[Cdt-l] Cdt-l Digest, Vol 39, Issue 38

[Rick Ostheimer]

I can vouch for what Bim wrote about responsible grazing practices.  
None of the area I passed through on the Crazy Cook route last year 
looked overgrazed to me, and I was always glad to see cattle because 
that meant there was water nearby.  One of the favorite pictures in my 
memory occurred when I set up an early camp a few miles south of 
Lordsburg on a ridgetop.  I'd just spooked a bunch of cows in the draw 
before climbing up the ridge.   While I was setting up my pad and 
sleeping bag in the tent, seventeen of them lined up side by side about 
50 yards away staring toward my tent as if to say, "What do you think 
you're doing here."  Sadly they wondered off before I got a chance to 
snap a picture.
--Handlebar

On 12/29/2010 9:31 PM, cdt-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:31:27 -0700
From: Ed Kerr<edkerr52 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Fwd:  : wild horse roundup
To:<blisterfree at yahoo.com>, cdt backcountry<cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Message-ID:<BLU158-w40C7F5B1CD4BB103F2A2E5C7030 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


Your comment about wild horses are better for the range than cattle is not true. If wild horses are left unchecked, nature is the cruelist manager of all, overpopulation results in herd management by starvation or disease.  You have a biased attitude toward cattle and the industry, using the word "rancher" as some would use the "n" word.  I love the land, I enjoy ranching in the desert southwest, and I think we as a nation should use our resources, such as BLM range, to the best use which includes sustainable ag.  Some would have us lock up everything and not use it.  In that case, their would be no wildlife or wild horses in the west due to lack of water resources, which have been provided by cattle ranchers and maintained by those ranchers.  The CDT trail through Hidalgo County is over 75 miles with no water sources, other than those provided by cattle water, which provides this life giving liquid to deer, antelope, quail, javelina, mountain lion, and much more...

I would be glad to visit with you.  I would love to show you our part of the CDT trail through our cattle ranch.  We maintain cattle numbers to not use more than 50% of the forage and grasses that grow each year from natural rainfall.  The grass stays healthy and the cattle do well, along with all the wildlife.  We rotate our cattle through different pastures throughout the year, so that some pastures are rested 6 months or more each year.  No modern  rancher would ever overgraze.  In fact, it is impossible to overgraze, cows die before they eat all the grass or destroy it.  In a drought, the feed value of the feed goes down and the cattle lose condition, we always sell off our herd during dry years.  To do otherwise would be suicidal in a business sense.

Have you been through the CDT?

Ed "Bim" Kerr
Kerr Ranch Tours
edkerr52 at hotmail.com
575.313.2606
www.kerrranchtours.com