Family ranches in Texas (Austin, Italy: 2015, transporting, leases)

[NewMexicoCowboy]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

My great great grandfather came over from Europe and bought a ranch that my family still owns to this day. I am curious how many people on this board have family ranches like this. Do you live near it? On it? Does anybody on your family live on it? How often do you go to it? Do yall have cattle or any other animals?

For the people reading this that may be from Texas but have since moved away to another state: do you miss being close to your families ranch?

I know there are a lot of transplants that aren't from Texas on here. Feel free to post any anecdotes you have from friends you have made here in Texas?

Thought it could bring an interesting discussion.

I have always wanted a big family ranch but that just has not been in the cards for me yet.I plan on buying a multi-section ranch if I ever have the money.My dream would be 10,000 acres if I ever got real rich like from some unforeseen circumstance.But in the mean time I am saving up for a 20 to 250 acre ranch.

[jetgraphics]

Originally Posted by SanJac

Slowly the children are passing away and the grandchildren are on a mission to sell all 10 acres as a unit.

Sadly, the inflation (debauchment) of the money token has created the illusion that one can "make a killing" selling off land.
But if the land is productive, and one can generate sufficient harvests, etc, the land will sustain you much better than the biggest pile of hyperinflated waste paper.
IMHO, suburban sprawl is going to be too expensive to be sustainable (In other words, the cost for private automobiles, trucks, etc, will be prohibitively high). That means A) a migration back to higher density developments, and B) the ever increasing population will require more food production - ahem - productive land.

Of course, if one does not wish to raise crops / livestock, then by all means, get rid of the land, and get situated in a nice town or city, preferably powered by hydroelectricity and with adequate railroad rights of way. (For the balance of the 21st century, there will be a migration back to electric traction rail - the most efficient form of land transportation)

Barring a technological breakthrough, conservation & frugality will trump "new power sources" as a viable strategy for long term prosperity.
<> Build / buy a superinsulated autonomous domicile, preferably disaster resistant.
<> Close proximity to a rail right of way (active or able to be rebuilt) is a necessity.
<> On site food production - which recommends having a farm or ranch, with a fish pond (if practical).
. . . . Fish convert feed to protein at a higher rate than other livestock. Where there are a lot of fishponds, the Polynesians call it "fat land."
. . . . For arid / low water conditions, look into solutions that Israelis have implemented to become net food exporters (in contrast with all their neighbors who are net food importers).

A man with a year's supply of food will outlive a man with a year's supply of money. A man who can produce two year's supply of food each year will be very very prosperous.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by NewMexicoCowboy

I have always wanted a big family ranch but that just has not been in the cards for me yet. I plan on buying a multi-section ranch if I ever have the money. My dream would be 10,000 acres if I ever got real rich like from some unforeseen circumstance. But in the mean time I am saving up for a 20 to 250 acre ranch.

I found a 10,000 acre ranch for sale I really wanted. My wife thought that spending almost $30 million was a bad idea.

[NewMexicoCowboy]

Originally Posted by WRM20

I found a 10,000 acre ranch for sale I really wanted. My wife thought that spending almost $30 million was a bad idea.

wow thats a pretty penny.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by NewMexicoCowboy

wow thats a pretty penny.

It was a nice place. It had a couple of miles of Colorado river frontage and was all in one piece. It was near Lampassas.

[NewMexicoCowboy]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

My great great grandfather came over from Europe and bought a ranch that my family still owns to this day. I am curious how many people on this board have family ranches like this. Do you live near it? On it? Does anybody on your family live on it? How often do you go to it? Do yall have cattle or any other animals?

For the people reading this that may be from Texas but have since moved away to another state: do you miss being close to your families ranch?

I know there are a lot of transplants that aren't from Texas on here. Feel free to post any anecdotes you have from friends you have made here in Texas?

Thought it could bring an interesting discussion.

I have some family who had a big nice ranch in the Hill Country but they decided to deveolop it into a subdivision with multi-million dollar homes instead of raising cattle.

[NewMexicoCowboy]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

My great great grandfather came over from Europe and bought a ranch that my family still owns to this day. I am curious how many people on this board have family ranches like this. Do you live near it? On it? Does anybody on your family live on it? How often do you go to it? Do yall have cattle or any other animals?

For the people reading this that may be from Texas but have since moved away to another state: do you miss being close to your families ranch?

I know there are a lot of transplants that aren't from Texas on here. Feel free to post any anecdotes you have from friends you have made here in Texas?

Thought it could bring an interesting discussion.

I have some family who had a big nice ranch in the Hill Country but they decided to turn it into a subdivision with multi-million dollar homes instead of raising cattle.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by jetgraphics

Of course, if one does not wish to raise crops / livestock, then by all means, get rid of the land, and get situated in a nice town or city, preferably powered by hydroelectricity and with adequate railroad rights of way. (For the balance of the 21st century, there will be a migration back to electric traction rail - the most efficient form of land transportation).

Only 1% of Texas’ power is generated by hydroelectric, and that is all on 6 dams owned by the LCRA. None of Texas’ rivers have sufficient flow rates to generate power. It’s unlikely that this will expand in the foreseeable future.

Rail transportation of freight is great for overland/long distances, but for last-mile deliveries, it’s horrible. The infrastructure is expensive to maintain, especially in urban areas, and offloading is difficult due to the equipment needed. “Rail served” warehouses are increasingly rare, and new ones are not being built anymore. Also, the freight rail system is not reliable for just-in-time deliveries as the trains don’t run on any set schedule. Trucks are, and will continue to be, the vast majority of the American freight delivery system.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Only 1% of Texas’ power is generated by hydroelectric, and that is all on 6 dams owned by the LCRA. None of Texas’ rivers have sufficient flow rates to generate power. It’s unlikely that this will expand in the foreseeable future.

Rail transportation of freight is great for overland/long distances, but for last-mile deliveries, it’s horrible. The infrastructure is expensive to maintain, especially in urban areas, and offloading is difficult due to the equipment needed. “Rail served” warehouses are increasingly rare, and new ones are not being built anymore. Also, the freight rail system is not reliable for just-in-time deliveries as the trains don’t run on any set schedule. Trucks are, and will continue to be, the vast majority of the American freight delivery system.

You forgot that Amistad, Falcon, and Denison dams are not LCRA owned. Falcon and Amistad are on the Rio Grande, and Denison is on the Red River. There used to be hydro from the Morris Sheppard Dam on the Brazos that created Lake Possum Kingdom, but the morons at the Brazos River Authority thought they should make money from selling water instead of serving the public interest, and shut down the generators, and caused a lot of damage to Lake Granbury.

[ChristieP]

Hydroelectric Production Statistics in Texas
Texas has 6 dams that can produce hydroelectric power. According to the U.S. Department of Energy:

“Texas has the potential to generate 18,000,000 MW/yr of hydropower but that only 2,900,000 MW could be feasibly generated.”

How much hydroelectric energy does Texas actually produce?

Texas’s 6 dams can produce up to 292 megawatt-hours of hydroelectric energy.

https://www.powerwizard.com/energy-in-texas/