I am an avid hunter and was also the third generation of my family to graze public lands (BLM), so obviously those of you that want all cattle off public lands will dis-regard what I have to say, but here it is anyway.
1)Currently, there are less cattle and sheep grazing public lands than at any other time since the Taylor Grazing act.
2)If not for the Taylor Grazing act and the ability for grazing of public lands, it could very well be that these lands would be privately held, purchased generations ago for pennies an acre by ranchers who were grazing them at the time.
3)As far as AUM fees on public vs. private land, you get what you pay for. On public land, the rancher is responsible for fencing, salt, water, rotation, etc. They also wade through miles of red tape to do the right thing. E.G. our grazing association wanted to fence the cattle off a spring. (Yes, the ranchers wanted the cattle off the spring) The property that needed fenced included BLM, BOR (bureau of reclamation) and State land. 3 years later, still no fence because the 3 agencies couldn't agree on how the ranchers (at their expense) should build it.
Typically on the private lease, the owner of the pasture provides fencing, water, management and typically a better rate of gain. On our BLM, it takes 4-6 acres to support a cow/calf for 1 month. On the private pasture I have rented it is usually 1-2 cow/calfs per acre. Result: calves that are 100-150 pounds heavier at weaning than public land, therefore I will pay more for private.
4)Yes, there are some SOB ranchers that will block public lands, but that has nothing to do with grazing. Are you telling me that when the ranch is purchased by some wealthy non-rancher, the gates are wide open? Give me a break.
5)Graze till its gone? If grandpa grazed the land until its gone, what would my dad have left to graze on? If he abused it, what would I have? Sure there are some stunning examples of overgrazing, but are there slob hunters and poachers? Are we all slob hunters just because there are some stunning examples of that?
6)Gov't subsidies? Well, is it the ranchers fault that it takes 4 or 5 BLM personel to manage 1 grazing allotment? If we get rid of public land grazing, will we fire all the range managers? Doubtful. According to some of the arguements presented here, they would have to manage the millions of elk and deer that would suddenly appear.
7)Only 3% of the cattle in the US are from public lands? That is simply not true. As stated earlier, that figure is misleading as most slaughter animals do not come directly from public lands, but, at least in the west (where we are FORTUNATE to have public lands) the majority of the cattle spend a PORTION of the year grazing on public lands.
8)Free market....its a good point, why don't we let the highest bidder take that school section or grazing allotment away from the rancher for a higher price? The basic answer is that the fee paid to the BLM/Forest Service/State is only a small part of the economic contribution of the entire ranch. Most public lands ranches would be out of business without the grazing. This means that the ranch hands would be out of business, the feed store gone, the equipment dealer gone, property taxes lost, etc. Sure, we could keep property taxes....by splitting up the deeded land into ranchettes. How good is that for wildlife, or access? How much game winters on deeded ranch lands? By the way, you cannot graze public lands without a deeded acreage base.
I could go on. I totally acknowledge that there are issues with public lands ranching, as there is with any other industry, or sport...including ours (HUNTING).
O.K. boys, fire away!
