Benjamin, TX 79505(King County)

The Venado Grande is located just west of the farming and ranching community of Benjamin in the Texas Rolling Plains. The ranch straddles the King and Knox County line and access is provided by approximately 4.5 miles of paved Highway 82 frontage. Easy access from Dallas (200 Miles), Ft. Worth (175 Miles), Abilene (90 Miles), Lubbock (115 Miles), and Wichita Falls (94 Miles).

HISTORY

The ranch was assembled through several purchases with the goal of turning rugged ranchland into a true showplace. Livestock production and wildlife management have been the main focus, along with four season recreation.

There are old copper mines in the rugged hills on the ranch, as well as stories about fur trappers and the history of several long-time area ranch families that called the ranch home in the early days.

WATER FEATURES

As previously mentioned, the ranch has been assembled and operated with an emphasis on improving the productivity of the land and expanding the availability of reliable water sources for wildlife and cattle. Recreation has been a major focus as well and four lakes on the ranch have been constructed in the past few years. These lakes are now full and have been stocked and managed for trophy fishing. Water is clear and inviting on a warm summer day.

To further enhance the ranch with additional reliable water sources miles and miles of heavy-duty poly waterline was distributed across the property connected to a massive 30,000-gallon storage system fed by the King-Cottle rural waterline. This system guarantees treated water that is distributed across the property. This ingenious system utilizes mass storage and topography to efficiently move water across the ranch, maintaining enough pressure to fill over 65 large rubber tire drinkers and wildlife water stations.

Approximately ten miles of the South Wichita River winds through the northern portions of the ranch. This river normally serves as a year-round live water source. The river bottom is very scenic and brush canopy along the riverbanks offers exceptional wildlife habitat.

HUNTING, WILDLIFE AND RECREATION

As the name of the ranch implies, this is big deer country. An abundance of large ranch ownerships in this region has allowed whitetail and mule deer populations to thrive and mature bucks to reach trophy size. Supplemental feed as well as large foodplots on the Venado Grande provide ample nutrition to grow impressive whitetail bucks. Also benefiting from this feed program are native turkey, quail and wild boar.

In recent years aoudad sheep have become common in this area and there are some impressive rams viewed frequently on the Venado Grande.

(4) 10x10 and (4) 6x8 insulated tower blinds are located on the ranch, typically overlooking a pipe fenced high capacity corn and protein feeder station.

IMPROVEMENTS

The ranch is exceptionally well improved in a first-class manner. The ranch manager lives at the ranch headquarters in a very nice 3-bedroom, 2 bath home with a rock and stucco exterior and metal roof. This house is connected to a large garage by a wrap around, ranch style porch.

Complementing the headquarters ranch house is a 300 x 140 show barn with fifteen six rails, six-foot-high pipe stalls with automatic frost proof waterings. Two alleys and a nearly new set of pipe pens, tub and alley with hydraulic chute make livestock work a breeze. The large show barn also houses a large, unfinished apartment/office/tack room. This 50'x60' two-story facility was framed, wired for electric, plumbed and ready for spray foam insulation, however, the owner lost interest in the project and it was never completed. The current framed facility was to house two bedrooms, an office, large living area with full kitchen and a large saddle/tack room.

This large covered pen would work well for a cutting pen and is complete with indoor and outdoor lighting. This structure was key in making livestock handling/work a pleasure. The HQ work shops footprint is 90 x 100 (40x100 lean-to, 40 carport, and 50x60 being the unfinished enclosed apartment/office/tack room). A pipe roping arena and several outdoor pens, including a set of scales, are all located close by.

A large heated/cooled shop is also located nearby, used primarily for feed storage and vehicle maintenance/storage.

The owner's home is set on a picturesque hillside overlooking lush grass fields that were recently aerated and seeded to grass for cattle. This expansive and modern home was designed and built to last with no expense was spared in the construction. The home contains approximately 7,000 square feet and 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. Said home includes a 700 square foot heated and cooled garage and a 4,500 square foot wrap around ranch style porch. Only the best construction material was used, which includes exterior wall insulation that is approx. 11 inches thick that includes 6 inches of foam insulation, scratch coat of stucco, and 4-5 inches of stone. The roof is a virtually indestructible Gerard Stone Coated Steel Roof. Facia and soffit are stucco. All the aforementioned created as close to a no maintenance exterior as you can get. Another notable feature includes a state-of-the-art kitchen and monolithically poured, 8 thick solid concrete theater room that doubles as a safe room/storm shelter. Near this magnificent nearly new home is a large 60x100 foam insulated shop, heated and cooled, with a 25 lean-to and carport. This structure serves as storage for hunting vehicles, RVs, etc. Also nearby is a new equipment carport, which is 50 x 200 in size. This structure houses trailers, dirt equipment, tractors, etc. Around the owners home complex is a cement filled cinderblock snake proof wall and gate.

RESOURCES

This region is rich not only in productive land but minerals on and below the surface as well. The seller owns approximately 481 net mineral acres under the heart of the ranch (12,000 acres). Likely there are minerals owned under the other tracts that were assembled over the years as well, but this has never been researched.

PRICE AND REMARKS

The Venado Grande is a fantastic offering, suitable for enjoyable use throughout all four seasons of the year. The improvements and the ranch are top notch, are in great condition and easy-to-maintain. There is no doubt that this ranch will continue to flourish, and wildlife numbers improve due to the exorbitant amount of money that has been spent under the current ownership.

The ranch is offered for sale at $1,195 per acre, including one-half of the owned minerals and all the wind energy and solar energy royalty rights intact.

BROKER COMMENTS

If you are looking to step into one of the highest improved, turnkey hunting /fishing/recreation/cattle ranches in Texas then the Venado Grande deserves your immediate attention.

The Venado Grande is a recreation and cattle raisers paradise. Reliable ranch management is in place and management would like to continue operating the ranch serving a new owner.