A neighboring place sold for $490,000. It is 160 acres. Has 30 acres of sorry irrigated ground. The rest is dry sagebrush covered hill. The buyer is in construction over in Boise.
Regarding the power lines be sure to factor in the risk of whomever associated with the power company comes onto your place. Several years ago, I was shooting squirrels at my grandma's and this generic suv drives up. It was driven by a female biologist who tells me that the power company's access is unusable because she decided it was sensitive habitat, and this lady named Leslie gave PG&E permission to go through the barnyard. Well Leslie is my dad and this biologist lied to a guy with a gun. The end result of this biologist with no integrity coming onto our place was about three million dollars since it was no longer developable to an orchard. My advise is that if Idaho power wants to put a power line across your place they need to buy your place.
I'm not sure you've heard the name Thomas Tull, but you might have heard of Teton Ridge Ranch. He's a literal billionaire that, thanks to Yellowstone, has decided to get in to performance horse stuff. He's causing eastern Idaho to explode in the same way that it is here near Boise b/c he just buys what he wants. He's really driving the prices up there.
According to Zillow, our place has gone up 4X from what we paid. Who really knows how accurate that is, but it's insane around here.
And the problem with that kind of appreciation in values is that the owner can't control what comes along with it. Property taxes and insurance go up, and even the value in the contents of your house rise as a percentage of value. And then when you think you can make a bundle if you sell it... there's nothing you can buy that will replace what you sold.
Exactly, if I want to downsize ever, I have to move away. It's too bad, but that's what this area has become-California North.
I had to pick up the wife's daughter at the Boise airport. I hadn't gone past Caldwell in about 5 years. That area has exploded to say the least.
I have a 1/2 Brangus 1/2 Char. Best bull I have ever owned.
That I am not worried about. Where the power line is going is very sorry range land. It is as steep as you can stack dirt. They will hqve to install the thing with helicopters because it is too steep to build a road on. The cows don't utilize most of that area because it is too steep and too far from water. But I want every dime my lawyer can squeeze out of them. If they went 100 feet further west they would be on BLM land but they would rather mess with private land owners then have to deal with the federal government.
You can 'make money' on them, but not nearly enough to offset the labor intensity and time involved, and ya won't do it right off the git go..
Yes. I should have rephraesd that. You can make money but probably aren't going to make a living. The current trend seems to be people think they can survive on 100 acres and 30 cows. You will have fun and make a little money though. I'd say the number for me to make a decent living would be 1,000 acres and 225 hd if I weaned and fed them out to 800#. This year was very different but I think we can all agree this market won't last.
Even better to have grass good enough to make it 225 head on 225 acres... and still have the thousand acres.
That would be great but not a reality in my area. I watch allot of progressive ranching operations and those guys have hopes and dreams that just aren't sustainable in the real world.
I shoulda bought every acre I could in NW Arkansas in the eighties... for $300 per. A pair per acre was normal.
My time is free now, labor of love...as long as my cattle pay for their winter feed and fall/summer treats I'm good with it. I'm getting close to having my cattle pay for my property taxes which to me that's what will keep me going even more besides the labor of love of the farm/land/cattle. Too much toxicity (and spicy women of my youth) in the world...land keeps you "safe", grounded and focused....to make progress.
exactly! you can't do it every year because of weather patterns
2 1/2 ac per pair over in East Texas where I used to live. Well, that was the 'official' TAMU/county ag exemption description. Some years you could run more, some years less. Some years there shouldn't have been a single pair on the place.
The big catch phrase is solar cattle, we're just converting sunlight. That's just half the equation. Grass gotta have a drink every now and again.
