15,000 acre Forest Service Permit and 610 head of cattle sold

Recently Musser Bros. closed on the sale of a first ever sale by combining 610 head of cattle with the corresponding 15,000 acre US Forest Service Permit. Over 100 people attended the event that was held in Shell, Wyoming. The Barnett Ranch has been in operation since the early 1900's and had built up a quality lineage of Saler cattle. When the bidding finally stopped, Joseph Holden of Holden Angus was the successful high bidder. Mr. Holden wanted to expand his summer grazing operations for his ranch which is located outside of Thermopolis, Wyoming.

When Wayne and Fred Barnett first approached Harold Musser of Musser Bros. about the possibility of auctioning the entire herd of cattle along with their permit, Harold wanted to make sure that all the criteria was there to make a successful auction happen. First of all, the seller had to be motivated to sell. With Wayne approaching 79 years old and Fred, having asthma, doing most of the farming, Harold knew that the timing was good for the Barnetts. Secondly, after researching the demand for the cattle and the Forest Service permit, it appeared that there would be a strong demand for the property to be auctioned off. Furthermore, the Barnetts were aware of several neighbors who could be interested in the property, and they wanted to be fair and above board in their dealings with all of them, and not to be put into the position of choosing one neighbor over another. It was determined that the transparency of the auction method would be the best venue to achieve their goals.

With Musser's web site, it was a perfect way to communicate with potential buyers, all the information they would need to receive in order to make a good intelligent decision to buy. A long list of information, including an agreement to purchase contract, US Forest Service allotment maps, information regarding the permit and the transfer of permit to qualified purchasers were all uploaded on www.mbauction.com for interested purchasers to view. The Musser Bros. team of auction experts believe that the more information that can be supplied to the buyers, the more the buyers will be comfortable in bidding, resulting in a higher sales price for the sellers.

Wayne and Fred Barnett are now looking for a few good cattle to raise and feed on their Shell, Wyoming ranch, however, their number of cattle on the ranch will be far below their previous number. Wayne will miss the daily trips up on the Big Horn mountains to check on the cattle, or move them to another pasture, however with a few cattle around the ranch to keep him busy, he looks forward to slowing down. The Barnetts have been trailing their cattle every summer to the mountain and every fall, they would bring them home. Fred will concentrate on farming on the ranch and will be able to keep the land.

Musser Bros. was pleased with the outcome of the auction and was especially pleased that they could add Wayne and Fred Barnett to their long list of satisfied customers.

Harold R. Musser