If politicians remain intent on providing feed subsidies, access should be combined with a requirement that
ranchers tangibly demonstrate that they are practicing effective grazing and business management. This could
be accomplished by requiring that ranchers implement a drought response strategy, pre-approved by an
organization such as the USDA-NRCS, as soon as forage production begins to lag behind expectations.
Qualification for subsidies would be limited to ranchers who receive pre-approval for their plan and document
that they were implementing the plan. Rancher-targeted courses in grazing and financial management would
help in the development of ranch-specific drought response plans. In this way government programs would
serve mostly as sources of information that will help to reduce environmental and financial risk. Such
programming may be considered over obtrusive by some, but the program would be voluntary and would
reward good stewardship instead of poor management. The key is that accountability for sound environmental
management be built into a feed subsidy program.
Another consideration for government-sponsored drought relief would be the initiation of a long-term easement
program, similar to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), designed to facilitate resting rangeland in an
area designated as being affected by drought. Under such a program a rancher would receive payments for
removing livestock for the duration of the drought and for a specified period thereafter. Historically, it has taken
a region months or years for herds to recover to pre-drought levels. Gradual re-stocking gave range plants a
chance to recover once the rains resumed. Such a scenario is no longer likely, especially since improved
transportation networks and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has expanded the area from
which to draw livestock to rapidly restock rangeland