2011 Land Report 100: Bogle Family

No. 50 Bogle Family

192,000 acres

Family patriarch Hal Bogle assembled an impressive collection of farms and ranches in the Southwest, and his family has continued his legacy through parent company Bogle Ltd. In addition to farming cropland, there is a respected cattle ranching operation and Quarter Horse program.

 

Ask the Expert: Dean Saunders

Eye on the Market: Dean Saunders has chaired the Florida Real Estate Commission, is certified as an Accredited Land Consultant (ALC), and was awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation in 2010. The Land Report asked one of the country’s leading land brokers for his take on current market conditions.

You’ve got a long history on the land. You’re a sixth-generation Floridian with deep roots in agriculture. What keeps you going?
I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I love getting outside and looking at land. Every day I wake up, I can’t wait to get going. It’s fun, and I get paid to do it.

When you were in the Florida Legislature, you helped craft key conservation legislation. Can that work as an investment angle?
Definitely. I’ve got one client, a rancher, whose primary investment has been land over the last 15 years, he’s tripled his acreage by skillful use of conservation easements.

What’s the strategy?
He buys a piece of land for farming, hay, sod, and cattle. Then he sells a conservation easement. With the proceeds, he buys another piece of property and starts the whole process over again.

Who are your foreign investors?
It wasn’t too long ago that we had a bunch of Venezuelans trying to get their money out ahead of Chavez. Today’s market is primarily influenced by Canadians, Brits, some Germans, as well as South Americans.

Are they all about farmland?
Seems like everyone is, right? I’m a member of the realtors land institute, and a lot of my buddies in the Midwest and the Delta have seen land prices triple these past few years. A big part of that is commodity pricing, but there’s also the market. Investors are also looking for a safe haven for their money. You can’t earn anything from banks. The stock market is so volatile. But if you buy the right piece of land at the right price, you can generate a 5 percent return from cash rents. Rising commodity prices mean farmers can pay higher cash rents. This increases the value of the land. So people are buying farmland as fast as they can find it.

2011 Land Report 100: David Murdock

No. 40 David Murdock

238,138 acres

Self-made billionaire David Murdock’s privately owned Castle & Cooke owns 98 percent the Hawaiian island of Lanai, and his Dole Food Company owns significant acreage on the island of Oahu. He has additional farms, orchards, and a ranch in California to round out his portfolio. The 88-year-old reportedly does an hour of exercise daily and maintains a strict diet. He has donated more than $500 million to fund scientific research on diet, nutrition, and health.

 

2011 Land Report 100: Paul Fireman

No. 37 Paul Fireman

247,000 acres

Former Reebok chairman and CEO (and current Fireman Capital Partners chairman) Paul Fireman owns one of the largest ranching operations in the West. The Winecup-Gamble Ranch in Nevada has permitted grazing access to almost 750,000 acres. Add to that the ranch’s deeded acreage and the total is just under 1 million acres. In addition to cattle, the Winecup-Gamble also has geothermal hot springs and renowned elk hunting. Previous owners of the Winecup-Gamble include actor James Stewart and former Nevada Governor John Sparks.

 

2011 Land Report 100: Anne Marion

No. 21 Anne Marion

365,000 acres

The president of Burnett Ranches Ltd., Anne Marion owns the Four Sixes Ranches in the Texas Panhandle and Montana. The great-granddaughter of the ranch’s founder, Captain Samuel “Burk” Burnett, takes an active role in managing the operations. The 6666 is known for its Quarter Horse stallions and its Angus cattle.

 

Land Report 100: Linda Davis

This cowboy’s sweetheart is a fourth-generation New Mexico rancher who still loves to ride, rope, and patch up cowboys and Boy Scouts.

Linda Davis is one cowgirl who rarely gets the blues. This hands-on landowner and her late husband, Les, devoted their lives to their family, the livestock industry, and the CS Ranch, their historic cattle operation on the eastern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico.

A New Mexico native, Linda was raised on the Tequesquite Ranch, which was established by her great-grandfather in the 1870s. Beginning in 1930 her father, Albert Mitchell, ran the famed Bell Ranch. [Liberty Media chair John Malone acquired the Bell in 2010. See Land Report Fall 2010.] After the untimely death of her mother, Linda began to buddy up with certain cowboys who worked on the Bell, especially the wagon crew and some of the bronc busters.

At the same time that the Mitchells were settling the Tequesquite in the late 1800s, a lawyer and newspaperman named Frank Springer started stockpiling land for what would ultimately become the 127,500-acre CS Ranch. [See Land Report 100.] Young Linda met her match when Ed Springer introduced a Dartmouth alum named Les Davis to Albert Mitchell. The idea was for Davis to see how the Tequesquite was run. Davis was Springer’s nephew, and, in 1953, he became Linda’s husband.

That same year, Linda received an associate degree in agricultural economics from Cornell. “Cornell had the leading ag economics program in the United States at that time. It was after the war ended, and times were changing so rapidly. The global food economy was the main part of the course lineup,” she says.

More recently, Linda was certified as an emergency medical technician (EMT). No doubt she received this care-giving streak from her mother, herself a pioneer in public health nursing in New Mexico. Growing up, I was the only female around. I did everything, including patching up cowboys. Then I married a rancher and moved to another isolated area 60 miles from a hospital.”

Linda is on standby 24/7 with the Cimarron ambulance service. She often tends to young Scouts and other visitors to the Philmont Scout Ranch. “You have to be dedicated and ready to drop everything. I carry a radio all the time,” she says.

Linda is a founding member of the Annie Oakley Society and was honored by the National Ranching Heritage Center with its prestigious Golden Spur award. “It was a significant honor, and I’m very proud of it,” she says.

“I still ride and still work with the crew,” she adds. “It’s a way of life. I’m a fourth-generation rancher.” Linda has several nephews and one niece at Tequesquite Ranch, and her six grown children, eight grandchildren, and one great grandchild were predestined to share her love of the land. “They’re all involved and live in the general area around here. We’re a family-owned working ranch.”

The Land Report Winter 2011

As everyone knows, T. Boone Pickens has had an immeasurable impact on the way America does business. From his pioneering role as a shareholders’ rights advocate to his legendary renown in the energy industry, Pickens always has a plan.

Readers of the current issue of The Land Report will learn how the Oklahoma native has applied this same goal-oriented approach to revitalizing his beloved Mesa Vista Ranch. It wasn’t too long ago that the 68,000 acres he currently owns in the Texas Panhandle was essentially overgrazed cattle country. But with keen foresight and plenty of stewardship, he was able to nurture and develop a quail hunting property that is without peer nationwide.

Enjoy this issue’s cover story: a tour of the Mesa Vista Ranch featuring text by Ray Sasser as well as breathtaking photography by the State Photographer of Texas, Wyman Meinzer.

In addition to this Land Report exclusive, the winter issue also includes an opportunity to review The Land Report Top Ten, featuring the nation’s leading listings. Another must-read article is the story of Taylor’s Trees, which many have already perused at Land Report.com.

Click HERE to access the digital version of the issue online or type in the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/864drcz

2011 Land Report 100: Phillip Anschutz

No. 18 Phillip Anschutz

434,493 acres

Although fiercely private, Phillip Anschutz has made his name known in a wide variety of industries thanks to his unerring business acumen. In addition to owning sizable and successful ranching operations such as the Overland Trail Cattle Company in Wyoming, his Anschutz Corporation has worldwide investments in energy exploration and production, real estate, ranching and agriculture, telecommunications, newspapers, and Internet publishing. And his Anschutz Entertainment Group, the world’s largest owner and operator of sports and entertainment venues, recently made news by announcing a new NFL stadium deal in Los Angeles.

 

2011 Land Report 100: Irving Family

No. 5  Irving Family

1,200,000 acres

In 1882, J.D. Irving began a business that now employs 15,000 throughout Eastern Canada and the U.S.  J.D. Irving, Limited has invested in biomass energy, a clean, renewable natural resource, at one of its paper mills. It’s also moved to replace heavy oil with natural gas on its Cavendish Farms, and even to reduce greenhouse emissions at its headquarters. The family’s Irving Woodlands company is all about forestry. Since its founding in Maine over 60 years ago, this division has made great strides in stewardship and in reducing its carbon footprint. In addition, the family company continues its tradition of planting trees. Over the past 50 years, it has planted over 827 million of them. This year alone, J.D. Irving will plant some 28 million seedlings in its forests.

 

Land’s Best Friend: German Shorthaired

The German shorthair lineage began with the old Spanish pointer – progenitor of the modern pointer – crossed with the bloodhound for scenting ability, foxhound for speed and endurance, and, finally, the pointer. The result was a large, powerful, methodical breed that pointed both furred and feathered game, retrieved from land and water, trailed wounded big game, and even tracked and bayed wild boars.

German shorthairs began to trickle into the U.S. in the 1920s, and found favor with hunters who wanted close-working, easily trained pointing dogs. Most American hunters, however, grounded in a tradition of stylish, big-running, pointers and setters, found the shorthair’s methodical, houndish working style less than inspiring.

After World War II, many of the same economic forces that gave rise to the versatile breeds in Europe – urbanization, shrinking habitat, increased leisure time, and a burgeoning middle class – stimulated interest in multipurpose hunting dogs of all types. Devoted American breeders worked to adapt the shorthair to American conditions while retaining the breed’s versatility.

As a result, today’s hunter can choose from an abundance of excellent German shorthair bloodlines and working styles, from fairly close-ranging dogs that excel at grouse, woodcock, and pheasant hunting to stylish, big runners that scour the countryside for quail and also retrieve doves and fetch ducks from creeks and stock tanks.

Do:

• Pay close attention to bloodlines. Some shorthairs rival English pointers in range and speed, and may be “too much dog” for the average hunter.

• Make your pup a member of the family. German shorthairs form tight bonds.

• Train with firmness and consistency. True to their hound and pointer ancestry, German shorthairs are very intelligent and adept at bending rules.

Don’t:

• Expect your German shorthair to do the work of a Labrador or Chesapeake Bay retriever. The breed is best-suited for fetching from creeks and ponds in moderate conditions.

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