'Where's the Beef? Circuit Asks in Grazing Flap

The 9th Circuit ruled that an Oregon cattle rancher who won a permit to use federal grazing lands must prove that it is not harboring someone else's cows on the land. "The issue in this case boils down to a simple question: Where's the beef?" Judge Richard Tallman wrote for the three-judge appeals panel before determining that cows not owned by a grazing permit holder cannot be kept on federal allotments. Fence Creek Cattle Company challenged the U.S. Forest Service after it revoked the rancher's grazing rights for two of its four allotments. The forest service suspected that the rancher was grazing about 1,500 cattle it did not own on the federal land after finding cows that did not bear Fence Creek's brand. The panel ruled that the forest service was not out of line in canceling the rancher's rights to the two allotments. "Fence Creek applied for a grazing permit because it had allegedly purchased over 1,500 head of cattle. However, it could not prove that any such transaction ever took place," Tallman wrote for the Portland, Ore.-based panel...more