This column is part of a regular weekly series highlighting the largest land sales recorded each week through the Lands of America Comparable Sales program. To learn more and participate in the program, or to subscribe, click here.
Congratulations to Mirr Ranch Group agents Jeff Hubbard and Pat Lancaster, who brokered the sale of 11,052-acre Gutierrez Ranch in Colorado’s Las Animas County on May 12, 2017. The deeded acreage sold for its asking price after less than six months on the market.
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Gutierrez Ranch is a working cattle ranch that’s rated for 250-300 pair year-round. With the property rested over the past 18 months, its range is now flush with grass and ready for grazing by the new owners. About 80 percent of the ranch occupies open, protein-rich grasslands. The other 20 percent comprises deep canyons covered with Gambel oak, pinon and juniper trees.
About four miles of the year-round Van Bremer canyon, which feeds the Purgatoire River, traverse the ranch. Other water sources on the ranch include several live springs and spring-fed ponds, plus over 30 earthen tanks holding stock water seasonally. Along with feed and water sources, the ranch’s tree-covered canyon country provides protective cover during rare winter storms.
Gutierrez Ranch, which is about 30 minutes to the east of the town of Trinidad, is in the heart of a county characterized by wide-open plains and sweeping views of the distant Sangre de Cristo mountains. Las Animas County, slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut, is home to over 500 farms that are significantly larger than the state average (3,500 acres per farm). Agricultural receipts show that livestock sales account for some 90 percent of the county’s total agricultural output.
Along with ranch features like handling pens, storage areas and calving sheds, a modest ranch headquarters and bunkhouse provide accommodations. Gutierrez Ranch offers mule deer, elk, antelope and turkey hunting, with deer often in the range of 180+.
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