Idaho Trying to Protect Ranchers

Bighorn legislation could come back to bite ranchers
- Idaho Statesman
Published: 04/20/09

Gov. Butch Otter must decide this week whether to sign a bill that would require the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to kill or remove bighorn sheep from public land where domestic sheep graze.

Signing Senate Bill 1175 will undercut a collaborative process he set up under the auspices of Fish and Game and the Idaho Department of Agriculture. And a House leader who supports the bill acknowledges it will play into the hands of activists who want to force sheep ranchers off public lands.

But lawmakers are so mad they can't help themselves.

The Idaho Legislature passed the bill with huge majorities because many members think Ron Shirts of Weiser and his family were treated unfairly when a 1997 agreement over transplanting bighorn sheep to Hells Canyon was overruled by a federal court. A federal judge ordered the Shirts to remove their domestic sheep from Smith Mountain in the Payette National Forest to prevent them from passing disease to bighorns.

House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, a cattle rancher, sees the issue as the latest in a familiar, and to him disturbing, trend in which protecting an iconic species becomes a surrogate for another agenda - this time driving sheep ranchers off of public land.

Jon Marvel, is executive director of the Western Watersheds Project.

Marvel resents being singled out as the voice of thousands of people in and out of Idaho who share his goals and love of native species and places. That's because his open disdain for ranchers, and especially the cowboy culture, undercuts the power of his cause. Read More

There comes a point in time when you finally have to draw that line in the sand and make your stand. The Idaho Legislature has apparently been backed into that corner and is now ready to do what it takes to protect their ranchers and our food supply. The animal rights activists and environmentalists are practically salivating at the opportunity to eliminate agriculture from public lands. If they get it done, how do we replace this lost resource. Remember, it’s only a resource if we can use it, otherwise it’s scenery and that won’t fill your stomach.

Idaho Legislature Considers Horse Problems

Let them be slaughtered for food, says an Iona lawmaker who wants Congress not to ban the practice.

IDAHO - Last fall, federal workers discovered 17 domestic horses abandoned on Bureau of Land Management land in Owyhee County. This year, the agency discovered 21 horse carcasses illegally dumped in Gem County.

With cases of horse neglect, cruelty and abandonment rising as the economy weakens, "I would like Congress to back off of this and let market forces take effect the way they always were," said Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona.

Loertscher has drafted a nonbinding memorial calling on Congress to remove any prohibitions on horse slaughterhouses "so that horses that are no longer useful or people just can't afford them, that there is a market out there for them to be processed."

He acknowledges: "It's not a pleasant subject."

Several bills have come before Congress in recent years to ban horse slaughter and the exportation of horses for slaughter. None passed.

Now, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, is trying again. Read More

Quite frankly I have been amazed that so many states have taken on this problem of unwanted horses. But when the bills start coming in for the care they have to receive that will catch a government’s attention. If only there were some animal rights groups that could donate just a small portion of their nine figure budgets to operate shelters, then maybe we wouldn’t be having so many problems either.

New Research Center

Livestock center will address environment
Dairy producers provide impetus for education, research
Dave Wilkins Capital Press

Plans for a $30 million livestock research center in Idaho are moving ahead despite a slumping economy.

Fundraising efforts are continuing for the center, which will cost an estimated $25 million to $35 million, leaders of a private foundation said.

The group behind the proposed Idaho National Center for Livestock and Environmental Studies is considering the possibility of acquiring property with an existing dairy or livestock facility and modifying it rather than building all-new structures.

Idaho dairy producers have led the drive for the proposed center in an attempt to solve some of the environmental challenges facing the industry. Read More

A lot of times we hear that “factory farms” (whatever they are) are driving smaller farms out of business. But the truth of the matter is that excessive regulation does more to drive them out than anything. With environmental regulations growing exceedingly difficult to afford for smaller producers, this research center intends to work on that problem. Even though the general public is unreceptive to sound science about animal agriculture, it will always be necessary to have good data for our use.

Managing The Wolf

States will discuss wolf strategy
By JOAN BARRONStar-Tribune staff writer

CHEYENNE -- Representatives of the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will decide their strategy on the wolf decision Friday during a telephone conference call, Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg said Wednesday.

Last Friday U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, in Missoula, Mont., granted a preliminary injunction sought by environmental groups to restore the protection for wolves in the three states and halt wolf hunts.

In March, the estimated 2,000 gray wolves in the region were removed from the endangered species list. Read More

The wolf population has recovered quicker than probably anyone thought it would. It is to a point now that it needs to be managed in order to maintain a proper balance. The increased interaction between wolves and livestock and livestock owners shows the need for a management plan rather than just letting them over-populate. With a more than stable population, now is the time to put that management plan into place so those that are feeding these wolves don’t become endangered.

BLM Against the Horse Slaughter Ban

The unbridled range
Proposed slaughter ban could unleash unwanted horses on public, private land

West of Hagerman, hidden in a dusty valley flanked by bluffs and within earshot of the U.S. Air Force's thunderous bombing ranges, tribes of multi-colored horses - led by warring studs - survive in a delicate balance.

They depend on sparse patches of cheatgrass and metal water troughs - provided by the Bureau of Land Management for the horses to share with grazing cattle, elk and antelopes. Birth control limits the horses to about 150 head.

You never hear about these horses unless your cattle graze on the range. Most Idahoans only see the nearly quarter-million horses resting in Idaho's stables, lolling next to tall haystacks, earning prizes at rodeos.

But if Congress finalizes a total ban on horse slaughter for human consumption, domesticated and wild horses could merge and spread over patchworks of private and public lands with catastrophic results, Idaho equine regulators and BLM officials say. Read More

The issue of horse slaughter continues to be at the forefront of many conversations. While those of us in agriculture can continue to find more problems relating to the ban, the HSUS can only say “that’s absurd”. It is very important that horse owners have the ability to manage their animals as is necessary and that we don’t go down this slippery slope of banning the slaughter of livestock.