I’m an Oregon rancher. Here’s what you don’t understand about the Bundy standoff

An interesting perspective on the Oregon situation! Whether it's east coast pundits or Portland hipsters do urbanites understand what it takes to be a rancher? My guess is probably not!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...you-dont-understand-about-the-bundy-standoff/

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I’m an Oregon rancher. Here’s what you don’t understand about the Bundy standoff.
The Obama administration has pushed our livelihood to the brink.

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By Keith Nantz January 8 at 11:45 AM
Keith Nantz is ranch manager at Dillon Land and Cattle in Maupin, Ore.

Keith Nantz on his farm. (Image courtesy of the author.)
This week, the Ammon Bundy-led seizure of a federal wildlife refuge thrust Oregon’s ranchers into the spotlight. While I don’t agree with the occupiers’ tactics, I sympathize with their position. Being a rancher was always challenging. And it has become increasingly difficult under the Obama administration.

I grew up in a ranching community in northeast Oregon. Even as a kid, I knew I wanted to be a rancher. After eight years as a firefighter, I’d saved enough to start my own business. I wanted to work on the land, raising delicious, wholesome beef for our growing population.

For almost a decade, I’ve done just that. Most days, I’m up before the sun rises. I spend my mornings tending to my horses, dogs and livestock. In the winter, when it’s bitter cold, I’m outside with my cattle, making sure their water isn’t frozen and that they’re properly fed. In the summer, I often work 15-hour days, cultivating my crops and tending to the animals. In the afternoons, I’m in my office, reaching out to customers and handling the ranch’s business side. Over the course of a given day, I act as a vet, a mechanic, an agronomist and accountant.

I love the work, but it’s grueling. As a rancher, I’m always one bad year away from financial disaster. Every purchase I make — from new cows ($2,000 each) to a new piece of equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — is a major investment. And my ranch operates on very slim margins, so I have to be savvy to make ends meet.

Who are the Bundys?
Play Video2:05

Ammon Bundy and a group of armed supporters, including his brother Ryan, took over the an Ore. wildlife refuge over the weekend. Here's a look at the Bundy family's history of anti-government actions. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
Money isn’t the only challenge. Raising cattle requires a lot of land, much more than most ranchers can afford to own outright. I lease about a third of the space I use from private owners. But most ranchers aren’t so lucky. The federal government controls a huge amount of land in the west (more than 50 percent in some states, like Oregon), and many ranchers must lease that space to create a sustainable operation.

Utilizing federal land requires ranchers to follow an unfair, complicated and constantly evolving set of rules. For example, a federal government agency might decide that it wants to limit the number of days a rancher can graze their cattle to protect a certain endangered plant or animal species, or they might unilaterally decide that ranchers can’t use as much water as they need because of a fight over water rights. Or they might take over land that once belonged to the state or private individuals, imposing an entirely new set of restrictions.


[Not punishing the Bundys for the Nevada standoff led to the occupation in Oregon]

I saw this play out firsthand when the federal government considered listing the sage grouse, a chicken-like bird, as endangered. That regulation would have shrunk the amount of land where ranchers could graze cattle, putting many out of business and decimating the industry. To avoid this, ranchers like myself and local officials spent months meeting with federal officials looking for compromise. We ultimately found middle ground. But we already have an enormous workload in our daily lives. The pressure of having to drop everything to lobby against a rule (which happens more often than you’d think) is a tremendous burden.

Most of the time, those regulations are written by people with no agriculture experience, and little understanding of what it takes to produce our nation’s food. The agencies that control these lands can add burdensome regulations at any time. Often, they will begin aggressively enforcing them before ranchers have a chance to adjust.

This forces us to either find new grazing land, reduce the size of our herd or sell out completely. In rural communities, this can have a catastrophic effect on the local economy and environment. Ranching is a billion-dollar industry in Oregon. Overall, agriculture accounts for 15 percent of the state’s economic activity and 12 percent of the state’s employment. The income of a local farm generates double the money for the local economy as a supermarket’s income in the same area, according to the London-based New Economics Foundation.

The siege on our industry has only increased under the Obama administration. Officials are effectively regulating us out of business by enforcing a string of unprecedented environmental restrictions. In Malhuer county (next to Harney county, where the current standoff is taking place), the Obama administration is considering a measure that will turn 2.5 million acres of federal land into a “national monument,” a move that would severely restrict grazing. These restrictions would cause a huge economic downturn for those communities.


These decisions are being made by people who are four to five generations removed from food production. The rule-makers don’t quite understand our industry, and are being spurred on by extreme environmentalist groups asking for unreasonable policy changes.

 

Liberals will only care when Michael Moore can't get his cheeseburgers and has a cow (pun intended). Ranch land is a much better way to raise cattle than feed lots.

 

Some years back, I served a very rural parish for about twelve years, so got to know a lot about agriculture as a way of life -- and a source of constant turmoil -- up close and personal …

The farmers I knew so well all worked private land -- corn, soybeans, and hogs in confinement … It was VERY prime land, going then for up to $4,000 per acre, now recently as much as $8,000 …

Farming is a very expensive and risky business …
Farmers pay "retail" price for everything they need and use, and receive "wholesale" for everything they sell …

And yes, there are LOADS of laws and rules and regulations governing everything farmers (and ranchers) do with soil and water and surrounding wild places …

And of course, since my family and I eat what farmers (and ranchers) produce, we are not just uninvolved bystanders …

I am sympathetic to the situation described in the OP … but I do not believe that it justifies an armed rebellion against The United States Government or seizure of public property ...

 

I doubt you are a rancher period. First you would have to admit that your "problem" lol. started way before Obama. You even allude to that in your rant four or five generations deep??? They are breaking the law period and they have guns. Bottom line the atf, fbi, and land management have given this issue way to much rope. It is time to send them in and see if you are already to die for breaking the law

 

I support the Ranchers.
Reagan by Executive Order changed the grazing rules on Federal lands.
Complaints about free grazing forget responsible grazing like manure, improves the land.
And Federal decision makers are too removed from "the West".

The Revolution in Oregon is a Good Revolution.
Thomas Jefferson would approve.
And another group is going to protect the building occupiers by creating a perimeter to prevent another Waco.
http://www.politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=439613&p=1065726584#post1065726584
"We wish to establish a safety perimeter of protection for the occupiers so as to prevent a Waco-style situation from unfolding during this peaceful occupation," leaders of the group said in a statement posted on its website.

The Federals would be wise just to wait them out.
How long through the winter do these guys really wanna "Occupy"?


Moi

r > g

View attachment 40277
Across an immense, unguarded, ethereal border, Canadians, cool and unsympathetic,
regard our America with envious eyes and slowly and surely draw their plans against us.
​

 

to : OP

No doubt ranching is a tough business and I will accept your description since I am a suburbanite and never did raise any animals for food. So I do not know the details of ranching. What I do know is right from wrong. You say that there are laws and regulations that are unfair. Ok to have the right to petition your representatives to change them. Fair vs unfair is a subjective value so I am sure that you may have to prove that a certain law is unfair in or to get it changes. We are a nation of laws so we work out our grievances through the law. The Bundy gang of occupiers are using the threat of force to get the changes that they are demanding. They must be claiming that the government is being oppressive but they don't appear to know what oppression is if they think laws and rules about land use is oppressive. Therefore a disagreement over fair vs unfair use of government land does not rise to the level of insurrection. If the government ever gets to be oppressive for real and thee is no other option then go for it.

You want to see oppression move to Russia and you will get your fill ....filled with lead that is if you open your mouth and criticize the Putin who is The Government.

 

If the rules are wrong use the law and the process to change them. Otherwise you are no better than the Occupy Movement and BLM.

 

Interesting. Thank you.

 

By Keith Nantz January 8 at 11:45 AM
Keith Nantz is ranch manager at Dillon Land and Cattle in Maupin, Ore.
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-a...p-content/uploads/2016/01/opinion2.jpg&w=1484
Keith Nantz on his farm. (Courtesy of Mark Gibson/The Dalles Chronicle)

 

You have to ask yourself - why are you finding it harder to make a living? You're blaming the federal government, but is that the reason source of blame? What's really happening is the rise of large agribusinesses. They are monopolizing the distribution of meat and farm product in this country. And when you have a monopoly, you get to set prices. So they set the price - both the price that they pay you and the price that consumers are charged. And thus, it's no secret that your income is being squeezed at the same time that consumer prices for beef are rising, while corporate profits are going through the roof.

So who's to blame? Big government isn't the problem. The problem is big business.

This is happening not only with ranching and farming, but in all industries across america. Corporate executives are sucking in all the money, and leaving less and less for the rest of us. So if the militia men really want to make a difference, they shouldnt be taking over a federal building. They should take over the headquarters of a major corporation.

 

Doing a little googling, Keith Nantz is a rancher, a real cowboy.

http://orcattle.com/2014/06/25/oca-member-keith-nantz-attends-elite-beef-industry-conference/

http://oregonfresh.net/tag/keith-nantz/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-nantz-53b800a

http://anrs.oregonstate.edu/content/range-research

http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2014/jan/25/ranchers-life-big-pictureoutlook/

 

Doesn't matter whether the OP is a rancher or not. the point is that ranching, like many other industries in the US, is being affected by large corporations, which are taking money from everyday working people, and putting it into the pockets of the super-rich.

We shouldn't be blaming the government for this - we should be blaming capitalism.

 

The government has been on a water grab agenda for the past couple of decades and it has gotten worse under Obama. The BLM (Burial of Land Management) is in collusion with the liberal enviornmental wackos. And left wing liberals wackos hate cowboys, cows and cheese burgers.

Last year Obama used an executive order when Congress said no to turning most of the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest just north of LA into a National Recreation Area. So Obama declared it a National Monument. The true agenda, the federal government is going after all of the water rights and no more mining or recreational panning for gold. No more hunting or target shooting. No more hiking where you want on the public land.

 

You only support government seizure of private land and using force to take it if necessary because government is, essentially god, and people are essentially their servants.

Did I word that correctly to reflect your viewpoint? You are sypathetic with the plight of servants, though servants they must remain?

 

If it's a "safety perimeter of protection" for this "peaceful occupation", then why the need for guns? It would appear that they are egging on the government while breaking the laws of the country.

 

Sure, and when I need firewood it is okay for me to go cut down the city Christmas tree too. They broke the law and their sit in buddies are breaking the law. Arrest them and punish them. Nothing but thugs.

 

This is an interesting thread because it highlights the problems of the rural west and Midwest with respect to land use law, federal land management and the concentration of agribusiness all of which severely curtail the profitability and sustainability of ranching and smaller farms. These are desperate times in these rural counties and they are becoming more desperate with every year. Droughts are lasting longer, fire engulfs more acres and water wars are already engaged and the richest folks in these parts will be specialized law firms. the pressures on federal land management to accommodate and liberalize its regulations on the use of their acres, will only intensify. If we start selling the land to the highest bidder, its likely to be Agribusiness interests that will be buying it or at least leasing any water rights.

 

Spotted Owl strategy....Name an 'endangered species'....kill a whole industry. Thanks for bringing this to light. The Federal Government and the fannie-sitting bureaucrats eager to rationalize their existence kill the ability for folks to make a living without so much as a petition.

 

Much of family rural agribusiness has been killed when the government decided that Farmer's Markets had to be certified 'organic.' In CA the government has been lax to negligent in building more reservoirs. They have been more concerned with shipping water North to South and depending on snow-pack in the Northern mountain ranges. Fires engulf our national forests because the policy is 'let it burn' as We The People are no longer allowed to clean up the forests.

 

Deckel, do you understand what public land is ? It's public land that is managed by the BLM of the Department of Interior. Public land is the open range to be used by all including ranchers cattle. On the open range as an American you can put up a tent and camp out and don't need no government camping permit, it's public land. Anyone can travel through public land (open range) even on the same open range that Cliven Bundy cattle travel on. It's public. There's no such thing as trespassing on public land because it's public.

 

Was the city Christmas tree on land you paid for?

Did you have the same outrage for OWS?

 

Occupying an empty building in the remote wilderness is "armed rebellion against the US government" now? How melodramatic.

 

`
It doesn't matter where it is. The protesters are engaged in a criminal act and should be treated accordingly.

 

I am not going to offer much of an opinion, because I am close to ignorant. I have quite a learning curve, so this thread is bound to be educational. It does seem that each of the issues you raise, are complex rather than simple. My guess is that environmental science played a role in the 'let it burn' protocol. Why has California has not been pressing for more reservoirs? It would seem sensible. Is it just a refusal to expend the money in these tight-fisted times?

 

Right, because all political dictates are just and worthy of our obedience and respect. Civil disobedience is never justified.