Utah Ranch for Sale: Building Your Own Equine Facility for Business

Expansive and pristine ranches in Utah offer several income generating opportunities for their owners. Depending on the resources available in their property and their interest and skills, owners could grow crops, raise livestock, harvest timber, build a resort etc. Many horse lovers, on the other hand, could teach riding lessons, board horses, host horse camps, or even build their own breeding facility. If you are in the market for ranches for sale in Utah and thinking about starting an equine business, here are some aspects of planning you need to start with.

Choosing a Property
You’ll want a property with a generous number of trails for your horses to roam about. While all ranches have high and low areas, the ideal property for horses is one with rolling landscapes and a good amount of cover. Note that not all parts of a ranch are usable and there may be wetlands you’d have to steer your horses away from when mapping tracks.

Moreover, the area must be easily accessible to veterinarians, farriers, and horse trailers. Narrow, winding trails and sheer drops may mean a nightmare, especially during cold, slippery weathers. It’s a good thing brokers like Mirr Ranch Group can help you find a ranch for sale that is suitable for horse business in Utah.

Building the Facility
The next step is to locate the best area in the ranch to build your horse facility. Below are its four basic components:

1. Shelter. Your horses can’t tolerate the weather all the time. Additionally, there will be horses that must be kept stalled for a certain period of time. You will have to build a barn and a couple of loafing sheds or turnouts.

2. Food storage. Food supplies should be kept safe from pests. You can either create a storage within the stable for convenient feeding or keep the supplies in a separate structure.

3.Fencing. Fence planning is critical to a ranch set-up. It must be built with the right materials, height and design to keep the rowdiest horses in and avoid injury. A well-built fence will also add to your stable’s aesthetic value, which is good for your marketing.

4.Arena. It’s where you train your horses and conduct riding lessons. The arena has to be carefully engineered to avoid problems such as water pooling and base layer damage. You may choose between an outdoor arena and one with an all-weather design.

The love of horses is the foundation of every successful equine facility. With thorough research, smart planning and a good dose of patience, your passion for these majestic animals will be converted into a steady stream of income.

Source:

Horse Jobs: Learn How to Open Your Own Horse Business, MyHorse.com

Farm Design Part One: Designing Your Own Farm Can Be A Daunting Task, ChronoofHorse.com

Oregon Ranch for Sale: Tips on Harvesting Timber the Sustainable Way

Every ranch owner has his own vision of maintaining his property over time. While many ranches for sale in Oregon offer opportunity for farming, cattle raising, and/or recreational pursuits, there are those that also boast of millions of dollars’ worth of marketable timber. If you’re looking to buy a ranch timberland, you also have to be prepared to be a steward of the land, and consider harvesting timber as a means of conserving it. Although cutting down trees for cash sounds purely commercial, through a carefully-managed harvest and a solid regeneration plan, you can promote your woodland’s long term well-being.

Below are three tips for a sustainable timber management:

1. Consult a regional wildlife biologist. These conservation advisers, who work in state and federal natural resources agencies as well as in agricultural extension bureaus, can help you determine how the harvest can affect wildlife in your property and what regeneration methods are advisable to promote the repopulation and growth of certain species. These professionals are highly in-demand so make sure to formulate as many questions as you can discuss during the meeting. Would you like to grow a particular kind of tree for future harvest? Or perhaps, increase the number of games on your property, or provide more habitat for birds in the forested acres? Know what you want first.

2. Create a forest management plan. Your plan should include your goals on matters such as resource benefits, protection, target income, investment, harvest limitations, timber population, reforestation etc.; as well as the means to achieve them. In particular, your harvest plans should deal with post-logging cleanup, which entails erosion control, burning, fence repair, logging slash, and other concerns. Before having your timbers cut down, come up with a long-term plan with the help of a professional forester.

3. Choose a professional logger. Some timber land owners, especially absentee ones or those who don’t practice hands-on management, have fallen prey to unscrupulous loggers who do not only pay short of the products’ market value but who also give little regard to future reforestation, literally raping the land. Finding a licensed and conscientious logging operator is crucial in harvesting and selling your timber, as well as replanting trees.

As a future ranch timberland owner, you can benefit significantly from the cyclical income the trees can provide, in addition to the shelter they give for a more abundant game. By creating conditions for regrowth and sustaining wildlife habitat, you can get the most out of your property. If you’re on the hunt for a ranch for sale here in Oregon with marketable timber, consult with professional brokers from firms like Mirr Ranch Group.

Source: How to Harvest Timber, OregonLoggers.org
Source: Sustainable Timber Management for Homesteaders, MotherEarthNews.com

Cattle Ranches for Sale: Three Key Factors Buyers Should Consider

Anybody who engages in cattle farming aims for profitability. While some cattle farmers operate ranches by leasing lots, others have pockets deep enough to buy their own ranches and manage their cattle business more freely. If you’re in the market for cattle ranches for sale, you have to look beyond the fresh air, recreation, and prestige and instead brace yourself for the business side of a rancher’s life.

Make no mistake: there’s no foolproof guide to ensuring high cattle ranching profitability. By considering these key factors before you make a purchase, however, you’ll be way ahead of some potential challenges associated with running a cattle business.

Carrying capacity
A critical ranch management parameter, carrying capacity is measured not by the size of the property but by how much of it is suitable for foraging. For instance, a ranch with generally flat terrain may be considered ideal for grazing because there are no slope restrictions. That advantage, however, would be diminished if a significant portion of the grazing areas were to remain unused due to sheer distance from water sources.

To improve your ranch’s carrying capacity, you may consider developing stock water. Drought and moisture conditions can affect forage conditions, so find an expert who can help you make sense of factors such as soil type and precipitation.

Labor needs
Even if you intend to let livestock roam around freely most of the time, cattle still require care. You may find yourself spending more time on management activities if you don’t have enough help around. Small ranches alone demand more than 20 hours of labor each week; think how much more work thousands of acres of land may entail. You may need to make adjustments to accommodate the demands of cattle ranch ownership, especially in case you decide to live in the country rather than be content with being a weekend farmer.

Cattle quality
Amateur ranchers often make the mistake of buying genetically inferior bulls and produce low quality product as a result. Your seed stock supplier will play a significant role in livestock quality, so he must understand your objectives well and provide you fine bulls that meet your requirements. Furthermore, how well your cows fare will also depend on your animal handling practices. For instance, stress is found to adversely affect the tenderness, taste, appearance, and perishability of beef.

Ranch ownership, in other words, requires you to think holistically. You can turn to reputable brokers like Mirr Ranch Group for professional ranch management advice as well as help in finding the kind of ranch for sale that meets your investment and lifestyle goals.

Source:

Seven Keys to Ranch Profitability, BeefMagazine.com

Things to Know Before Buying a Ranch, Noble.org

Colorado Ranches for Sale: Profiting from Both Cattle and Wildlife

Some people look for a ranch for sale solely for the aim of venturing into cattle farming; others dream of owning a ranch to indulge in their favorite recreation: hunting. Still others want to have the best of both worlds. In fact, more and more ranchers are now realizing the economic benefits of a livestock-wildlife fusion. As ranchers seek to maximize their properties’ income potential, they’re beginning to look at wildlife as more than just a mere source of personal recreation.

A great way to earn income from wildlife is through hunting leases that provide a continuous income stream even when ranchers need to cut back on cow numbers or when they don’t have a lot of calves to sell. It’s basically just giving hunters a key to the gate. For this arrangement to work, however, ranchers need to find ways to incorporate wildlife management into their ranch management plans. Doing so effectively will help cattle and wildlife co-exist not just in a common habitat but as complementary income sources.

Even if livestock is a priority, adequate room must be left for wildlife to thrive. Balancing the animals’ forage demand with forage supply, and ensuring the availability of cover throughout the year, will be crucial to sustainable productivity. To illustrate balance in grass and bush management, let’s use deer, one of the popular games here in Colorado, as an example.

When there is enough cover in the lower areas, deer are likely to roam the land and come out in the open. Their habitat will benefit your herd as well since bush strips can provide shade and additional wind protection in the winter. An added bonus is that more moisture is conserved, paving the way for a glorious spring landscape. Too much cover reduces the ground’s huntability, though, making it less appealing to hunters.

Some ranchers, meanwhile, are concerned about deer competing with their cattle for nutrients. According to a rancher from a neighboring state, the diets of these two animals do overlap but not to a considerable extent. As long as there is adequate food supply for both, competition won’t be an issue. One way to help maintain that balance is to over-seed grasses and forbs for fall and spring and other healthy vegetation for food.

With proper planning, achieving maximum profitability from co-existing livestock and wildlife is possible. If this sort of venture excites you, start by looking into pristine ranches for sale in Colorado such as Flat Rock, Silver Mountain, Sandoval and Seven Diamonds. Local brokers like Mirr Ranch Group can help you through the process of acquiring your cattle-wildlife haven.

Sources:

Living a ranching dream: creating cattle and wildlife haven, SouthwestFarmPress.com

Can Cattle And Wildlife Coexist? BeefMagazine.com

For Purchasers of Ranches for Sale: Gov’t Compliance is a Necessity

A Wyoming rancher who obtained all the local permits and rights necessary to build a stock pond on his property—along with the approval of the state when it was finished—is now facing millions of dollars in fines because of said ranch construction project. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger is being fined because he failed to get his permit from the federal government.

In a 2012 compliance order, the EPA told Johnson he had to revert his property back to its previous condition, before he had the stock pond built. Johnson was given a 30-day window to do so. When he refused to comply, the EPA charged him with fines of $37,000 per day. The total amount of the fine is now over $16 million.

Stock ponds and the Clean Water Act
The fine levied against Johnson, according to the EPA, are because his stock pond violates the Clean Water Act. Johnson and his lawyers are arguing that Congress has specifically exempted stock ponds intended to provide water for animals from the Act— just like the one Johnson built. Speaking to Watchdog.org, Johnathan Wood, a staff attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation said that Johnson was “entirely within his rights and didn’t need federal bureaucrats’ permission” when he built his pond.
The EPA provided a statement to agricultural journal AgFax.com in March 2014, explaining the reason for their actions. In the statement, the EPA acknowledged the stock pond exemption contained in the Clean Water Act, but added that it doesn’t apply to Johnson’s case because the pond exists within the stream channel of Six Mile Creek, which eventually feeds into the Green River in western Wyoming.

“The issue is whether Mr. Johnson qualified for the stock pond exemption. To qualify for this exemption, the pond must actually be used in farming or ranching operations, and it is only exempt to the size the farmer requires it to meet operational needs. Ponds created for aesthetic or other non-farming-related purposes do not qualify for the exemption,” EPA’s statement to AgFax said.

Better management of your Wyoming ranch
For potential buyers of ranches for sale in Wyoming, you increase your chances of avoiding problems such as the one described above when you work with experienced and knowledgeable ranch brokers like Mirr Ranch group. Thanks to their extensive background in law finance, marketing, real estate, and land conservation, such firms are highly qualified not only to help you find the best ranch property for your needs, but also develop a custom ranch management plan that complies with local, state and national requirements.

Sources:
Updated: Wyoming man challenges outrageous EPA fines, Watchdog.org
Landowner engages in clean water act; receives EPA fine, NetRight Daily

Ranches for Sale and Ownership: The Responsibilities of a Good Rancher

Risk has always been a part of any business—agricultural ventures included. The risks that farmers and ranchers face are ever-changing, and significant changes in the risk environment can come from all fronts—social, formal governmental, and anywhere else. As such, producers should never neglect their responsibilities as stewards of their agricultural enterprise, in order to manage risk more effectively.

Environmental stewardship
Ranch owners need to act as caretakers of the resources they’re entrusted with. “Natural resource stewardship is a responsibility, not an elective,” says Rick Machen, Texas AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist. His statement carries more weight for ranchers who have experienced or are currently experiencing devastating drought.

Implementation of preventive herd health plan
“Every producer should look at being part of a Beef Quality Assurance program; a solid herd health plan is a major part of such programs,” Machen advises. On that note, ranchers need to establish a solid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. With a preventive heard health plan in place, you can protect your investment, and consequently, your bottom line. This is especially crucial for those who are thinking of putting up ranches for sale since the value of the property can only be maximised when quality is ensured.

People skills
Experience and technical skills are crucial to professional success, but so are people skills. It all comes down to how you interact with your peers, employees, etc., from a verbal and non-verbal point of view. People skills play into very important aspects of ranch ownership including conflict management, decision making, problem solving, goal setting, and communication.

Continuing education
Producers should seize the opportunity to learn about the latest in their industry. Attend any industry-related seminars, support local organizations, learn from successful producers, and even represent your state’s or locale’s interests national and international events—you’ll be better equipped to handle the issues that come your way when you have the resources and know-how to handle them. More than the knowledge you learn, doing so will help you be a part of something larger than yourself.

Wyoming ranches for sale
For producers looking to purchase ranch property in Wyoming, trusted brokers like Mirr Ranch Group will be able to assist you. These professionals would have already helped many find the right ranch for sale for their needs, and they can do the same for you. Seek their help for ranch marketing, consulting, and resource services.

Sources:
Seven Keys To Ranch Profitability, BEEF Magazine
Seven Tips For Ranching Success, BEEF Magazine