A Nebraska ranch family, a couple who farm in Alaska and a Wyoming rancher/real estate broker pooled their resources to buy the 3,671-acre 46 Ranch at the base of Green Mountain in central Wyoming near Jeffrey City.

The transaction also came with leased acres on deeded lands, plus 8,950 State of Wyoming lease acres and 100,000 Bureau of Land Management lease acres.

The BLM lease allows for 3,763 animal unit months of grazing from spring through fall, according to one of the buyers, Frank Deede, a Pavillion, Wyo., rancher who also operates the small brokerage firm RuraLands Real Estate.

RISING RANCHLANDS: Much land in central Wyoming is a mix of private rangelands and public lands managed by the State of Wyoming and federal government.

State and federal lease acres often allow family ranches to remain as viable operations in Wyoming and other Western states.

The listing price for the combined deeded and private leased acreage (two sellers were involved) was $3,535,000.

“It sold for about 90% of the list price,” Deede says. “It’s going to be a really good agricultural operation that we put together at a reasonable cost per animal unit.”

Making way

The other buyers are Terry Staman and his family, who operate a cattle operation in northwest Nebraska near Crawford, and Todd and Stacie Hecker, who farm in Alaska.

Planning for the future

Deede says the ranch and accompanying lease acres tie into his operation nicely and will also allow the Staman family to make way for the next generation.

“They are a multi-generational ranch family that wanted to expand, but they were having a hard time finding something affordable in their area of the Nebraska Panhandle,” Deede says. “This was not only affordable, but became a very nice fit for their existing operation.”

The deeded and leased acres associated with the 46 Ranch allow for 900 cow-calf pairs to graze from May through late fall or early winter.

Deede says that all of the calves will be shipped to the Staman ranch in Nebraska, where they will remain until being marketed as yearlings.

About two-thirds of the cows will spend the winter on irrigated lands that Deede owns near Pavillion, while the remaining third will be trucked to the Staman ranch.

The couple from Alaska own cattle in the partnership.

The transaction came with a modest set of improvements, including a home, corrals and shop. Four small creeks run through the property, which was an additional appeal.

Deede says that the ranch was put together by purchasing deeded and leased acreage from a Casper, Wyo., investment LLC and leased acreage from a retiring ranch couple, also from Casper. He notes that the sellers were represented by Century 21 Real Estate in Casper.

“It was a very complicated deal with all the parties involved, but the final arrangement met everyone’s needs,” Deede says. “Everyone left the table happy.”

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