The Welfare Cattle Empire That Controls Your Public Lands: article

[ID_Matt]

The 1.6% used in the article and the less than 3% used above are misleading at best. Notice that they are using the amount of forage provided by public land and not the number of cow that use public land. The public land forage is just one link in the supply chain that is needed to get a calf to the stake on the plate. Remove that link and the whole supply chain breaks down.
General this is how a public land rancher operates.
Bring the cattle home in the fall off the public.
Sell or wean the calves.
Winter the cows on hay you made or bought.
Calve the cows in March, April.
Return cows to the Public range in late May or June.
When you sell the calves in the fall they are still a long way from the plate. There are several options on where they are headed
Straight to the feed lot where they are finished and slaughtered or put on a backgrounding ration and then put back on grass during summer and then they are back to the feedlot in late summer to be finished.
or they go to someone with winter pasture like winter wheat or corn stalks and then go to the feed lot to be finished.
Point is that wile the public forage is only small part of the forage needed to get the public land ranchers cattle to the plate, without it the cow does not exist. The people touting the less than 3% number act like you can just replace the public forage with the other forage sources easily. The rancher is not going to be able to switch to graze his hay fields with out a substantial cut in cow numbers. The wheat farmer in Kansas or the corn farmer in Iowa are not going to switch to growing grass. Numbers on the actual number of cattle on Public is hard to find, but eliminating public grazing would likely result in a reduction in the cow herd between 10 and 15 percent.
The less than 3% number is misleading at best and if the authors of the article are misleading you here they are likely miss leading you else where.

This was the first thing that caught my eye as well. Very misleading number. You broke it down well.

 

[AHayes111]

AHayes, did they have you count the Blades of Grass in a square inch? and then move over foot or so and count the blades in another square. And then submit a report so that you can document the status of the Grazing? And yes, that is a 100% true example of a Forest Service Allotment grazing requirement.

True story. When my brother was a little boy, (he is 58 now) he and my grandfather had to stop in at the forest service office. My grandfather was talking with the range personal and my brother was growing impatient. Finally he can't take it any more and blurts out " grampa are we going to be here all day, when are we going to go out and count the grass".

 

[ThorM465]

Bundy should be behind bars. Epic fail on part of the government.

I always enjoy watching statist seethe.

 

[BBob]

A decade after Bunkerville standoff, Bundy cattle roam free

Ten years after the weeklong confrontation, the federal government faces paralysis over how to oversee a desert ecosystem.

www.eenews.net

Seemingly no

Before Bundy Arizona had the Klump’s. The Klump’s lost the battle. There wasn’t much sympathy for the Klump’s around here. They routinely ran the public off public land they had leases on. They acted like they owned all of it. They were an example of a bad rancher IMO.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/meet-the-klumps-blms-pre-bundy-roundup-nightmare/

 

[Coyote Commander]

Im curious - what do you think the percentage of "responsible" management occurs - especially in a dry year?

What happens to the irresponsible operators?

Oh im certain you’ll disagree, but I think the majority of it is handled responsibly.

I spend a lot of time on state and federal land all over the place and it usually is no better or worse than the private stuff adjacent.

Is there abuse? Sure there is. And it should be dealt with when it arises, fines/restitution, loss of lease, etc. But that’s kind of a different topic.

 

[jkoehle1]

Oh im certain you’ll disagree, but I think the majority of it is handled responsibly.

I spend a lot of time on state and federal land all over the place and it usually is no better or worse than the private stuff adjacent.

Is there abuse? Sure there is. And it should be dealt with when it arises, fines/restitution, loss of lease, etc. But that’s kind of a different topic.

I dont disagree with that at all actually.