Right On

The days seem to be passing quickly although this one has been a bit to long!  I'm inside today playing catchup on the computer.  It's beautiful weather here today but we've had a fire that has been burning up on the Beaver mountain and the valley is filled with smoke.

Saturday we moved cows on one of our BLM allotments.  The middle of the summer was great with plenty of rain and yet this last month or so has turned off very dry.  All of our ground could really use a good drink.  The cattle howeve bad r looked great.  There is a Dark Horse heifer that I'm in love with and wanted to take back to the corral so it hurt.  For lack of time, and perhaps a little patience (Dad was ready to head back to the ranch) we left her be till they come into the ranch towards the middle of the week.  The calves really are bloomy.  I had to laugh just thinking about what midwestern boys would think about our grazing allotment, I'm sure to them the feed would look scarce.  Those dry allotments are fragile, we manage them so the grazing isn't to heavy.  The feed although minimal is strong and the cattle look great.  They have to trail a mile or so back and forth to water so the calves will come in good and solid.

We pictured WLE Right On, our new herd sire.  The picturing conditions where less then ideal and I defiantly had a good exercise by the time we got him done, he had free roam of two pastures.  I was glad that Steven was there to help me.  He was luckily on Dad's favorite old mare Milly and had to cross the creek several times.  James came along for the ride yet waited patiently on the other side of Right Hand (a creek that runs into the maine fork of Asay Creek) while Steven tried to persuade the bull that he wanted to stay put.  We ended up getting him pictured in while standing in a marshy meadow with about two inches of water, my boots are getting a little worn through as the summer comes to an end but they held their own and my feet stayed moderately dry.  James was pretty dissapointed that his favorite horse Cricket wasn't there to ride but cheered up pretty fast.  Oh to have the worries of a four year old when the worst thing about your day is the horse you have to ride, of course that put's me in a sour mood once in a while to lol!  Dad thought it was just hillarious.

The cattle are coming home in larger numbers now, a few of them stop along the way in ideal little honey holes for them, the only problem is the pristine pasture thats a quick stop of a solid munch is also the front lawn of the cabins along the Mammoth and Tommy Creek.  Both the Josea's are up there today making sure the cattle keep Asay Creek as the maine goal and stay their course.

Our prayers are with all those who are suffering from the floods, we hope and pray for you in this time of trial.  I can't imagine watching a year's worth of hard work disappearing before your eyes.

Jeannie

Fall is here to stay

It's amazing just how fast summer has left us.  The water on the meadow is on it's last change before being turned off for the good.  It's rather bittersweet, a bit more bitter than sweet lol!  Although I love fall, winter follows all to soon.  

Our second crop of hay was great, we fertilized everything after first crop and our second competed for tonage.  The first frost hit hard about three weeks ago, all the cattails are now brown and the milkweed is all crinkled up.  Summer is definatly gone.  It's still warm here during the day but you better have a jacket handy in the morning.

We've got most of the hiefers for the sale in.  It's been fun getting them all gathered up.  Right now there are 18 and we've cut and added a few times in the first initial draft.  They are all done bawling and started on feed good so my nights are getting a little quieter! 

The cattle are starting to head down off of the forest, as soon as it get's to cold they head for home.  They are rather pampered, they know where the feed is a little sweeter!  I'm excited for those calves home.  Dad ordered vaccine today.

Federal WILD HORSE AND BURRO STRATEGY PROGRAM

Bureau of Land Management

Washington D.C.

RE: Federal WILD HORSE AND BURRO STRATEGY PROGRAM

To Whom It May Concern:

I am sending you my comments on how my family and I along with thousands of others in this area feel about wild horses.  There are many thousands of these horses in our county and on our ranges.  We have grown up with these horses.

The main source of income and the economy of the rural towns of the western United States is derived from livestock, both cattle and sheep.  We are dependent on these ranges for our livelihood.  Whereas, these wild horses contribute nothing to these economies of these rural towns, but are a great expense to the taxpayers of America.

These wild horses multiply and increase very rapidly.  Their numbers get far above what the ranges can handle.  Therefore the excess must be gathered and removed so that the populations can be maintained at a level to have ecological balance on the range. If these numbers aren’t kept at the ranges carrying capacity they will beat and overgraze these ranges and starve to death.  Horses eat grass off so closely that they are very hard on the range.  The BLM does a good job to gather the excess number.  Without these gathers the land suffers, wildlife suffers, livestock will suffer, and ultimately the horses will suffer. 

The ranchers in our area and a majority of the west have developed and maintained the water sources these horses use to drink and survive.  The horses run on ranges where emergency drought conditions threaten the health of the herd.  Some of these ranges are burned with wildfires and these areas must be rested to let the range revegetate. Most of these horses live on ranges with very limited moisture.  Through overstocking and overgrazing these delicate dessert plants can be killed out and it takes decades for them to reestablish.   

We feel very strongly that there needs to be a greater increase in the use of fertility control to slow down population growth.  Castration and spaying of mares is by far the best method.  Emmimo contraceptives and other hormones also help.  We also are in favor of introducing biological sterile male mules to reduce the number of mares foaling on the range.

We think that any unadopted wild horses should sell without limitation.  The horse market is now very bad.  BLM needs to sell these horses for $50.00 or even $25.00 in order to get a bunch of them sold so that the government can get rid of some of them and cut down expenses.  We also favor selling them to other countries in North and South America and overseas.

We love and have grown up with horses, but there comes a time when horses get old, sick, or lame that it is better to slaughter them than to let them starve and suffer.  We strongly feel that we need some horse slaughter plants in this country.  When the ones we had where closed down it has just killed the horse market on all types of horses.  The wild horse and Burro Act of 1971 requires the BLM to humanly euthanize any unadoptable wild horses or burros. The Europeans and Asians like horse meat.  It is a very profitable market.  We need to take advantage of this because it will greatly increase the income of rural America and again make the horse market much more profitable.

WE AND EVERYONE THAT I HAVE EVER TALKED TO ARE VERY STRONGLY OPPOSED TO PUTTING THESE HORSES ON AREAS WHERE THEY CURRENTLY DON’T AND HAVE NOT EXISTED.  The Federal government owns over 75% of the land in Utah, more in Nevada, and almost as much in the other 10 Western States.  We do not want you acquiring any more land. 

I haven’t found anyone else in my area that even knew about this comment period or that you want to implement a new Wild horse plan.  I saw an article in a paper that was published 105 miles from here and it told about the 60 day comment period, but it failed to say when it began or when it ended and it didn’t say where to send it to.  I have had to make 20 phone calls to find this information.  YOU HAVE GOT TO DO A BETTER JOB INFORMING PEOPLE ABOUT THESE CHANGES AND MAKE SRUE THAT THE DATES ARE IN THE ARTICLE AND WHERE THEY ARE TO BE SENT.

Please give our comments your most serious consideration.  Thank you.

Respectfully

Gilbert T. Yardley & Family

P.O. Box 288

Beaver, Utah 84713

Phone: 435-438-2424

       435-310-0041