The 19,752-acre Lazy K Bar Ranch in southeast Wyoming near Glendo sold to a Wyoming ranch family who will continue to operate the place as a working cattle operation.

The sale included 16,431 deeded acres, 2,640 state lease acres and 681 Bureau of Land Management lease acres, along with excellent water rights, four center pivots, and a rated carrying capacity of 600 cow-calf pairs or 900 yearlings.

The Lazy K Bar was listed for $15 million, or $760 per deeded acre. The actual selling price was not disclosed.

The sellers were members of the Kimzey family, who, as reported by Western Farmer-Stockman in 2016, bought the 50,333-acre Y Cross Ranch in southeast Wyoming.

“The Kimzeys are selling their other ranches to consolidate operations on the Y Cross,” says Ron Morris of Colorado-based Ranch Marketing Associates, which co-listed the Lazy K Bar with Amy Smith of #1 Properties in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Morris says the Lazy K Bar rangelands were in good shape, and the four well-maintained pivots irrigate 900 acres that have been planted in alfalfa and other rotational crops.

Other improvements include six homes in various sizes and conditions, several barns, equipment sheds, two shops, and a set of steel-pipe corrals with a certified scale.

The sale included all of the seller’s mineral rights. Abundant wildlife populations on the ranch were an added appeal.

North-central Wyoming
A neighboring landowner purchased the 491-acre Bighorn Mountain View/Soldier Creek Ranch west of Sheridan, Wyo.

The asking price was $1,423,900, or $2,900 per acre. The selling price was not disclosed.

“It’s a very nice property close to the scenic Bighorn Mountains, which raises the value,” says John Chase, who co-owns Chase Brothers Properties with his brother, Galen. “It features well-managed native grass and sagebrush rangelands, with abundant wildlife populations including mule deer, pronghorn antelope and upland gamebirds.” The ranch came with no improvements.

Chase says the buyers are adjacent landowners who have placed much of their existing ranch into conservation easements that will ensure limited future development.

Numerous ranches in this area, along with other scenic locations in Wyoming, have been developed into high-end rural subdivisions. But many landowners have chosen to protect open spaces, scenic views and habitat (for both wildlife and livestock) with conservation easements.

The buyers of this particular ranch will use planned livestock grazing to improve range resources.

“It’s a very nice add-on to their existing operations,” says Chase, who notes that the property borders 2,900 acres of state trust lands.

He says the sellers, in part, used an IRS 1031 exchange to acquire land near one of their other ranches in Sheridan County.

Waggener writes from Laramie, Wyo.