Introduction to the East Pershing Complex

The largest roundup of FY24 is scheduled to begin on December 28, with 2,875 wild horses to be captured and removed.

As of today, the incident has not been announced by the BLM and a gather page has not been created.

The Complex, consisting of three HMAs and four HAs, may get its name from the county in Nevada where the action will occur.

The roundup aligns with three tenets of rangeland management:

  • Pest control
  • Resource enforcement
  • Rancher protection

The advocates, defeated a long time ago and now desperate for a seat at the table, eagerly participate in the process.

Alternative B in the Final EA was authorized by the Humboldt Field Office in a 2018 Decision, minus the sterilization option.

You can find these documents in the project folder on ePlanning.

Figure 1 shows the HAs and HMAs.

Figure 2 shows the grazing allotments.

Section 3.12 in the EA discusses livestock grazing and resource apportionment.

How much forage has been assigned to the ranchers in the lawful home of wild horses?

Don’t look to the advocates for answers.

Price of Hay Unchanged, Still Too High

A bale of alfalfa-grass mix sold for $34 yesterday, 20 bales minimum, no change from last month.

The single-bale price was $35.

Although it’s off its high of $36 per bale earlier this year, it’s up 79% from the summer of 2021, when Bidenomics was unleashed on the American people.

An average horse would need around five bales per month, putting the cost at $170 per AUM.

The poor ranchers, forced to live in multi-million-dollar base properties, pay $1.35 per AUM to access forage on public lands.

Curiously, a headline today on Drudge says “Animal shelters across USA overflowing.”

RELATED: Cost of Hay Dropped Slightly!

How Much Private Land Do the Public-Lands Ranchers Control?

Nearly 120 million acres according to the Public Lands Council, with grazing privileges on more than 250 million acres managed by the USFS and BLM.

Consider the new off-range corrals north of Winnemucca.

If a private owner can care for 4,000 horses on 100 acres, the ranchers should be able to maintain 4.8 billion (4,800,000,000) cow/calf pairs on their deeded acreage.

There’s no need for permitted grazing!

Why do they want access to public lands?  Why do they view it as their birthright?

Profit, greed.  It’s a gravy train, a government giveaway.

They pay pennies on the dollar to feed their animals, compared to the Winnemucca corrals, which are subsidized by taxpayers.

Solution?  Confine the ranchers to their (multi-million-dollar) base properties, which they’re already doing, but make the off-season twelve months per year and let them pay the going rate to feed their animals.

As a result, AMLs can be increased and the landmass identified for wild horses and burros in 1971 (around 53 million acres) can be managed principally for them, as specified in the original statute.

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

AML-1

Adjectives for Equine Pests

The BLM recently paid the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses $91,865.50 to poison the Cedar Mountain mares with Zonastat-H, an ovary-killing pesticide.

CAAWH now refers to the herd as majestic, expanding the list of adjectives they use to describe the animals they’re trying to exterminate.

Majestic Wild Horses of Cedar Mountain 12-01-23

Apparently, they’ve found that this and other such terms are very effective in separating well-intentioned donors from their money.

RELATED: What Is a Cherished Horse or Burro?

Adjectives for Pests 12-01-23

Clan Alpine Roundup, Day 21

The incident began on November 8.  Results through November 28:

  • Scope: Clan Alpine HMA
  • Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement, rancher protection
  • Target: Horses
  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Category: Cruel and costly*
  • Better way: Thin the herd with ovary-killing pesticides*
  • Captured: 1,605, up from 1,468 on Day 19
  • Average daily take: 76.4
  • Capture goal: 1,594
  • Removal goal: 1,381
  • Returned: 1, no change from Day 19
  • Deaths: 22, up from 20 on Day 19
  • Shipped: 1,325, up from 1,237 on Day 19

The sidebar shows two stallions released but only one was documented in the daily reports.

The capture goal has been reached.

A mare was dispatched on Day 20 due to blindness along with a stallion for a broken leg.

The death rate is 1.4%.

The capture total includes 658 stallions, 737 mares and 210 foals.

Youngsters represented 13.1% of the animals gathered, suggesting the herd is growing at a rate of eight percent per year.

Of the adults, 47.2% were male and 52.8% were female.

Body condition scores on Days 20 and 21 ranged from 3 to 4.

The HMA and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.

*According to advocates.

Clan Alpine HMA with Allotments 06-17-23

Day 21 ended with 257 unaccounted-for animals.

To date, 81 mares have been treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.

They will be returned the range with up to 121 stallions.

Operations will likely conclude this week.

Other statistics:

  • Forage liberated to date: 19,248 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 16,040 gallons per day
  • Horses allowed by plan: 979
  • Pre-gather population: 1,661 plus this year’s foals
  • Forage assigned to horses: 11,748 AUMs per year
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 6,796 AUMs per year
  • Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: 566
  • True AML: 1,545
  • Stocking rate at new AML: 5.2 wild horses per thousand public acres
  • Horses displaced by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Clan Alpine Roundup, Day 19.

Help Wanted: CAAWH Seeks Communications Director

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing effective communication strategies to promote the organization’s mission, raise awareness and engage the public, according to the description on Idealist.

In this role, you’ll convince reporters, donors and the public that you’re protecting wild horses while pushing back against the bureaucrats and ranchers when in reality you’re doing exactly the opposite.

The following org chart shows where you fit in:

Working Together for a Horse-Free Future 12-21-22

The job is not for normal people.

You will refer to Zonastat-H as a vaccine not a pesticide.

You will insist that it’s reversible.

You will claim that it is harmless.

You will describe it as a better way.

You will downplay concerns by other writers about baren mares, confused stallions, scattered bands, shrinking herds, injuries and infections, abnormal sex ratios, tiny breeding populations, loss of genetic diversity and subordination to livestock.

Salary $70,000 to $125,000 per year.

RELATED: Help Wanted: CAAWH Seeks Development Director.

Virginia Range Darting Program by the Numbers

Advocates with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses will need a zero percent birth rate and six percent death rate for 30 consecutive years to bring the herd of 3,500 wild horses close to the target of 500.

Future population = 3,500 * .94 ^ 30 = 547

Most of the mares will be sterile after five consecutive years, the current age of the program, so the field work can taper off and the herd will still implode.

The assumption of a constant death rate is probably not valid.

The average age of the herd is increasing, along with the death rate, because few if any new foals are hitting the ground, so the end may come sooner than expected.

The Virginia Range was easily carrying ten wild horses per thousand acres, which causes great embarrassment to the bureaucrats and ranchers, who claim the high desert can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

Instead of pushing back against the lies, the advocates ratify and reinforce them through their participation in the removals.

RELATED: NDA Designates Virginia Range Hatchet Man.