Bates Sanders Swan Land Company
www.bateslandco.com
(801) 521-4259

2011 Sales: $50-$100 Million

Who: Specializing in premier ranches, productive farms, and attractive recreational holdings since its founding in 1970. President C. Patrick Bates cemented the firm’s Hall of Fame reputation with the 2010 sale of the legendary Bell Ranch.

Highlighst: Currently marketing the 124,000-acre Broken O Ranch in Montana for $132.5 million and the 36,000-acre 3L Cattle Ranch in Central Saskatchewan for $37.46 million.

Standout Broker: Michael Swan, an elite player with a decade of success at the firm, handled $35 million in sold offerings during a tough 2011.

Insights: Bates predicts increasing competition for strong beef and grain-producing operations will generate solid cash-on-cash margins.

Pictured Above: The Broken O Ranch is one of the Rocky Mountain West’s most grand and significant ranches.

Download a copy of our Spring 2012 edition to learn the stories of American’s Best Brokerages in our second annual survey.

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Economists at the Kansas City Fed and bankers in the Tenth District report robust 4Q 2011 ag numbers. –The Editors

“Farmland values soared higher, reaching all-time highs across much of the District in the fourth quarter.”

“Nonirrigated cropland values in the Tenth District jumped almost 9% during the last three months of 2011 and were 25% higher than year-ago levels.”

“This trend led ‘an increasing number of absentee landowners’ to put ‘their farms up for sale and attributed much of the auction activity to landowners seeking top-dollar prices.’”

— Jason Henderson, Omaha Branch Executive
Maria Akers, Associate Economist

“With current price levels, many older landowners are cashing out.” — Eastern Nebraska banker

“Land prices and cash rents are highly dependent on irrigation capacity.” — Western Oklahoma banker

Source: Kansas City Fed’s Survey of Tenth District Agricultural Conditions

Click here to download a copy of the Spring 2012 issue of The Land Report.

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Landowners are fighting the State of North Dakota over disputed mineral rights in the Bakken Shale. The state has leased mineral rights along and under the Missouri River. Landowners contend the state improperly defined the river’s boundaries and is infringing on their ownership interest. The confusion has caused oil companies to suspend royalty payments and, in one instance, file a lawsuit in federal court to determine who it should pay.

Read more here.

Click here to download a copy of the April 2012 newsletter.

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Sotheby’s International Realty
www.briggsfreeman.com
(214) 353-6600

2011 Sales: < $50 Million

Who: Ben Briggs founded his namesake company in 1960. Half a century later, Robbie Briggs added a Ranch & Land Division to Dallas’s top real estate firm.

Noteworthy: Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty Ranch & Land Division hit the ground running in 2011 with over $100 million in listings.

Insights: “Land is so many things to North Texans. It’s an investment. It’s a part of our heritage. It’s a way of life we celebrate. Our team’s mission is to meet, and exceed, these criteria,” Robbie Briggs says.

Pictured Above: Steeped in exquisite natural beauty, Magic Valley Ranch in Palo Pinto County is one of the most spectacular properties in the area.

Download a copy of our Spring 2012 edition to learn the stories of American’s Best Brokerages in our second annual survey.

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No. 81 Reese Family

117,000 acres

Since last year, the Reese family added 12,000 acres to its Rockin’ 7 Ranch in Wyoming, where the game includes antelope, buffalo, mule and whitetail deer, and pheasant. “Good people, good country, good hunting — what else could you ask for except maybe a little less wind?” says fourth-generation owner Brad Reese.

No. 82 Moursund Family

115,000 acres

With working ranchland in Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and South Dakota, the Moursund family continues a tradition that began generations ago on both sides of the family. Today, siblings Will Stribling Moursund and Mary Moursund Reagor oversee operations.

No. 83 Scharbauer Family

113,532 acres

This pioneering family moved to West Texas in the 1880s to run cattle. Then they discovered oil on their ranchland. Today, operations spread across several counties in West Texas as well as the Panhandle. In Denton County, the Scharbauers raise Thoroughbreds at Valor Farms. Their best, Alysheba, won the Kentucky Derby in 1987.

No. 84 Clayton and Modesta Williams, Jr.

112,042 acres

Clayton Williams Jr. is a legend in the oil and gas industry, but he and his wife Modesta are also dedicated ranchers. They decreased their West Texas holdings over the past year, but they remain passionate about their land.

No. 85 Stan Harper

111,877 acres

New Mexico native Stan Harper has land and cattle operations in Texas and New Mexico, with the majority of his holdings in the Land of Enchantment. In addition to his Angus and Hereford herds, he also raises bison and has a Quarter Horse program.

No. 86  Frank Leonard VanderSloot

110,448 acres

Melaleuca founder and CEO Frank VanderSloot applied his entrepreneurial spirit to ranching. His Riverbend Ranch, headquartered in Idaho Falls, is among the top 20 commercial cattle operations and the top 20 seedstock operations in the country. It’s known for its purebred Black Angus. Additionally, his Fort Ranch in Utah has built a reputation for its pedigreed Quarter Horse program.

No. 87 Richard and Victoria Evans

110,000 acres

The couple’s expansive Double V Ranch in New Mexico is located about 25 miles south of Fort Sumner. Their considerable domestic holdings, however, are a drop in the bucket compared to their 500,000 acres in South America.

No.  87 Linnebur Family

110,000 acres

The family has a proud history of landholding in Colorado. Gene Linnebur and descendants of his late brothers Emmett and Lloyd continue the tradition in a variety of farming and ranching endeavors, including Linnebur Grain & Buffalo.

 No. 89 Moore Family

105,000 acres

The family’s Broken O Ranch in Montana continues as a working cattle ranch under the heirs of William and Desiree Moore. Ranch Manager Dan Freeman, who guided the Broken O alongside the Moores, still oversees operations.

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No. 52 Tim Blixseth

189,000 acres

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California Outdoor Properties
www.caoutdoorproperties.com
(707) 455-4444

2011 Sales: $50-$100 Million

Who: Cabela’s Trophy Properties affiliate. Specializes in recreational, equestrian, farm and ranch properties.

Highlights: Sold a 10,000-acre California ranch for $7.2 million.

Standout Broker: Todd Renfrew closed over $36 million in sales with 17 transactions.

Pictured Above: Nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California, Ward Creek Ranch provides everything needed for the perfect family compound or corporate retreat.

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Great movies about landowners and their families have long been a staple of filmmakers. Gone With The Wind, Giant, and Shane immediately come to mind. Few in recent memory can equal the dream run The Descendants has enjoyed during the 2012 awards season. Honors have piled up, including Golden Globes for Best Drama and Best Actor (George Clooney). The Fox Searchlight film received five Oscar nominations — Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Film Editor — with Director Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash winning Best Adapted Screenplay.

In addition to this deluge of critical acclaim, The Descendants has been a resounding success at the box office. At press time on March 1, The Descendants had pulled in more than $130 million at box offices worldwide, a figure bound to increase in the aftermath of the Oscars. Scripted and directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways), the production was budgeted for a mere $20 million. As the lead, Clooney goes against character; Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller measure up as his two daughters. An old pro, Beau Bridges, plays a wonderfully conniving cousin. And Nick Krause is a total scene-stealer as a tagalong family friend.

The Descendants was adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings’s acclaimed 2007 debut novel of the same name. At the center of Hemmings’s story is Matt King, Clooney’s character, a middle-aged father of two who is equal parts inept parent, shell-shocked husband, and reluctant Hawaiian land baron. King is neither hero nor anti-hero. He’s a flawed man who gets the wind knocked out of him by a series of surprises that are his own making as well as the legacy of his one-of-a-kind Hawaiian heritage.

In creating this pivotal character, Hemmings highlighted a rarefied group of Hawaiians: those who can trace their heritage back six and seven generations to the marriages of native Hawaiian royalty with white missionaries and landowners who settled on the islands. [For more insight, see “John Palmer Parker” of Parker Ranch fame in Land Report Winter 2008.]

In The Descendants, King’s great-great-grandmother, Princess Margaret Ke‘alohilani, is singled out as one of the last descendants of King Kamehameha (1758-1819). The princess not only gave her love to her haole banker, Edward King, but she also gave her lands. Centuries later, Matt King and his cousins are bound together by a priceless swath of Hawaii. The land itself is the focus of a critical subplot. As the sole trustee of his family’s holdings, Clooney’s character finds himself caught in merciless tug-of-war between a group of eager developers and his own greedy cousins.

Such a protagonist has immediate appeal to a certain style of filmmaker, and that was definitely the case with Alexander Payne. “The novel appealed to me because it’s an emotional story unfolding in an exotic locale,” Payne says. “It’s a story that perhaps could be told anywhere, but what made the book for me was its completely unique setting among the landed upper classes in Hawaii. It’s very specific to this place, yet it is also universal.”

Although the Hawaiian land baron has little in common with another dubious character of Payne’s creation — Paul Giamatti’s wonderfully neurotic Miles in Sideways — both are clearly uncomfortable in their own skin. Likewise, as in Sideways, which celebrated the wine-growing districts of Santa Barbara County, the setting held enormous appeal for Payne.

“On a filmmaking level, it was very interesting to me because I’ve never seen a filmic Honolulu. We see New York, Chicago, L.A., Miami, and Seattle, but this is a region we never see in films. There’s a whole distinctive social fabric to life in Hawaii, and that intrigued me. I love films with a specific sense of place. I started making movies in Omaha, then I went to Santa Barbara, and now I have ended up in Hawaii,” Payne says.

The Descendants was filmed on Oahu, Hawaii, and Kauai.

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No. 48 Eugene Gabrych

200,000 acres

California businessman Eugene Gabrych, a self-made millionaire, has ranches in California and Nevada that are home to a variety of farming and ranching activities. His 18,000-acre Rock Springs Ranch is one of the best hunting ranches in the Golden State, and offers impressive views of the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevadas.

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Hertz Real Estate Services
www.hfmgt.com
(800) 593-5263

2011 Sales: > $100 Million

Who: Specializes in Midwest farmland sales, auctions, acquisitions and exchanges along with buyer representation.

Standout Broker: Ed Kiefer was awarded 2011 Farm Manager of the Year by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. Randy Hertz, AFM, ALC, CFP received RLI’s Robert Meeks Distinguished Service award.

Highlight: Had one of the first $12,000 per acre sales of pure farmland in Illinois.

Pictured Above: Located in Cedar County, Iowa, this recreational property is ideal for hunting or as a private getaway.

Download a copy of our Spring 2012 edition to learn the stories of American’s Best Brokerages in our second annual survey.

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