Can Trump Solve America's Wild Horses Crisis?

americanthinker.com ^ | 3/31/2020 | Bill Croke

[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%.

[Manly Warrior]

Roast beouf... Best slice in meat in France.

Naaaayyy!

[Jack Black]

So today, there are no indigenous “wild” horses in North America. They all descend from domestic breeds brought here for other continents.

Yep. But 500 years is enough for some genetic drift. Human's have been breeding horses through that whole period to accomplish certain things humans value: bigger draft horses, faster racing horses, more fancy looking show horses.

But meanwhile the wild horses of been following their own Darwinian breeding program.

So, by now I think there are some differences. (I"m not an expert on this, I could be wrong).

I"ve seen big herds of them in Eastern Oregon. They are very cool and I am happy that they run wild in the West. The other animals in the area are antelope. People compared them with cows, but in terms of being able to live in pretty dry country, I think they are more like antelope than cows.

[GingisK]

Hold a lottery for teenage girls. They win, they get a pony. Mom and dad have to feed and shelter it.

[Verginius Rufus]

After a few generations, how different are feral horses from horses whose ancestors were never domesticated?

Horses, mammoths and other megafauna mysterious disappeared from North America. It couldn't have been the Paleo-Indians' fault, since we know that the Indians never killed more than they needed. Europeans must have somehow made it across the Atlantic, wiped out the megafauna, and then went back to Europe. Only reasonable explanation.

/s

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I love to mention on other web pages how we weep and wail over the destruction of the bison herds, but no one sheds a tear over the animals wiped out by the Indians.
Woolly Mammoth
Woolly Rhino
American camel
American horse
Giant ground sloth
and
The Long Horned bison.

[JediJones]

[riverrunner]

Grew up on a farm with all kinds of stock.

One so learned critters can be dangerous