The new owners of the Foley Butte Block, timberland formerly owned by Ochoco Lumber Co. north of Prineville, plan on letting the timber grow, for the most part, while grazing cattle and simply enjoying their 32,475 acres.

Stafford Ranches LLC, a partnership of four brothers, bought the property as a family investment, Michael Stafford, one of the brothers, said Monday. The partnership completed the second of two transactions, together worth $18.5 million, in September to purchase the 50-square-mile tract, according to Fay Ranches, a Montana real estate firm that specializes in ranches.

The sale represents much of what Ochoco Lumber Co. still held as timberland in Central Oregon. About one-third of the ranch sold last year, and the remaining 73 percent of it sold last month, according to Cody Wertz, spokesman for Fay Ranches, which represented the buyer.

Michael Stafford and his brothers — Milton, Mark and Samuel — merged Stafford Ranches and Stafford Logging in July to form Stafford Ranches LLC, according to Oregon business registration records.

“They are a long-running ranching and timber family in Central Oregon, and this (purchase) consolidates their operations a little better …,” Jerry Hicks, a Prineville broker with Fay Ranches, said Monday.

Michael Stafford said the family purchased the property as an investment but plans just enough logging in the short term to pay the real estate taxes. The Staffords will graze cattle on portions of the Foley Butte Block, which lies across northwest Crook and southeast Jefferson counties, Stafford said.

“We run cattle, and we hunt, a lot of that stuff. It’s a piece of property we really wanted,” he said. “I never dreamed we’d end up with something like that.”

Ochoco Lumber sought to divest itself of the property to further invest in its John Day operations, which includes a sawmill, pellet plant and biomass project, The Bulletin reported in June 2013. Ochoco Lumber holdings have declined from more than 100,000 acres to 14,000 acres in Grant County.

The Foley Butte Block includes 141 miles of logging roads, 147 miles of creeks, 36 springs and about 80 million board feet of timber. It also includes 257 acres of conservation easement, part of the Deschutes Riparian Restoration Project, according to the newspaper’s archives.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com