Savanna LLC is looking for an experienced grazing manager to sublease its organic certified Western Oregon ranch but will retain the grazing lease. The company is investigating other opportunities and may sublease the ranch to a manager preferably experienced with Bud William's Low-Stress Stockhandling and forage management.

Retaining the lease allows the new ranch owner to continue to use it for grazing while also generating income from the property. The expected take-home is $50,000 per year with eight months of work. There is a house on the property that is also for sale. Imagine being close to your family in a beautiful home and being your own boss.

The move will help Savanna focus on their core business of exploring savannas in Kenya while maintaining a presence in the Western Oregon area. Grazing leases provide some benefits to landowners and ranchers, including cash flow, potential tax deductions, and more.

Owner Nate Chisholm and his family have operated this bottom-ground ranch in Western Oregon for the past five years. In that time they have turned it into a very efficient and productive managed/high-density grazing system.

Production

They currently run around 500 yearlings (or alternately 300 pairs). Last year, during the height of the drought here in the west, we gained 1.9 pounds per day from the last week of April to the last week of September. There is a lot of potential for increasing production. Smaller numbers of cattle can be on the property during the shoulder season, but the whole property floods at some point in the winter. They were the last green place on the west coast.

Pasture

The pasture is very thick canarygrass, bentgrass, and clover/ryegrass. We have worked hard to get it in shape and it is looking good.

Lease

We are asking $50,000 for the first year. In subsequent years, as the stocking rate increases, we would shift to a per head price.

Irrigation Water

Free, 2-acre foot water right. Around here that translates into all the water you could ever want. No pumps, no power bills. We had full water even in the 2021 drought.

Grazing Infrastructure

The ranch is subdivided with extremely durable and low-maintenance all-fiberglass three-wire electric fences. This fence allows you to easily subdivide to get paddocks of whatever size you want to change density. Two-inch HDPE water lines provide stock water to the whole property. The system is very easy to manage and I can move two herds every day for two hours a day if I need to. 

Cattle Contract

If the lessee desired, they could take over the contract with our cattle owner. This contract paid about 110K, with very little capital or risk.

Climate and Location

Five miles from the Pacific Ocean we have an extremely temperate climate. High temperatures are usually in the seventies and sunny from the first of May to mid-September. In the five years we have been here we have had temperatures above ninety degrees for less than five days. A few dozen days in the eighties. Ten to twenty minutes from three nice towns/small cities. Beaches and lots of recreation close by.

This is operation flat, contiguous, open, and easy to manage. However, the whole property floods in the winter and livestock must leave the property. We have options for winter available.

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For more information, please contact:

Nate Chisholm

nate@projectsavanna.com