Public lands grazers comprise a minority of livestock producers
in the West and throughout the country:
- Number of livestock producers with federal grazing
permits: 27,000.
- Percentage of livestock producers with federal grazing
permits in the United States: 3 percent.
- Percentage of livestock producers with federal grazing
permits in eleven Western states: 22 percent.
- Number of livestock producers without federal grazing
permits: 880,000.
Subsidized by taxpayers, public lands grazers pay far less
than market value for federal forage and grazing fees in comparable state and
private lands:
- Fee to graze one cow and calf for one month (AUM, or
Animal Unit Month) on federal public lands (2001): $1.35.
- Average fee per AUM on state lands in the West
(excluding Texas) (1998): $12.30.
- Average fee per AUM on private lands in eleven Western
(1999): $11.10.
The forage provided and beef produced from federal public
lands is insignificant:
- Percentage of total feed for livestock in the United
States supplied from federal lands: 2 percent.
- Percentage of American beef produced from federal
rangelands: less than 3 percent.
Federal grazing programs contribute very little to Western
states' economies. Aggregate Federal Grazing Statistics for eleven Western
states:
- Federal grazing jobs: 17,989.
- Federal grazing jobs as a percentage of total
employment: 0.06 percent.
- Federal grazing income as a percentage of total income:
0.04 percent.
- Days of normal job growth to replace all federal
grazing jobs: 11 days.
- Days of normal income growth to replace all federal
grazing jobs: 6 days.
