In 1978, Walter Hager relied on Broker John Wildin to help him buy his first 13 quarters in Kansas. That was also the year he married Virginia Siverson, who became intimately involved in all aspects of their operations. Of her husband, she would say he was never happier than when seated in a John Deere tractor where he could look over his shoulder and see what he had accomplished that day.

Says Hall and Hall’s Jim Taylor, “Walter Hager was a man who got up every morning and went to work. He was focused on his farming and ranching, and he mentored many young men to follow in his footsteps. He was the embodiment of the old adage that states: ‘The secret of success is good luck, and the harder you work the luckier you get.’”

After Walter passed away in January 2013, Virginia turned to Hall and Hall to market the family’s Kansas farm and ranchlands.

According to Hall and Hall’s Auction Specialist, Scott Shuman, the auction results were nothing short of spectacular:

“The property consisted of 33,667 acres. Some of the properties were strictly farmland while some was ranchland. We offered 54 tracts in three sessions; 127 people registered and more than 400 attended. The auction set new records in two different counties. We capped it off by selling the equipment for just shy of $3.6 million, which brought the grand total to approximately $50.1 million. To my knowledge there has never been an event quite like it. It was certainly one of the biggest farmland auctions ever held.”

Says Taylor, “We at Hall and Hall feel privileged to have been asked to represent the family in the sale of this legacy farming and ranching operation.”

Originally published in The Land Report Spring 2014.