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Can Trump Solve America's Wild Horses Crisis?
americanthinker.com ^ | 3/31/2020 | Bill Croke

Posted on 03/31/2020 8:45:34 AM PDT by rktman

Approximately 88,000 mustangs roam 27 million acres of BLM rangelands (where they compete with two million head of domestic cattle for grass on leased grazing allotments) in ten Western states. Roughly 18,000 foals are produced yearly. In 2018 11,500 horses were rounded up and corralled in BLM "holding facilities," where they were adopted. All this (the roundups, the holding facilities, feeding, the BLM adoption process bureaucracy, etc.) costs taxpayers $81 million annually. The Trump administration seeks a target number of 27,000 horses, or about a thousand horses per million acres of rangeland. Acting BLM director William Perry Pendley has stated that the status quo "wreaks havoc" on the public rangelands.

A mature wild horse weighs on average of 850 pounds and will consume 25 pounds of grass per day. Cattle weigh up to 400 pounds more and eat about the same amount of grass daily. Unlike horses, cattle are not selective in their grazing and thus do more damage to the range. Two million cows are currently grazing on 155 million acres of BLM leases, feral horses on 27 million acres. To look at two states in particular: Nevada ranchers have access to 65% of BLM rangeland statewide; in Wyoming, it's 75%.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: livestock; meat; mustangsally; tasty
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To: rellimpank
I will no doubt get flamed for this but suggest that the only sensible solution is sale to the French for food and make dog and cat food out of most of the rest--

LOL...I enjoy watching them as I travel in the loneliest parts of Nevada and Utah. But I do admit it is expensive to deal with the problem. I'm contacting my legislators to encourage them to cancel the PBS/NPR budgets to help cover the bill for a last vestige of the old west.

21 posted on 03/31/2020 9:09:45 AM PDT by PerConPat ( A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground..Mencken)
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To: nuke_road_warrior
Another problem solved by secession. The states get their land back. Central planning is an abysmal failure.

When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1821

22 posted on 03/31/2020 9:14:49 AM PDT by SanchoP (Secede!)
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To: rktman

I know they cause a lot of damage but to me eating horse meat is akin to dining on dog flesh.


23 posted on 03/31/2020 9:16:08 AM PDT by dainbramaged (That information is classified. Request denied.)
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To: All

Have a friend from Japan and apparently horse is considered a delicacy. They are raised and slaughtered humanely from the research I did.

I gave her some advice and told her to never tell anyone in the US that she had eaten horse


24 posted on 03/31/2020 9:17:21 AM PDT by Fury
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To: Fury

I did ask her what is tasted like and she said... well, you know...


25 posted on 03/31/2020 9:17:53 AM PDT by Fury
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

There’s emus roaming freely, where?


26 posted on 03/31/2020 9:19:50 AM PDT by Cold Heart (.)
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To: rellimpank

The feral horse population was not a problem until the idiots who have no idea what they are talking about got involved.

In the early 1980’s I worked on a ranch and rode with my neighbor in central Nevada who was the last rancher who had a horse grazing permit...he actually owned horses running on a federal grazing permit.

He would gather horses in the fall, cull the undesirables, keep the ones he wanted and the rest went to slaughter.

Back in those days, the range was not over-run with wild horses and the range was in much better condition then today.

What people, and this article, fail to grasp is that cattle are on the range for a limited period...typically May to October...while feral horses graze year-around.

The open range in Nevada and other western states may never recover from the damage being done by feral horses.


27 posted on 03/31/2020 9:23:57 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse (Never fear the cow)
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To: rktman

Eat more horse!


28 posted on 03/31/2020 9:24:25 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (Guide me, O thou great redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land.)
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To: Cold Heart

Anyone remember Archie Bunker eating the stuff? Great episode. Edith: “I keep thinking of Mr. Ed.”


29 posted on 03/31/2020 9:25:02 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: Cold Heart

Anyone remember Archie Bunker eating the stuff? Great episode. Edith: “I keep thinking of Mr. Ed.”


30 posted on 03/31/2020 9:25:03 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: PerConPat

“...contacting my legislators to encourage them to cancel the PBS/NPR budgets...” No doubt they’ll see the axe on nanzi’s next proposal. LOL!


31 posted on 03/31/2020 9:32:41 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: Fury

I had horse meat on my pizza’s at Shakey’s in Great Falls, MT. How did I know? They were sued and lost in a court case. Tasted fine to me.


32 posted on 03/31/2020 9:33:30 AM PDT by FreedomFtr ((Still fighting for Freedom... and now here at home))
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To: Fury

Bwakkk Bwakkkk Bwakkk. LOL!


33 posted on 03/31/2020 9:33:37 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: rktman
Anthony Bourdain can fix the problem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBzwLKvxaAQ

34 posted on 03/31/2020 9:38:26 AM PDT by CtBigPat (Enjoy the show! - Qanon)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

“Much like the destruction of the market for emus led to wild roaming emus everywhere.”

I’ve seen one Emu in my neighborhood, a friend saw one at his place about 10 miles north of here. And a neighborhood 10 year old took an Emu egg (her daddy found while hunting) to school for show and tell. They’re around. Coyote too, but I’ve only spotted one of those heading into a Newport News neighborhood (looking for cats or rooming dogs) late one night while heading towards north to my peninsula.

Oddly enough Virginia doesn’t seem to have a wild pig problem, but SC sure does, we hunt there a few times per year.


35 posted on 03/31/2020 9:39:14 AM PDT by Clutch Martin (The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.)
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To: Fury
I gave her some advice and told her to never tell anyone in the US that she had eaten horse

I think she was kidding when she said: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

36 posted on 03/31/2020 9:42:08 AM PDT by Go Gordon (I gave my dog Grady a last name - Trump - because he loves tweets.)
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To: Fiji Hill
“ We had to grill the waiter before we were satisfied...” How did the waiter taste after grilling? 😆
37 posted on 03/31/2020 9:46:01 AM PDT by Redcitizen (Nobody needs a 10 round magazine. You need a 30 round magazine.)
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To: riverrunner

The same reason inbreeding any mammal is eventually disastrous. If inbred in the wild they go extinct,if inbred in captivity they become retarded. New bloodlines with the right characteristics breed better mammals.


38 posted on 03/31/2020 9:48:20 AM PDT by SanchoP (Secede!)
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To: CtBigPat

‘Cept he daid too!


39 posted on 03/31/2020 9:49:53 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: SanchoP

“...inbred in captivity they become retarded...” Did you find that in the Funk and Wagnell under ‘liberals’? :-)


40 posted on 03/31/2020 9:51:49 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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