Winecup Gamble Ranch
“Hard country, thin water — and 558,000 acres of it rented from you, the taxpayer, for $50k/year.”
Optimized for sovereignty, survivability, and a new economics.
31% deeded — 247,500 of 805,580 acres owned outright.src
Most of this ground is leased and can be lost. The herd-knowledge CacheCow records is the one asset no landlord can take back.
~65 acres to feed one cow (moderate stocking rate). The sparser the range, the thinner the margin when an animal goes quiet.src⚠
Early detection turns the harshest survivability number around: respiratory trouble caught days sooner is the difference between a sick cow and a dead one, exactly where the country gives you no second chances.
~10,500 head sets the size of the preventable-loss pool.src⚠
Divide the losses, multiply the survivors: every animal that doesn't die to a disease we flagged early is value that compounds back into the operation.
Conservatively, counting only the cattle respiratory disease would otherwise kill, caught early enough to save. It is the floor, not the ceiling: treatment cost, shrink, and lost weight are real too, and left out on purpose.
Hard country, thin water, big distances. Two-thirds of this ranch is federal land leased at $1.35 per animal unit month — a rate set in 1978 and barely moved since. The cattle that thrive out here are telling you exactly how they do it. We'd write it all down and hand you the manual.
- 01The Land Report · 2026-01 — Stan Kroenke, America's largest landowner
- 02High Country News / ProPublica · 2025 — The wealthy profit from public lands — federal grazing fees vs. market rate⚠ Joint investigative report using BLM and Forest Service fee records. Dollar figures are based on 2024 grazing season data.
- 03Bureau of Land Management · 2024 — Federal grazing fee — $1.35/AUM (2024), set by formula under PRIA 1978⚠ The $1.35 AUM fee has been at or near its statutory floor for decades. Market rate for private grazing land is typically $10–$23/AUM in the West.
- 04BLM Nevada — Nevada rangeland — salt-desert/sagebrush, very low forage density⚠ Statewide AUM/acre derived; not parcel-specific.
- 05USDA APHIS NAHMS · 2015 — Adult cattle annual death rate ~2%
- 06USDA NASS · 2011 — Cattle Death Loss — 4.3% of inventory; respiratory disease 28% of non-predator loss⚠ USDA's detailed Cattle Death Loss report has not been reissued since 2011; we do not imply newer national cause-tables exist.
- 07Translational Animal Science (Oxford) · 2025 — Randomized feedlot trial: automated early BRD detection cut untreated deaths ~75% and total fallouts ~27%, treating ~3.7 days earlier⚠ Several authors are employed by Merck Animal Health, which makes the tested device. We cite the statistically-significant mortality/fallout figures, not the marginal per-head economic figure (P=0.06).
- 08CattleFax (via NCBA) · 2026-02 — 2026 full-year feeder average forecast ~$335/cwt (most conservative benchmark)