Free Republic

Richie DeVillier steered his boat around floating carcasses. His son leaned over the edge of the boat, holding a calf's head above the floodwaters as they tried to lead the shell-shocked animal to higher ground. Many of the living cattle they had found so far would not survive the next few days. Their bodies were already bloated from standing in water for so long, the coarse black hair sloughed away in patches. The DeVilliers lost about 60 of their 300 cows and calves, plus seven horses. [snip] "We were artificially in the bowl that's created by the highway construction," he...

Moguls are lavishing ever-larger fortunes on the rustic life, prompted in part by the pandemic.. ... America remains one of the last countries where so many individuals own colossal swaths of land, some controlling acreage larger than Delaware. The West, a lodestar in the nation’s story, holds an enduring allure for modern land barons. ... Americans have long looked West to enrich their holdings, panning for mineral rights. The Rockefellers accumulated massive fiefdoms of land, eventually donating much of their holdings to the National Park Service. But the pandemic prompted a Western land grab, with moguls fleeing the cities for...

Three environmental advocacy groups Monday filed suit to block the renewal of a 10-year grazing permit for Hammond Ranches Inc., run by Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond. Western Watersheds Project, the Center for Biological Diversity and Wildearth Guardians filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Pendleton against the interior secretary, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the district manager of the land bureau’s Burns District office. The three groups argue that then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s renewal of the grazing permit after the Hammonds were issued pardons violated federal administrative regulations because it failed to consider the...

Check out this video of the Land deal Reid-Bunkerville 93 acres owned by Harry Reid adjacent to Bundy's ranch. According to this information Reid has run 52 ranchers out of business during this period. BLM is also involved in buying land in the area where the $5 Billion Chinese Solar Program was planned.

Thousands of Ranches Abandoned in Northern Mexico Due to Violence MEXICO CITY – Thousands of ranches have been abandoned in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas by owners who do not want to end up like Alejo Garza, a rancher who died defending his property from a drug cartel. Garza, considered by a hero by many in the region, refused to hand over his property to a drug cartel, which gave him 24 hours to leave his property. The 77-year-old rancher barricaded himself inside his house and took on 30 cartel gunmen, killing four of them and seriously wounding two...

Four gray wolves released near Meeteetse on Feb. 14 may have been illegally captured on his land. The rancher, Frank Robbins, was among more than 40 people attending a March 2 Hot Springs County Commission meeting to lodge objections to the way federal agencies have managed wolves in the area. The group ..."to tell the feds that monitoring wolves on private property would be considered trespass," ... "We were caught unawares," ... the commissioners "are concerned about what (wolves) could do...We don't see any of the plus side." whether any laws may have been violated in the case of low-flying...

Some lawmakers believe consumers have the right to know they're eating meat produced in America, and are trying to re-instate a law --- included in the 2002 Farm Bill but never implemented --- to do just that. Supporters of country of origin labeling, otherwise known as COOL, say it will boost consumer confidence and fatten the wallets of livestock farmers by creating more demand for U.S. meat. Opponents believe COOL will cost too much money for little or no benefit. They don't believe most consumers are willing to pay the cost of program, which will be passed on by processors....

Start all over with the Trans Texas Corridor. And let the legislature oversee future highway planning. That was the gist of the testimony delivered by TFB State Director Albert Thompson on behalf of the Texas Farm Bureau during a recent Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security hearing on the massive transportation project. "...it appears to us that the legislature has given the Texas Department of Transportation what amounts to a blank check worth approximately $180 billion," Thompson said on Feb. 9. "We would feel more comfortable if citizens had the opportunity to voice opinions with elected officials who should...

...Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are among the major players pitching working farms and ranches as an alternative investment. The idea is to buy the land and then let a private bank or trust company manage the cattle, corn, soybeans and almond orchards. Bank of America says its private bank unit now manages more than two million acres of ranch and farmland.... JPMorgan Private Client Services says it now manages about two million acres of land. A handful of trust companies and other banks, such as Wachovia Corp., also manage ranches and farms for high-net-worth...

By ROBERT GEHRKE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- A severe drought has prompted the federal government to open reserve land in seven states for emergency grazing. "The extreme drought has devastated many farmers and ranchers, especially in Western states,'' Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Wednesday in announcing she would allow grazing on acreage held as part of the Conservation Reserve Program. The program pays farmers and ranchers not to use portions of their land that are susceptible to erosion or have other wildlife or vegetation concerns. Wednesday's announcement will allow ranchers in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and...