Information

Bureau of Land management contractor since 1975

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What are Wild Horse Round Ups?

Wild horse roundups are necessary to maintain healthy herds of wild horses and burros out on the range. Herd numbers must be regulated by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) so that each animal on the range has plenty of food and water. BLM managed lands are multiple use – this means livestock, wild horse, burro, and wildlife numbers must be managed to help assure food and water for everything and to minimize impact on the environment.

How a Roundup Works

Pre-gather planning

Before a gather, the crew consults with local ranchers familiar with the allotment to identify water sources, terrain features, and horse locations. BLM gathers typically begin in July, after the peak of foaling season.

Helicopter herding

Helicopters are used to locate and move free-roaming horses toward a trap site. Pilots specialize in this work and adjust their approach based on terrain, herd size, and animal behavior.

Ground handling

Wranglers on the ground manage animals as they enter the trap and holding pens. Equipment includes purpose-built traps, pens, and single-deck trailers designed for wild horse transport.

Processing

Gathered animals are assessed, sorted, and prepared for transport to BLM holding facilities, where they may be offered for adoption or placed in long-term pastures.

Transport

The company operates semi trucks and single-deck trailers for moving animals from the gather site to receiving facilities. Job duration ranges from several days to several weeks depending on herd size and area.

Legal context

Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971

Under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the BLM is required to manage wild horse and burro populations on public lands. BLM-managed lands are designated multiple-use, meaning they must support livestock, wildlife, wild horses, and burros while protecting water and forage resources. The BLM determines appropriate management levels for each herd management area and contracts with companies like Cattoor to conduct gathers when populations exceed those levels.

How are Wild Horses Managed?

Our business at Cattoor Livestock Roundup Company is to help capture, process, and transport wild horses, burros, and wild cattle in the most humane way possible. We have been contracting wild horse roundups for the Bureau of Land Management (and other agencies) since 1975.

Most of the wild horses in the west range on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, (BLM.) We quote from the BLM website:

“The Bureau of Land Management protects, manages, and controls wild horses and burros under the authority of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands. The BLM manages these living symbols of the Western spirit as part of its multiple-use mission under the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act .”

One of the BLM’s key responsibilities under the 1971 law is to determine the “appropriate management level” (AML) of wild horses and burros on the public rangelands. These animals have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, about 31,000 wild horses and burros roam BLM-managed lands in 10 Western states, a population that exceeds by about 3,500 the number that can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.

To help restore the balance, the BLM gathers some wild horses and burros and offers them for adoption or sale to those individuals and groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care.

“Under the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, BLM is required to manage horses and burros only in those areas (Herd Areas) where they were found in 1971. Through land use planning, BLM evaluates each herd area to determine if it has adequate food, water, cover and space to sustain healthy and diverse wild horse and burro populations over the long term. The areas which meet these criteria are then designated as Herd Management Areas (HMAs).

What is the History of Wild Horses in North America?

The BLM says, “Although horses evolved in North America, there are many different opinions as to why no horses or burros existed on this continent at the time of European exploration. Spanish explorers reintroduced horses to North America beginning in the late fifteenth century and Native Americans helped spread horses throughout the Great Plains and the West. Until as recently as the mid-twentieth century, horses continued to be released onto public lands by the U.S. cavalry, farmers, ranchers, and miners.”

Some people believe that, at one time, there were millions of wild horses in the west. If that had been true when the white man came west, wouldn’t the Indians have been riding horses? We challenge anyone interested in the facts to check the history of the wild horses or burros in each HMA (herd management area). They will find the herds most often came from the ranchers that homesteaded or settled the land. When the 1971 law was passed, only a small percent of the millions of acres of BLM-managed land had wild horses or burros. These areas were the areas that were later made into herd management areas. The BLM Web site explains, “Under the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, BLM is required to manage horses and burros only in those areas (Herd Areas) where they were found in 1971. Through land use planning, BLM evaluates each herd area to determine if it has adequate food, water, cover and space to sustain healthy and diverse wild horse and burro populations over the long term. The areas which meet these criteria are then designated as Herd Management Areas (HMAs).” When the west was settled, was common practice for ranchers to pasture their cattle and horses on the open range. The United States Cavalry used horses for mounts until 1942. They supplied the ranchers across the west with thoroughbred studs to run with the ranchers’ bands of mares in order to raise horses for the army. Introducing well-bred stallions into the herds helped prevent inbreeding and improved the herds. Neither the ranchers or the cavalry routinely used mares as riding stock, so the mares ran in “stud bands” on the open range. These bands consisted of perhaps up to 20 mares led by a dominant mare and herded and bred by a stallion. Young male horses are pushed out of a band by the herd stallion. The young males try to capture some mares of their own or challenge an older stallion for his band. Ranchers gathered the horses they needed for their own use and that of the army. During this time, the horse herds increased. According to the BLM, horse populations on the open range will increase 15 to 20 percent a year. After the army was no longer using horses and travel became mechanized, the ranchers still gathered the best of the range horses for their own use, but since there was less demand for the horses, the herds increased and many more became wild. In most places, the wild horse and burro herds have kept increasing since the wild horse and burro law was passed in 1971 because the ranchers were no longer allowed to gather and use the horses and because horses and burros have few natural predators.

We have humanely captured over 250,000 wild horses, wild burros, and wild cattle during these years. Over the years, we have purchased and built equipment, developed techniques, and learned the best methods to assure the safety of the animals. We employ experienced helicopter pilots and wranglers that really care about the animals. All of this minimizes the stress on the animals during wild horse roundups.

What is the History of Wild Burros in North America?

The Spanish brought donkeys, called “burros” in Spanish, to North America beginning beginning in 1495. They were prized for their hardiness in arid country and became the preferred beast of burden of early miners and gold prospectors during the 1800s in the Southwest United States. They were used for carrying tools, supplies, and ore. Their sociable disposition and fondness for human companionship often allowed the miners to lead their donkeys without ropes. They simply followed behind their master. With the introduction of the steam train to the west, these donkeys lost their jobs and many were turned loose into the American deserts. The wild burros on the western rangelands descend from animals that ran away, were abandoned, or were freed. BLM estimates about 2800 burros range on their management areas today.

What makes a successful humane wild horse roundup?

First, a trap site must be selected. Preliminary scouting is done to find the natural routes horses travel. The capture site needs to be close to the animals and somewhere that they would naturally go, so they do not have to be forced but will travel there more or less on their own. Proper pens and wings must be built that are constructed of materials and in a manner that will not harm the horses and that will make gathering, handling, and sorting easy for animals and workers alike.Second, the helicopter pilot must be experienced and understand livestock. He needs to know how they will travel and when to speed up and when to slow down. He must also be very skilled and very patient. Then the wranglers must work quietly together. They also must be very patient, understand and care about the animals.

Is the BLM, because of pressure from the ranchers, trying to remove all of the wild horses and burros from the range?

Absolutely not. First of all the ranchers are not asking to have all the wild horses or burros removed. The ranchers love to see healthy wild horses and burros out on the range just like you and I do. They are just asking that the BLM be able to manage the herds at the numbers set at “appropriate management level,” AML. This is the number of wild horses and burros the BLM has – after studying and monitoring the range – determined can survive along with the optimum determined numbers of livestock and wildlife so that there is plenty of food and water for everything. We just finished a wild horse roundup and the area permittee came and watched and would point out horses that were descendents of ones they use to ride. He also had favorite ones that he watched out on the range. This is typical of all of the ranchers in the west. Today, nearly half of the Nation’s wild horses and burros live on Nevada rangelands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The current Nevada population is about 13,665 wild horses and 998 burros. Nevada’s 102 Herd Management Areas comprise nearly 16 million acres of public land.

Do you run the wild horses with the helicopter?

Helicopter roundups are the most efficient way to gather wild horses and burros. But more importantly they are the most humane way to gather. We can say this because we have gathered wild horses and burros using both methods. In the fifties and sixties and even after the law was passed until the use of helicopters was allowed, we captured wild horses using only saddle horses. When you gather wild horses and burros horseback you locate the animals and run them and hope to maybe get them to a trap. With a helicopter you can start your drive and then back off and let the animals travel at their own speed. You can not do this horseback because you have to stay close to be able to handle or turn then. Therefore, the animals will run and often the mares will run off and leave the foals behind, especially if they are small. This is what had happened before the helicopter gather that was done on the Sheldon in June of 2006. A contractor had been gathering horseback as we arrived to do the helicopter gather. After we were finished, there were, I believe, three foals found that were not with their mothers. We went back with the helicopter to locate and rescue the foals. Because of their weakened condition, it was obvious they had been bummed by the earlier horseback operation and not by the helicopter operation.

When doing a helicopter gather, you can turn the front of the herd back so the rest can catch up and you can easily cut off a mare and a small foal to leave, if necessary. You can keep track of any animal that should get tired and drop behind until the wranglers can reach it. The pilot will back way off and let the wild horses or burros travel at their own speed to the trap. This is the same technique used on many large cattle ranches to herd cattle.

When doing horseback gathers, often the animals have to be run and are followed until they are sore footed and tired enough to go where you want them to. You cause lots and lots of extra stress by chasing, instead of driving the animals. And this method is very hard on saddle horses also since they have to carry the extra weight of their rider. You will have more injuries to the wild horses and you will have injuries to the saddle horses. We have used a helicopter to drive wild horses and burros to a trap in all kinds of terrain and very seldom is there ever even a minor injury.  We do not have very many injuries but almost all occur after the animals are in the trap or in the holding facilities. Anyone who would say or even think that a horseback gather of wild horses or burros is more humane than a helicopter gather with a qualified animal herding pilot has obviously never watched or been involved in either one.

In a few isolated areas bait or water trapping can be successful. This would be in an area where there is say only one water source or where the animals aren’t very wild. But the animals and the area must be carefully studied.  Because sometimes when a water source is disturbed with a trap the animals will try to go somewhere else or just stay away from water until they are so dehydrated that, when they do finally come in the trap, they will drink and they collapse and can die.  Because there are so very few places where this will work, the numbers could never be managed this way.

Water Development

In a high desert climate, water is life. In many areas of Nevada, water, not feed, is the limiting factor for wildlife and livestock throughout much of the year.

Many mountain ranges and valleys in Nevada are covered in feed that is never touched by animals, but wildlife is very limited. The reason is obvious, it is a desert, it can be many miles or tens of miles between the nearest permanent water sources.

The greatest boon to water development for the direct benefit of wildlife and wild horses throughout the State of Nevada over the last century and a half has been our ranchers and herders.

Water developments were installed by cattle ranchers and sheepmen to the mutual benefit of their herds and the local wildlife. The many thousands of water troughs, spring boxes, water tanks, and other water developments installed by ranchers never cost the taxpayer anything, and yet our wildlife flourished as a direct result of these efforts.

Where ranchers develop the water, they have developed it in multiple locations throughout an area, usually no more than five miles apart, as opposed to the usual single guzzler wildlife organizations establish within a large area. For ranchers this makes sense, as it allows the use of a large portion of the range while minimizing weight-losing travel for their animals to water.

Installing a single water source in an area with no alternatives creates a perfect environment for predators, especially mountain lions, to prey upon animals using this single water source.

The majority of old water developments, windmills, and “spring boxes” were all installed by ranchers over the years. In modern days, with reduced grazing allotments and a negative attitude towards grazers by the federal government and state wildlife agencies, many of the ranchers are not able to use the grazing land and these water improvements are not being repaired or maintained and have dried up. All over the deserts of Nevada there are dry tanks and water troughs where once water was funneled into tanks during spring runoff, or pumped with windmills or gas pumps. These old wells are dry, and wildlife and wild horses are going thirsty. When the ranchers leave, the water dries up and the wildlife either goes elsewhere or dies.

How can you watch a wild horse roundup?

Some of the lies being circulated on the internet this summer contain statements that say the contractors and BLM do not want and sometimes do not allow people to watch wild horse roundups. As contractors, we always work with the BLM to accommodate visitors and photographers. We find a place where they can see and be safe and not interfere with the gather operations. Just send the BLM and E-Mail at wildhorse@blm.gov and the local BLM can make arrangements.

Things that we do to assure the welfare of foals.

Several horse interest groups in their zealous attempts to stop helicopter wild horse roundups have made it appear like our organization, CLR, has no regard for what happens to foals during a wild horse roundup. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our concern starts with the pilot when he first spots a band of wild horses or burros that he will herd to the trap. The pilot will follow the herd and allow even very tiny foals to travel with the herd. Under certain circumstances, such as a mare with a very young foal, the pilot will cut the mare and colt off from the others and leave them out on the range. If the pilot sees the foal or even a weak or old animal is getting tired, he radios the wranglers at the trap and they go out with saddle horses and a horse trailer and load and transport the foal or other animal to the trap. We have even on occasion put a young foal in the helicopter and brought it in to the trap. Once the animals are captured, the gates are shut. When it is safe for the wranglers, they start to remove any small or weak animals from the others in order to prevent any injuries. We have an alley with gates and carefully sort the foals into a separate pen. The foals and any weak or very old animals are always hauled separately. Once at the holding facility, the wet mares and foals are marked and put into the same pen. We closely monitor this pen and make sure the mares and foals are paired up. We always have Foalac (milk supplement) available and will separate and hand feed a foal that maybe has a young mother with no milk or one that has already lost it’s mother out on the range before the gather or on a very rare occasion a mare will be so wild she won’t settle down and let the foal nurse. We pride ourselves on the care of foals during capture, processing and transporting.