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So my neighbor gets crossways with his bank...pics added

Whitewing

Well-known member
...and I end up with 4300 acres. :shock: At least that's what it's looking like.

I accompanied him for a meeting with his bank in Caracas last Wednesday. Interesting conversation to say the least.

The fellow owns two ranches, one which borders mine and is only slightly smaller at about 850 acres. This one is his main business as he's got his cattle and facilities for milk production, some meat production, and bermuda sales.

The other place, "Los Chivos", is located a few kilometers to the west of us and is basically undeveloped though many years ago it was productive land. Since he bought the two places a number of years back he's done virtually nothing with Los Chivos and the place is really overgrown.

In a nutshell, he used both places as a guarantee for an agricultural loan and has fallen behind on his payments. The shameful part is that he borrowed on a fraction of what the places are worth. He's a poor money manager and like most Venezuelans, loves to party.

Without going into a lot of detail, the bank is going to keep both places as collateral until the loan is paid off. If the details can be worked out, I'm going to pay off the loan via crop production on Los Chivos. After that, it's mine free and clear.

Lots of work indeed. And had the tract been just about anywhere else, I'd have not given it a second thought. But I've seen the land (located between two rivers) and it's good soil. And every local I've spoken to has said the same.

I'll keep you guys posted. :D
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Wow. You are really branching out. Hope it works out for you. Seems
there you have access to labor which is in short supply here in the
US in Agriculture.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
Made another trek over to Los Chivos today to do some more snooping around. I've talked to a number of people who are familiar with the property (a couple even work for me) and I've not yet heard a negative word about the quality of the land. It just needs work, lots of work as the pics below will demonstrate.

I also spent some time on google earth tonight look at satellite images of the place. While these images are a number of years old, they really help because they show me where land was previously cleared.

One of the things I'll need to decide upon in a hurry if I'm going to do this deal and get the first planting in by June 2011 will be to clear land as quickly as possible. Land that's been cleared once is always easier to clear than land that's never been cleared.

At first blush it looks like there's something on the order of 75 acres or more right around the house that I can easily clean up for plowing/planting with my tractor and bushhog. I found another area of a similar size on the satellite image that might also be a candidate for such a cleanup. Again, I need to move quickly as I'm going to try to get something on the order of 700 acres planted for the 2011 season.

Anyway, here are the images.

A couple of shots just inside the front gate:
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"Pastures" in front of and behind the abandonded ranch house:
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The abandonded house:
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The unloading shute!
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What a shame more wasn't done a number of years ago to keep the place in order and a bit more of the land cleared and productive. Land here gets taken over by nature in a hurry if man doesn't intercede.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
Well I wish I was there to help....I can spend 10 hours a day on a tractor mowin with a brushhog!!! Love doin that...long as I got some tea in a cooler I'm good to go.

I'm the same JL, even including the tea in the cooler. Add my little hound and good-to-go. :D

I'm going to take lots of pics so I can have some decent before/after comparison shots. The changes should be dramatic.
 
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