Pessimistic stories keep floating around about the challenges that young people face in purchasing ranches on their own. Don’t tell that to a young ranch couple from Riverton, Wyo.

The couple, who work on a family ranch, have been saving every dollar they could in hopes of one day buying their own land. That day finally happened as they acquired the 680-acre Arapahoe Creek Ranch near Jeffrey City in central Wyoming. The ranch is near the family operation they work on, so “it fits in very nicely,” says Roy Ready, who recently took over ownership of Western Land Sales from long-time broker and founder J.R. Kvenild.

PAYING THEIR WAY: Cattle graze on a Wyoming ranch.

In addition to the deeded acreage of mostly mixed grass and sage, the couple also acquired 1,960 acres of State of Wyoming lease (322 animal unit months) and an additional 708 AUMs in the Bureau of Land Management’s Green Mountain Common Allotment.

“The combination of deeded and leased acres was very appealing to the couple,” says Ready, who previously worked as a rancher and farrier before getting into land sales. “They were able to use a combination of cash and loans in this first reach on their own.”

The asking price was $590,000, or $868 per deeded acre. There are no improvements on the land other than a couple of dilapidated homestead buildings. However, the ranch and surrounding public lands are home to deer, antelope, elk and moose, and Arapahoe Creek passes through the property. These particular appeals attracted interest from a number of in-state residents who wanted to buy the place for recreation purposes.

“There was a strong amount of interest in the ranch. It wasn’t on the market very long,” Ready says.

He adds that the seller decided to part with the property because it wasn’t a good fit for his existing ranching operation near the central Wyoming city of Riverton, which is about 50 miles away.

Ready says he is very happy for the buyers, as they represent the next generation of a long-time Wyoming ranch family.

“They wanted to complete the entire process on their own, and they did,” he says.

Southeast Wyoming

A local ranch couple purchased the 1,837-acre Foy Ranch north of Wheatland, Wyo. The asking price was $735,000, or $400 per acre (the selling price was not disclosed).

The ranch includes 1,641 acres of pasture and 196 acres of Conservation Reserve Program grasslands. It has historically been operated as a working cattle ranch, but in recent years was not grazed so vegetation has been restored.

Developments included three stock tanks and fenced pastures for grazing. This was an estate sale.