Wasted Donation

[WyomingRancher]

This must be a joke... two universities are gifted a 50,000 acre ranch to run and teach future ag students with, AND they both want to sell it?! I don't believe I'll be sending in my meager annual donation to UW after reading this, what a waste of a great teaching resource .

HORSE CREEK, Wyo.—A woman who donated her family's ranch to promote hands-on agriculture education at the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University says she's disappointed that the two schools haven't made better use of her gift as a teaching tool.
Now the universities are preparing to sell the Y Cross Ranch and Amy Davis says if she had it to do all over again, she wouldn't have donated the vast property between Cheyenne and Laramie in southeast Wyoming.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_19695653

http://www.collegian.com/index.php/article/2012/01/colorado_states_sale_of_y_cross_ranch_prompts_outrage_from_donors

[Big Muddy rancher]

[jodywy]

you need to dig a little deeper there was conservation convent placed on the deed that really hamper running the ranches at what would be a profitable operation…. One such restriction is stubble height, Yes stubble height is a good management tool but some years the rules need bent.

[Big Muddy rancher]

[WyomingRancher]

I don't believe that's the case, they're neighbors on the forest, and a very reliable source says that it's a profitable operation. The article even mentions how it's a lean, mean, running machine. I don't think the universities ever really wanted the resource to begin with, and now that 14 years is up, they can sell.

Like you, I'd like to see actual numbers, and I'd think that would be public information.

I just find it sad that they want to dump such a neat learning resource. I agree with the CSU article, the donor should take it back, it sounds like she was interested in helping CSU buy out UW in the past. It would be nice for that sort of resource to be available to all of the MYTFarms out there to learn from.

[Roundup]

We perhaps do not know all the circumstances. The owner may have donated it for reasons such as her ability to pay inheritance taxes or to receive tax deductions, which may have been quite substantial.

In any event, she made the choice and should have had a full understanding of what possibilities existed for the future new owners, including their right to convert it to cash. Pretty tough to donate something, take the tax deductions, and expect to control it too.

Hopefully it will stay a ranch, or portions go to area ranchers and remain a place for cows to graze.

[jodywy]

[redrobin]

Fantastic news in my opinion. It's another ranch available to the private enterprise system.

[WyomingRancher]

A little update...

I attended our annual forest meeting last week (Jody, Mark is the president), and we were told that the ranch has profited annually the past several years, profited over $300,000 last year alone, and the party who submitted the $18 million dollar unsolicited bid (who CSU couldn’t remember the name of in the article ) was a neighboring landowner, who used to sit on the ranch's university foundation board (privy to finances), who also owns the majority of land in the area (think Ted Turner), and is also the son-in-law of the largest donor to UW.

I haven't been able to get a hold of a hard copy of the financial information since evidently it's held in a private foundation, and apparently they don't have to disclose to the public. They also apparently don't have to disclose where the income generated from the ranch goes... but it sounds like it's a heck of a lot more than the $12,750 figure stated in the article. Accountability anyone???

Is anybody familiar with the Noble foundation? http://www.noble.org/Ag/index.html

I'm guessing something like this is what the donor originally had hoped for when they donated this resource. The universities have both admitted they never honored the original intent of the gift, heck many students commented they never even knew the ranch existed! Maybe the donor could revoke the gift, and the Ranchers.net clan could run it as a foundation… just think of the fun we’d all have!

Just a question, if the donor had been incentivized solely by tax purposes, could they have originally sold the ranch, then donated the proceeds to eliminate/minimize tax consequences??? I agree, you can't dictate what happens to a gift once given, but find it ridiculous they apparently didn't even try to utilize it.

[jodywy]

[Jassy]

Funny you should mention the Y Cross Ranch, we had gone to a branding there a few years ago and had a great time with everyone that worked there.

My kid who will be getting his masters degree this spring had come up with a great idea for the college to use the ranch better. One of the main problems is that they don't have anyone out there for the students to come out when "they" can to do their studies and research. My kid wanted to "create" a job for himself as a director of students and be there to oversee their work. He wanted to live out there so he would be available at anytime for the students. From what he had learned that students can only go out there when their professors or advisors could go, which I'm sure isn't often. Wyoming Unv. didn't think that they needed to create this kind of job at this time..Also my kid was thinking of his own studies to work on his PHD on his cattle research..Oh well,,it sounded like a great plan to me. I sure hate to see the Colleges let go of a gift like that, when the working ranch could be so helpful for education too...

[Big Muddy rancher]