by Debbie Coffey Copyright 2015 All Rights Reserved.
It has been 2 1/2 years since the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last gave the public a tour of any BLM Long Term Holding Pastures, which are used to warehouse once wild horses that were rounded up by helicopters used by BLM contractors and permanently removed from America’s public lands. So much for the BLM’s claim of transparency.
Millions of readers follow Ree Drummond as she blogs about ranch life, her children, and her husband, whom she calls Marlboro Man. Photograph by Sylvia Plachy. (Source: The New Yorker)
Ladd Drumond, his brother Tim and their dad, Charles, are partners in Drummond Land and Cattle, which has a BLM contract for Long Term Holding pastures for our wild horses. Ladd is married to “The Pioneer Woman,” Ree Drummond, a Food Network cooking show host/blogger/photographer/cookbook author who writes folksy blogs about her life on their ranch in Oklahoma. Kind of like she’s a pioneer woman. Except in real life, Ree is wealthy and has both a house and a nice lodge on her ranch. (Nothing like the real pioneers, who had to trod across the plains in a covered wagon.)
In a 2013 article on Modern Farmer about America’s 100 Top Landowners (“The who’s who of modern American land moguls”) the Drummond family was listed as #17 (the 17th largest landowner in the U.S.), with “433,000 acres.”
While some of this land may belong to other Drummond family members, Ladd and the little missus are getting by.
It was estimated that Ree’s blogsite income was about a million dollars or more per year just from display advertisement alone. She also makes dough from her Food Network cooking show, her cookbooks, her book, the movie option based on her book “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels,” based on her life (and persona) as “The Pioneer Woman.”
But Ree didn’t exactly fall off the back of a turnip truck. Her father, William Dale Smith, is an orthopedic surgeon and Ree grew up on the grounds of a country club in Bartlesville, OK. Ree went to the University of Southern California, lived in Los Angeles, before she met Ladd.
Besides all of the fingers Ree has in other pies, she and Ladd renovated a building for an office and a deli in Pawhuska, OK, near the ranch. It’s good to know Ladd won’t starve, especially since he claims he only makes $100,000 profit per year.
He seems too modest. From 1995-2012, Drummond Land and Cattle has received $1,573,102 in USDA farm subsides. $81,458 of the subsidies were since 2011, when Ree started her cooking show on the Food Network. Let’s just look at 2003-2012, when Drummond Land and Cattle has had the BLM contract to warehouse wild horses:
BLM CONTRACT FOR WILD HORSES + USDA SUBSIDIES
(Ladd Drummond photo: celebritynetworth.com)
To be fair, Ladd did seem to try to save a bit of money by using his kids as ranch hands. Here’s a photo of Ladd and Ree’s little cowboy son in the saddle in the top photo. (He’s the short one in the brown jacket.) However, the BLM contract requires that the horses have “management by individuals who are knowledgeable and experienced about the behavior and nutritional requirements of equines…” (I assumed this meant adults, not 7 year olds. Or adolescents, who aren’t listed on the contract as key personnel.) Other people have noticed the child labor, too.
On Nov. 9, 2010 the BLM had a tour of the Drummond long term holding pasture, but only allowed credentialed media. However, at a blogging event held by Ree Drummond, bloggers got to see and take photos of the wild horses. And although you can no longer see many wild horses on any public lands, or even on the private property where the BLM warehouses them, Ree and Ladd and their friends can see the wild horses right out of the windows of their house. Any time they want to.
Ree has written stories about and posted photos of our wild horses on their property on “The Pioneer Woman” blog, uses photos of the wild horses at the top of her facebook page, and uses footage of the wild horses running on the promo for her cooking show. Could her use of these photos/video of our wild horses have made her image seem a little bit more “pioneer-like,” and, in part, contributed to her (and also Ladd’s) fame and personal financial gain?
It seems like Ladd Drummond wrote about the wild horses on Ree’s blog (after articles about Ladd Drummond were posted on this website). Boy, his writing is so good that it almost seems like a professional PR person wrote it!
Ladd, Tim and Charles Drummond, partners in Drummond Land and Cattle, are listed as key personnel on the BLM contract. A 2007 story in Tulsa World revealed that Charles R. Drummond, his sons Ladd Drummond and Tim Drummond, and nephew Thatcher Drummond, received more than 40 speeding tickets in the state in the last decade. At least 18 of those were dismissed in their home county.
The article states: “The four members of the Drummond family have been clocked by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol driving 95, 97 and 112 mph, all speeds listed on tickets that have been dismissed by judges in the county. Although the Drummonds paid a fine and court costs on all dismissed tickets, the tickets do not go against their driving records.
And here’s my favorite part of this story: “Osage County Special Judge John Boggs, who approved many of the dismissals as an assistant prosecutor and later as a judge, said he had no idea how fast the cited speeds were…Boggs said he had been to several bar association parties at the Drummond ranch but does not believe that he gives the family special treatment.”
The Pioneer Woman has written about Ladd’s cousin, Thatcher Drummond. Thatcher, who seems to have been arrested for speeding and driving under the influence in 2008, is the son of Tom Drummond, who was a president of the Osage County Cattlemen’s Association, on the tax committee for the National Cattlemen’s Association, and chairman of the tax committee for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association.
The Drummonds are active in the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, which was listed on United Organizations of the Horse original website as “opposing” the “prevention of cruelty to equines bills that make it a felony to market, transport, consume or use of horses for human food.”
Charles R. Drummond seems to be listed as a partner of Drummond & Hull Oil Company. Charles and Ladd Drummond have been listed as shareholders and on the Board of Directors of a company called docplanet.com, an e-commerce company that provided pharmaceuticals to office-based physicians. Docplanet.com, was previously called docsales.com, which was previously called Golden Pharmaceuticals. According to a 1999 Los Angeles Times article:
“The Internet is a financial miracle. Just ask Santa Ana-based Docsales.com Inc. Three months ago, it was a dog of a company called Golden Pharmaceuticals Inc. that lost money in 13 of its previous 14 quarters and had been virtually ignored by investors. It also is a defendant in 47 lawsuits in three states related to personal injury claims by consumers who used the Phen-Fen diet drug combination it sold.
Since the BLM places our wild horses on private property, this invites questions about the people who oversee the horses and about the proximity of the horses to homes and to activities in the area, as well as any supposed “oversight” by the BLM.
While the Pioneer Woman seems nice and I’m sure we’d all like to race through town (don’t worry about any speeding tickets) to go visit and have some blackberry cobbler, there’s a nagging feeling about the unfairness in seeing a select few people have the privilege of unfettered access to our wild horses, that we, The American People, don’t have access to any more. Even while our tax dollars pay for every aspect of the BLM’s mismanagement of the Wild Horse & Burro Program.
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This is all very wrong. The people that own the cattle that graze our land and get federal subsidies and want the horses removed so they can cheaply graze also get paid to over see the wild horses after they are removed………….. wrong, very very wrong. Our government needs to clean house big time, and this is where we can start by saving our wild life and wild horses and save billions of tax payers money…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Tehorse, in this case, the Drummonds seem to graze their cattle on their own land, but it is true the government needs to take a close look at the tax dollars given to welfare ranchers grazing their livestock on public lands, and the USDA subsidies. At least 2 other contractors for long term holding facilities are receiving USDA subsidies – F. Ford Drummond (Strohm) and Spur Livestock (that is STILL under an internal investigation for selling wild horses to a kill buyer). The BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program is out of control, and in BLM’s 2015 Budget Justification, got $2.8 million to EXPERIMENT on wild horses (including field spaying of mares…think Dr. Mengele) under the guise of “fertility control,” while Congress is considering cutting benefits to social security and our active military and veterans.
LikeLiked by 3 people
God bless you, Debbie. We can always count on you to say it like it is. Thank you for consistently and honestly putting your pen to paper!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Drummonds do not graze all their cattle on their own land – they have moved into Kansas and taken away some long-term leases from people who DONOT like the idea of warehousing mustangs and being subsidized by the government, nor do we like land-grabbers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Again alot of research probably needs 2B done, because so much of this land is being manipulated, even though it really isn’t owned by these Trolls, since I don’t have “all the facts” its hard to really understand what the hell they are all doing, ted turner brags he has millions of acres, but in fact I’m pretty sure like the drummonds its probably a gross exaggeration, hopefully all of us can share + discover, what the hell is really going on exactly??
LikeLike
I’m glad to read this. I will no longer watch her show. She gets on my nerves any way.
Greed…greed…greed!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Not a cook, not a Pioneer Woman, just an aging maven whose parents are rich, God knows all their secrets, really don’t care, except when it concerns our Wild Americna Equines, and We the People who pay taxes, only to see all of these gross abuses%%%%%%
LikeLike
Our “Government” was NEVER intended to “own” ANY land. It states it in our Constitution.
LikeLike
Thats not mismanagement. Thats deliberate. Cant put a misleading word in there. And it proves my theory. Anyone can buy a hat and scarf but it doesnt give horse sense by osmosis. It also doesnt mean if you own a horse plus a ranch that your a Knowledgable person. I have met many a person who should have worn the hat or owned a ranch but didnt want to deal with the fakes. I read daily about how Only ranchers know horses and should have them. Im sure that offends all the members of AQHA who know more than a wanna be rancher. Besides if you have to constantly tell people about what YOU know then you dont it all. People who know it just Live it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is disgusting! I can’t stand that bunch. I spotted what a fake she and her husband are after watching just one of her crappy shows. It makes me sick that they make so much money off of warehousing our poor mustangs who have had their families and homes taken away from them! And to think the Drummonds are against animal and equine welfare and slaughter! I despise her and her fake “Pioneer Woman” image!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I agree!
LikeLike
It IS disgusting, but these opportunists are merely taking advantage of laws/regulations that WE THE PEOPLE have allowed to be put into place. Sadly, we all walk around in a haze of indifference regarding the things that “don’t concern us.” Meanwhile, we are being disenfranchised, bit-by-bit. In short, we’re reaping what we’ve sown; i.e., the motivated rich gaining more and more leverage over the not-so-rich. It’s up to us to challenge these inequities by banding together as a majority. Until that happens, we’ll have more of the same. -FEP
LikeLiked by 2 people
Truly if my mom was still alive, she would have been calling ree “phoney baloney” true so true!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Funny how some people get to profit from OUR WILD HORSES stolen FREEDOM, and get paid to do it! There’s something very wrong about this picture!
LikeLiked by 2 people
BUT——a cording to Wyoming there is just to many wild horsed http://m.billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/wyoming-house-panel-oks-resolution-on-wild-horse-population/article_8ff580b6-8874-50b1-b101-eb62adeccf2d.html?mobile_touch=true
LikeLike
And we taxpayers have paid the Drummonds $20,970,649.00 for wild horse “control services” (i.e. long term holding facility) in the last dozen years including $997,920.00 just a few weeks ago.
The REAL issue here is that we are paying this exorbitant amount of money to house wild horses that ALREADY have a (free) home on the land that was legally designated for them by Congress. These payments to Drummond and others are not for a “rescue” situation for homeless animals – these payments stem from dirty deals by the BLM/DOI to sell our land to the highest bidder – oil & gas & mining & energy & welfare ranching.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Grandma Gregg you said very well……This is INSANE!….
LikeLiked by 2 people
RIGHT ON Grandma Gregg
They need to be returned to the range, where they belong, on their Legal Herd Management Areas
Isn’t it interesting how many have prospered from removing America’s Wild Horses & Burros from Public Land.
First there are the ranchers who receive taxpayer funded grazing and the agency that has done their bidding for the last 40 years.
Next in line are the taxpayer funded contractors that capture, remove and very often kill them in the process.
Then there are the ranchers that sell the hay to the holding facility/concentration camps
And then, there are the Midwest ranchers who are also in the long line of profiteering…all courtesy of the American taxpaying Public, that can no longer see its Wild Horses & Burros on Public Land
The public has every right to be irate because these animals should NEVER have been removed from their Legal Herd Management Areas in the first place.
There have been NO legal grounds for any of the removals. A legal precedent was set in 1989 when Animal Protection Institute successfully challenged BLM’s arbitrary and capricious decisions for removal of wild horses and burros from public lands. The Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) (Interior’s Court) ruled that BLM must monitor and inventory the habitat to determine excess. This is the strength of the Wild Horse and Burro Act because is requires BLM to fulfill their mandate as stewards of the land.
AND
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that despite congressional direction, BLM’S decisions on how many wild horses to remove from federal rangelands have not been
based on direct evidence that existing wild populations exceed what the range can support.
BLM could not provide GAO with any information demonstrating that federal rangeland conditions have significantly improved because of wild horse removals.
GAO Report 1990
Click to access 149472.pdf
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are absolutely right and it’s a DAMN shame!!
LikeLike
From AMERICAN HERDS
Midwest Ranchers Find Gold In Nevada’s Wild Horses
Despite the ranchers state owned water rights, the horses and burros remain federally protected as “components of the public lands” and are entitled to roam free in areas where they were as of the date of the WFRHBA, 1971.
While Nevada’s ranchers are fighting to get rid of wild horses in Nevada, the BLM pays ranchers in the Midwest millions of dollars annually to keep wild horses from the west on their land. The horses have become a pot of gold to many ranchers in Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Kansas. John Hughes of Oklahoma has been receiving millions of dollars annually from the BLM since 1993 for keeping the wild horses on his ranch. This year alone, Hughes received well over $3 million for his contract to keep the horses, while other ranchers such as the Reed Brothers Ranch profited this year with over $2 million, as did the Drummond Ranch, Trentman Ranch, Cross Bell, and many others.
Click to access Feral_Horse_Committee_VJP_FINAL.pdf
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe some of you who are very well informed and intelligent,write a simple letter of concern to Ladd and his wife. A simple honest letter,no in your face no disrespect. Make it from you personal wanting to know their side. Ask inform yourselves. Thanks for doing the research. At the end of day be at peace.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Just within the last few years … we tax-payers have sent the Drummonds $15,979,337.00 It doesn’t cost us a dime for these wild horses to live in the wild on their legally designated lands as the US Congress and as Nature demands. Do not allow the BLM and USFS and Farm Bureau and the extractive and mining giants and the domestic livestock grazing associations to pull the wool over your eyes. There are no excess wild horses and burros on their legally designated land. Per the United States 1971 Congressional Wild Horse and Burro Act, the land is to be devoted PRINCIPALLY although not exclusively to the wild horses and wild burros’ welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept of public lands.
LikeLiked by 2 people
In Nv some of the natural water holes have been blocked so the wild horses have to travel long distances to get water, and after time are reopened for cattle, in the western part of the state there are many wild horses that are still free. Although a few canyons that have water were recently blocked so the horses could not get into them, myself and a few others unblocked them! I have been told if we keep meddling in business we don’t belong in I could end up having an accident out on the range, or fall off a cliff in the sierras. My sons and I aren’t real educated, but we just do what we know how to do. Every time there has been a round up in our country we move horses into the mountains where BLM won’t fly. We do what we can.
LikeLiked by 2 people
A holding pen on their way to a kill factory.
LikeLiked by 1 person
God Bless you Grandma Gregg, you are very adept at getting all your facts straight+thank you so much for sharing them with the rest of us, if you don’t mind I’d like to share them on twitter+FB too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Share
LikeLike
Updated report from January 28 https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/150215r.aspx
LikeLike
What I’ve never understood is why BLM gels EVERY single stud as fast as they get them. Look I get that we HATE the idea of field testing spaying. I more than hate it. It’s beyond revolting and repulsive. But at this point we aren’t going to stop the Dr. Mengele’s within BLM. I think I’d rather have them field test on horses previously captured that they aren’t ever going to release. At least if they were held in a semi small area they’d have a chance to appropriately test.
I say this because I think it was FWS who did that field test on 30 mares and killed 3 in the process while “perfecting” the technique. That’s a 10% mortality rate. It’s truly should be off the table. But to make matters worse wranglers turned those same mares loose the following day WITHOUT ANY FOLLOWUP. No pain meds. No checks and balances about what they did. We’re there any followup infections. Zip nada nothing. Vets went in, crushed the ovaries and voila the next day the horse were “cured” of any future pregnancies.
I just wish the Pryors weren’t so far from me. Waking up to horses munching on grass right outside your tent last summer was such a treat. Listening to horses squeal their displeasure at one another in the middle of the night–you realize day and night have zero meaning to the horses. I heard squealing one night by our guides tent, then right next to her assistant. This was midnight/1 am…we had a full moon. And a moment later a couple squeals right behind my tent.
It just makes me shake my head. Here you have some of the finest horses you could ever look at. No one owns them. No one bred Cloud for the incredible conformation he has. Mother Nature did that! He has balance and agility! With a whole lot he could afford to share! And yet by far most ranchers would look at the range–shake their heads and say I want it. And there go the horses.
Wish I could say the same about cattle and have them gone. Poof!
I went off my boycott last week…and I can proudly say I’m back on it again for life. No more beef ever for me. I don’t think it was over 1 1/2 servings if even that. Just turned my stomach.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Everyone here loves horses–and this is the cutest thing I have seen in awhile http://youtu.be/w-AsH_ngaY0
LikeLike
You do know they put dogs on an all grain and vegetable diet and after a few years many developed cardiomyopathys because they are carnivores as we are.
LikeLike
Who are the real eco-terrorists on America’s public lands? http://www.theecologist.org/campaigning/2706899/who_are_the_real_ecoterrorists_on_americas_public_lands.html
LikeLike
Once again, greed at it’s finest. What vile people. dont know how she got her own show – lousy recipes and she is so irritating. (Well I do know how and that’s a big part of the problem.). How long can this madness go on?
LikeLike
From ANIMAL LAW COALITION
How do you make 2000 horses disappear?
Courtesy of Equine Welfare Alliance
https://animallawcoalition.com/how-do-you-make-2000-horses-disappear/
July 28, 2010
Over the past several years, equine advocates have been scrutinizing the BLM’s horse population counts. Once again, the numbers don’t add up to their claims.
The BLM doesn’t make it easy to track horses being removed from the range or residing in short and long term holding. The taxpayers who pay for the removals and the subsequent care are not allowed to view the horses under the well worn excuse that they are being held on “private property”. Consequently, there are no checks and balances to verify information being reported.
It also raises a salient question. With 262 million mostly vacant acres under its control, why on earth is a federal agency such as the BLM wasting taxpayer’s money to lease private property?
Increasingly, the BLM is using the “private property” wild card whenever they don’t want the public to see what they are doing – whether it’s the actual removals or subsequent holding. A recent article by George Knapp, They execute horses, don’t they?, spoke to this devious maneuver.
Somewhere on “private property” there are 2,282 horses missing from the BLM’s wild horse holding facilities. Or the numbers the BLM is reporting are not accurate.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Agreed.
But, there you have it…
Idiot cable network execs are only interested in feathering their expense accounts as required to cover the cost of mooring their catamarans and to allow for additional tins of caviar required to allow their massive write-offs. Touche!!
Ree, Guy, Giada, Alton, Rachael and Bobby all benefit from all of us dopes watching them exhibit their cooking (crockery) “expertise”.
My god. My grandma cooked better them’all.
(Pity more of us of an older generation doesn’t boycott their fraudulent “snow-job” ways… Sheesh!!!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shame on them. I am vegetarian so I don’t watch her cooking show.
LikeLike
Alton Brown is a great cook. He looks at it from a scientific POV. He’s very informative.
He’s the best thing about FN. Unfortunately, they don’t air Good Eats on FN anymore.
LikeLike
The BLM are the. NAZIS, they are the shame for this country, they are like the NAZIS in world war 2 . Only this time not with people, but with our Wild Horses . Capturing them with their Round Ups, taking their family’s apart, putting them in Holding Pens, and sending them to the Slaughter-houses. Get the picture? It is just horrible, The BLM is the shame , shame , SHAME for this , our Country.
LikeLike
ya know geri , any store is made to account for every dollar that walks in the door. why in god great graces is this branch ( doi and underlings ) not made by our house of congress and the senate not asking for the factual account of what is going on in the dept. other than the very same excuse dribble that they take to congress about cattlemen having a problem w/ wild horses, are they so occupied with proving our invader in the white house a liar that they can’t be bothered every time they come back for more money . that too doesn’t make sense . and why don’t we have blm reports up to date and recent numbers from them ?
and just a note too . i have been hearing things about this common core program that is in schools now is teaching islam in history and getting bonus scores if they study the the islamic faith on their own time . just a heads up for you mom’s out their ask your childern what they are studing in school and take a look at their school books . just letting you know. today was texas muslam capitol day and they are demanding that they have their own court system ruled by sharia law. on cbs news today.
LikeLike
Cindy—at least you get what is really happening to our country-sometimes I think Americans have their heads up their a$$, when I see the way we are gong. You may like this article – http://politicaloutcast.com/2015/01/will-no-one-blow-trumpet
LikeLike
thank-you very much geri and yes i did like that article . if you care to i did leave a comment there.i also comment alot about the wild horses and their plight on the yahoo news webpage . i think i’m starting to get through to more people cause i’m starting to see more people comment on that subject a lot more too. when it is wrong i just have to say something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on cindymendoza47.
LikeLike
I don’t want the horses to be extinct, but I would much rather spend our taxes on starving children, veterans, starving adults! Prioritize Congress! The rich get richer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Our wild horses and burros would not be so near extinction if the BLM and Forest Service weren’t rounding them up and removing them from our public lands, where they are grazing for free, to make room for special interests to use public lands for pennies on the dollar.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’d rather spend the money on the horses than illegal aliens.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Totally Agree!
LikeLike
Totally Agree! Don’t want wild horses extinct, but feed children and veterans a PRIORITY!
LikeLike
Wild Horses and Burros cost the taxpayers NOTHING when left in the wild.
The theft of Public Lands and Natural Resources is an issue that should be of paramount importance to all Americans.
There is no reason for any adult or child to go hungry in this country…ABSOLUTELY no reason what-so-ever. Corruption is at the core of any and all problems…always has been. Reform starts with the People.
LikeLike
Well said, Louie.
LikeLike
louie i have been commenting on the yahoo.news site and you would not believe alot of the comments from people that i believe have their heads stuck in the sand. have nothing valuable to add to the conversation ,some people don’t see what a liar this man is. i personally believe that the invader in office set up dirty harry to order all that is happening to the horses , burro’s , and our predators is all from high up . just so we americans will feel the pain of loss. one of our military over heard a conversation where our pres. told someone that before he left office that this country would be a muslam country. i feel he still has a lot more in store for us yet. i’m knocking on wood as i say this too.
LikeLike
Ask them how many Osage Headrights they have.
LikeLike
Sounds like “old money”(possibly made from being the fastest in the land run) is buying a lot of “new money” ;(
LikeLike
Nice country folk my arse.
LikeLike
What were the million in subs for …?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm, notice the numbers. The BLM contract$ records show a $800,000 drop from 2010 to 2011. There was an even larger drop of $1,000,000 from 2007-2008. That means that the number of wild horses the Drummonds kept dropped about 33% from 2010 to 2011 and about 40% from 2007 to 2008. Hmmm, so where did all those wild horses go?
The BLM long term holding contracts pay for pasture turnout with supplemental feed as needed at about a rate of something like $500/yr per horse. That means that about 1,600 of the wild horses that were living the Drummond Ranch/Pioneer Woman lifestyle on their pasture in 2010 were no longer there in 2011. And that about 2,000 of the horses that were in Drummond’s pastures in 2007 were no longer there in 2008. Otherwise the Drummonds would have been paid for keeping them and the contract data would not show such big declines for those years. It’s easy to see why they might have a big increase in number, year over year — BLM may just have shipped in a thousand or more all at once for the Drummonds to put on pasture in order to make room in the short term holding facilities for the current roundups.
But why, oh, why would the numbers go down so dramatically like that? What could possibly happen to a couple thousand horses all in one year’s time (for two periods, 2007-2008 and 2010-2011) for those horse$ to drop off the BLM pasture gravy train rolls? Did they have a disease go through the wild horses and wipe out from between 1/3 to 1/2 of the entire herd the Drummonds were keeping? We pretty much know the BLM is NOT repopulating the herd areas that have been zeroed out or that are below genetic viability so it’s unlikely a thousand or two were shipped off to put back out into the wild. Wait. Maybe they just all got old at the same time and dropped dead in the same quarter cutting off the Drummond’s BLM pasture lease gravy train for those couple thousand wild horses? Or maybe the wild horses just “disappeared”, all 3,600 of them **POOF!**inside of those two periods? Who knows. But BLM “management” is transparent, right? So I guess we don’t have to worry about things like this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lee-
I would certainly like to hear theories about your observations for missing horses – and probably many missing burros also. I did find this article that supports your concerns. http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Missing_Horses_FINAL.pdf
For those of us who have done any research on this subject, I believe that our worst nightmares are true and have been happening since the BLM/USFS was given the authority to “protect” our wild ones.
LikeLiked by 1 person
More information on long and short term wild horse and burro BLM facility populations:
Click to access Facility%20Reports%2010-10%20-%201-13.pdf
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do not like any government aid whether it is this or food stamps, Medicaid, disability to people who are to lazy to get up and work.
I do take exception to the child labor comments. Having lived on a farm all my life I know there is lots of work, learning, experience, pain & joy. This is teaching a child good work ethic & lots of knowledge is acquired at the same time.
From my on grand kids they love doing almost everything on the farm.
While driving home from my town job Friday night my grandson John called me and told me “Grammy you don’t have to do your chores tonight I did everything except feed the dogs”.
By the way John is 7 and was not asked to do my chores…he loves doing them. We are teaching safety along with the “on the job training”. We do not pay them with money but they are paid with good food, clothing, trips and lots of love just to mention a few.
For those of you who have never experienced farm life there is a love for the land and the animals you care for that you can not understand without experiencing it.
One last sentiment the BLM & big government is not good for any of us.
LikeLiked by 2 people
we have multiple friends that are farmers in Michigan, their kids all worked on the farm. They also were all in 4H and learned how to care for animals, drive tractors, haul things, they are all now in their 20’s and love the farm life. My daughter’s best friend is pursuing an accounting degree, but also breeds pigs, and still shows them at different pig shows. The other now has an Engineering degree, and has a job in Texas, but always is happy to bail hay, or do whatever is necessary when he is home. They have their own bank accounts, and are taught from a young age a good work ethic and the value of a dollar, always polite to other adults, pull their own weight and love their families. I see nothing wrong with it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The comments about kids were only made in connection to contract language and that only key personnel listed on contracts would be working with the Wild horses (and the kids names were not listed) and that only experienced personnel could work with Wild horses (and I doubt if children would qualify for working with Wild horses). This has nothing to do with kids “doing chores”around the ranch. The kids can hang out with the cattle and domestic horses if their parents want them to “learn” about ranch life.
LikeLike
Thank you.
LikeLike
Thank you Debbie …….Corruption is Out of control!
LikeLike
A couple of people contacted me who seemed to fail to realize the “child labor” mentioned in the article was NOT in relation to kids doing chores on the farm or kids learning to care for animals, but was mentioned within the context of the specific contract language between Drummond Land and Cattle and the BLM regarding the care and supervision of the WILD horses. To my knowledge, I don’t think the BLM approved of a young boy being used as a wrangler, or for kids to be in a corral with wild horses with a paddle in hand, which could be used to move the wild horses. The Drummonds are certainly free to let their kids do chores with their privately owned domestic horses and cattle.
LikeLiked by 2 people
From AMERICAN HERDS
Breaking Through Del Rio (excerpt)
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/03/breaking-through-del-rio.html
The four-year grand jury investigation of the Wild Horse & Burro Program and the over 3,000 pieces of evidence it accumulated that was slammed shut in 1996 (without any of this evidence ever being heard) is often referred to in wild horse circles as “Del Rio”.
Does anyone remember what the final straw was that broke the back of the Del Rio grand jury’s investigation? It was a subpoena issued to BLM demanding an “inventory” of a 1,200 capacity long-term holding facility in Osasge County, OK, – a legal subpoena BLM refused to grant.
Let me repeat this so it is crystal clear…
Because a subpoena demanded an accounting of the number of wild horses in a BLM holding facility, the BLM successfully shut down a grand jury investigation of the United States of America rather than comply and allow independent law enforcement to verify the number of wild horses BLM said they were holding in the facility. (To be fair, this wasn’t the only reason BLM didn’t want the mountain of evidence assembled against them to ever be heard but it was the subpoena that forced their hand to dismantle the investigation through a variety of tactics).
The key word was inventory – meaning numbers – and anyone who takes a little time to research this issue quickly realizes this is a “numbers game”. As the lives of America’s wild horses and burros continue to tip precariously closer to execution and/or slaughter, the future they are facing is a result of only one thing – numbers.
Whether discussing the financial numbers, the numbers in long and short term holding, the numbers on the range, population censuses numbers, reproduction numbers, forage or water utilization numbers or the allowed population numbers BLM has set in relation to the “numbers” of everything else in the thriving natural ecological balance, every act, decision and proposal finds its roots in numbers. Yet despite this, why do the numbers so often fail to add up?
LikeLiked by 1 person
The BLM has plans to rid all public lands of wild horses put then in pen and then petition congress to slaughter because of the expense. I have been saying this for years all is coming to pass. There will be no wild horses on public lands in ten years. There almost gone now. Less than 20 thousand remain and at round up of 4 thousand a year. Then it will become to expensive to feed them and all those horses will be killed to make way for welfare cattle.
LikeLike
The Drummond’s BLM contract is just another example of the good ole’ boy network making the rich even richer. Thank you tax payers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen!!!
LikeLike
I will not watch the pioneer women again and contribute to her wealth.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting. Donald Trump could shed some much needed light on this government
‘program’ being funded by our tax payer’s dollars, while our S.S. & veteran’s benefits are at risk of being cut.
I’d be curious to know if the wild horses on the beaches of South Carolina are being funded as well [think reality show on the Bravo network, “Southern Charmed”, chocked full of wealthy socialites who don’t seem to have real jobs]. I wonder if any of them are getting a government check, too.
LikeLike
so WHY exactly would ”Donald Trump be able to shed some much needed light on” any government
‘program’ ??? especially from 15 months ago?
LikeLike
im really shogked that ree drumond and her husband ladd would have any part of this for the love of MONEY distateful
LikeLike
So..will all of you vote in the Primary and in November? And how?
LikeLike
What baffles me most is the surprise and revelation in these comments at yet another instance of financial ‘slap & tickle’ by the privileged few! This story of the wild horses becoming sole province of the wealthy is reminiscent of what’s happening in Sedona, AZ, where the spiritual vortexes are being cordoned off behind the gates of ultra-wealthy developments: If the gateman likes your look [or vibe], you are admitted. (My companions and I were admitted, so cannot comment about the alternative.) Read about the intent to develop near the southern rim of Grand Canyon and/or commercial threats to the San Francisco Peaks.
The wealthy are quite skilled in acquiring taxpayer money to fund their ambitions, then convincing those same ignorant taxpayers that such scams are altruistic. Yeah, it’s past time to be shocked by what’s going on, and likely too late to stop the momentum, but at least realize that “the emperor has no clothes!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
What cracks me up about PW is her husband is a cattle rancher and yet when you watch her show she buys her meat at the grocery store. She doesn’t seem very pioneer to me. I am sure she has people wiping her butt! Prissy for sure!!!!!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a travesty. We all agree that the wild horses should be set free and untampered with. We support your goals.
The Wolves.
LikeLike
Many folks commenting here are well intentioned but know nothing about this subject. I don’t know how the Drummond’s got their land, but they have it and I don’t think we should fault them for having a huge ranch or being wealthy. This is the “rich envy” that politicians are encouraging now-a-days which I think is a dangerous road that winds up in socialism.
We are ranchers and I know my ancestors worked very hard to get the land we ranch. This is our living, and don’t we deserve to make a living? We can either graze our own cattle, or we can lease it to another cattleman who will graze our lands for a fee. The larger ranches have another option, and that is to lease their lands to the government for the wild horses.
We have some wild horse herds around us and I enjoy them very much. These horses are grazing some of the best tall-grass prairie lands in Oklahoma, and run on many thousands of acres free and happy. IF this is “holding”, then it is a great thing. I don’t see anything wrong with this story other than the speeding tickets that are dismissed…..now, that is just WRONG.
LikeLike
nice. BTW, those are not “herds” you are looking at. They are large numbers of unisex prisoners.
LikeLike
You are the only one that makes any sense, people write all kinds of things they know nothing about. I also have lived my whole live on ranches and have had to work very hard to get what we have today. My grandparents came to this country from Norway with nothing and make something of themselves by working hard. I have seen the wild horses at the Drummonds and they are fat and happy, not like the horses in holding pens in Nebraska, have all these people take a look at how those horses lives compare to living on a ranch, being well fed and free. I am sure they wouldn’t take care of hundreds of horses for nothing, and as far as children helping, they sure aren’t making any decisions and they are far more capable then all the people writing in thinking they can judge people by what someone writes that are also out in left field. Let all the people writing try working on a ranch and see it is hard work and 7 days a week all year long. If they have help more power to them.
LikeLike
Someone goes through a lot of research sends out the information and it’s an immediate word fight. Feeling being treated wrong,it’s an iMMEDIATE I have a right to my opinion. Those people are so bad…,My American right is I can be disrespectful just because I don’t agree. Not a good way. But our most intelligent leaders of our country America are doing the same. Who learned from who. Sorry for the bad grammar. God s peace not this worlds peace. Wisdom-Joy-Truth
LikeLike
This is all new to me. Kind of looks like there’s no accountability on the Federal side! A lot of people will do what they can get away with. Especially if local government is in their pocket!
LikeLike
Why is the family and their lives not on the show anymore?
That (besides the yummy recipes) was always my favorite part of the show.
Why isn’t Ladd and the rest of the family on the show anymore?
That’s what makes their show different.
I like seeing the happenings on the ranch!!!! Bring the ranch back!!!!!!!
LikeLike
It’s no secret that the BLM has damaged the lives of our wild horses and burros. Broken their necks and legs in helicopter “round ups”. Separated foals from their mothers. Completely mismanaged their lives. And this is done with tax payer dollars. Lobbyists work together with the BLM, huge ranches, politicians, and everybody in between to keep our wild horses and burros off public lands and onto private holdings, yet taxpayers continue to foot the bill. Conflict of interest anyone? As long as the public continues to disregard bills/propositions that are put forward regarding the well-being of our wild horses and burros, we can look forward to continuing to pay the bill, making wealthy ranchers even more wealthy, and having no say in how our wild equines are treated. Nor do we have acces to the horses/burros, as they are now held on private land. You have to care enough about these animals to demand change.
LikeLike
Thanks to all for the information. I had no idea. This is unfair and just plain wrong.
LikeLike
Don’t forget her products are made in good ole’ China!!!
I don’t know how so many good older people (and younger) fall for her cooking show. She just cooks mostly things that my grandparents and any southern woman cook without any recipes. How is showing frying pork chops a cooking show? Really.
To me she seems fake. Eggs in a hole is not really cooking.
I think it’s funny that people don’t think farm sub money is tax payers money.
Yet people who pay in taxes like the 64 year old disabled man I met last week who is in such terrible shape and his social security check barely feeds him and pays his bills after losing his wife to cancer and working since he was 12. Sad. Yes he made good money and didn’t over spend but when medical bills come it disappears fast. Money can’t save you or cure you in some cases look at someone like Steve Jobs. But money can make life a little better for those older folks who have busted their butts for our country and our military who deserve better too. They would just like to be warm in the winter, have food and not have to worry about bills. Hmmm…wouldn’t we all. Isn’t there enough for everyone without greed.
Our country has lost compassion for one another. It is I need more and more and more at the expense of others. As long as my family gets more and more to heck with everyone else. Live off of min wage and be thankful or live off of less than 75,000 a year and be thankful we let you have any at all. That’s the mind set of so many.
Sorry I went off topic a little but it bugs me dearly that they can get money for horses but a mom can’t get money from a dead beat dad. A worker can’t get another job that was shipped out of state or the country. An elderly person worries will social security pay. People worry about retirement accounts and health insurance.
Great article save the horses please!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Where are the African Americans on her show? Never see any. Not in town at the grocery store, not walking on the street, not in church, not working on the ranch, not at any of the massive parties they give. Not at the mercantile construction or celebrations.
I f I didn’t know any better I would say that someone has an aversion to African Americans! Oh yeah, those horses are real impotant too. But I’m talking about people right now.
LikeLike
Really? You must never watch her show.
Ray worms at the grocery store. He’s black.
The football party at her house? Black kids there, too.
Christmas party? Blacks there, too.
Maybe you should research deeper before jumping to conclusions.
I’ve seen blacks on her show a number of times. And, what does it matter if there aren’t many?
I’ve seen shows with blacks and never saw a white person?
Who freaking cares?
LikeLike
Why dont you come to Pawhuska and look around for yourself and see how many “African Americans” you see. And by the way,here we just call everyone Americans.
LikeLike
Thank you for writing this!
LikeLike
Oh yes, she has started posting entire articles about the visiting black friends, boys who are much younger than any of her children. I remember when she posted about a dinner between her husband and his college friends with tons of photos. It’s a weird story to promote — unless you saw that one of the friends is black. She’s using it to build up her image.
LikeLike
Wow, thanks for the insight. Something just never felt right when watching the show and Red would make comments about saving money on a recipe or whatever. So many things just didn’t ring true to the down to earth presentation Ree puts on. When I observed the elaborate trucks the girls drive and other vehicles makes you say hmmmmm. It proves money begets money. Government subsidies for keeping wild horses, children working while being home schooled, hands in the cattlemen Assoc in that area, food Network…Then walking throughWalmart and observing her cookware, housewares even Charlie as the cookie jar… Urgh,!!! Such fake people.
LikeLike
Think you missed the point… Go back to the beginning comments and story it pertains to…
LikeLike
I still don’t see how their lives are anyone’s business.
Who cares if they homeschool. Who cares how many cars they have.
Who cares how many horses and cattle they have on their land.
Again, why are their private lives anyone’s business?
Why waste your lives concerning yourselves with what other’s do?
They get paid to take care of horses. So? I would expect payment for caring for animals that graze my land and need a wellness check.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well said
LikeLike
Would be nice to have inherited
all that land and get tax payer
subsidies.
What about all that land?
You all inherited it all the rest of us
would have to BUY it.
With what? Yeah that’s fair.
LikeLike
Actually, getting an inheritance IS fair.
My dad got an inheritance when his parents died.
And, if you’re not family and want some of my land, I’d charge you, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Im shocked i love watching the show. I love the family. You get to know the Alex Bryce Todd and Paige as well as Ladf and you get the feeling that they are church going people who take care of their live stock as well as the horses. I would have never thought that they are fast driving privilege people who are very very rich. Wow.
LikeLike
God help all wildlife..they do not stand a chance.:( We will be so sorry ………..
LikeLike
Seems she wants her cake and eat it😕
LikeLike
The phen-fen connection got my attention since my grandson’s mother died at the age of 24 after taking it. My grandson was only 2yo at the time.
LikeLike
I agree, no one, Drummond or otherwise should be above the law. Nor should any law abiding citizen be denied access to those wild horses. We as Americans share our breaches, national parks and such. Some vetted citizens could acquire a horse. care for it, feed it and thus remove some of the cost and burden from the government. Yet another fixable problem being ignored.
LikeLike
People always tend to forget to mention how the drummonds would steal and rob Osage tribal members of their land in order to make up their ranch lands. How did they acquire Osage headrights? How did their names mysteriously end up on federal land deeds belonging to Osage families? How did their names end up on the Osage rolls during the sign up period of the 1907 act? These people are 100% white. These are shady people who have a very shady past. The Osage indians paid the price for the drummonds wealth.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The BLM is out of control and there’s not a thing we can do. Only the wealthy have a say. My hope is that someone hides some stallions away so that one day we (won’t happen in my lifetime) can rewild our Public Lands.
LikeLike
The BLM is out of control and there’s not a thing we can do. Only the wealthy have a say. My hope is that someone hides some stallions away so that one day we (won’t happen in my lifetime) can rewild our Public Lands.
LikeLike
Drummond’s past behavior should be put out there. Maybe y’all cant handle the truth. Dont cover up for the phony.
LikeLike
May I ask what “past behavior” you are referring to?
LikeLike
OMG! You left out Charlie the basset “ranch dog” and his books. Boycott her stuff at Walmart…but Ghee’s the Waltons are welfare ranchers too. I owe Carol Walker an apology she tried to tell me. Boycott
Ree’s cook books on QVC in fact call QVC and protest her appearance. Hit them in the pocket. Which Native American lived on the area of the Drummond ranch? The land belonged to them before the Drummonds…bison…wild horses. KUDOS to Tony in Nevada you are a regular Billy Jack. I would be in so much trouble out there: count coup and take many…helicopters! Write the President an executive order could save the horses and burros. BLM is corrupt and evil and our tax money pays for their evilness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Two classes: the haves and the have-nots and two sets of rules for each. You have to separate the Pioneer Woman from her hubby and his family and just say, “Ladd, what big eyes and ears and nose you have!”
“The better to take your tax dollars my dear!”
LikeLike
NAWS, CHINA LAKE, CA Wild Horse/Burro Roundup. Bureau of Land Mgmt. has many Wild Horses and Burrow corralled near Ridgecrest, CA. They are available for adoption……Could the Drummond Land Co. , Pawhuska, OK, care to give them a home?
LikeLike
It’s amazing how much land they own and how much land native american tribes own.
LikeLike
In general, most Native American lands are trust land. Approximately 56 million acres of land is held in trust by the United States for various Native American tribes and individuals.
LikeLike
The government cries about spending,this is the usual slap in the face for taxpayers. If the BLM can afford to give the welfare ranchers this kind of money but yet turn around and tell Americans that the Wild horses are too expensive to keep? Is mismanagment a word that is trending here?
LikeLike
ILike Ladd. He’s a real man’s man and can even cook!
LikeLike
Why are the Drummonds not held to account for the theft of Osage lands by their ancestors? How many tens of thousands of acres of land should rightfully return to the tribes from which they were stolen? The Osage tribe was quite wealthy until laws were “changed”, money was taken by manipulation, and people lost their lives. Have these people EVER addressed that?
LikeLiked by 1 person