REASONS TO OWN THIS RANCH:
Core Values: Legacy-minded, Sustainable, Responsible, Profitable
PRIORITIES:
- Humane treatment of livestock, including low-stress animal handling
- Highly trained and compassionately cared for staff
- Historic preservation
- Inclusive hiring standards
- Youth education and empowerment programs
- Fine arts partnerships
- Philanthropy outlets
YOUR PRIORITIES:
“How will you choose to spend your best days?”
Bringing your family, your vision, and your sense of adventure to this inspiring ranch in the middle of paradise is one way.
IX is one of the very few “reputation ranches” in Montana, and it is the optimal setting for an endless string of untold stories. You write them how you please: get involved with cattle management and beef quality, engage with agriculture students from the community, participate in environmental agendas, explore philanthropic options, or simply bring the family out for Christmas and put the biggest pine tree you can find in the window.
“Rub the soil between your fingers and get ready to plant your grand vision.”
Here, you have the privacy and space to imagine a rich future. From the self-sustaining cattle business to the sprawling landscape, the opportunities to create community, memories, and even income are immense.
“How does a place become part of a living legacy?”
In this technological age, it’s gotten more and more difficult to maintain the family connections we desire.
So how do you bring everyone together? You create a reason for them to set down their phones. You establish an engaging rally point that appeals to everyone, regardless of age, interests, or season of life. And then you throw open the doors.
The IX is the perfect place to offload the burdens of everyday life. Can you imagine a day without schedules, endless distractions, or errands to run? Husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, friends, and the families we’ve created for ourselves will be able to exhale, place their phones on “do not disturb,” and find the space they’ve been needing to breathe deeply.
The lover of the outdoors will enjoy one of the most diversified western experiences available today. The adventurer will enjoy 50 miles of trails suited for an ATV, motorcycle, mountain bike, snowmobile, or cross-country skis. The explorer will enjoy hiking that expansive network of trails or blaze their own through the gorgeous terrain. The hunter and fisher will be immersed in multitudinous and diverse opportunities. Those who’d rather curl into an armchair with a book or do yoga on the porch will be accompanied by sunrises, sunsets, and crystal-clear night skies, all of which are so breathtaking that they have inspired world-famous art, music, and poetry.
Can you envision raising your children or grandchildren here, making memories others can only dream about, while instilling timeless lessons of respect and stewardship?
Right now, the ranch boasts of cattle, horses, and even fresh honey from the bee colony. But you’d have full flexibility to add chickens, sheep, or goats. And how about the prospect of tending a vegetable or cutting garden, where you could harvest that night’s greens for a salad and cut a fresh bouquet for the table?
What you cultivate at IX ranch is yours for the taking.
“How does a property also become a passion project?”
It comes pre-loaded with opportunity.
Whether now or five years from now, you may decide to explore one or several of the projects that make IX the unique platform for discovery that it is.
You and your children or grandchildren can partner with the already present and fully functioning areas of interest available on the ranch, including ecological governance, animal welfare, food quality, conservation, and even history (Did you know the main owner house was built in 1904 and is fully furnished with antiques throughout?).
Because IX Ranch creates an intersection of animals, habitats, vegetation, and terrain, it is an incredible wealth of opportunity for interactive learning. All of this is enhanced by the sheer size of the property and the remote location. You can explore nature, science, and the impacts of humans on all of the above in a real-world environment that has been unspoiled, untouched, and undisturbed by infrastructure and society.
If the business opportunity inherent in IX Ranch is more of what holds your interest, you will be attracted to its impressive diversity of revenue sources and a dependable feed base. The ranch is part of a unique category of ranches called a “Hybrid,” as it is both a retreat and a working ranch. Modern technique meets tradition to produce the definition of a “properly run” ranch, perfected by the collective investment of three generations of ranchers who have and continue to engineer its systems through a tireless work ethic and an unparalleled pride of ownership.
IX is the promised land you’ve been looking for: a personal wilderness ecosystem strengthened and enlivened by a working cattle ranch.
“How does a property become an expression of your generosity?”
When it can be both a gathering place for like-minded givers, as well as a revenue-generation engine.
Few properties are spacious enough to accommodate large-scale, corporate or non-profit use. IX’s size and location provide the ideal environment for retreats, planning sessions, and donor entertainment. Plenty of room and freedom from regulation makes the ranch available for additional structures to be built in ways that minimally impact operations and ecology.
ANIMAL WELFARE
The ranch embraces a “Safe, Wholesome and Healthy” approach towards its animals. In earning national recognition for this, it employs dedication to animal care, employee safety, and low-stress animal handling. At the IX Ranch, one of the main philosophies everyone follows when they work with the cattle is to handle the animals in a calm, stress-free way. Management is dedicated to this, and it is conveyed to employees annually through formal training with consulting experts. This training includes all the college interns. “We are science-based and progressive, which makes our operation good for student education,” Roth [CEO, Rich Roth] said. “We use stress-free handling techniques from folks like Temple Grandin and Bud Williams, and we apply these scientifically-proven techniques on the ranch.”
Animal Welfare - Low-Stress Cattle Handling on the IX Ranch
IX Ranch awarded National Best Animal Welfare Ranch (BQA) by National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Click here to view the video.
HORSES
The IX Ranch breeds, trains, and uses all its own horses, as it has for over 60 years. The ranch believes it’s better to know the horse has been handled and trained properly than to purchase one you don’t know. At any point in time there is a standing remuda of 12 horses under saddle plus dozens of mares, studs, and foals.
ECOLOGY
The buyer of the IX Ranch will be investing sustainably in a proven Environmental, Social and Governance entity because the ranch’s business is aligned with its morals. “Some of the greatest things about the agriculture industry are the tradition, legacy, heritage, and philosophy to be sustainable,” said Richard Roth, CEO of the unique ranch, who oversees day-to-day operations. “We want to leave the land and resources better than before so future generations can enjoy the bounties and be proud of what it represents. We have to be in it for the long haul.” (Prairie Star Magazine, March 16, 2020). The IX is generating a measurable, beneficial ESG/sustainability impact alongside a financial return. It strives to be a superior practitioner of good environmental, social and governance behavior and has been officially recognized for doing so. These practices are intended to contribute to positive impacts such as through vast grassland carbon sequestration. A study from the University of California, Davis, found that grasslands and rangelands are more resilient carbon sinks than forests. “Looking ahead, our model simulations show that grasslands store more carbon than forests because they are impacted less by droughts and wildfires,” said lead author Pawlok Dass, a postdoctoral scholar in Professor Benjamin Houlton’s lab at UC Davis. “This doesn’t even include the potential benefits of good land management to help boost soil health and increase carbon stocks in rangelands.”
“We have been true conservationists and that is what guides our ranch management,” Roth said. (ibid.) Grazing is a major part of the IX soil health program. How do they know the ranch’s natural resources are in good or better condition than years previously? The ranch monitors 13 sites, which they document every year with the same parameters. The IX also employs a ranch-developed proprietary software program called Ranchlogs, which uses math and science to accurately manage livestock inventory and grazing resources.
GOVERNANCE
The IX Ranch is legally incorporated with S subchapter status. One hundred percent of the stock and or its interest will transfer to the new owner upon sale. Thus, 100% of the governance of the ranch practices and affairs will be in the control of the new owner. Currently, the ranch and its employees maintain a posted and enforced statement of its Mission, Guiding Principles, and Policies. They include such elements as:
We are professionals and expect our employees to act in a professional manner in all aspects of employment, whether dealing with our buyers, suppliers, public, or fellow workers. We,
- Require absolute integrity in all that we do.
- Demonstrate respect for one another in our business, personal, and professional relationships.
IX Ranch is pledged to preserving a working environment free from harassment of any kind and or unwelcome behavior. Harassment is against the law and is a form of gender discrimination. The aim of this policy is to prevent harassment of any kind by anyone employed by or associated with the Company.
CONSERVATION
The IX represents the opportunity to do well while doing good. If formally conserved, the ranch’s huge open space and extensive wildlife habitat would qualify for significant financial incentives.
Federal tax law allows for generous use of charitable deductions associated with donated conservation easements. Generally, contributions of conservation easements are deductible up to 50% of a donor’s adjusted gross income …in the year of the donation, and up to 15 years in the future for any unused contribution amounts. This is a tax treatment more favorable than almost any other type of charitable contribution.
A qualified appraiser determines the value of the easement, typically measured as the difference between the value of the property with and without the easement in place. The difference between before and after values becomes the value of the easement, and the amount of the charitable contribution. [According to the largest regional land trust in the United States, the Montana Land Reliance]
To illustrate, SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION, let’s assume a sale price of the real estate of $66M (value before easement) and an easement valuation of 30% of that, or $20M± (the charitable donation), and the buyer’s combined federal and state income tax rate of 40%. These suggest cash income tax savings of $8M.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Partnering with students
“The IX Ranch has been involved in providing internships - and out-of-the-classroom real ranch learning - for 17 years. The kind of partnering with education that leads to real world success is built into the IX Ranch’s operation. IX Ranch partners with agriculture schools in the state and around the world, offering ag students and others the skilled, hands-on training they couldn’t receive in a classroom”. [The Prairie Star, The IX Manages Stewardship, Students, Steers.]