Reading the Allotment Tea Leaves

The Allotment Master Report at RAS provides basic data for grazing lands administered by the BLM, including management status, acreage and active AUMs.

The AUMs tell you how many wild horses the parcel could support if it was managed principally for them.

True AML = Active AUMs ÷ 12

The stocking rate depends on the acreage.

Stocking rate = True AML ÷ Public acres × 1,000

For example, the Jordan Meadows Allotment in Nevada offers 11,720 active AUMs on 106,495 public acres.

The True AML would be 977, rounded off to a whole number, and the stocking rate would be 9.2 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Why is this important?

Because the bureaucrats and ranchers claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The advocates bolster the narrative with their darting programs.