Preparing

We've  decided to add an adjacent ranch to our holdings, some 10,000 acres.  The owners wanted $1,000 an acre for it but there have been no takers for years because there's not a lot that can be done with it -- limited livestock grazing potential is about it, plus, with care, one annual crop of alfalfa hay, probably mostly Grade 2, some Grade 1 -- so they were happy to have us take it off their hands for a comparatively modest sum.  But it does have water, and water in the west is more valuable than gold and silver.  But we'll put this acreage in a conservation reserve program (lower taxes!) and leave the water where nature wants it.  We'll also do a lot of restoration work planting native vegetation to help re-establish a flourishing ecosystem.
As we completed the sale, the owners of a 6,000-acre ranch adjacent to our new holdings came to us offering a very reasonable price for their ranch. It was inherited land they did not know what do do with and wanted to be rid of.  We were happy to acquire it and for now, at least, also put it in a conservation reserve program.  
So in total we've added some 25 square miles to our fiefdom.  There's lots of game on the new land.  Aside from some roads and a few other improvements, most of it looks just as it did before the white man came.  That is, unless you are a botanist and can recognize all the invasive species.  And spot the changes caused by a lowered water table and hard-panning in a few places.  

One reason for the eagerness to sell ranch land is the collapse in beef prices during the Covid restaurant restrictions.  Prices have come back somewhat, but now there's a war on cattle and other livestock production because it's supposedly bad for the planet.  So people are nervous about having so much marginally productive lands on their hands, lands that are still taxed and involve potential legal liabilities for all sorts of things and require insurance to help protect against those.  But for us the additional land has real benefits.  One of these is security.  It's not a problem yet and our neighbors are good people, but since the governments, federal, state and local, no longer feel it necessary to enforce civil peace or prosecute criminals, we have to be practical and prepare for what may come.  The more we can isolate ourselves and our assets from the wider world the better off we should be.  So, at no little cost, obvious access roads are being obliterated and surveillance and monitoring equipment is being installed. And soon there will be only one way to easily enter our land and it will be double-gated and guarded.   Once you pass through that second gate you are safe in your person and property.  Isn't that worth a lot?