More or less. Some ranges look better than this one. A whole lot better. But this one accounts for a good bit of the rangeland here. Overgrazing and wind-erosion are the main culprits. Once the cover layer of grass, stabilizing the sand, is worn away the wind takes over. That makes a blow-out and the blow-outs spread unless mended, which is mighty hard to do. Some of the problem is the proclivity of cattle and buffalo to go everywhere single file. Not much can be done about that.
This country looks tough as nails, but it's really quite fragile. A little like the tundra. Once badly overgrazed it will take twenty years or more to repair.
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The ecosystem is pretty fragile for sure. At 20 acres per cow it would sure take a lot to have any chance at making a living.
What is the value of grazing land, and the taxes that go with that?
Steve, about $350 on average with about $1.50 or so for taxes.
Thank you. Makes having a stab at understanding the cattle economics possible.
You can buy land for $350 an acre? Here the cheapest, which is steep mountain side, is about $30,000 an acre! So if I sell my place, I could buy.......
Do you ever find any arrowheads in those blowouts ?
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