Buddy Cheff’s family has been raising cattle on a spectacular piece of the Montana landscape for five generations — about as long as the fictional Dutton clan, who are the center of the hit show “Yellowstone.” But Cheff isn’t the head of a politically powerful — and brutally ruthless — family with a spread the size of Rhode Island. He’s a 36-year-old father and husband who runs a small herd of about 100 cattle on his 600-acre ranch south of Ronan, Montana. Since taking over from his father nearly a decade ago, Cheff said he has “loved every second” of running his family’s ranch. But he “worries,” he said, about his future in rapidly changing western Montana. In part, that rapid change is a result of the show “Yellowstone” itself, Cheff said. The contentious dynamic depicted on Paramount Network’s series “Yellowstone” — between ranchers who are trying to maintain their way of life and out-of-staters who want to develop their agricultural land into new housing — is a real struggle. And it has been hastened by the spotlight the popular show has shined on Montana, Cheff said. “Everybody has seen ‘Yellowstone,’” he said. “They want the Montana lifestyle.” And more than 50,000 of them have come to get it since the show debuted in 2018. Their arrival has the in Montana’s cities and towns. It also has increased the cost of agricultural land — and made it more difficult for ranchers to access the wide-open spaces their cattle require. “I try to budget all the time and think about purchasing more ground,” Cheff said. But that’s a daunting prospect, as Montana’s population has grown, bringing in newcomers and driving up the cost of land. “We’ve had a lot of turnover on some of my neighbors in the area, small properties, and I think that increases the prices,” Cheff said. “Everybody buys it for a high price, and they ask a little more, which is understandable. “But it definitely hurts the local guys when they’re looking to grow or (for) more grazing or whatever. It’s harder. Those prices are just out of reach for us.” The romantic view of ranching portrayed in “Yellowstone” has contributed to a reordering of Montana’s ranching landscape for the state’s actual ranchers. While Cheff is committed to making it work in the Flathead, some of his fellow ranchers have set out for greener — or at least cheaper — pastures in eastern Montana, said Monty Lesh, a Miles City real estate and rancher who also serves as the Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Southeast District Director. “In the last five years, we’ve seen more interest from people from western Montana that are experiencing a lot of population growth,” Lesh said. “And they’re considering moving to this area because they can sell out up there for a lot of money and come down here and buy something else.” But that intrastate migration has started to decline, according to Lesh, in part because the cycle of new arrivals ramping up land prices has spread to more areas of the state. “That swap used to be fairly attractive,” Lesh said. “It’s not as attractive today because the land values here have increased from what they were like five years ago.” Those rising land prices in eastern Montana have combined with other economic forces that have undermined ranchers’ bottom lines. “The challenge has been the cost to operate,” Lesh said. “I mean, it’s been twofold. We had a rapid rise in interest rates, and most of agriculture is very capital-intensive — you know, uses a lot of capital and leverage to operate and expand. And then the other thing is just general operating expenses: fuel, insurance, labor, parts. Everything is significantly higher than it was four or five years ago.” But while the economics of agriculture have changed in eastern Montana, Lesh said one constant has remained: People are trying to make a living off the land, despite the challenges. “In our area here, the people that we deal with, 99% of them are farmers and ranchers,” Lesh said. “We don’t see a very large number of investor types buying properties. There are a few, but they are farmers and ranchers, maybe in other states, and they’re just diversifying their holdings by buying land in Montana. But it still stays in production. “They don’t come in and sell all the cows and want to raise elk or deer or whatever — recreation,” Lesh said. “They’re experiencing that a lot in central Montana and western Montana.” Some of the forces of change being felt by Montana ranchers have been gathering since well before “Yellowstone” aired its first episode. Gilles Stockton, 78, has seen a lot change in the half-century he’s raising cattle and sheep near the Fergus County town of Grass Range. He takes a long — and expansive — view of ranching, informed by his experience working in livestock policy development in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Stockton said the “biggest change” to U.S. ranching occurred in the 1980s as a result of deregulation during the Reagan administration that led to consolidation and that squeezed profit margins for ranchers. But in recent years, he’s seen ranches consolidate, and he’s seen them change hands. “My newest neighbor,” he said, “sold out from the Flathead region and bought the land right next to me. They’re fine people. They’re farmers and ranchers. ... They sort of ran away from the problems there in western Montana.” But Stockton, a district director with the Montana Cattleman’s Association, isn’t as enthused about everyone who has moved in. To the north of his ranch, the has amassed 138,000 acres of land and leased another 337,000 as it seeks to create one of the nation’s largest nature reserves and a home for free-ranging buffalo. To the south, Stockton’s neighbors are the Texas-based billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks, who have long drawn the for reducing public access to their vast landholdings in the West. Count Stockton among those who resent how the Wilks brothers have handled their massive, 200,000-acre since buying it. “They’ve essentially locked up the land and manage it for elk hunting for themselves and their rich buddies,” Stockton said. “Well, the overpopulation of their elk spills over into my land. But immediately after hunting season starts, all the elk retreat to the N Bar Ranch, and nobody, nobody can have access to them. “And the Wilks Brothers have got a number of smaller copycats surrounding,” Stockton continued. “So this, you might say, prime hunting region that runs from Grass Range to the Snowy Mountains is pretty much all now locked up by out-of-state, wealthy people.” Efforts to reach a representative of Wilks Ranch for comment were unsuccessful, but the Wilks Ranch touts its network of ranch holdings as “a top-of-the line cattle operation.” While Stockton said the hired hands who now work the N Bar “get along fine” with the neighbors, the owners have “iced out all the locals,” undermining the tradition and community that has long defined his part of the world. Stockton, who is “pretty much retired” himself, said he’s not sure if ranching can survive the change he’s seeing around Grass Range. “Without major policy change, I think it’s going to be a continual movement towards outsiders buying this country for recreational purposes,” Stockton said. “I know a lot of the existing ranchers are going to survive by leasing the grass from these out-of-staters. So they’ll be able to continue, sort of dwindling over time.” Jake Korell has been in the real estate industry for 56 years, but he said the demand for Montana’s agricultural land from out-of-staters doesn’t “make much sense,” even to him. “These prices are just hard to comprehend, for me, that people will pay that kind of money for this grassland out here,” said. “I don’t get it, but it’s selling.” And the typical Montana rancher has a hard time competing in a market like that, Korell said. In one case, he said, he had some graze land priced at $1,200 an acre. He said two neighbors made offers below the asking price, at a cost they could make back running cattle. “And the seller said, ‘I’m not selling for that price,’” Korell said. “So there you go. Yeah, they’re interested, but they’re priced out. And those are users. ... They’re having a hard time expanding, because to expand, it costs too much money. If it costs you a million dollars to add on to run another 40, 30 cows ... Does that work? No, it doesn’t work.” But it does work for ultra-wealthy, out-of-state, cash buyers who are looking to “park their money in dirt,” instead of in a bank — and who also get a piece of prime recreation land out of the deal, he said. “Now, somebody back East that’s got a $300, $400 million portfolio, that’s peanuts,” Korell said of ranches that are out of reach to locals. “‘And it’s got elk and bear and antelope and that’s stuff that I like to hunt. Hell, I’ll buy it. What the hell.’ That’s the type of buyer that buys those.” John Fahlgren said he sees the same thing in Valley County, where he is a county commissioner and rancher and where many ranch buyers aren’t relying on the property to produce any income. “They have the money to buy it outright and then rent it out, hold on to it, or maybe use it to come and hunt on it and that sort of thing,” said , a district director with the Montana Cattleman’s Association. “So (there’s) a lot of pressure on the price of land because of some of that outside-of-the-area money that comes in to join the glory of the ‘Yellowstone’ reality, so to speak.” Wally Congdon’s family has deep roots in Montana’s ranching community — and a lot of experience trying to adjust to the pressures that community has faced. Three decades ago, his family gave up land along the Clark Fork River’s Alberton Gorge and near Arlee, north of Missoula, and moved to Dell, in a remote area of southwestern Montana. So he knows firsthand what it’s like to try to outrun the forces of change. “What we didn’t count on when we did that was who our neighbors became,” Congdon said of his family’s move to Dell. “Paul Allen, Joachim Kepin, Peggy Rockefeller, Hewlett Packard, Remington Arms, British Petroleum. Want me to keep going?” Congdon has since pulled up stakes again, moving his operation back closer to the Clark Fork and Missoula. But he hasn’t been able to escape the specter of development. One of his hay meadows, he said, was recently “graded, bulldozed and leveled.” “It is no longer a meadow,” he said. “It’s all houses.” Congdon, a district director with the Montana Cattleman’s Association, laments all the pressure placed “on the customs, culture, history and heritage of the West, of agriculture.” For it to survive, he said, “We have to kind of rethink the economics of what that is and do it.” That may mean ranchers rely more heavily on public lands for grazing, pursue more sustainable practices and graze fewer cattle per acre, Congdon said. But some of those changes may already be underway as producers try to adapt to the state’s rapidly shifting landscape and shrinking herd. More than 2.6 million cows roamed Montana in 2017. This year, the count was down by nearly a fifth, to some 2.1 million head. Joel Schumacher, a Montana State University , said the drought conditions in 2021 and 2022 were the cause of this drop. With less precipitation, he said, there was “very little grass for forage and very low hay production, which meant the hay that was available was quite expensive.” “One of the main tools that farmers had was simply to sell down the size of their herd to match the amount of forage that they had available,” Schumacher said. “So that’s really what you saw.” With fewer cows available for sale, their price has shot up — and those strong prices, Schumacher said, “may be limiting how quickly herds are being rebuilt.” Nick Courville, who works a day job as an animal nutrition consultant and who operates a small ranch in Charlo, Montana, is among the producers who have taken advantage of strong cattle prices. This fall, he sold half his herd because there’s a “cash incentive right now” to do so, said Courville, who chairs the Montana Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmer and Rancher Committee. He’d like to build his herd back up, Courville said, but that’s hard, in part because of what he calls the “‘Yellowstone effect.’” While Courville says there are “far-fetched” elements to the show, he argues that it “put some light on some actual, real problems that we have.” “The battle between neighbors, I think, sometimes could be real,” he said. “The battle for land and people owning that agricultural landscape. The pretty views that we have, the clean water that comes with it, the beautiful tall grass that’s waving in the wind. “I mean, they want to buy it because they like that. And then they put a house on every 40 that we used to run cows on.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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Former Namibian first lady Monica Geingos has raised concerns about the Electoral Commission of Namibia's (ECN) handling of the recent elections, following reports of ballot s ... If you are an active subscriber and the article is not showing, please log out and back in. Free access to articles from 12:00.Amazon investing another $10 billion in Ohio-based data centers
BOCA RATON, Fla. , Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Boca Woods Country Club is thrilled to announce the grand opening of its newly redesigned Woods golf course. This momentous occasion took place on Sunday, December 8th at 12:00 PM , with a celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony marking the culmination of a remarkable $9M transformation that has captivated the attention of golf enthusiasts far and wide. More than 450 Members and distinguished guests from industry and government joined the Club for the ribbon cutting ceremony, cocktails and hors d' oeuvres. Attendees included PGA Junior Club Members standing aside past Club Presidents, sharing a commitment to excellence demonstrated by the investment to fully renovate the Woods Course. The ceremony concluded with the presentation of a lifetime Boca Woods Country Club Membership accepted by Rees Jones . The outcome of this extensive renovation: a formidable championship golf course, meticulously designed by the renowned Rees Jones and delivered through the craftsmanship of LaBar Golf. Stretching to a maximum yardage of 7,043 yards, the course boasts key risk/reward decisions for the experienced golfer while offering better playable options for those less experienced. Some key highlights of the renovation include: " The Woods course is now a true championship layout, playing to a maximum yardage of 7,043 yards." Said Jeff Gullett , Director of Golf. He continued, " Rees Jones has incorporated a combination of green complexes and bunkering that will test every golfer's ability. We are confident that our Members will be delighted with the results." The Woods golf course offers an inspired blend of challenging greens and strategically placed bunkers, promising to test the mettle of even the most seasoned golfers. The harmonious fusion of design elements guarantees a truly exceptional and unforgettable round of golf. What truly distinguishes the Woods course is its serene and secluded setting. Nestled away from the luxury homes that dot the community, the course immerses players in the tranquility of South Florida's nature, offering a respite from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. " Bryce Swanson and I are pleased that the Woods Course at Boca Woods is reopening on time and on budget. The redesign of the golf course enhances the course's playability, strategy, and variety. The remodeled golf course will provide an enjoyable and thought-provoking experience for the Members and their guests on a continuing basis. It has been a pleasure to work with all involved in this project," said Rees Jones . This renovation is particularly significant due to Boca Woods' unique position in the golfing world. With 36 holes of championship golf and a limited Membership of only 590 golfers, Boca Woods provides an unparalleled level of exclusivity and access. The newly renovated Woods course further solidifies the club's reputation as a golfer's paradise, offering a rare combination of world-class amenities and a close-knit community of passionate enthusiasts. " It is amazing to witness the evolution taking place at this Club." Says David Sweet, General Manager/ COO. He continues, "In the last four years, Members have supported the development of modern amenities: a new Clubhouse with state-of-the-art virtual meeting spaces, a sports and wellness complex that offers 10,000 sq ft of fitness, modern racquet sports facilities including lights for night play, and now this championship course developed in partnership with the best names in the business. Rees has left his mark on Boca Woods, and the Club's future is bright!" Central to the course's allure is the masterful touch of Rees Jones , whose design philosophy seamlessly integrates the natural beauty of the surroundings with the strategic demands of the game. The result is a golfing experience that is both visually captivating and intellectually stimulating. "The Rees Jones' update to our Woods Course is inspirational. Coupled with renovations designed by Kipp Schulties on the Lakes Course, we offer a small community of players a wide range of golfing opportunities. As President of Boca Woods, I am proud of what we accomplished and the time frame we worked within. We listened to our players: men and women, scratch players and weekenders... the result is 36 holes of magnificent golf course architecture that challenges the best and offers playable options for every level. Our demographics say it all (reference the generations photo), and there are tee boxes for every player at every age to enjoy. Boca Woods is setting the standard" said Howard Mittleman , Board President for Boca Woods Country Club. The renovation of the Woods golf course represents a substantial investment in elevating the club's amenities, ensuring Members have exceptional golf experiences. The comprehensive project followed a $14.5M building and facilities renovation. For more information on the new Woods golf course or to inquire about membership opportunities, please visit bocawoodscc.com . The Club foresees many future investments, including the installation of TopTracer (technology owned and used by Top Golf Entertainment Group) on the driving range, sharing information about every shot for Members through fully integrated technology inclusive of ballistics scopes delivering multiple data points for every shot. About Boca Woods Country Club Boca Woods Country Club is an established residential country club community located in Boca Raton, Florida . Membership at Boca Woods offers extraordinary value in a golf community that features two championship golf courses and all the amenities that private country club living has to offer. Boca Woods Country Club is dedicated to providing a residential country club lifestyle featuring a community and club culture characterized by friendliness, civility and respect for its members and staff in an overall setting of refinement and casual elegance. Media Contact: membership@bocawoodscc.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grand-opening-of-the-rees-jones-woods-golf-course-announced-at-boca-woods-country-club-302334242.html SOURCE Boca Woods Country Club
THE renowned Zimbabwean academic and political commentator Professor Jonathan Moyo has taken a swipe at South Africa’s handling of the political violence in Mozambique, labelling a statement issued by DIRCO spokesperson Chrispin Phiri as poorly conceived and diplomatically reckless. Phiri, a junior official in South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), issued the statement in response to the violence that erupted following Mozambique’s contested election results. He called for “urgent dialogue” to address the unrest, expressing South Africa’s readiness “to assist and work with SADC for a lasting solution.” In the statement, Phiri said, “Following the proclamation of final electoral results by the Constitutional Council of Mozambique, South Africa has noted with concern the ongoing violence and the subsequent disruptive protest in reaction to the announcement. South Africa calls on all parties to commit to an urgent dialogue that will heal the country and set it on a new political and developmental trajectory.” Prof. Moyo, however, criticized the statement on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), highlighting its shortcomings and accusing South Africa of engaging in “poor diplomacy.” He argued that the use of a junior official to comment on a crisis of such magnitude was a misstep, reflecting a lack of seriousness. “The situation in Mozambique is serious and warrants, at the very least, a ministerial statement,” Moyo posted. The former Zimbabwean government minister also took issue with the content of the statement, accusing South Africa of failing to condemn the violence outright. Instead, the statement merely urged “all parties to commit to dialogue,” which Moyo interpreted as a failure to demand an immediate and unconditional end to the unrest. — POVO NO PODER 🇲🇿 (@JerThaPlug) “What does South Africa know that the rest of SADC does not know?” Moyo questioned in his post, further criticising the suggestion that Mozambique’s dialogue should aim to set the country “on a new political and developmental trajectory.” He described this as an attempt to impose a predetermined outcome on Mozambique’s internal affairs, suggesting it might be pushing for a coalition government or a political arrangement resembling South Africa’s. Moyo contrasted the stance with South Africa’s own experience of violent unrest in July 2021, which left over 350 people dead. “When South Africa had its violent political riots... no one in the region prescribed a dialogue with a predetermined outcome to resolve that staggering violence. South Africa will do well to act likewise with regards to the situation in Mozambique,” he wrote. The academic also pointed to SADC’s existing mechanisms, including the Organ Troika currently led by Tanzania, as the appropriate platform for addressing the Mozambican crisis. “Letting a junior official like Phiri speak in the manner he did is poor diplomacy and a dereliction of leadership by his minister. Using a junior official to jump the gun will not silence the guns in Mozambique,” Moyo concluded. The situation in Mozambique remains tense, with opposition parties and civil society groups disputing the election results amid escalating violence. Moyo’s critique underscores the delicate nature of regional diplomacy and the potential consequences of South Africa’s approach to its neighbour’s turmoil.
The tourists were forced into an eleventh-hour rethink after wicketkeeper Jordan Cox was ruled out of the series with a broken thumb. England have thrown Jacob Bethell in at the deep end after asking the 21-year-old to bat at number three on his Test debut against New Zealand this week. The tourists were forced into an eleventh-hour rethink after wicketkeeper Jordan Cox was ruled out of the series with a broken thumb and have responded with a typically bold gambit, handing the gloves to Ollie Pope and a key role to the untried Warwickshire player. Bethell has just picked up a £250,000 Indian Premier League deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore but has played only 20 first-class matches with a modest average of just 25.44 and has never scored a professional century. He has also never batted at number three in red-ball cricket, a pivotal position he will now occupy against the in-form Black Caps in Christchurch in the first Test, which begins at 10pm GMT on Wednesday night. The Barbados-born left-hander made his first international appearance in September and has already won 15 caps in limited-overs cricket, enjoying a couple of thrilling cameos along the way and earning a place on the recent tour of the West Indies. It was thought he would have to wait for his first taste of Test cricket but Cox’s injury forced England’s hand. They might easily have slotted the newcomer into the middle order but, after allowing Pope to move down to number six after stepping up behind the stumps, they opted to catapult Bethell up the order rather than promote Joe Root or Ben Stokes, with the skipper moving down to seven. Root, who will win his 150th cap at Hagley Oval, gave a ringing endorsement of Bethell’s potential to rise to the challenge. “I love the look of him as a player. I’m really looking forward to watching him do his stuff,” he said. “He’s full of confidence, he’s got great ability and a really well rounded game. He’s a mature head on young shoulders and I think he has all the components to set him up nicely to be successful in this format and at this level. “He plays very well square of the wicket and if he gets in on a wicket like that he could be very destructive. It’s a really exciting opportunity for us to see a young player coming in hopefully doing something really special at the start of his career.” Stokes will back up a three-pronged pace attack of Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson, with Shoaib Bashir retained as first-choice spinner.