That's the way to do it. It's the same with us. You can drop a lease off but you will get our lease
Passive Income From Your Ranch
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You are not going to get a bunch of money out of any one in front of a judge. Transmission line companies like AEP know the value cap on your land with ED before they ever contact you. It's like insurance companies. They know just how much to offer and how much to pay to fight you.
You are not playing a fair game when eminent domain is involved amd the side with it in their back pocket knows it.
You are not playing a fair game when eminent domain is involved amd the side with it in their back pocket knows it.
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wbvs58
Well-known member
Brute, I was hoping Cowgirl8 might have commented on this as they are hosting that big solar project.
From what I have read the cost of decommissioning is going up all the time plus there are a lot of uncertainties with what the requirements will be at the time.
Ken
Definitely. They need to be regulated and forced to put up bonds and permitted through a commission like O&G with the RRC. For right now, it the best option I am aware of to protect the land owner.
wbvs58
Well-known member
I'm getting a lot of good ideas from here. I am dealing with a small time mining exploration company that has an exploration licence on my place at the moment. So far they are just chipping rock and soil samples. Tin, tungsten, molybdomen and Kaolin clay are the minerals of interest. I make it as difficult as possible for them, they have to sign my visitors book on arrival and leaving for my biosecurity and I make sure they have a new washdown certificate for their vehicle before entering. The nearest place that can issue a certificate is 176km away and I have turned them away to go get one, It is water off a ducks back to them, they know what the have to do but try to get away with the bare minimum. I will have to have a Conduct and Compensation Agreement with them which they will have to pay my legal expenses before they bring machines in to do drilling, they are ducking and weaving this because they know it will cost them money which they don't have. It is a worry, even if the have a successfull listing on the stock exchange the money they raise won't go too far especially when it comes to compensate me or even to rehabilitate my land or provide proper access to where they want to mine. I tell them I just want them to go away. The principals of the company are older fellows about my age, they have probably been bankrupt before, they remind me of punters at the races that are trying to get square on the last race.
Ken
Ken
Ouachita
Well-known member
This does take the brain in a direction that caught me off guard.
Lisagrantb
Well-known member
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Not saying the judge will give you a bunch of money. I am saying the judge will likely rule in your favor of making them move the line to minimize the disruption to your property. So, based on that they will offer more money to keep it where they want it or they will move the line and most likely the former.
Out of the thousands of ROW agreements that I've signed off on I have had to use eminent domain exactly 3 times And those were individuals that would not allow access at all no matter how much we offered. All the companies that I've worked for or with really hate to use expropriation for numerous reasons and that includes Entergy and AEP.
But I can say for a fact, the word expropriation strikes fear in most people and the ROW guy knows how and when to mention it to get the results he wants.
Money isn't the only thing you can negotiate for. I can't tell you how many roads I've built or improved, ditches I've dug, land I've cleared, rock pads I've laid, fences I've built, culverts I've installed and so on just to get the owner to sign.
Then there's temporary access roads, work areas and lay down yards.
I understand. I was a production supervisor over STX and WTX for an O&G company. I was over many of pipeline projects and power line projects in both areas as well as the maintenance once they were in.
Companies hate cutting a check for damages. It's much easier to trade work that gets mixed in. When AEP mulched out our ROW, they did several weeks of mulching in exchange for the damages.
AEP is a trash company with a long history of treating people like crap. As some one who has done the same job with O&G, they give every one a bad name and make all our jobs harder.
That same property has an LCRA line and STEC line, also. They are night and day difference. They don't even like AEP. AEP had contractors using the LCRA ROW and gates during construction. The AEP land man lied to me and said they had permission from LCRA. I told him I don't care who gave them permission, they didn't pay for damages on that ROW. I got on the phone asap to LCRA because I still had the land mans contact info. With in a few hours they called me back and they were out the next morning. Turns out an AEP contractor had their LCRA key and they, contractor and AEP, decided they would use it. The LCRA guy was not happy.
We have had a herbicide only form in with AEP since construction. Every time they try to come through to shred they pretend like they lost the form despite me pulling the form and the emails. Then they say they don't have a herbicide crew. I tell them its not my problem and I hope they fail inspections and we will see them in court if a blade spins on that property.
It is absolutely ridiculous how bad that company is. Another time one of their contractors literally talked $hit to me and bowed up, in front of the land man, after they left gates open and cows got in the wrong pasture. I told the land man they were never allowed back on the property because the guy basically told me I can do what ever I want to get the job done. Then he said... you can't remove me. I had the sheriff in route.
What was even funnier was I walked to my truck and pulled out a business card for a rep at his company. We were putting up miles of power lines in WTX to well sites. His company was in my office not a week before trying to get in on the bidding process. While on speaker phone I told the guy they would not be allowed to bid on our jobs because of that guy and that I had the sheriff in route to remove him from our property. The contractor started packing his stuff and just left. The guy on the phone didn't know what to say. The next 2 weeks they were back in my office trying to clean the mess up and take us out to lunch. Saying that he was not a representation of the company, blah blah blah. We were a publicly traded O&G company so I had to write up a paper for the file saying why I was not allowing them to bid on the job. Karma is a *****.
It's way to small of a world to treat people that bad.AEP people are still, by far, the worst company, as a whole, I have ever dealt with. That includes all my company to company interactions as a prod supervisor and all the leases, rows, etc I deal with on family land and managed land. Their whole company culture is absolutely, horrible.
My next favorite ROW issue is usually when they get an call 811 and pipeline companies tell me I can't take heavy equipment over their pipeline. It makes me laugh. I tell them they are receiving 48hr notice to show me where in their contract it says we can not do that and to have their line in a condition ready for us to drive over. If it is not in a condition to drive over I will need a written document with GPS coordinates outlining whixh areas are not fit (no one will admit that). Kinder Morgan had a 10" line, only 8" deep, in sand down here. They were pooping bricks. We had dozens operating all around it for over a year. They fly their ROW all he time and would flag it.
Another one is when you call 811 and the pipeline company says they can find their line and don't go near this area.
Ya, no. You pot hole it or do what you have to do to find the hole. You can't tell me not to operate it a whole area because you don't know where the line is. After I call 811 I am clear of liability. If you give me bad info... you will be responsible for it.I deal with ROW issues... every... single... week... some where. Many of these companies like to bluff people and hope they are ignorant to their actual rights.
I was never like that when I dealt with land owners. I cleaned up many of messes behind land men because they did not understand what people's land meant to them or how to talk to people. I've sat on people's front porches, rode on their ranches, opened gates, and listened to the history of their properties. I would make suggestions, like asking for dozer or road work instead of checks and just tell them the pros and cons, honestly. It never failed me to just be honest with them.
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I have a few like that
- Leasing out good farming land.
- occasionally leasing out property for hunting, but it can become dangerous in some situations so I tend to avoid it.
- selling square and round bales.
- selling corn bundles in the fall.
- selling corn or any type of grain.
- I have multiple empty houses on the property so those get rented/leased out.
- photography, people die for good pictures.
pay extra if you want a photo with a cow that's haltered and you can lead.
- tours/school groups/birthday parties.
- occasionally leasing out property for hunting, but it can become dangerous in some situations so I tend to avoid it.
- selling square and round bales.
- selling corn bundles in the fall.
- selling corn or any type of grain.
- I have multiple empty houses on the property so those get rented/leased out.
- photography, people die for good pictures.
pay extra if you want a photo with a cow that's haltered and you can lead.
- tours/school groups/birthday parties.
lavacarancher
Well-known member
Mineral lease, cell phone tower, solar farm. Someone here already mentioned there is no such thing as "passive" income on a farm, but the three I mentioned above are about as passive as you're going to get. what about planting pecan trees, fruit trees, etc. Long wait before income is started but really doesn't require much work once established. Someone once asked "...how do I make a million $ from a farm or ranch" and the answer was ....start with 10 million$. Good luck.
libertygarden
Well-known member
The only thing passive about my property is the steady outflow of money from my pocket, which reduces my income and hence my tax liability.
Since I live in the city and only farm on the weekends, neighbors are always asking me for compost.
Since I live in the city and only farm on the weekends, neighbors are always asking me for compost.
Named'em Tamed'em
Well-known member
That's shytty!
GoWyo
Well-known member
It could be passive income if they pay you to let them load and haul the compost.
skyhightree1
Well-known member
I have a cell tower on one farm and have done a pumpkin patch... I really want to do a haunted forest . We will see what I come up with.
Dave
Well-known member
I finally settle with Idaho Power over the power line crossing my place. It is going to be on the far edge of the property about a mile from the house. wont be able to see it from the house. They figure it will take up about 36 acres. Works out to just under a third of the total price I paid for the ranch. I am not thrilled about having the power line but I do like the idea of a big hunk of the mortgage going away.
skyhightree1
Well-known member
Thank you sir.. Yes, They can be I wish I had about 15 more towers on some land.
Dave
Well-known member
A rancher I helped out the year before moving here has 3 of those wind turbines on his property. He said they pay $700 a month each. His dad was planning on changing how things would be divided up. He died suddenly before he changed his will. My friend's sister now has 23 of those wind turbines on her property.
I get concerned about powerlines. Long ago we lived in a subdivision with a powerline running down our property line. We had 2 female dogs that for the 3 years we lived there never came into heat. I've never had cattle or horses around powerlines long term but I'd want to talk with someone about that or get enough money it wouldn't make a difference
