High Priced Ranch Land

There was an interesting article in the Gazette yesterday about how prime ranch land is selling for such high prices that a average Joe cannot afford to buy it just to raise cattle. This has been talk in ranch country for quite a while now. Year after year we see rich men and women come along and buy ranches up for outrageous prices that you could never make work just by running cattle. Not only does this raise our property taxes, but also raises the valuation of our ranches so that when we do pass away our children have to sell the place to pay the taxes.

This whole situation is a two edged sword for us ranchers. It prices us out of purchasing more land to run cattle but if we need to sell land it makes it very valuable. That I can see there is no answer to the problem since if I wanted to sell my place I would want to receive the highest price I could for it.

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. Barry LePatner