In Good Hands
by Randy Rieman
fall 2007 | OEI Properties Magazine
In Good Hands
by Randy Rieman
fall 2007 | OEI Properties Magazine
Mid summer here in the Beaverhead Valley of southwest Montana is a lovely but busy time of year. The days are long with sunrise around 5 o’clock and sunset around 10. The old saying “make hay while the sun shines” certainly applies here. The local farmer/ranchers have put up their first crop of hay and are about to start cutting the second. The wheat is turning from green to gold and it too will soon be ready for harvest. The local rivers, the Big Hole and Beaverhead, are teaming with trout, and trout fisherman! The local B&B’s are doing a brisk business and the county roads have a bit more traffic than usual as prospective buyers of rural properties comb the area in search of that “special spot” out West.
My wife Kim and I are the resident managers – caretakers – or stewards, to my mind – of one of those special spots. It’s called Pioneer Mountain Ranch, an ideal place, in many ways but one with challenges too. That’s why we’re here.
Absentee ownership of ranches is certainly nothing new; it has been a part of the West before the territories became states. One of the most famous Easterners to own a western cattle ranch was New Yorker Theodore Roosevelt. The lure of the West hasn’t changed since Teddy’s days in South Dakota; but the prices have! Cheap western lands are as rare today as a politician with Roosevelt’s character and vision. In today’s market, land is no longer priced for its ability to support cattle. Even marginal range brings recreational or development/investment prices.
If you plan to buy western property, big or small, and leave it unattended for part of the year, you will at some point for some period of time need someone to do something! Houses and land are subject to the Law of Entropy, which holds that everything left to its self deteriorates. So having an attendant, even part-time, is almost a must. Choosing the right caretaker or manager may well be one of the most important decisions you can make. Having a trustworthy steward who is willing and capable of not just maintaining, but of improving and developing your property’s potential will give you an enjoyable and profitable experience as
owner/investor. And yes, a manager must be as discerning. He needs to share the owner’s vision for the property, for as the proverb says, “Two unequally yoked cannot walk together.”
K im and I are the stewards of a property by design, not by default. Sixteen miles northwest of Dillon Montana, Pioneer Mountain Ranch consists of 2,300 acres with two timber-frame homes, a two-car garage with office overhead, an old log “cow camp” cabin from the 1920’s and an indoor riding arena/barn currently under construction. Fifteen hundred of the acres are deeded, 480 leased by the state and 320 allotted for grazing by the BLM. Our western boundary is a 2-mile shared fence with the 3.3 million acre Pioneer Mountain National Forest. Our two nearest neighbors live 2 and 3 1/2 miles away.
The landscape is open grasslands and sagebrush on rolling hills with no significant timber and unfortunately (since a 2006 earthquake shut our spring) no live water. We do have two excellent wells, which provide more than enough water for domestic use and for our livestock. This has been grazing land since before Lewis and Clark came through, and none of it is suitable for row crops. At 6000 feet, our growing season is short too.
David and Denise Carswell own Pioneer Mountain Ranch. We were good friends for 12 years before they bought the place. In fact, David and I became friends long before either of us were married. Over those years we spoke of having a place that would serve as a base of operations for starting and training stock horses, my profession and one of David’s passions, and for conducting horsemanship and ranch roping clinics. Our vision was a destination school for people serious about improving their horsemanship skills. Well, talk is cheap and we talked plenty through the years. The conversations became serious and specific as the financial ability to purchase such a property became a reality. And so David and Denise as owner/investors and Kim and I as managers/stewards entered into a partnership on Pioneer Mountain Ranch. We call it a “partnership” because that’s how we see it. It is a relationship with multiple, mutual benefits, and risks, for both parties.
As stewards, we consider our first responsibility to be protecting and improving the owners’ investment. Keeping the homes and the lawn nice are “no brainers” as they say. But with 100-degree temperatures in July, a green lawn is quickly brown and at minus 40 in February, fractured water lines come along too often. Maintenance is not rocket science, but it demands diligent, timely attention. Procrastination costs. Implementing improvements entails risk too. I’ve lived in the West for the majority of my life, much of it in Montana, so I’m familiar with the extreme temperatures, short growing seasons, sparse ground cover, noxious weeds, extended drought cycles, and the summer fire seasons that can devastate (or improve) a forest or prairie. I’ve learned a lot about plant life cycles, so I can make intelligent decisions regarding grazing – how many cattle to stock, where and when to graze and how long to rest a pasture. Non-use for extended periods is more damaging than over-use followed by rest. Our goal is proper use at the proper time for the correct duration followed by proper rest. If we get it right, this process will improve and increase the ground cover which will enhance the visual quality of the landscapes, encourage the birds and the big game animals to stick around, help keep the precious little rain (8 to 11 inches annually) we get in the soil, leave less opportunity for the encroachment of noxious weeds, and provide better forage for livestock.
Noxious weeds are a huge problem in arid regions of the West (see Conservation column, this issue) and we do several things to keep them at bay. First, we restrict vehicle travel to main roads. We pull and spray white top, pennycress, lambsquarter, Russian thistle, gum weed and knap weed. We even buy (at a premium) certified weed-free hay to feed our horses so we don’t spread unwanted seeds. Law doesn’t require this, but we believe it’s the right thing to do. Our neighbors have a right of way through our property to a grazing lease on National Forest just outside our boundary and we make sure they know about our weed policy.
Water is another concern. Getting more water to more places on the ranch is an on-going task. Unfortunately, no “river runs through it,” so pipe lines do the transporting and any permanent line must be 6 feet deep to keep the water from freezing. Ditching is expensive and intrusive and requires some reclamation efforts once the lines are buried and the topsoil disturbed. That means selecting and establishing drought-resistant perennial native grasses. Pond or tank locations for livestock will largely determine cattle distribution in a pasture, and water output can dictate its carrying capacity.
Except for water lines from a well to the existing corrals that were no longer served by the dried up spring, we decided not to build any permanent structures for the first year. We did this to give ourselves time to get to know the “lay of the land” in each season – to learn which way the wind blows, where the snow drifts lie, how the run-off water flows, where the best grass grows. Such records help you with the proper placement of fences, corrals and outbuildings.
We also decided that any improvements would have to meet certain criteria. “Because I always wanted one” is not enough justification to alter a landscape and spend a lot of money. “Because I can afford it” has led to more bad decisions than most of us would like to confess. We agreed to build what was necessary, practical, and functional. The structures would be esthetically pleasing, enhancing or at least blending in with the landscape. They’d be of the highest quality construction practical, but not “overbuilt.” For a century and a half, expansive ranches and modest houses have distinguished the West. In the last 20 years, as more and more people have fled urban areas for the country the trend to build huge trophy homes has altered rural landscapes here. Sadly, a large percentage of these houses are ostentatious displays of poor taste. They are intrusive and impractical, a waste of resources (both natural and monetary) and a nightmare to heat in a real Montana winter where minus 40 degrees can hang around for weeks. So we are trying to be sensitive to the landscapes in what we add to the ranch in terms of structures.
Our main house is just over 2,000 square feet and the guesthouse 1,000. Both are warm and inviting, well built and heavily insulated. The owners spend a month or two a year here, with hopes of spending more time in the future. They insisted that Kim and I live in the main house since we are here full-time, an indication of their attitude towards us! They stay in the guesthouse when they are here and we rent that guesthouse to fishermen and others when it is available. There are several businesses operating here, aside from that of ranching. Kim runs her advertising sales and marketing business from the office above the garage. I run my horse training business on the ranch along with the horsemanship school, a joint venture with the owners. We don’t expect our businesses to recover the purchase price of the ranch, but we do expect them to provide our livelihood and cover the costs of operation, and improvements to the infrastructure. We treat the place as if it were our own; David and Denise encourage us to live as if it were.
Although the Carswells weren’t the first people of means to propose buying a ranch and having us manage it, they are the ones we decided to partner with, for several reasons. They offered us an opportunity beyond just a “hired hand” position. We have a shared passion for horses and the land. We were all willing to clearly define our objectives, responsibilities, liabilities, expectations and compensations. We understand, acknowledge and appreciate each other’s strengths and we communicate openly and often. These things are important but they are only part of the equation.
The larger part is the character issue. David and Denise are people of sound ethics in both their personal and business lives. They are Christian Believers who share the same spiritual convictions as Kim and I. We agree that we are all responsible for our own actions, and ultimately accountable to God. Our worldview is shaped by the principles outlined in the Scriptures and our actions are shaped by that worldview. No, we are not pious or perfect, just pretty regular people trying to do our best. No, we do not agree on every issue pertaining to the ranch, but we are like-minded in believing God is the Creator and bestower of our many blessings and that He has called all of us to be good stewards of His creation.
While you can hire a manager or hire out as one, your greatest rewards, I’m convinced will come with a partnership between owner and manager. If that partnership grows into a close friendship, you’ll find a welcome infusion of horsepower to help you achieve your goals. A ranch becomes a special place when special people become its stewards.
Insurance protection
Any event you have on your property or ranch, when open to the public, should be well insured. The Rieman’s horse events are insured for a minimum of $2 million. He also requires any rider involved in the clinic to sign a release form. This places the responsibility of participation on the individual. The Riemans have formed an LLC to separate personal assets from business assets. “I used to operate on the W&P method,” Randy said with a smile. “But our situation is now too complex for just a wing and a prayer!”
Compensation
Compensation for the ranch manager varies depending on the type of operation, size of ranch and
responsibilities of the job. Most “on sight” ranch managers receive a salary, an insurance package and housing. Other incentives may include beef for the freezer or the ability to raise a small herd of his own. However, many ranches today are not ‘cow outfits,’ but might be a guest or hunting destination, a corporate retreat or dude ranch. Many are multiple use and there are tax advantages for certain forms of compensation. Most important is the relationship between the owner and manager; understanding what the goals are and who does what should be clear from the beginning.
