Another reason to be proud (lease, co-op, loan)

[clearwater66]

This is not me but a quote:

By: Joan McCarter

I think it's about time that the non-crazy Western ranchers get some equal national media time. Because they're not all federal government-hating, "wise use," sagebrush rebelling, gun-toting crazies—even in a state like Idaho. One of Idaho's most influential cattle ranchers, and conservationists is proof of that. His name was Bud Purdy, and in his 96 years, he became sort of a legend in the state. Unfortunately, he passed away this week, but this remembrance from the Idaho Stateman's Rocky Barker tells the story.

Purdy, 96, led the ranching industry into rest and rotation grazing on public lands that both protected the range and improved cattle production. He duck-hunted and skied with Ernest Hemingway and hosted Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper at his Picabo Ranch. He helped start the Idaho Cattle Association, led the University of Idaho Foundation as president and was chairman of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. In addition to the ranch, he and his late wife Ruth owned the Picabo Store, the Picabo Elevator and Silver Creek Supply, a seed business. […]
Purdy donated a 3,500-acre conservation easement on all of the ranch along Silver Creek in the 1990s to the Nature Conservancy, adjacent to its own Silver Creek Preserve. Purdy didn’t even take the tax break on the easement valued at $7 million. […]
He loved the cattle business, he explained to writer, producer and author Steve Stuebner in an article in 2012 for the Idaho Rangeland Commission (which he co-founded). "Every morning, you get up and do something different," he said. "You turn out on the range and ride a horse every day. Even now, I go out and make sure the water is OK, check the fences and make sure the gates are closed.
"It's just a constant going out there and doing it," Purdy said. "I was never a cowboy, but I've ridden a million miles."

As one of my good friends here in Idaho wrote on Facebook, "He loved his land so much he owned it and when owning it wasn't enough to preserve it for future generations, he figured out a way to do that." Cliven Bundy doesn't represent the West. He doesn't represent cattle ranchers. He represents a minority of right-wing cranks who are good at making a lot of noise through threats of violence. He's also nothing more than a common crook.
If you're looking for an emblematic man of the West, it's not Bundy. It's Bud Purdy.

[banjomike]

One of the best things Mr. Purdy helped to develop was a newer and much different way of rotating livestock on the range to keep the graze healthy and productive in all climate situations.
His plan involved moving cattle onto fresh range in greater concentrations using less area. The cows eat the grasses down further than before in a shorter length of time, and then are moved off that area for the rest of the season. The range that greens up early is used first, and the range that greens last is the last to be grazed.

This imitates the way the native animals- elk, buffalo, deer, etc. grazed for thousands of years. The native grasses all adapted to this, but ranchers had never imitated what the native animals did before. The good ranchers always rotated their herds, but in ways that followed agriculture more closely, or was done in ways that helped them more than helping the land.

The new practice is still catching on, and it requires additional expense in fencing and more attention to the range than the old ways, but advances in electrified fencing have cut the costs considerably over the past decade or so.

There always have been and always will be ranchers like Bundy, who overgraze whatever range they have access to, year after year. Those guys have always been a problem for the ranchers who use better range management, as their cattle always push against their fence until it goes down somewhere and the cows go onto another rancher's land where the grass is much better.
Neighbors are neighbors. There are always good ones and a few bad ones, and people deal with bad neighbors in the suburbs pretty much the same as on the range. Most times, it's easier on the mind to push the trespassing cows out of a pasture and fix the fence than repeated confrontation year after year, but the irritation factor never changes.

Most guys like Bundy will finally play their string out and will lose their lease, sell out, or find somewhere else to graze down to dirt. They all end up losing their cattle eventually one way or another, but they can carry on for decades before that happens.
We had a less egregious neighbor for almost 30 years who did this. How bad he got depended on how dry the year was.
He owned some deeded land, but depended on Association ground much more than us, and was more careful on the Association range. He sold out 10 years ago, and his place went cheap because the range was shot. A decade later, it's still recovering.

The Cattleman's Associations were formed 100 years ago as a way to co-op federal and state rangeland in much bigger pieces than single ranchers could afford. They were most often the very first rangeland conservators, and the dues required are always lower than a lease or a purchase.
A lot of Associations are now closed in their membership; a beginning rancher who wants to join either has to apply for membership and wait until a member quits (or dies), or can buy out a member's membership. A membership is now worth a lot of money, and has become a way to get retirement income for some old cattlemen who want to go rock on the porch instead of getting in the saddle anymore.

Memberships are also a way of allowing a younger generation of a ranching family to take over the operation. Many memberships are transferred to the kids before a rancher dies, or left in the will for them. As long as a family keeps their dues up to date, the association range can be used, even if the member has no more cattle. A member can charge a fee for grazing another person's livestock legitimately, and for many families who no longer ranch, this income can be very important. The only requirement is the range has to always meet the association's standards and practices.

I've seen many families who have to go borrow a term loan to meet their dues when times are hard. Association membership has real collateral value, and eventually, the membership always pays off the loan and pays a profit.

I can't understand why Bundy allowed his dues to lapse; they were certainly extremely valuable to him, just as they were to his ancestors.

My ancestors homesteaded some of our range when open range use ceased, and they joined the Idaho Cattlemen's Association in 1919. My great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my father all paid their dues lifelong, and we have continued to do the same after my Dad died 24 years ago. My brother's kids are preparing to continue when they get the ranch in another 10 years or so.
Sometimes we have all had to dig deep to do it, but God quit making good dirt and water a long time ago. (an old family credo)

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by banjomike

One of the best things Mr. Purdy helped to develop was a newer and much different way of rotating livestock on the range to keep the graze healthy and productive in all climate situations.
His plan involved moving cattle onto fresh range in greater concentrations using less area. The cows eat the grasses down further than before in a shorter length of time, and then are moved off that area for the rest of the season. The range that greens up early is used first, and the range that greens last is the last to be grazed.

This imitates the way the native animals- elk, buffalo, deer, etc. grazed for thousands of years. The native grasses all adapted to this, but ranchers had never imitated what the native animals did before. The good ranchers always rotated their herds, but in ways that followed agriculture more closely, or was done in ways that helped them more than helping the land.

The new practice is still catching on, and it requires additional expense in fencing and more attention to the range than the old ways, but advances in electrified fencing have cut the costs considerably over the past decade or so.

There always have been and always will be ranchers like Bundy, who overgraze whatever range they have access to, year after year. Those guys have always been a problem for the ranchers who use better range management, as their cattle always push against their fence until it goes down somewhere and the cows go onto another rancher's land where the grass is much better.
Neighbors are neighbors. There are always good ones and a few bad ones, and people deal with bad neighbors in the suburbs pretty much the same as on the range. Most times, it's easier on the mind to push the trespassing cows out of a pasture and fix the fence than repeated confrontation year after year, but the irritation factor never changes.

Most guys like Bundy will finally play their string out and will lose their lease, sell out, or find somewhere else to graze down to dirt. They all end up losing their cattle eventually one way or another, but they can carry on for decades before that happens.
We had a less egregious neighbor for almost 30 years who did this. How bad he got depended on how dry the year was.
He owned some deeded land, but depended on Association ground much more than us, and was more careful on the Association range. He sold out 10 years ago, and his place went cheap because the range was shot. A decade later, it's still recovering.

The Cattleman's Associations were formed 100 years ago as a way to co-op federal and state rangeland in much bigger pieces than single ranchers could afford. They were most often the very first rangeland conservators, and the dues required are always lower than a lease or a purchase.
A lot of Associations are now closed in their membership; a beginning rancher who wants to join either has to apply for membership and wait until a member quits (or dies), or can buy out a member's membership. A membership is now worth a lot of money, and has become a way to get retirement income for some old cattlemen who want to go rock on the porch instead of getting in the saddle anymore.

Memberships are also a way of allowing a younger generation of a ranching family to take over the operation. Many memberships are transferred to the kids before a rancher dies, or left in the will for them. As long as a family keeps their dues up to date, the association range can be used, even if the member has no more cattle. A member can charge a fee for grazing another person's livestock legitimately, and for many families who no longer ranch, this income can be very important. The only requirement is the range has to always meet the association's standards and practices.

I've seen many families who have to go borrow a term loan to meet their dues when times are hard. Association membership has real collateral value, and eventually, the membership always pays off the loan and pays a profit.

I can't understand why Bundy allowed his dues to lapse; they were certainly extremely valuable to him, just as they were to his ancestors.

My ancestors homesteaded some of our range when open range use ceased, and they joined the Idaho Cattlemen's Association in 1919. My great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my father all paid their dues lifelong, and we have continued to do the same after my Dad died 24 years ago. My brother's kids are preparing to continue when they get the ranch in another 10 years or so.
Sometimes we have all had to dig deep to do it, but God quit making good dirt and water a long time ago. (an old family credo)

Love that we have a native Idahoan with a ranching background to explain further. Great post!