costs of private ranching.

The government serfs are riding a gravy train and they know it.  And who pays?  Our wild horses and burros.

RELATED: Red Desert Gather Announced.

History Repeating by the Propellerheads.

BLM announced yesterday that it had issued a Special Recreation Permit to Black Rock City LLC for Burning Man, to be held on public lands near Gerlach, NV.  The festival will run from 08/26/18 through 09/03/18.

The permit allows up to 70,000 participants on approximately 4400 acres, for a population density of 15,909 humans per thousand acres.

As for the wild horses and burros that surround the place, they’ll probably just keep their heads down and avoid the chaos, trying to carry on their legacy at an average density of one animal per thousand acres.

RELATED: Vendor Advisory for 2018 Burning Man.