Land Value

[Aaron]

i know land in our parts are $2000 on up. I have seen pasture land go that high also. Its kind of sad, yet those who have it and bought it back when it was reasonable are sitting pretty!

We have Hutterites around here also. For those who dont know, they are farmers/ranchers that live in a compound so to speak. They dont believe in tv or radio, yet have the best equipment money can buy. they make make everything they need from clothing to brooms, bake all their goods, butcher their meat, grind their feed, raise hogs, cattle, chickens, turkeys, just about everything...basically are almost self sufficient. They are smart people. They make ALOT of money.....thats how they can afford it. I really dont think they pay each other, all the $ pretty much stays in the colony......They make some mighty fine wine and smoke some mean turkeys and chickens.....

To bad their not cuban's.You know them Cuban's make a damn fine cigar...

Guy I know just came back from the Dominican Republic, brought back a box of 25 Dominican and a box of 25 Cuban cigars for $30 US a box. Sure am glad we Canucks have good relations with those Caribbean countries....I sure wouldn't mind trading steaks for good Cubans.

 

[RoperAB]

28,000 a quarter isn't a whole lot is it?Did they sell it that low because one buyer bought it or is that the going rate there?

It sure is a lot when you have to buy 28 quarters at once!
Okay a working cowboy makes about $1200 a month. A horse trainer with little capital makes about the same. LOL I dont see any ranches in my future. Well not that I will own.
Plus thats only to buy the land. Then you have to stock it.

Yes your right about buying that large amount of land,its alot of money BUT have you seen any land in Alberta that you can buy a quarter for $28,000?20 years ago Greg and I bought a half section of land on the Battle River for around that amount,a year ago a city boy came in bought a quarter of land right beside us,same kind of land,native prairie grass and payed a thousand an acre.Put a huge Gate up and sign ..no tresspassing! See the hutterites and rich city boys that want some recreation land come in and pay big money and guys like you that want thier own piece of land can't think of competing...SAD but thats whats happening here anyway!

Oh I know what your saying. You know as much as I love Alberta we are actually thinking of moving to SK. I just have to get some horses sold here first before we can do it.
I will say one thing though about Hutterites. They are good neibhoors. I would much rather have them for neibhoors than some rich bastard. Thats the problem with Alberta. Everybody thinks they are a cowboy. All these rich guys from the cities all want to own their own cow outfit.
In SW AB you cant really buy anything under $1200 an acre. Im right in the foothills <I rent> and now the oil outfits are trying to force their way in. Its going to happen to. There will be roads in here everywhere. The seizmic will screw up the water wells and there will be damn sour gas wells. Plus its native bunch grass which will never come back.
SK is looking better all the time even though their economy is screwed

 

[Aaron]

Our prices are quite a bit similar to MR's. Heavy clay soil with some regions of black soil. $200-$500/acre if your not competing with anyone. Maybe $700-900 if you get into a bidding war on some of the best land. Prices really haven't changed all that much in a long time. And with a lot of the younger guys moving to work on the rigs in Alberta and older guys wanting to retire but no one to sell to or take over, it can only get cheaper.

An example of our area.

http://www.rainy-river-property.com/2020applications/propertylistings.asp?page_size=1&current_page=14&o=properties.listing_price%20DESC&categoryID_list=18&boolean=OR

 

[PureCountry]

Just met a fella last night from around Stettler area, sold his ranch there and is moving somewhere north of the Battlefords (Sask.). I told him to watch out for ya Northern! :lol: He's moving pretty soon from the sounds of it. He said the land there cost him 1/4 of what he sold his Alberta property for.

 

[Jason]

Hutterites can pay stupid prices for land because of the sheer size of their numbers. If the whole colony makes 100 grand a year they invest that into machinery and land.

At some point they still run into trouble if they lose money on farming. If they spend $150 an acre and they only recoup $140 they can't keep doing it unless they are making money in other parts of the colony.

Cows are the same deal. If they get more for their calves than they spend on bulls, medicines, and feed etc, they can keep going. If they get less, they have to subsidize it from somewhere.

Because it is a life long pursuit and they always have more little Hutterites, they don't worry if it takes a lifetime to pay off some land. A family has to earn their living as they don't have enough time to raise all their own food and make their own clothes. Retirement has to be financed but on a colony retirement is cared for.

 

[Jason]

No one seems to have picked up on my previous question about commodity prices climbing.

If calves were worth more and/or grain, there would be some producers who would take the extra income and buy more land at whatever price it was. It is happening now. If a producer is large enough to make the payments on land from all his acres/cattle, he can buy land even though it won't pay for itself.

Renting ground is one way to expand. If a person can rent enough ground and make money on the cattle, they can get enough capital to buy land. The land won't be profitable, but adds security to have a place for the cows. If it stabilizes the cattle ownership then it can be argued it has been profitable.

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

bet you had to hang a good canadian steak around his neck to get the wolves to take him... :lol: :lol: :lol:

You going to have to let me in on how you convince a wolf to eat a steak laying on so much BS, MR..... :lol:

Its because that Canadian sirloin tastes so darn good!!! :wink: :lol: :lol:

 

[Mrs.Greg]

Roper,I sure would hate to see you have to leave Alberta,we need more people interested in staying,and ranching.More and more out of province people coming in because of the oil and gas money,not that I have a problam with that,its just that it would be nice if there was some sort of incentive to get and keep more of our young people here and in our industry.But looking at the land prices I can sure see why other provinces look better for those who want to ranch on thier own! Whatever you choose...good luck to you.

 

[DaleK]

Land here is going for about $1200/acre, should be able to run a pair on 2.5-3 acres. A bit further north you can get down under $1000 but it's hard to get much land together in an area, a lot of the original 100 acre farms were split into 50s 150 years ago and a lot of them only had half of the land cleared to begin with. For example we own 560 acres of workland, that was originally 12 farms. Work a total of 830 acres on 19 farms.

That said, there are a number of farms here that have been for sale for reasonable prices for years because the sellers won't break them down into 20 or 25 acre properties and there isn't enough money in farming to justify buying them as full properties to try to farm them.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Here's what ranches with wolves look like-there's 50 miles of this kind of bush and swamp before you hit our town then a little belt of open ground then 500 miles or so more bush before you get to where no trees go. Our place is at the extreme north of this pic I just took it at noon today-I got a chance to go flying. This is where the world's biggest whitetails live and die-that's a muskkeg in the bottom pretty much impassable most of the year.

 

[MillIron]

Here's what ranches with wolves look like-there's 50 miles of this kind of bush and swamp before you hit our town then a little belt of open ground then 500 miles or so more bush before you get to where no trees go. Our place is at the extreme north of this pic I just took it at noon today-I got a chance to go flying. This is where the world's biggest whitetails live and die-that's a muskkeg in the bottom pretty much impassable most of the year.

And what does land that is like this go for?

And how many cows/acre will it run?

What about winter feeding? When do you start feeding, and how far away do you truck your hay? What's the price of hay?

 

[Northern Rancher]

Ohh that's native bush only moose and deer run in that-the best land up here would bring maybe $500 U'S an acre but 5 or 6 acres would take care of a cow for a year. Are you around Buffalo, Wyoming my buddies work for MillIron Livestock down there.

 

[DaneG]

I sold out in alberta 4 years ago, bought a place in western manitoba land is still affordable here 6 quarters +buildings and some machinery $200/acre. have since bought land for $65/acre,also lots of vacant crown bush pasture available.It's a little off of the beaten track but at this price cattle can pay the bills.

 

[RoperAB]

Roper,I sure would hate to see you have to leave Alberta,we need more people interested in staying,and ranching.More and more out of province people coming in because of the oil and gas money,not that I have a problam with that,its just that it would be nice if there was some sort of incentive to get and keep more of our young people here and in our industry.But looking at the land prices I can sure see why other provinces look better for those who want to ranch on thier own! Whatever you choose...good luck to you.

Thanks <smile>

 

[MillIron]

Ohh that's native bush only moose and deer run in that-the best land up here would bring maybe $500 U'S an acre but 5 or 6 acres would take care of a cow for a year. Are you around Buffalo, Wyoming my buddies work for MillIron Livestock down there.

No, I'm near Casper.

 

[Tap]

MillIron, In the past I would have said that a ranch with a federal grazing lease might be the way to get into things cheaper, but they are not even reasonable anymore. You probably know the pitfalls there too, but it is always an option.

Here is a link for a ranch (Castle Gardens Ranch), or grazing unit west of you. You probably know that country, and how sparse it is out there. I think it is way overpriced, but it probably will sell. When I went to school in Riverton, I found out a lot of ranchers winter in that valley over there, and summer on these big leases.

Link: http://www.westernland.net/listings.htm

Good Luck!

 

[cowsense]

Here's what ranches with wolves look like-there's 50 miles of this kind of bush and swamp before you hit our town then a little belt of open ground then 500 miles or so more bush before you get to where no trees go. Our place is at the extreme north of this pic I just took it at noon today-I got a chance to go flying. This is where the world's biggest whitetails live and die-that's a muskkeg in the bottom pretty much impassable most of the year.

And what does land that is like this go for?

And how many cows/acre will it run?

What about winter feeding? When do you start feeding, and how far away do you truck your hay? What's the price of hay?

My northern contacts have confirmed an alleged rumour that Northern Rancher is developing a new form of livestock that will thrive in the swamps of the north. NR is developing a new hybrid that he calls a "Bearford" which is a cross between the native black bear and Hereford cattle. NR has spent years designing this breeding program and attempting to work the bugs out. He started by attempting to AI bear sows with hereford semen but had to give that approach up as being just too hazardous to his health (described it as EXT's with teeth and claws). His next move was to obtain bear semen........no explanation but he did come back out of the bush with bear juice.......claimed a good hunter always comes home successful and proceeded to AI some select cows. These F1 crosses are supposed to be super tough, can forage on anything,anywhere and best of all hibernate for the winter totally eliminating the need for any supplemental feeding, wintering facilities and will allow lots of time for off ranch activities! There seems to be a small problem with the program at present in that this is a TERMINAL cross.......seems these cub/calves have sharp ursine teeth and if they draw blood while nursing they tend to devour their mothers!! Now it's just a matter of time before NR works past the lethal problem and it shouldn't be long before he has fine breeding stock and prime swampland for sale!








:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :wink:

 

[Northern Rancher]

Shhhh don't spill the beans lol. We actually initially tried crossing black bears with donkeys but a bearass just wasn't able to take our winters.

 

[Aaron]

Won't NR get docked for those short ears and tails? At least they are polled. Of course he might have to figure out a way to file down those calf canines.

 

[PureCountry]

I think you guys are overlooking something here. He's already way ahead of ya. The EXT's he's been breeding are already it! Tough as wear leathers, HIGHLY instinctive mothers, and the only problem has been that the EXT blood overrides the instinct of the bear sire to hibernate through the winter.

Remember, HE HAS A HERD FOR WHAT HE CALLS "BUCKING STOCK". Puts a whole new spin on the PBR's 'Eliminator Pen'.