Andrew Seidl said that, due to the current tax structure, the choice is forced upon ranchers when they seek to pass agricultural land on to heirs. Seidl said many such decisions will be made in the next few decades, since the average age of a Colorado agricultural landowner is now about 58. When ranchers in high growth areas look at what they can earn producing cows vs. condos, condos win every time.
Most big ranches do OK financially.
Federal figures in 1997 counted 15,592 Colorado ranches raising cattle and calves. The majority of these ranches accounted for 3.3 million head of livestock. Ranches with herds of 5,000 head or more accounted for 1 million, or one-third of the total. Seidl said agricultural lands in the state were converted to residential or other uses at the average rate of 141,000 acres a year from 1987 to 1997. In the past five years, that rate has nearly doubled.