IT is an issue that Queensland landholders well understand.
Government interference driven by green ideologies that delivers little more than nonsensical restrictions on practical land management.
In the US on the Nevada/Idaho border, Ron Cerri and his family run about 500 Angus and Hereford breeders on their property Rebel Creek Ranch in a region known as the Great Basin.
The actual ranch covers 570ha (1400 acres) and is at elevation of 1370m. The 16,200ha (40,000ha) of federally controlled BLM land and forestry lease country that is attached to the ranch ranges up to 3050m (10,000 feet).
The higher country can expect to be covered in 4.5-6m of snow in the colder months.
Mr Cerri said drought had been a real issue for the past three years, exacerbated by wild fires on the public lands.
"In 2012 we had some very bad fires that took out something like a million acres (400,000ha) of pasture," Mr Cerri said.
"Then we entered this drought cycle with far less pasture than we would have expected."
Federal public lands represent about 87 per cent of Nevada's cattle country. The state runs about 420,000 cattle.
Mr Cerri is also chairman of the Nevada Cattleman's Association's federal public lands committee that represents the state's 663 ranchers who have title over public land. He said the fires had been made worse by a tall, fast growing, invasive weed called cheat grass.
"We need the government to understand that grazing this land will help control these wild fires," he said.
"Keeping cattle off public lands may attract votes in the eastern states, but it is not the best way to manage these lands for either the federal government or the ranchers who rely on this pasture for their cattle."
Under a new classification system developed by the US Department of Agriculture, the current drought in Nevada has been deemed a category D2. It means that ranchers must reduce the grazing pressure on public lands by 60pc.
Those who fail to comply will be banned from grazing on that country for two years, or for 12 months after the drought breaks.
"Given we only receive 8 inches (200mm) of rain a year, the fast growing cheat grass responds very quickly and dries out equally as fast. Without grazing the cheat grass is left as fuel, ready to burn."
In the Great Basin the cattle are grazed on the higher country over spring and summer, with the calves sold off as weaners going to the winter.
The cow herd is kept on the ranch on the lower country, where they are fed hay and silage that has been made during the warmer months.
"This year we will have to buy in some of our hay because the drought has stopped us growing usual amounts," Mr Cerri said.
"Hay prices are at record levels (A$215-$225/tonne) but fortunately so are cattle prices, which helps offset the cost."