A
Anonymous
Guest
I had to go to town today- and as normal the old truck pulled into the Waterhole :shock: :wink: :lol:
Anyway several of the local ranchers were there and in talking with the manager of probably the largest grazing association (community pasture) in the state (10,000 plus animal units) he was telling us that they had been notified by the State Office that the Feds (BLM, F&W) was looking at changing the way they figured an AU (animal unit) and AUM (animal unit month) based on size of animal and weight of gain....
He said they had been notified that (probably starting next year) the yearlings would have to be weighed in upon arrival in the spring- and again in the fall when moved off- and that the AUM's stocking rates/billing would be figured on a size of yearling and weight of gain basis in the fall--- and that pairs stocking rate would be figured on the basis of an 1100-1200 lb cow with a calf counting one unit- and for .1 AU being added to the count for every hundred Lbs the cow is over 1200 lbs- meaning those horse size cattle that weigh 1700-1800 lbs would count for 1.5-1.6 AU and the AUM's billing/stocking rates would be figured and cut/raised accordingly for the next year based on the size of the cows being run...
He said that as it was explained to him- this average cow weight would probably be determined by the average weight of the open/culls being weighed off in the fall......
I've wondered for sometime when those that jumped on this "bigger, better, faster" trend- and those that continued to run the traditional sized cows- would come into differences- because there has been an unfair disparity in figuring number of cattle ran on a limited amount of grass with some of these saddle horse sized cattle...
Anyway several of the local ranchers were there and in talking with the manager of probably the largest grazing association (community pasture) in the state (10,000 plus animal units) he was telling us that they had been notified by the State Office that the Feds (BLM, F&W) was looking at changing the way they figured an AU (animal unit) and AUM (animal unit month) based on size of animal and weight of gain....
He said they had been notified that (probably starting next year) the yearlings would have to be weighed in upon arrival in the spring- and again in the fall when moved off- and that the AUM's stocking rates/billing would be figured on a size of yearling and weight of gain basis in the fall--- and that pairs stocking rate would be figured on the basis of an 1100-1200 lb cow with a calf counting one unit- and for .1 AU being added to the count for every hundred Lbs the cow is over 1200 lbs- meaning those horse size cattle that weigh 1700-1800 lbs would count for 1.5-1.6 AU and the AUM's billing/stocking rates would be figured and cut/raised accordingly for the next year based on the size of the cows being run...
He said that as it was explained to him- this average cow weight would probably be determined by the average weight of the open/culls being weighed off in the fall......
I've wondered for sometime when those that jumped on this "bigger, better, faster" trend- and those that continued to run the traditional sized cows- would come into differences- because there has been an unfair disparity in figuring number of cattle ran on a limited amount of grass with some of these saddle horse sized cattle...
