Kansas P5 Ranch Gets New Owners

MT. JULIET, Tenn. (DTN) -- Kansas's largest contiguous ranch has new owners.

The P5 Ranch, located in Hamilton and Kearny counties about 24 miles west of Garden City, spans approximately 44,923 acres. While primarily pasture, it includes 2,700 acres of crop land and 17 miles of Arkansas River frontage, which supports vibrant hunting.

"Usually when we sell a property, it's either a farm, cattle operation or recreational land," said Mitch Keeley, one of the land specialists handling the sale for Whitetail Properties Real Estate, in a news release. "We often represent properties that fit one of these categories, but what's so unique about the P5 is it combines all three property types. It's very hard to find something like this in Kansas."

The ranch can support 6,500 to 8,000 head of cattle. It includes 17 irrigation pivots that the ranch used to grow alfalfa, triticale and corn. A log cabin on the ranch is also used to provide housing for sportsmen hunting the ranch's whitetail, mule deer, elk and waterfowl, which are supported by a 36-acre lake. There are also four homes for ranch employees.

"The P5 has been exceptionally well-maintained over the years with excellent fencing, new irrigation pivots and as clean of a ranch as you'll find anywhere in the Midwest," said Adam Hann, the other land specialist involved in the ranch's sale.

According to the news release, the previous owners' decision to sell was "based on not wanting to burden the next generation of ownership with the future responsibility of selling of handing off the ranch."

Whitetail Properties said it did minimal marketing because of the limited number of potential buyers for a ranch of this size. Instead, it focused on finding a buyer with criteria that fit the operation.

"We took the buyer to the ranch multiple times to meet with the owners and felt everyone formed a great relationship from day one," Hann said in a news release. "In most deals, the seller never meets the buyer. Upon closing of the P5, we were confident all parties walked away with a sense of satisfaction, and new relationships were formed that will carry on for many years."

Whitetail described the buyer as someone who "determined that the ranch would be a good fit for his large cattle operation and that the purchase price would provide a rate of return that made sense for the investment."

While the sale price wasn't disclosed, Whitetail described it as "top of the market for a ranch of this magnitude."

According to the 2022 Kansas Agricultural Land Values and Trends report, which computes average price per acre based on actual land sales, pasture and hay ground saw a 40% price increase in the state's southwest district between 2021 and 2022. Dryland farms carried a 33% higher price tag than the year before, while irrigated prices declined by 3.3%, which was likely due to diminished water supply. You can read more about that here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

In Kearny County in 2022, pasture and hay ground sold for an average of $1,781 per acre in 2022, with a high price of $3,200 and a low of $1,098. Irrigated farmland sold for an average of $2,060 per acre, with a price range of $1,888 and $2,275 per acre. Non-irrigated land averaged $2,308 with a range of $1,282 and $4,438.

In Hamilton County, the Land Values Trend reports that the price of non-irrigated crop land averaged $1,437 per acre, with a range of sales between $833 and $2,113 per acre.

Katie Dehlinger can be reached at katie.dehlinger@dtn.com

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