If he owns the grazing rights
Again, one does not own grazing rights on BLM properties here in the west. They are privileges typically attached to a nearby deeded base property. Sell the ranch (base property) and the new owner has the option of picking up or abandoning the permits. The old owner does not retain those privileges and he cannot market them to someone else independent of his base property.
Simply put, one can not sell his grazing privileges to another individual, because he does not actually own the BLM acres. There are instances of folks leasing the grazing to someone else if the permit holder is short on cows. I'm not schooled in the intricacies of those deals though. One can also loose a permit if his priviliges are not exercised for some years. If a permit is abandoned, nearby base property owners (ranchers) may be offered the option of picking it up, and we have several instances of those events when ranches are sold or developed. The Enviro crowd at one time thought of purchasing ranches and gaining access to permits as a method of getting cattle off of public land. Without stock though, they could not sustain the privilege.
While permits have been assumed to add value to a ranch, there are no warranaties. The new owner may be willing to put a high value on a one section ranch because it has access to 200 square miles of BLM rangeland the may support 3 times the base property potential in stock. There is associated risk though, because the new owner could just as well loose those privileges a week after taking ownership. Banks may or may not be willing to loan $$$ against that assumed value.
The system was established in the 1930's to eliminate the grazing of the commons issues. Folks with no property but a wealth of stock were raping the landscape. It was impossible for anyone to bank or save forage. The solution was to run off transient users, and offer privileges to those with deeded water and property in the immediate vicinity. They had the capacity, via harvested forage, to support stock during the winter and in spring months when the forages need some periods of unmolested growth to sustain themselves.
Permits come up and permits are abandoned all the time. Grizzly bear, wolves, black footed ferrets, or even turtles can lead to substantial changes in management. At the moment, sage grouse may be the undoing public land grazing in Wa, Id, Mt, Co, Ut, and Nv. Oregon might escape that one or get swept in too. I think the decision will be made in 2014 or 2015. Mostly we can thank the endangered species act for many of these problems.
