When someone looks after the means of production, it tends to be more productive.
Families who have farmed or ranched land tend to know how to be the best stewards of that land, especially if they have been doing so for decades or even centuries.
They are generally far more qualified to care for it than someone with a newly minted BA in wildlife management.
You are so right Joe,
There is this knee-jerk reaction that insists that ranchers overgraze their range permits and are ruining the land. This is ridiculous of course; ranchers in the west survive on weight gain on their calves which they market in the fall.
If cattle producers degrade their grazing permit, they are insuring their demise.