Property Description
DESCRIPTION - The historical Pitzer Ranch is located in the highly sought after region of Shackelford County, TX. A county where large ranches rarely come to market. This is big ranch country. The ranches in this region are owned by ranch families for many generations. The Pitzer family has owned this 5,244 acres since 1943 and is offering the land to the market for only the second time since 1883. This ranch has been carefully managed with a strong conservation effort by the Pitzer family. This is a rare opportunity to own a good ranch that can serve the new owners as a legacy asset for generations to come.
LOCATION/ACCESS - Located less than 10 miles from the attractive small town of Albany, TX is the 5,244 acre Pitzer Ranch. The main gate is accessed from CR 112 which is an all weather caliche road. Ranch headquarters sits 1.5 miles off the county road on a well-maintained gravel drive. 2.5 hours from Dallas // 3 hours from Midland // 3 hours, 45 min from Austin // 15 minutes from Albany Municipal Airport
HEADQUARTER FACILITIES - Considered minimally improved, the majority of the value is being offered in land. There is a small 1500 sq. ft. rock bunkhouse, 40 x 80 shop, and pens at the headquarters area. Fenced and cross fenced throughout.
GRAZING AND FORAGE MANAGEMENT - The carrying capacity is considered to handle 180 cow/calf pairs on an annual basis (1:30 ac). The cattle are currently managed in two separate herds assigned to their respective High Intensity, Low Frequency graze rotations. They are each assigned 5-7 pastures and spend 3-4 weeks in each pasture before rotating and promoting rest to take place on the deep-rooted prairie grasses. The results of this system are evident in the abundance of diverse warm season grasses throughout the pastures on the ranch. Working closely with conservation groups, the management has been targeted to promote a healthy mix of cool and warm-season forages on the range.
330 acres are established in improved grasses and 145 acres are in cultivation conveniently located around the headquarters area. Improved grass pastures include 110 acres in Klien grass and 220 acres in Old World (KR) Bluestem. Acres in cultivation are broken into two 60-ac fields and a 25-ac field.
Historically, controlled burns were conducted on the ranch to target 10% of land in burn rotations each year but have been relaxed since 2017 when a large portion of the ranch was burned in a wildfire. Other forms of brush control have included strip spraying for mesquite and prickly pear. With the abundance of grass and the careful rest-rotation of the cow herd, brush encroachment has been suppressed.
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT - The Pitzer presents a unique, low-fence hunting opportunity. The Ranch is a participant in the MLD Program coordinated through Texas Parks and Wildlife. With their conservative approach, there is a healthy whitetail deer population. Neighboring ranches are all large with very conservative management practices for their wildlife. A small, 5-acre food plot has been established in a bend of Foyle Creek and protected by fencing from livestock grazing.
Waterfowl are in abundance at the time of this writing. The large 20-acre lake behind the headquarters presents prime waterfowl habitat. It is not a deep lake with the exception of about 2.5 acres near the dam. The balance provides excellent duck feed. Several other tanks across the ranch are holding large numbers of ducks as well.
Quail have historically been a focus of ownership. They had once been the subject of a study with the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation with interns serving to monitor covey counts on this ranch and surrounding neighboring ranches. Data from that study is available upon request. In recent years, quail numbers have been down in the region, so no hunting has taken place in recent years.
Other game species of interest include Rio Grand turkey, dove, and feral hogs.
WATER - 24 tanks, 20 acre lake, and 2.7 miles of Foyle Creek. The headquarters has potable water supplied by Fort Griffin Special Utility District from a meter located on CR 112. It also provides water to a couple of stock watering troughs along the line. This ranch is known to lie in an area without dependable groundwater for water well drilling, so surface water is depended upon for operational needs. This ranch is considered adequately supplied with water through 24 earthen stock tanks throughout the land. It offers 2.7 miles of Foyle Creek which has numerous deep pools of water year round. Also, the beginning of Newcombe Creek starts in the fields before flowing south to connect with Hubbard Creek 9 miles away. A 20-acre lake offers recreational enjoyment near the headquarters area as well.
TERRAIN - 260 feet of terrain changes across the land offer some wonderful views of the surrounding area. Most of the land has a gentle roll across it that are characteristic of the area. High points are on on the western and eastern edges while the lower points funnel down to the Foyle creek area on the north.
MINERALS - Minerals are partially owned by the sellers, but only surface estate is being offered with this sale. There is only one well in current production on the southwest portion of the ranch. Past drilling locations have been cleaned of supplies and materials evidenced only buy the remaining overhead electric lines in a few places.
LEASES - No hunting leases in place. The hunting has only been enjoyed by friends and family of the owners in recent years.
Grazing lease is structured on a per head per month basis and includes a 60 day notice to terminate. Current agreement provides the lease tenant maintain fences and carry liability insurance policy listing landowner as additionally insured. A part of ranch ownership is also part owner of in the cattle company operation. They would be interested in continuing a grazing lease arrangement with the new owners if mutually agreeable terms are reached.
HISTORY
1883 - Max Blach was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was encouraged to seek a drier climate out west from his home in Birmingham, Alabama. In July of that year, he purchased 6700 acres of some of the best ranch land in Shackelford county, just 7 miles Northeast of the 10-year old town of Albany, TX.
An added interest to ranching held by Blach was to venture into coal mining on his land to supply the growing population of settlers in the area. He selected an area on Foyle Creek where there was a well- known natural spring feeding the creek and staked off parcels on a hill top to sell to would-be settlers on his ranch. However, in 1885, hard times hit the economy and few buyers could afford the asking prices. In about 1887, Blachs health improved and he moved back to Alabama. Before moving back home, he worked out an agreement with his neighbor, Mr. Hanson Clayton Arendt (H.C.) to manage his ranch.
1857 - Mr. Arendt had moved to the county from Arendtsville, PA and purchased 650 acres of land on the north side of Foyle Creek.
1893-1907- Blach added to his spread to a sum of 9,760 acres of land and fenced into a big block in 1917.
1888 - HC and his wife moved from his homestead the north side to the Blach headquarters and had began their family. Son, Charlie was born there in 1890, followed by their daughter, Dorothy, in 1893. Charlie worked alongside his father learning everything about the ranch.
1917 - Charlie and his wife have their first child, HC, in the Blach Ranch house.
1918 - Charlie Arendt moves his family to East Texas because he thought he could be needed to serve in World War 1.
November 1918 - HC Arendt dies and Charlie moves back to manage the ranch, which he did until the late 1920s.
1920s - Bad drought hits the area and the spring on Foyle creek offered some of the only water in the area for local families to come and get water.
1920s - Max Blach Jr. moved from Alabama to the Blach ranch to assist with ranch work. Every 6 months, Max Sr. and his wife would travel to Albany to visit the ranch. Before his death, he arranged to have the land deeded to J. Blach and Sons Firm consisting of brothers, Julius, Chas, and S. Blach and son, Max Jr.
1920s - Blach decided to lease the land and Charlie worked out a deal with partner, George DeLafosse to lease the ranch together.
1920s - First oil well is drilled on the ranch in the Big Pasture.
1930s - Charlie A. Runs for Shackelford County Sherrif and terminated the lease.
Late 1930s - When Arendt and DeLafosse let the lease go, they offered it to PW Pitzer from Breckenridge, TX. and he accepted it.
1943 - J. Blach and Sons Firm offers the Blach Ranch up for sale. P.W. bought 1/2 the ranch and his sons, RA and PW Jr each bought 1/4. Upon a divorce, PW gave each son 1/4 of his half. Later, RAs health deteriorated and he eventually sold his half to AV Jones and Sons Company of Albany. PW Pitzer had 3 daughters which each received 1/3 each of what is known as the Pitzer Ranch today.
2021 - An agreement by the 3 Pitzer sisters to offer 5244 acres of the original Blach Ranch is now ready to turn the page to a new owner as history continues to be written. (Credit to Shawn Askew for history timeline; son of long time ranch manger, Benny Bronco Askew.)
TAXES: $8,550 per year, Ag Exempt
PRICE: $3250 per acre or $17,043,000
CONTACT INFO: Lee Burton - Listing Agent - 325-762-6575
OTHER REMARKS - This is a rare opportunity to buy a large ranch in the heart of big ranch country. With large neighbors adjacent to the perimeter, the need for intensive high fence management is unnecessary to produce desired game management scenarios. Very few ranches check all the boxes when it comes to functionally conservative land management, but this is one that has been meticulously managed, with profitable, sustainable production in mind.
