Grazing

Livestock grazing is an important activity in the Owyhee Field Office. Permittees graze livestock on 153 grazing allotments that encompass nearly 1.3 million public land acres in the Owyhee Field Office. Grazing permittees purchase Animal Unit Months (AUMs) of livestock forage. An AUM is the amount of forage needed to sustain one cow and calf, five sheep, two burros, or one horse for one month.

The Owyhee Field Office manages livestock grazing to achieve Idaho BLM’s Standards for Rangeland Health and Guidelines for Managing Livestock Grazing, which were established in 1997. These “Standards and Guidelines” provide basic ecological objectives and best management practices for administering livestock grazing on Idaho’s public lands.

Idaho BLM is currently conducting assessments of all grazing allotments to determine if Idaho's Standards for Rangeland Health are being achieved. If an assessment determines that an area is not meeting the standards for rangeland health, the field office prepares an analysis that identifies opportunities to adjust grazing management and initiates changes, where needed, to improve rangeland health.