The ranch access gates and cross-overs are in remote stretches of I-10 both east and west of Van Horn. Am sure exceptions were granted for those ranchers, to avoid the need to build expensive exits, interchanges, and frontages that could stretch for miles. If I-10 was built to complete "limited access" there, these facilities would have been used by a handful. The pre-existing US 80 was completely laid over/eliminated by the interstate for much of those sections.
I think at the very least they should come up with some other solutions. One idea is building gravel/dirt frontage roads flanking the main lanes of I-10. Those could connect to other paved frontage road segments that do exist. Or they can do what is proposed for spots of I-69E and I-69C in South Texas: short length frontage roads with functional on/off ramps & acceleration lanes, creating a safer RIRO for those access points.
Whether the ranch access gates get used frequently or not they do pose a danger every time they are used. Ranchers should not be entering the freeway directly from a dirt road, especially a road (or driveway) that connects perpendicular to the highway, forcing hard right turns.
The thru traffic on I-10 out there is traveling at 80mph or significantly faster than that depending on how bad someone is speeding. 80mph is 117.3 feet per second. That's a football field in under 3 seconds. If some rancher is making a hard right turn onto I-10 from some gravel/dirt road he has to take extreme precautions to wait for a big enough gap in traffic before attempting to turn onto the highway. It takes more than a few seconds to go from a dead stop, turn right and then get up to highway travel speed. Many of these ranchers are hauling trailers behind their pickups, which greatly increases the time it takes to make a turn and speed up to the flow of traffic. God forbid the guy hops one set of lanes to jump over to make a left turn. Imagery in Google Earth clearly shows this is happening in some spots.
Ranchers may be used to dealing with those hazards, but other non-farmer types driving I-10 don't have the practice. Going 80mph or more it will be difficult for them to suddenly slow down for someone making a hard turn onto the highway in front of them. And that's even if they anticipate something like that could happen. Most people driving on freeways don't expect pickups entering out of nowhere from some gravel road. Normal Interstate exits have room to accelerate on the on ramps or have acceleration lanes at the end of the on ramps. These ranch access things have none of those safety features.
The terrain along I-10 in West Texas is pretty irregular. The highway is far from perfectly straight. If one of these ranch access roads is around a bend then visibility to I-10 traffic will be blocked within so and such many seconds of the turn. Trees, bushes and hills add to the visibility problems. That's one of the factors that makes all the gravel road off-shoots on CA-58 in California so potentially hazardous.