Category: Range

On the range

East Pershing Roundup, Day 35

The incident began on December 28.  Results through January 31:

The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.

The death rate is 1.1%.  Three horses died accidentally, 21 were killed deliberately.

The capture total includes 906 stallions, 1,024 mares and 295 foals.  The sidebar at the gather page says 904/1,018/297.

Youngsters represented 13.3% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of eight percent per year.

Of the adults, 46.9% were male and 53.1% were female, no evidence of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores ranged from 3 to 4 on Days 34 and 35.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The Complex is managed primarily for animal agriculture.  The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and grazing allotments.  Click on image to open in new tab.

*According to advocates.

East Pershing Complex with Allotments 12-30-23

Day 35 ended with 6 unaccounted-for animals.  This result should be zero based on the totals in the sidebar, suggesting there are errors in the daily reports.

The contractor is shipping them the same day they are captured.

There are no plans to treat any of the captured mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 26,664 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 22,220 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 555
  • Pre-gather population: 3,375
  • Forage assigned to horses: 6,660 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Not determined
  • Horses displaced from Complex by permitted grazing: Not determined
  • True AML: Not determined
  • Stocking rate at new AML: Not determined
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

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

The ability of the Complex to sustain wild horses has been limited by the bureaucrats, who have assigned most of their food to the public-lands ranchers.

Refer to these reports for an indication of the problem:

RELATED: East Pershing Roundup, Day 33.

BLM Got Rock-Bottom Price on East Pershing Roundup?

Yesterday’s report by KLAS News said the agency paid $690,000 to Sampson Live Stock to capture and remove 2,875 wild horses from the Complex, including, presumably, transport to the new off-range corrals operated by JS Livestock.

That works out to $240 per horse.

A fee of $500 to $1,000 per head was expected.

Sampson is an established contractor with the BLM, not an up-and-comer trying to get its foot in the door.

The feedlot held 958 wild horses in November, according to the latest Facility Report, so the roundup will put it at 96% of capacity.

Third-party monitoring is needed but it’s on private land.

RELATED: Contractor Demonstrates East Pershing Sleighride.

Vehicles-of-Interest Identified in Clark Mountain Burro Shooting

The next step is to identify their owners.  Both are 2008 Toyota extended cab pickups according to today’s news release.

They were last seen traveling together in Primm, NV on August 13, 2019.

The investigation focuses on 19 dead burros found along Interstate 15 the same day.

The remains of 46 animals were found along I-15 between Halloran Springs, CA, and Primm that year.

By October, the reward topped $100,000.

A BLM Public Affairs Officer told Western Horse Watchers that the agency hopes to generate new leads from the descriptions of the vehicles and ammunition.

The southern edge of the HA runs along I-15.  It’s mostly BLM land with some NPS acreage in the middle.  Click on image to open in new tab.

A roundup in 2020 removed 126 burros from the area.

RELATED: Clark Mountain Reward Still Available.

Clark Mountain HA 01-31-24

Contractor Demonstrates East Pershing Sleighride

The horse appears to be on a skid of some sort, as the wranglers move with him.

They’re with Sampson Live Stock according to a story by KLAS News of Las Vegas.

If the East Pershing horses received 15% of the authorized forage before the roundup, how much will they get when it’s over?

15%.

Roundups do not allocate resources.

They cannot change resource allocations.

They enforce resource allocations already on the books.

You need to change the books, specifically, the RMPs.

Confine the ranchers to their (multi-million dollar) base properties in a year-round off season and let them pay the going rate to feed their animals.

RELATED: East Pershing Roundup, Day 33.

UPDATE: Original video scrubbed, replaced by this one.

East Pershing Roundup, Day 33

The incident began on December 28.  Results through January 29:

The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.

On Day 33, a stallion was put down for a club foot, a mare was dispatched for swayback and another mare was killed due to a missing eye.  Although most won’t be adopted, if they’re deemed unadoptable, they’re toast.

The death rate is 1.2%.

The capture total includes 855 stallions, 941 mares and 258 foals.  The sidebar at the gather page says 853/935/260.

Youngsters represented 12.6% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of seven to eight percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.6% were male and 52.4% were female, no evidence of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores ranged from 3 to 5 on Days 32 and 33.

The name of the contractor was not given and the location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The Complex is managed primarily for animal agriculture.  The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and grazing allotments.  Click on image to open in new tab.

*According to advocates.

East Pershing Complex with Allotments 12-30-23

Day 33 ended with 6 unaccounted-for animals.  This result should be zero based on the totals in the sidebar, suggesting there are errors in the daily reports.

There are no plans to treat any of the captured mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 24,612 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 20,510 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 555
  • Pre-gather population: 3,375
  • Forage assigned to horses: 6,660 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Not determined
  • Horses displaced from Complex by permitted grazing: Not determined
  • True AML: Not determined
  • Stocking rate at new AML: Not determined
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

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

The ability of the Complex to sustain wild horses has been limited by the bureaucrats, who have assigned most of their food to the public-lands ranchers.

Refer to these reports for an indication of the problem:

RELATED: East Pershing Roundup, Day 31.

McCullough Roundup, Day 5

The incident started on January 22.  Results through January 26:

  • Target: Horses
  • Method: Bait
  • Type: Planned
  • Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
  • Captured: 11, up from 10 on Day 3
  • Shipped: 3, no change from Day 3
  • Released: 7, up from 6 on Day 3
  • Deaths: 1, no change from Day 3
  • Average daily take: 2.2
  • Unaccounted-for animals: 0

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

Activity over the past two days consisted of one mare captured and released.

The death rate is 9.1%.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

  • Forage liberated to date: 48 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 40 gallons per day

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 3.

McCullough Peaks HMA with Allotments 07-14-23

East Pershing Roundup, Day 31

The incident began on December 28.  Results through January 27:

The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.

A stallion was put down on Day 31 for arthritic knees.  He’d be alive today if there was no roundup.

The death rate is 1.1%.

The capture total includes 814 stallions, 906 mares and 247 foals.

Youngsters represented 12.6% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of seven to eight percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.3% were male and 52.7% were female, no evidence of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores ranged from 3 to 5 on Days 30 and 31.

The name of the contractor was not given.

The Complex is managed primarily for animal agriculture.  The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and grazing allotments.  Click on image to open in new tab.

*According to advocates.

East Pershing Complex with Allotments 12-30-23

Day 31 ended with 6 unaccounted-for animals.  This result should be zero based on the totals in the sidebar, suggesting there are errors in the daily reports.

There are no plans to treat any of the captured mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 23,568 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 19,640 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 555
  • Pre-gather population: 3,375
  • Forage assigned to horses: 6,660 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Not determined
  • Horses displaced from Complex by permitted grazing: Not determined
  • True AML: Not determined
  • Stocking rate at new AML: Not determined
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

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

The ability of the Complex to sustain wild horses has been limited by the bureaucrats, who have assigned most of their food to the public-lands ranchers.

Refer to these reports for an indication of the problem:

RELATED: East Pershing Roundup, Day 29.

McCullough Roundup, Day 3

The incident started on January 22.  Results through January 24:

  • Target: Horses
  • Method: Bait
  • Type: Planned
  • Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
  • Captured: 10, no change from Day 1
  • Shipped: 3, up from zero on Day 1
  • Released: 6, no change from Day 1
  • Deaths: 1, up from zero on Day 1
  • Average daily take: 3.3
  • Unaccounted-for animals: 0

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The reports don’t indicate the number of stallions, mares and foals captured.

A filly died of a head injury on Day 3, putting the death rate at 10%, but no details were given.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

  • Forage liberated to date: 48 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 40 gallons per day

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup Begins!

McCullough Peaks HMA with Allotments 07-14-23

East Pershing Roundup, Day 29

The incident began on December 28.  Results through January 25:

The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.

Helicopters did not fly on Day 28.  The trap site was moved to an unspecified location.

The death rate is 1.1%.  All deaths are chargeable to the roundup.

The capture total includes 758 stallions, 840 mares and 225 foals.  The sidebar at the gather page says 756/834/227.

Youngsters represented 12.3% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of seven percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.4% were male and 52.6% were female, no evidence of an abnormal sex ratio.

Body condition scores ranged from 3 to 5 on Day 29.

The name of the contractor was not given.

The Complex is managed primarily for animal agriculture.  The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and grazing allotments.  Click on image to open in new tab.

*According to advocates.

East Pershing Complex with Allotments 12-30-23

Day 29 ended with 6 unaccounted-for animals.  The totals at the gather page balance, suggesting the numbers in the daily report are not accurate.

There are no plans to treat any of the captured mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 21,840 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 18,200 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 555
  • Pre-gather population: 3,375
  • Forage assigned to horses: 6,660 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Not determined
  • Horses displaced from Complex by permitted grazing: Not determined
  • True AML: Not determined
  • Stocking rate at new AML: Not determined
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

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

The ability of the Complex to sustain wild horses has been limited by the bureaucrats, who have assigned most of their food to the public-lands ranchers.

Refer to these reports for an indication of the problem:

RELATED: East Pershing Roundup, Day 27.

Foal-Free Friday, All Zeal but No Truth Edition

Nobody talks about wild horse removal more than the advocates.

Their preferred method is to snuff out new life with ovary-killing pesticides and let the herds die off.

The point of no return can be reached in about five years, when most of the mares become “self boosting.”  (Refer to the decoder for the meaning of this term.)

Curiously, they market the product as a safe, reversible vaccine, none of which is true.

VR Darting Injury 09-15-21

If you think about what happens to the mares, you’ll realize that the sperm-blocking theory can’t be true.

Then you’ll understand why the Assateague herd has not grown seven years after the darting program was shut off, and what’s in store for other herds subject to the Montana Solution.

For a review of the literature and the adverse effects of PZP, go to page 30 in this report by ISPMB.

If you can’t access the file, click here.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Broken Record Edition.

Black Mountain Gather Ops End with 15% Overreach

The report for January 24, Day 16 of the roundup, said “Gather goal met,” which would be true if the target was 1,150, but the goal was 1,000.

As of today, there are 184 unaccounted-for animals.

Some will be shipped to Florence and some will be returned to the HMA following treatment with Zonastat-H, a fertility control pesticide endorsed by most advocates.

RELATED: BLM Overreach at Black Mountain Roundup?

East Pershing Roundup, Day 27

The incident began on December 28.  Results through January 23:

The figures in this post are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.

Helicopters did not fly on Day 27.

The death rate is 1.1%.  All deaths are chargeable to the roundup.

The capture total includes 726 stallions, 811 mares and 218 foals.  The sidebar at the gather page says 805 mares captured.

Youngsters represented 12.4% of the animals gathered, consistent with a herd growth rate of seven percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.2% were male and 52.8% were female, no evidence of an abnormal sex ratio.

The name of the contractor was not given and the location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Body condition scores averaged 3 on Day 26.

The sidebar puts the total shipped at 1,728.

The Complex is managed primarily for animal agriculture.  The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and grazing allotments.  Click on image to open in new tab.

*According to advocates.

East Pershing Complex with Allotments 12-30-23

Day 27 ended with 6 unaccounted-for animals.  The totals at the gather page show two more horses processed than captured.

There are no plans to treat any of the captured mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 21,024 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 17,520 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 555
  • Pre-gather population: 3,375
  • Forage assigned to horses: 6,660 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Not determined
  • Horses displaced from Complex by permitted grazing: Not determined
  • True AML: Not determined
  • Stocking rate at new AML: Not determined
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

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

The ability of the Complex to sustain wild horses has been limited by the bureaucrats, who have assigned most of their food to the public-lands ranchers.

Refer to these reports for an indication of the problem:

RELATED: East Pershing Roundup, Day 25.

Black Mountain Roundup, Day 15

The incident started on January 9.  Results through January 23:

  • Target: Burros
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Type: Planned
  • Category: Cruel and costly*
  • Goals: Gather 1,000, remove 960
  • Better way: Get rid of them with PZP, let the ranchers have most of the resources*
  • Captured: 1,112, up from 986 on Day 13
  • Shipped: 900, up from 772 on Day 13
  • Released: None
  • Deaths: 2, no change from Day 13
  • Average daily take: 74.1
  • Unaccounted-for animals: 210

The figures in this post are based on the daily reports, not the totals in the sidebar.

The capture goal has been exceeded by 11.2%.

The death rate is 0.2%.

The capture total includes 445 jacks, 505 jennies and 162 foals.

Youngsters represented 14.6% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 46.8% were male and 53.2% were female.

The name of the contractor was not given and the location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

  • Forage liberated to date: 6,672 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 5,560 gallons per day

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

The management plan assigns 2.5 times more forage to livestock than the burros.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

*According to advocates

RELATED: Black Mountain Roundup, Day 13.

Black Mountain HMA with Allotments 12-20-23

BLM, Permittee to Test Virtual Livestock Fencing

The project would implement virtual fencing in the Board Corral Allotment on the west side of Sheldon NWR to obtain a more uniform distribution of cattle and reduce grazing pressure on seeps, springs and wet meadow resources.

According to Section 3.1.1 in the Draft EA, livestock continually congregate, trample and utilize riparian areas and springs on the allotment.  Many forgeable upland areas in the South Use Area receive little to no use due to water constraints, lack of boundaries and cattle attraction to the riparian corridor.

Under the Proposed Action, the BLM would purchase the base stations and the permittee would rent or purchase the livestock collars.

The allotment, in the Improve category, offers 690 active AUMs on 15,330 public acres, or 45.0 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, equivalent to 3.8 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Despite this, land managers insist 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).

The allotment overlaps the north end of the Massacre Lake HA, an area identified for wild horses but managed principally for livestock.

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

Comments will be accepted through January 31.

RELATED: Virtual Fences Coming to a Pasture Near You?

Board Corral Allotment with HMAs 01-23-24