, Roswell, NM (Chaves County)

Size: 118,488 Acres

Type: Farms and Ranches

118,488 Acres in Roswell, NM

Railroad Mountain Ranch

Chaves County, NM

Location:

The ranch is located between the two major towns of Roswell and Portales. There is some frontage on Hwy 70 and the ranch is also located on County Rd 38. Roswell is the center of activity in SE New Mexico and is within 40 miles of the ranch.

Acreage: 89,640.00 + Deeded Acres

18,515.00 + Bureau of Land Management Lease

10,276.00 + New Mexico State Lease (GM 2664)

118,488.00 (185.127 sections) More or Less

Improvements: Improvements are basic and consist of the east camp with barns, corrals and cattle shipping facilities, telephone service out of Roswell, R.E.a. and propane fuel. There are also like-kind cattle handling facilities at the old headquarters. Two 3-bedroom built-on-site houses for the ranch employees have been added to the ranch in the last few years. They have metal roofs and stucco exteriors.

Wate...

Water: The ranch is watered by nine wells producing from 2 gpm to 5 gpm from approx. 100 feet on the older wells to 8-10 gpm (one thought to be capable of 50 gpm) on the 4 new wells.

The new wells were drilled approx. 950 ft. deep with the water rising up to around 300 ft. with pumps set around 400 ft.

There are windmills and submersible electric motors and pumps producing water for pipelines over much of the ranch together with earthen dams.

Carrying Capacity: The ranch has been utilized as a cow/calf operation. It has also been used as a combination cow/calf and yearlings. The ranch has generally been rated by the owner at 2700 cows year round.

Terrain & Vegetation: The terrain in general throughout the ranch is classified as level to gently rolling. The site is frequently broken by dry lake beds and rolling, loamy upland sites. The slopes throughout this range site ranges from 1 to 10 percent. Elevation is around 4100 ft. The significant soil series throughout this site are Harky, Zita, Reagan, Clovis, and various other sandy loam classifications all considered deep, well drained soils. These soils are noted for their water-holding capacity which make them ideal for the many large surface tanks that are constructed throughout the pasture system on the entire ranch.

The more palatable native grasses are black grama, blue grama, bush muhly, Plains bristle grass, vine mesquite and sand bluestem. There are over 20 species classified as native range grass for this area along with browse species and woody plants.

Climate: The average annual precipitation throughout this quadrant of Southeastern New Mexico is approximately 12 inches coming mostly in the form of summer thunderstorms. The season for snowfall is November through April and the annual average is 10 inches. The average annual temperature is about 60 Fahrenheit where as the growing seasons annual average temperature is in the low 90 Fahrenheit range. The recorded length of growing season is 208 days.

Taxes & Lease Cost: Taxes as per phone conversation with Chaves County appraiser - $3869.24 for 2001. B.L.M. lease estimated at $4827.68 and New Mexico State Lease $10,276.62.

Comments: The Railroad Mountain Ranch is a year round cattle ranch suitable for running a cow/calf operation or starting light yearlings in December, wintering on cake and grass and then summering the cattle or a combination of both.

Southeastern New Mexico is probably one of the cheapest areas to run livestock in the state due to low maintenance cost per animal.