Located between the Rocky Hills and Diamond HMAs, Diamond Springs Ranch covers 994 deeded acres, with grazing preference on three BLM allotments producing 2,100 AUMs per year, according to the listing by Hall and Hall.

The property features 341 acres under three pivots, three mobile homes, a shop, barn and corrals.

Water sources include seven springs, three ponds and two wells.

The agent’s map ties the deeded acreage to the Jiggs, Flynn/Parman and Parman Individual allotments.

The National Data Viewer shows the arrangement.  Click on image to open in new tab.

The Allotment Master Report puts Jiggs and Flynn/Parman in the Improve category, with Parman Individual in Custodial (condition unknown).

The Authorization Use Report shows cattle on an 8.5 month grazing season for all three.

Where do the animals go during the off season?  Back to the base property.

The allotments offer a combined 2,124 AUMs per year on 33,303 public acres, enough to support 177 wild horses.

The stocking rate would be 5.3 wild horses per thousand public acres, five times higher than the rate allowed by the bureaucrats (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

A buyer could petition the BLM for a change in livestock type and season of use, turning the ranch into a wild horse sanctuary, as American Prairie did for bison in Montana.

Think of it as a rewilding project, where you leverage 994 private acres to control 33,303 public acres.  No off season.

RELATED: Yes to American Prairie, No to Mustang Monument.

UPDATE: Added video.

The incident began on July 9.  Results through July 11:

• Scope: Antelope, Antelope Valley HMAs
• Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement
• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Category: Cruel and costly*
• Better way: Poison mares with ovary-killing pesticides*
• Captured: 270, up from 22 on Day 1
• Average daily take: 90.0
• Capture goal: 1,107
• Removal goal: 1,107
• Returned: 1, up from zero on Day 1
• Deaths: 2, up from 1 on Day 1
• Shipped: 200, up from zero on Day 1

The figures above are based on the daily reports, which may differ slightly from the totals posted by the BLM.

A stallion jumped the trap on Day 2, regaining his freedom.

A foal died in holding on Day 2 due to colic.

The death rate is 0.7%.

The capture total includes 93 stallions, 118 mares and 59 foals.

Youngsters represented 21.9% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 44.1% were male and 55.9% were female.

The herd may be growing at a rate of 17% per year, given a birth rate of 22% per year.

Body condition scores were not provided.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.

Day 3 ended with 67 unaccounted-for animals.

Mares treated with fertility control pesticides will be returned to the area at a later date.

Other statistics:

• Forage liberated to date: 3,228 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 2,690 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: Unknown
• Horses displaced from area by permitted grazing: Unknown
• True AML: Unknown
• Stocking rate at new AML: Unknown
• Horses removed because of drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.

*According to advocates.

RELATED: Antelope Roundups in Progress.

Clear Creek Ranch, located about 15 miles south of Winnemucca, NV, sold last year to J6 Ranches, according to Pershing County assessor’s records.

The listing by Hall and Hall says it covers 10,457 deeded acres, with grazing preference on 48,370 BLM acres producing 2,995 AUMs per year.

The asking price was $8.9 million.

The base property, described in the following video, lies mostly within the Clear Creek Allotment, which lies within the Sonoma Range HA, an area identified for wild horses.

The National Data Viewer shows the arrangement.  Click on image to open in new tab.

The Allotment Master Report puts Clear Creek in the Maintain category, with 2,931 active AUMs on 48,370 public acres.

That works out to 60.6 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, enough to support five wild horses per thousand public acres.

The BLM insists that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand public acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

How many wild horses are allowed in the HA?  None (AML is zero).

As for the amenities, the log cabin is in APN 009-300-28, with other structures and equipment in APN 009-300-27.

Some of the deeded acreage is in Humbolt County, not covered here.

The HA covers 212,587 total acres, including 150,095 public acres.

The current population is 146, according to the March 2023 HA/HMA Report, and the last roundup was in 1987.

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

A reporter for Lancaster Farming looks at the work of Tinia Creamer and her rescue in a story dated July 8.

As mentioned previously, some horses were abandoned and some were turned out to save money, including stallions, despite an unwritten rule to the contrary.

The area is outside the BLM’s jurisdiction.

The article did not indicate if advocates from western states had offered to pummel the mares with ovary-killing pesticides.

RELATED: Free-Roaming Horses of the Appalachian Coal Mines.

Trapping began yesterday, with two operations running concurrently.

Antelope North

• Scope – Spruce-Pequop, Goshute, Antelope Valley HMAs
• Target – Wild horses
• Purpose – Pest control
• Type – Cruel and costly
• Captured – 22
• Shipped – 0
• Deaths – 0

The capture and removal goals are identical, 2,000 each.

Antelope South

• Scope – Antelope, Antelope Valley HMAs
• Target – Wild horses
• Purpose – Pest control
• Type – Cruel and costly
• Captured – 128
• Shipped – 0
• Deaths – 1

The capture and removal goals are identical, 1,107 each.

A mare was lost on Day 1 due to a fractured neck, probably sustained in a collision with a pipe panel.

A better approach, according to the wild horse advocates, is to poison the mares with ovary-killing pesticides.

The Complex is managed primarily for animal agriculture.

RELATED: Antelope Roundups Announced.

Back to the Salt River with Walking with a Wookie.

You’re not supposed to notice the absence of youngsters.

According to the 2015 Final EA for the Water Canyon Wild Horse Growth Suppression Pilot Program, mentioned in the July 5 roundup announcement,

When injected, the GonaCon vaccine targets the reproductive hormone gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) secreted by the hypothalamus of the brain.  Antibodies produced in response to the vaccine inactivate endogenous GnRH, which in turn eliminates stimulation of the pituitary gland and gonads in males or females.  The resulting “immunocastration” renders animals unable to produce reproductive steroids or gametes.

The EA was copied to the project folder in ePlanning with other related documents.

The Proposed Action, Alternative A, called for the use of PZP-22, but the Decision Record authorized Alternative B, similar to Alternative A except the mares would be treated with GonaCon-B instead of PZP-22.

A keyword search of the EPA web site yielded no results for GonaCon-B.

The description of Alternative B (bottom of page 34 in the pdf) refers to the registration of GonaCon-Equine, suggesting a rebranding or reformulation of the product.

A 2017 labeling amendment dropped the restricted-use designation and increased the interval between primer and booster from 30 days to 90 days.

RELATED: Antelope Roundups Announced.

Of the two leading fertility control pesticides for wild horses, Zonastat-H and GonaCon Equine, which product

• Is classified as restricted use?
• Is commonly referred to as a vaccine?
• Must be administered by certified applicators?
• Can be applied to horses that interfere with animal agriculture?
• Must be fired from Dan-Inject or Pneu-Dart rifles?
• Must be delivered in neon orange or green darts?
• May cause sterility with one or two doses?
• Cannot be mixed or applied without chemical-resistant gloves?
• Requires a minimum 90-day interval between doses?

Which one, in view of the pros and cons above, will surpass the other in terms of use?

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Managing for Genetic Diversity Edition.

Two news releases appeared yesterday, one covering pest control actions in and around the Spruce-Pequop and Goshute HMAs, as well as a portion of the Antelope Valley HMA, and the other for pest control actions in and around the Antelope HMA and remaining portion of Antelope Valley.

Highway 93 Alt, which runs northeast to West Wendover, serves as the split line for Antelope Valley.

The National Data Viewer shows the arrangement.  Click on image to open in new tab.

The June 14 roundup schedule suggests they will run concurrently, with start dates of July 9.

Call them resource enforcement actions or rancher protection actions if you’d like.

The HMAs are subject to, and managed primarily for, permitted grazing.

The combined capture and removal goals are 3,107 and 3,107, respectively, with no animals to be returned to their lawful homes.

One of the announcements said 15 mares in the Water Canyon area previously treated with GonaCon Equine will receive another dose of the pesticide before being released back to the range.

Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals at Indian Lakes and Palomino Valley.

Gather stats and daily reports for the northern portion will be posted to this page.

Data for the southern portion will be posted here.

The Spruce-Pequop HMA lies mostly within the massive Spruce Allotment, one of the parcels to which Madeleine Pickens obtained grazing preference through the purchase of the associated base property.

The Allotment Master Report indicates most of the active AUMs are held by the Spruce Grazing Association, which Bizapedia ties to a law firm in Elko.  One of the company contacts is Saving America’s Mustangs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit started by Pickens.

A 2018 roundup in the HMA started with the massacre of eight wild horses.

RELATED: Horses in Antelope Complex Get Short End of Stick.

Friends of Animals announced on Monday that it has filed suit in U.S. District Court against the BLM for its plan to eliminate wild horses from more than one million acres of public lands in the southwestern Wyoming.

The complaint alleges that nothing in the WHB Act allows the BLM to respond to requests from private landowners to remove wild horses from public lands.

Nevertheless, such requests are common in the scoping and document review phases of wild horse gather projects in ePlanning, with ranchers and ranching advocacy groups among the most vocal.

Section 1334 in the statute authorizes the agency to remove free-roaming horses that stray from public lands onto privately owned land.

RELATED: Another Coalition Tries to Stop Rock Springs RMP Amendments.

The Day 3 report indicated 134 horses captured, 76 shipped, 30 released and one dead.

With 27 mares held for treatment with GonaCon Equine, there were no unaccounted-for animals.

Youngsters represented 11.2% of the horses captured.

Of the adults, 52.9% were male and 47.1% were female.

The report said the GonaCon mares will receive a second dose of the pesticide in 30 days, a violation of federal law.

The 2017 labeling amendment that dropped the RUP designation increased the time interval between doses from 30 days to 90 days.

The BLM probably won’t mobilize law enforcement resources against itself.

RELATED: Reveille Gather Ops Conclude.

At Grayson Highlands State Park with American Wanderlust.

Helicopters were grounded this afternoon, with 133 horses captured, 39 shipped and one dead.

The colt lost yesterday died from a spinal cord injury caused by blunt trauma to the lower neck, according to today’s report.

One more update will be posted tomorrow.

Mares treated with Gonacon Equine could be returned to the HMA this week, but they won’t go home until October if two doses are given.

Stallions identified for return could be released before the contractor demobilizes.

RELATED: Where Are the Reveille Foals?

Last year the facility was closed due to a strangle outbreak.  Nineteen horses were lost.

In March, on-site adoptions resumed.

In June, in-person adoptions were suspended in favor of the online system.

On Friday, a BLM news release said wild horse and burro adoptions will resume as scheduled throughout the summer.

The Wheatland population consisted of 2,511 wild horses and 23 wild burros, according to the May 21 Facility Report.

Yesterday’s action netted 37 stallions, 40 mares and 6 foals.

Almost certainly the helicopter pilots are targeting family bands, as the advocates do, but why the low percentage of foals?

The sample size was not large but at the rate the incident is going, the chase may end tonight.

A 7.2% birth rate implies a herd growth rate of two percent per year.

Can the results be attributed to population suppression efforts?  Harsh winter?

Mares captured in the 2020 roundup were treated with fertility control of unspecified type according the gather page.

RELATED: Reveille Roundup in Progress

Of the two leading products, Zonastat-H and GonaCon Equine, Gonacon will outpace Zonastat in use, for the following reasons:

• May sterilize treated mares
• Applicators need not be certified
• Can be misused with no consequences
• Few if any limitations on where it can be used

In the first part of the June 14 roundup schedule, for nonmotorized removals, the two products are more-or-less evenly split.

Given that GonaCon Equine can be used to control or eradicate pests (wild horses and burros) that interfere or could interfere with animal agriculture (permitted grazing), which is not true for Zonastat-H, it will become the pesticide of record until something better comes along.

RELATED: An Incomplete History of GonaCon Equine.

The incident started today, according to the gather page, with 83 horses captured, none shipped and one dead.

The capture and removal goals are 129 and 76, respectively.

Mares returned to the HMA will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide that may act as a sterilant.

RELATED: Reveille Roundup Announced.

The following timeline is based on documents found during keyword searches at epa.gov.

2009 – The EPA publishes a Fact Sheet classifying the product as a restricted-use pesticide, for use on female deer.  The label indicated there is a chance that some animals will become permanently sterile.

2013 – The EPA registers GonaCon Equine as a restricted-use pesticide, naming USDA APHIS as the registrant, complete with PPE requirements and directions for use.  Same product, but rebranded.

2015 – The EPA amends the registration, correcting the label and confidential statement of formulation (CSF).  Still classified as RUP.

2017 – The EPA drops the restricted-use designation.  Still assigned to USDA APHIS.

2019 – The EPA registers the product to Spay First as GONACON Immunocontraceptive Vaccine – EQ for commercial sale and use.

The product interrupts ovulation and infertility can be achieved for up to four years in mares treated with a primer and booster, according to a 2018 report by CSU.

Spay First is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Oklahoma.

GonaCon EQ is not available for private use but you don’t need a diploma from the Billings School of PZP Darting and Public Deception to apply it.

RELATED: NPS Getting Rid of TRNP Wild Horses with GonaCon?

The Onaqui Mountain HMA has an AML of 210, which exceeds the minimum acceptable herd size of 150 to 200 animals in Section 4.4.6.3 of the WHB Handbook, but does that ensure genetic diversity?

Not really.  The low end of AML is 121, so the BLM could take the herd down to that level, compromising genetic variation.

How about Sand Wash Basin?  The AML is 163 to 363.

Nope, the low end is too low.

Hey Western Horse Watchers, what about Clan Alpine in Nevada, where the AML ranges from 612 to 979?

Not so fast, Chester!

There’s one more variable that must be considered: Are the advocates pounding the mares with pesticide-laced darts?

If so, the breeding population may dip below 50 even though the current population is well above the minimum recommended level.

This is what the advocates are doing at the Salt River and Virginia Range.

Eventually the herds will collapse because too many mares have been sterilized by the safe, proven and reversible “vaccines.”

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Snuffing Out New Life Edition.

Sound quality was poor on Day 3, could barely hear it.  Wasn’t able to connect to video feed on Day 2.

The inaugural catch-treat-release roundup will occur in July, according to one of the snippets from today.

The meeting ends tomorrow.  Watch the final session at BLM Live.

RELATED: WHBAB Meeting Starts Today.