At todays cattle prices, it appears your 800 head on private property would be unsustainable, but that is beside the point. azkathy has just explained in depth what ranchers in the 12 Western States have to deal with. Out west of Tejas the BLM rules, and ranchers have no or very limited choice in the matter.
The majority of land is in Federal hands when it should be in State or private hands, and as such it is unproductive in the extreme which costs you and I tax money to support the BLM and Forest service doing a very poor management job.
Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution explains in depth and specifically enumerates what the Government is allowed to do. It has outgrown it’s usefulness other than national defense, and I at times question how well they are doing on that subject.
The bottom line is Western ranchers would love to not have to deal with Government agencies, but it is a way of life. In most cases they have no or little choice, in order to save their private grazing land, they have to have summer range to preserve their own grass and that is where BLM and Forest Service come into the picture. If you have to buy hay in the winter, depending on cattle prices, thinning the herd becomes a real option.
Total I’m running 576 head all on our place, we’ve had a wet year and the pastures held up as well as all the stock ponds. Nice crop of calves coming in and the weather though cold hasn’t been extreme. We average 400 to 600 head a year depending on rain. Whether that land is owned by the Feds hands or owned by the states hands it’s still not owned by you which puts you dependent on somebody else for your livelihood, something I care not to do. This is my place and I make the rules.