Looking for a small town to raise my kids..... (Cheyenne: leasing, buying)

[MellowBamaGal]

I am looking for a small town with reasonably priced land to start a small ranch and raise my kids. I have researched many areas in Wyoming and Montana and have found that Wyoming keeps calling my name.

Can any of you recommend a town or area that has decent land, rolling hills and or mountains that would be suitable for horses and sheep?

Thanks for your time.

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by MellowBamaGal

I am looking for a small town with reasonably priced land to start a small ranch and raise my kids. I have researched many areas in Wyoming and Montana and have found that Wyoming keeps calling my name.

Can any of you recommend a town or area that has decent land, rolling hills and or mountains that would be suitable for horses and sheep?

Thanks for your time.

In general, almost all of Wyoming would meet your criteria. What is "suitable" for horses and sheep really depends on what you mean by suitable. Same goes for "decent land." Horses and sheep could be found pretty much anywhere in the state. What you won't find in abundance is pastures in which to graze these animals, due mostly to the limited amount of rainfall that most of the state gets. Supplemental feeding is the norm from everything I've read on this forum.

The state consists of three general types of habitat: high elevation mountains, high elevation desert, and prairie. A lot of the mountain region is in the northwest part of the state, though there are mountainous areas in many places in the state. The desert region is primarily in the southwest part of the state. The prairie region is primarily in the east and southeast parts of the state. These are just generalizations, so there are some exceptions.

Much of the state is over 6000 feet in elevation and the lowest point in the state is just a little under 4000 feet in elevation, so that is something to keep in mind. If you have problems with altitude sickness, this could be a concern.

Wyoming winters can be harsh, due to elevation (cold), snow, and wind. It is not uncommon to have low temperatures well below zero in most of the state for long periods of time. People have joked on this forum and elsewhere that Wyoming has two seasons: winter and August 21st. Snow can come any time of the year in most parts of the state. The wind can also be severe in many areas, and when combined with snow, can cause blizzard conditions and severe snowdrifts quite often.

I am not trying to deter you from looking into moving to Wyoming, but I want to let you know about some of the difficulties in living there before you get there. If you read through the many posts on this forum, you will find more specific details about the things I've warned you about. If those are things you can live with, then you should be able to find someplace in Wyoming that would suit you. Do you have any specific areas you may be interested in so we can offer more information to you?

Edit: By the way, Welcome to the forum!!!

[ElkHunter]

What do you consider a "Small Ranch"? In Wyoming, it takes a lot of acres to graze. So like mentioned, the norm is to feed, almost year round. Of course, then you have to have a source for feed.

[MellowBamaGal]

Thanks for the replies. I really like the southwest portion the best, the Green River area.. As far as small, 100-200 acres or so.

I know it is quite a bit different from Alabama. I want a total change. I'd like for my kids to grow up to know the value of a dollar, and how to do a hard days work. My husband and I are willing to give up a lot of the comforts we have here in Alabama and adjust to the Wyoming climate. I realize that may be easier said than done.

[Northern Utah News]

I would look in the valley south of the freeway between Evanston and Green River. A couple hundred acres is going to be pricey and it gets COLD! But it is beautiful. Also look in Lander and Buffalo. North of Cheyenne up around Torrington too.

[ElkHunter]

Remember I said it takes a lot of acres? Well, in Green River area, 100 acres will raise about 4 horses and you'll feed about 10 months out of the year. Rainy season might get you by for a month or two without feeding.

[NVDave]

Originally Posted by MellowBamaGal

Thanks for the replies. I really like the southwest portion the best, the Green River area.. As far as small, 100-200 acres or so.

In that area, 100 to 200 acres is a hobby ranch. Maybe a half dozen sheep, unless you're on irrigated ground.

What we (Wyomingites, that is) are trying to tell you is best explained like this:

Where you are now, you can probably run animals over a chunk of ground, kick 'em off for 30 days to allow for regrowth, and come back in a month on the same piece of ground you grazed 30 days ago.

In southwestern Wyoming, unless you're talking irrigated ground, you simply cannot do that. You'd be very lucky to get across a piece of ground twice in one season, and if I were running a ranch in that area, I'd be planning on getting across a piece of range only once in a season. Matter of fact, I'd probably reckon on starting to graze in April and ending in early August - depending on conditions and weather from year to year, and assuming I had a LOT of acres for each animal and I could stockpile feed from the spring growth flush.

I could go off on a tangent here and explain to you how the cold season forage grasses that are native in the west are very different than the pasture grasses in your area, and I can do that if you like, but the bottom line is this: That area of Wyoming is arid, high, frigid ground. Grasses and forbs do grow there, but we're talking probably anywhere from 10 to 30 acres per AUM. And unless you're going to be buying a lot of hay, you're not going to be running that many head of anything.

BTW, horses can over-graze a pasture faster than any other animal I've seen, so you'd need to manage horses very closely to prevent them from destroying that type of grazing ground.

I, too, am not trying to discourage you. I'm just giving you the hard facts. High, dry, frigid rangelands don't produce much forage, and they typically have only one big flush of growth in the spring, the grasses set seed and then go dormant during the heat of the summer (ie, cold season grasses don't put on much growth during the heat of summer). The only way they don't go dormant is to be irrigated, and the only way to maximize their production is to fertilize them and intensively manage them.

[wyoquilter]

Originally Posted by MellowBamaGal

I am looking for a small town with reasonably priced land to start a small ranch and raise my kids. I have researched many areas in Wyoming and Montana and have found that Wyoming keeps calling my name.

Can any of you recommend a town or area that has decent land, rolling hills and or mountains that would be suitable for horses and sheep?

Thanks for your time.

I sure wish my Great Uncle would sell his land in MT to someone who wants to actaully ranch it. He has a small ranch in the Bitterroot Valley between Hamilton and Missoula. He currently runs between 100-200 head of sheep and about 25-50 head of cattle where he is at. I know that his acrage isn't much more than the amount you are looking for. I'd have to ask my grandmother to be sure. He has an irragtion system that does him pretty well during warmer months and in the winter he has to buy feed and hay.

He is getting to old to run the ranch anymore and he is selling off his cattle right now and is going to thin down his sheep a bunch come next year. That is if he doesn't sell them all too. If you are interested in maybe taking a look at his place, I could see if maybe he'd be interested in either selling or leasing his property.

The Bitterroot Valley is absolutely gorgeous and his ranch is one of the very few remaining ranches out where he is at. A lot of folks have been buying up ranches and breaking them up into 5 and 10 acre parcels. I'd really love to see his place continue to be a ranch. He has ranched that land for at least 60 years.

[sunsprit]

What the OP hasn't mentioned is if "the ranch" is going to be their prime source of income or just a "lifestyle" ranch where they raise a few sheep and horses.

The first big consideration in buying a couple hundred acres in Wyoming right now is that little or no land is available at a price consistent with it's productive value. You simply cannot make a ROI on land that is priced in the thousands of dollars per acre range by ranching it, but that's what most smaller parcels are priced at. When you seek larger parcels, much bigger than the OP mentioned, the price per acre may be a lot less in some areas, but then you're buying larger acreage lands, perhaps measured in sections of land. Water rights for irrigation are a substantial added costs, and typically available only by buying land that already has those rights, but that's a whole 'nother subject of concern for a ranch. There's also the purchase consideration of buying a ranch with fewer deeded acres but substantial BLM or State land leases held by the ranch.

For most of Wyoming, in my experience, it takes 100 acres per cow-calf unit, carefully rotated and managed. Some places, a bit less acreage, but most places in the droughts we've had of the last decade, a lot more. 2009 was an exceptionally good forage year, and it was still "below average" moisture for many places so far. Folks coming from riparian areas of the USA, at lower elevations with highly productive forage grasses, don't relate very well to the luxury of 40-50 cows per acre year around in comparison to the feeding of livestock on forage here in Wyoming.

If the OP is seriously seeking to be in the sheep biz, they need to determine which market they'll serve: meat or fiber. Depending upon that choice, other considerations as to location come into play ... where are they going to sell their product? transportation costs can be a big factor in one's net profit at the end game. As far as horses go, right now is a very down market for quality horses in the region ....

[MellowBamaGal]

So many things to consider.

I would love to make a living from the ranch. The horses would be for our own pleasure, so we wouldn't have more than 10.

I don't HAVE to depend on the ranch being a source of income. It would be an added bonus, but I would live off of the income that I have coming in already. We invested wisely, and my husband works as a government contractor, so money isn't going to be a problem.

I don't have to raise sheep either. It could be any animals, I just want a farm. I want to be with nature, and I want my kids to have the experience of working hard and knowing what real family time is.

As it is now, they are in front of computers or texting their friends. We live in a subdivision community and with that comes problems.

I would like to be far enough out so that going to "town" is a chore. I want to raise a garden in the summer and put up vegetables and such.

Its always been a dream of mine to live in a small town. One where everyone knows everyone. Where neighbors can depend on each other in times of need or hardships. Sure I love technology and stuff like that, but I could do without all of the gadgets just to make a better life for my kids and myself.