BLM seeks bids for range for wild horses

[Faster horses]

I have heard this is pretty lucrative....

BLM Seeks Bids for New Off-Range Pastures to Care for Wild Horses

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking proposals for new off-range pasture facilities that can provide a free-roaming environment for wild horses removed from Western public lands.

Proposals will be accepted from the following states through April 22, 2015: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.

One or more off-range pasture contracts will be awarded and each must accommodate a minimum of 100 wild horses. The contractor must provide humane care for a one-year period, with a renewal option under BLM contract for a four-year or nine-year period.

Applicants who have never conducted business with the government must first obtain a Duns and Bradstreet number at www.dnb.com before registering at www.sam.gov/ to do business with the Federal Government. There is no fee involved.

To obtain the solicitation: (1) go to www.fedconnect.net ; (2) click on "Search Public Opportunities"; (3) under Search Criteria, select "Reference Number"; (4) put in the solicitation number "L15PS00182"; and (5) click Search" and the solicitation information will appear. The solicitation form describes what to submit and where to send it.

For assistance, visit www.blm.gov or contact Eric Pagal at (202)-591-5079/[email protected] or Ken Lund at (202) 912-7034/[email protected]. They can assist with general questions and/or coordinate a meeting for you with a local BLM contracting officer and small business specialist.

Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, as amended, the BLM manages and protects wild horses and burros while working to ensure that population levels are in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. The current free-roaming population of BLM-managed wild horses and burros is estimated to be 49,209, as of March 1, 2014, which exceeds by more than 22,500 the number determined by the BLM to be the appropriate management level. The BLM is also using population growth-suppression (PGS) measures, and is supporting research to improve existing and develop new PGS tools.

For general questions about the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, please contact 866-468-7826 or [email protected].



The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In Fiscal Year 2013, the BLM generated $4.7 billion in receipts from public lands.

 

[Denny]

Some more welfare programs. At this rate in 50 years they'll need them to feed this government dependant society. Maybe they could use them to graze the fire areas in these national forest and the wolves could help control the population. I'd just shoot them.

 

[Faster horses]

One thing we know, the government will take money from the military before they will defund saving wild horses.

 

[mrj]

FH, have you seen the horse sanctuary south of Hot Springs that Dayton Hyde built? We have only driven past it a time or two, several years ago. The horses we saw looked good. I heard him speak on the wild horse problem several times and liked his original premise that those who love and want to preserve the wild horses should foot the bills. His wife, Gerda, was involved with the Cattlewomen organization and she was a great leader for us. He was a different sort of rancher, but his heart was really in it, maybe more on the restoration/preservation of land than most. I don't know if that is still his idea, and think maybe he is mixing a commercial horse business either in with, or along side, the wild ones. Which is fine with me. I'm not sure government is a good or even an honest partner in such enterprises, tho.

Partly because we have driven by some of the facilities holding wild horses and have seen some that are deplorable, including a feedlot situation in Nevada, I believe was/is run by BLM. the horses were being fed dairy quality alfalfa at the time, which was not good for them. The dry lot situation wasn't good, either. I have seen some in other states where they seemed to be kept in crowded corrals though that may have been just during winter.

Have you seen the book "the Horse Lover" by H. Alan Day? I read it recently and it is a good read and showed a good way to care for those horses needing removal from open range situations. He is brother of Sandra Day O'Connor, retired Supreme Court Judge. The two of them wrote a book a few years ago about growing up on their family ranch in AZ, which I enjoyed a lot. They had a lot of freedom to learn things on their own when quite young. She, the elder, told of the younger siblings learning to drive their old jeep by one kneeling on the seat to steer, another on the floor to work the pedals, with some wild rides, but all survived
Alan had bought a ranch on the Rosebud Reservation, the old Arnold ranch. He had an opportunity to run some wild mustangs there when the govt. was moving them off the crowded ranges a few years ago, maybe about the same time as Hyde started the one at Hot Springs, and I believe they discussed the opportunity, at the least. Trying to comply with the govt, and to treat the horses as he believed they should be, wasn't easy, and he finally figured out a way to get the horses to cooperate, if he is factual and I have no reason to doubt his story, but am sure many ranchers probably would. Govt. seemed to require them to be put through the corrals for one or another of reasons too frequently for them to remain 'wild'. It was easier on the horses, as well as the cowboys, after they were sort of trained and accepted the minimal handling.

As so often happens, it appears that some sort of politics, envy, and such got in the way and he lost the contract. I don't believe he was making a lot of money off the deal, but others did believe it, some thought his sister influenced the deal. I'm not sure she would, as she appeared to me (we saw her in action in court once) a pretty tough and honest person, borne out to me by the fact that she helped care for her husband through years of early onset alzhiemers disease. Also Alan and his family had various other ranches and he had plenty to keep himself occupied. He was offered a good price for the ranch by the tribe and sold it to them. Not sure if he still owns the other ranch he had in SD or not.

mrj

 

[LazyWP]

I would sure talk to some of my neighbors before bragging to much on Alan Day. I think the dumbest thing he did was sell the ranch to the tribe. It went from a show place to a trash hole in less then 20 years.

 

[rancher rick]

Wild horses? Pretty touchy subject & especially south of the Medicine Line. I`m hardly qualified to offer much more than opinion & we all know all much that`s worth.
Up here in Alberta there`s been lots of controversy about "wild horses" or as some want to refer to them..."Mustangs". In west central Alberta there`s been some culls over the years & a few guys I know have gathered a bunch & taken them down to the FT Macleod abbatoir when meat prices were high. In eastern Alberta there was a big cull of the horses on the military gunnery range & a lot of folks bought what they considered "mustangs" In fact, one guy bought 150 head & was trying to sell them as Suffield Mustangs. I`d heard he was trying to register the "breed" tho` not sure he was successful
Personally, I`m a horse lover so I`m all in favor of the "wildies" running free but I`d agree that they have to be managed properly. I saw an interesting documentary a few years back on a horse program at Colarado State prison in which inmates got to work with these broncs. Does that prgram still exist?
Got a feeling this will be a topic of discussion 25 yrs from now.

 

[mrj]

I wouldn't fault Day for what was done to the ranch after he sold it. I don't think I know anyone in that neighborhood, so have no first hand information as to the condition of it now. Yes, that can and does happen sometimes, but I would hope there are some good management situations on tribal land......as if there isn't any, some of the best and most beautiful cattle ranching land in the country will be devastated, especially on the Rosebud and areas where it joins the Pine Ridge Res. Probably on all the Reservations in SD, for that matter. They cover lots of acres of wonderful cattle country.

Day did what he said upon buying that land what he hoped to do: build it up, and manage it until he could double his money by selling it. He claims he was surprised that the offer the tribe made actually filled that wish.

mrj

 

[Brad S]

I'd caution everyone, we are talking about feral animals not wild animals. This is a fact of biology, but wild is more emotionally charged.

I know of 3 horse sanctuaries in the flint hills. These deals are just wrong.

Did everyone know the blm uses animal husbandry cull practices on these so called wild animals. Ofcourse ranchers have manipulated the gene pool of these animals for over a century - they're no more wild than an Arizona herford cow

 

[Mike]

You mean those Mustangs aren't direct descendants of the horses that got away from the Spanish Conquistadors?

 

[mrj]

I agree that there most likely are few, if any, really 'wild' horses descended from the original Spanish imports to this continent. Just as in western SD, some people did just turn loose horses they no longer wanted onto land areas of sometimes unclear ownership which some people though had little to no practical or profitable use.

mrj

 

[Larrry]

In true tradition of the government. Just another item on their agenda to fruck up
They are so good at that...history proves it