Grazing fees, the economics of elk and cattle

Interesting point. Begs the question: should the taxpayer be subsidizing (whether directly or through the deterioration of our public land etc.) less productive land just so that it is cost competitive? An analogy: would you want your dollars to go to a contractor so that they could build the an over-engineered bridge through a badland, or not spend as much money and build a road around the marsh...

Plenty of Montana ranchers would shoot me for saying it but if you need a bunch of gov advantage to be profitable than maybe we all need to reevaluate how much we need Montana beef.
I dont know what the answer is. I'm a Libertarian, so I'm more for the marketplace providing the solution. Part of me says, hell, we subsidize the shit out of tobacco, milk, chips, illegal aliens, old people, the healthcare industry, the defense industry, the teachers union, etc. etc. etc. There are bigger fish to fry. I also think this is our history, our heritage for the country. The payments the ranchers make help to contribute to.....money to feed the govt's corruption. I don't have a strong opinion on this. We really have a mess. Once you let the camel's nose under the tent, you are up shit creek. It's a massive problem through the whole country. I'm praying for a debt crisis which forces some very tough decisions.
 
How about the coal, power lines, mines, timber, green energy, oil & gas, and farming in general? Communication lines?

Thats the argument that never ends.
Should we just shut it all down?

Way I see it, if you use any of the above, no bitching allowed. You don’t like it,,, vote with your wallet. Stop using it. Capitalist way by the way. Remember Bud Light??
 
Another way to look at it is, if you use it, you're the only one allowed to bitch. I mean, why shouldn't we have a say in where it comes from? Just playing devil's advocate.
That’s actually fair. I get it. But I guess what I’m saying is if you use it and have a bitch, apply yourself to the remedy. As you and many others have. I hope that makes sense. I just get tired of hearing the pointless, endless complaints from those that won’t apply themselves
 
Another great example of pork barrel subsidy that plays right into my backyard and expertise is wildland firefighting. You wanna talk about a joke. Makes grazing and green energy look like child’s play.

Its got to the point that all of us contractors that play the game just refer to it as the redneck stimulus
 
I can afford non subsided beef. I don’t remember the last time I bought beef but if I did by beef… I can afford it.

I think we need to stop supporting ranching subsidies and artificial profits at the expense of wildlife.
 
I haven't put beef in my grocery cart in years. Only time I'm paying for beef is if I order a nice steak while out to eat. I'd think there's a good handful of people here who could say the same thing...
 
I can afford non subsided beef. I don’t remember the last time I bought beef but if I did by beef… I can afford it.

I think we need to stop supporting ranching subsidies and artificial profits at the expense of wildlife.



According to these - 6% of cattle utilize public land and they consume 1.7% of all of their feed on public land. Earlier - i pointed out that if all public grazing ended - we wouldnt see much difference in price. You also might have missed that grazing can be highly beneficial - or not researched modern ecological grazing methods like @sclancy27 pointed out.

My conclusion after this thread - there are ranches that heavily subsidize our public land (adding water, improving forage/ecology, stewardship) and there are ranches subidized by our government. The existing arrangement needs improvement, but incentivizing stewardship and responsible grazing is something more within grasp than hoping grazing fees become market rate.
 
Last edited:
I can afford non subsided beef. I don’t remember the last time I bought beef but if I did by beef… I can afford it.

I think we need to stop supporting ranching subsidies and artificial profits at the expense of wildlife.
is Pittman Roberts a wildlife subsidy?
 
Back
Top