The Stockman Grass Farmer
Grassfed Beef is the Focus of this Unique Colorado Community of Ranchers -by Allan Nation
April 2004
WESTCLIFFE, Colorado: How would you like to own a ranch where all work is completely optional? If you feel like it you can pitch in with the chores but if you decide to stay in bed all day that's okay too. Sounds like a sixteen-year-old ranch kid's dream, doesn't it?
However, Russ and Jeannie Maytag are betting their ranch that they can find a couple of dozen people who will buy into a real cattle ranch that requires no work of its owners.
"Most people buy a ranch for the lifestyle and really don't want to do ranch work. However, they do like having cows and horses around. Jeannie and I decided to sell them a real working cattle ranch but one with no work required," Russ Maytag said.
The Maytag Ranch is a 2,953-acre ranch at the west end of the Royal Gorge between Westcliffe and Salida, Colorado. Billed as "An Agricultural Preservation Community," the Maytag's are planning to preserve a working cattle ranch by selling the "lifestyle" portion of their ranch to others.
Largely sub-irrigated with a majestic view of the 13,000 foot Wolston Mountain at its rear, the ranch is both highly productive (1000 yearlings in the green season) and extremely scenic. Grassfed beef is the ranch's primary production emphasis. said he loved living on the ranch but wanted to cash in on Colorado's current popularity as a prime second home and retirement site.
"I wanted to pull my built up equity out of the ranch but still have a nice place to live," he said.
He said he had been following New Mexico rancher, Jim Winder, and his emphasis on conservation minded "soft" ranch real estate development. "I really liked the idea of being able to sell the ranch but, in essence, still keep it."
Maytag had an old high school friend, Jeff Temple, who had just completed a similar "soft" development near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and recruited him as a partner. "Jeff knew the ins and outs of the real estate development business and I didn't," he said.
A Community of Ranchers
The ranch has been divided into 27 "ranches" sized between 80 and 100 acres. These are priced just north of a million dollars each. Three have already been taken even though the ranch is in the very early stages of development and two have been reserved.
The land is sold as "owned and shared" which means that the land is not fenced into individual parcels but is used in common. This means that while the cattle are primarily confined on the unsettled, sub-irrigated land, they can graze on any land owner's front yard in a crunch.
Unlike some developments where very small lots are sold and the remainder of the land is put into a no-development conservation easement, Maytag said he felt the "owned and shared" concept was easier to explain to potential buyers than a conservation easement. However, only 120 acres of the 2,900 acres will be impacted by any development.
The ranch development includes a horse barn and arena, an old time swimming hole, horse trails for riding, a lodge, shop building, two houses for the resident cowboys and two guest cabins for overnight guests.
All ranch community structures will be built from rough cut, naturally weathered lumber. Electric, phone and fiber lines have been placed underground.
A great deal of effort has gone into preserving large open vistas to give the feeling of living on a large acreage ranch. The house sites have been carefully chosen so that none can be seen one from another and are sited to be as non-intrusive on the landscape as possible.
"We let the land dictate the house sites. What we want to preserve most of all is the open landscape. There will be 25 families living here but their houses will be largely invisible."
Homes are limited in size to no more than 8000 square feet and will be connected to the main gate and each other by 10 miles of hard surface roads. Minimalist, portable one-wire electric fences are used for the interior fencing to be as unobtrusive as possible.
Stored forages are made with the one-pass, direct cut grass silage system that minimizes machinery noise and dust. The silage is stored under vacuum until needed. Direct cutting preserves the Omega 3 fatty acids in the grass and is an excellent system for grass finishers.
While there have been other ranch developments that emphasize maintaining the natural grass land landscape aesthetic, most of these separate the ownership of the livestock from the land.
Typically, the conservation land grazing rights are leased to a private rancher. However, Maytag said he envisioned "a community of ranchers" rather than a community of ranch houses and wanted the land owners to own the cattle as well as the land.
"I wanted them to have a feeling of ownership in what we were doing in the production end. If my cow poops in my driveway it's not nearly as offensive as if your cow poops in my driveway."
He hoped this would head off some of the grazier/landowner conflicts other developments have had. Also, he thought the ranch owners would like to be able to describe the cattle on the ranch as "my" cattle to their urban friends.
GRASSFED BEEF
Under the Maytag plan, the cattle will be managed by two full time cowboys for grassfed beef production and each ranch owner will receive their own personal supply of beef from the heard each year. Cattle surplus to the community's own beef consumption will be purchased by Maytag at market rates and moved to his second ranch near Pueblo. He estimates that this will provide $40,000 a year in income for the ranchers' association for additional improvements and upkeep.
In addition the supply of grassfed beef, the ranch owners will receive fresh vegetables from the ranch garden, free-range eggs and mild and dairy products from the ranch's grassfed Jersey cow. (Green season only.)
This decision to include the land owners in the production side had a very serendipitous side effect. It allowed the ranch to borrow money for its development from the Farm Credit System rather than a commercial bank.
"The Farm Credit System is very enthusiastic about what we are doing here. They had wanted a way into financing real estate development and we gave it to them."
He said that lender is an absolute necessity as there are sizeable up-front costs in such a development. The Maytag's plan to continue to live on the ranch after it has been developed. He said this should be comforting to potential buyers.
"When the developer plans on living there himself, you know there won't be any corners cut."
This article is reprinted with permission
