The David West Ranch has undergone a major transformation from an abandoned cattle and limited recreation ranch with no grazing for 15 years to a vibrant planned grazing operation using the philosophy of Holistic Management Goals that focuses on enhancing natural resources on the land while increasing livestock and forage production. The overall format of the Holistic Management framework is: Plan, Implement, Monitor, Control (for minor adjustments) and/or Re-plan (for major corrections). The results of this rigorous focus on the whole from soil organisms to the wool, beef, deer and natural diversity produced is in contrast to most of the continuous grazing operations in the area.

The David West Ranch is dominated by native grasses and juniper typical of the Edwards Plateau as well as a diverse landscape of forbs, shrubs, and trees. Many range scientists have described this ranch after observing the implementation of Holistic Management Goals as unique to the region with outstanding range diversity.

The topography ranges from 1,968 to 2,200 feet with generally a rolling landscape with some steep canyons and big live oak and lacy oaks along the bottoms. The ranch has been divided into a number of smaller pastures to facilitate the high intensity short duration grazing systems used by HMI. Water features at centralized locations allows for the livestock to be readily moved by merely opening and closing gates.

The headquarters of the ranch has been designed to facilitate groups of visitors, students, and scientist which would work great for a new landowner in entertaining for recreation, hunting, and continuing the stewardship practices of HMI.

Habitat

The transition zone between the Chihuahuan Desert and the Edwards Plateau provide an interesting mix of vegetation, habitat, and wildlife. From high hills to deep canyons and valleys there is a diverse mix of grasslands, shrubs and trees. With the last 23 years of deferment and planned grazing the propertys browse and grasslands are in the best condition of any ranch in the region. Native grasses, forbs, browse, brush, cacti and trees not only provide excellent habitat for game species such as whitetail deer, turkey, quail, and dove but also for non-game species such as Texas horned lizard, neo-tropical songbirds, Texas tortoise, Fox, Badger, and other animals. Current owners have cleared 236 acres in the deeper soils and with an attention to Juniper management in additional strategic places the ranch could have even higher potential for vegetation production and habitat improvement.

A plant list created by the NRCS is attached at the end of this description which was compiled through numerous visits to the ranch. There are also 14 biological monitoring transects located on the ranch which are used to show range trends and species diversity over time. Some interesting trends observed are as follows:

2002 2010

Bare Soil 67.5% 40%

Litter 1 8.2% 26%

Mature Capping 70% 20%

Dead and Dying 49% 3%

Avg. Distance between Plants 5.6 1.6

Wildlife

The David West Ranch and its excellent habitat and browse support a good population of

Whitetail deer, Rio Grande turkey, and Mourning doves. With additional habitat

improvement and a game management program this ranch could produce even larger deer.

The ranch experienced some Anthrax in 2009 and the staff on the ranch did an excellent job

in preventing widespread damage. This outbreak is rare and natural occurring only with

specific climatic conditions. The David West Ranch is also an incredible place to watch and

photograph the great outdoors and its wildlife features such as the monarch butterfly

migration, fox, ringtail cat, song birds and other native wildlife.

The ranch is leased on an annual basis to a group of hunters who have been excellent

tenants and have respected the rules, regulations and game harvest recommendations. They

support the goals of Holistic Management.

Improvements

The headquarters compound is unique for the area and designed for entertaining guests, students, and small groups of visitors. There are 28 pastures on the ranch varing in size to accommodate the planned grazing management. Net wire fencing and central good watering stations with gates provided easy livestock infrastructure. The headquarters has an excellent pipe and cedar corrals and scales for working cattle and sheep.

The buildings include:

Headquarters Home- is a nicely landscaped 1br/1.5ba house with attached 50 ft x 80 ft huge very nice metal building. This is currently being used as the living quarters for the caretakers and is built of high quality construction with Pella windows, crown molding, and very nice finish on interior of home. Big Live Oak trees create shady front and back outdoor space.

Casita- next to headquarters home is a freestanding block efficiency guest house with bath.

Row House and Pavilion- this three separate bedroom, kitchen, shop, and men and women separate bathrooms all open onto a large shady Pavilion. Perfect setup for entertaining guest and having a big cookout with large rock built in BBQ area with multiple cooking surfaces and a chuck box. Excellent Shop with central air and walk-in cooler.

Garden Home- block and frame home inside deer proof fence with huge garden and room for large orchard. Separate garden tool shed provides ideal place to store tools.

Barn and Pens complex-this pipe corral and pens complex has cedar stays, scale, shed, water troughs, and head chute. Pens work with both Sheep and Cattle.

Hunters campground- with electricity and water away from the Headquarters but convenient to caliche entrance road.

Water

There are 6 wells with an average depth of 500 feet, three are windmills and three

are submersible pumps. There are two new large metal storage tanks at the Headquarters

and numerous water troughs in excellent condition around the ranch as water stations for

livestock and wildlife.

Minerals

There are no minerals being transferred with this ranch. Gas production exist at the NW

corner of the ranch with 13 wells and about 6,000 acres are leased. There is very good

surface protection language in the lease that will provide setbacks and surface restoration.

Price

$425/acre or $4,853,000.