Description
The New Haven Ranch is located in the northeast corner of Wyoming about 18 miles northwest of the small town of Hulett, Wyoming, and the world famous Devil’s Tower, our nation's first National Monument. Next to it are the also impressive Missouri Buttes. This beautiful region of Wyoming is on the northern boundary of the scenic and adventurous, Black Hills. The ranch enjoys all the benefits of the area's attributes, especially the scenic ones. It consists of about 2,442 total acres of which about 2,182 are deeded and ±260 acres of BLM land. All of it is contiguous and situated on the east side of Mule Creek Road, providing good access to its headquarters and what used to be the town of New Haven, WY. Today, New Haven is affectionately known as a ghost town. All that remains is a community hall and the New Haven Ranch buildings. Many of these were once town buildings, but with some care and restoration from the owners, they are now being used as guest cabins for the ranch. Like much of the rest of the area, the ecological diversity of the ranch includes topography consisting of two primary drainages, TL Creek and Music Creek. In between are rolling hills, rough and scenic draws, flat-top open meadows, hay fields, and food plots. TL Creek is the largest of the two drainages and both are filled with seasonal flowing water, spring-fed reservoirs, good grass, ponderosa pine, juniper, burr oak trees, and many other native trees, like wild plum, and chokecherry. The habitat is perfect for all kinds of wildlife, especially Merriam turkey, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, waterfowl, and other upland bird species. The ranch is currently used for livestock grazing, hay production, commercial hunting, recreation, and as a guest ranch. The owners have taken great pride in their management of the land over the last 30 years by enacting regenerative, grazing practices that have significantly improved the overall health and well-being of the land. The densely sodded land, comprised of a diversity of grasses, forbs, and other native plants is evident. Any new owner can be assured that they are buying a ranch that will not take years of restoration work and money to get it back to health. On a traditional carrying capacity basis the ranch should run about 150 cows/pairs per year with some hay supplementation. Another way to look at it is by animal days per acre (ADA), in which case it is rated around 24 ADAs for yearlings or 16 ADAs for pairs, and not grazing the hay meadows but haying them. Currently, the ranch is leased to a neighbor who runs, (depending on the year), between 450 and 500 yearlings from May through August or September depending on the grass and markets. Intermingled amongst the deeded land is a small amount of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing lease that allows for 36 animal unit months of supplemental grazing. The owner currently runs about 20 horses on the ranch for guest operations. New Haven Ranch has about 250 acres of dryland hay meadows that they use for raising hay for their own needs. The ranch conservatively produces about ¾ ton to 1.5 tons per acre on an annual basis, depending on weather conditions. The hay is a typical dryland mix of improved grasses and some legumes. They have also planted and fenced nearly 20 acres of land for food plots in various locations around the ranch to attract and benefit wildlife populations. New Haven Ranch has extensive water development for livestock, wildlife, and recreational uses. Natural surface water resources include many natural springs and several reservoirs. One in Section 24; four in Section 7, one in Section 18; New Haven Lake Reservoir in Section 7 is permitted for 80.01 acre-feet per year of water and is listed for several surface uses, in Section 17, four reservoirs, and a well in Section 19. The New Haven Lake is about 12 surface acres and about 117 total acre-feet in terms of its size.
