You’ve often heard Lexington called The Horse Capital of the World. While its undoubtedly true, the horse capital is a result of dirt. The Bluegrass region’s farms boast nationally significant, prime soils. These soils are the foundation for the Bluegrass’s agricultural success.
Helping Kirkpatrick & Co. clients interpret soil data when buying or selling a Kentucky farm is an important role. Using a variety of tools, we help ensure a farm is ideal for a desired use and determine an appropriate value.
The chemical profile of the soil here offers a fertile base for crops, horses, & livestock. For much of its prehistoric history, Kentucky was covered in warm, shallow tropical seas. The soils in the Bluegrass are among the oldest in Kentucky, around 440-510 million years ago. Long before the appearance of dinosaurs, the Bluegrass was teeming with creatures including snails, sponges, corals, & brachiopods.
Residual sediment from the flora and fauna of that time created limestone, yielding the rich phosphorus and calcium-rich soils of today. Phosphorus is a natural fertilizer often added to enrich soil elsewhere. High calcium content enriches the grass and benefits the stock grazing on it by strengthening the bones of famed Thoroughbreds.
“The Inner Bluegrass is characterized by low, gently rolling relief, abundant shallow sinkholes, thick, phosphatic residual soils of exceptional fertility, and sparse outcrops. It contains the oldest rocks exposed in Kentucky, which were raised to their present position by uplift along the Cincinnati Arch. They are dominantly thick-bedded limestones interbedded in places with clay shales of Middle Ordovician Age. Some of the limestone strata are enriched in phosphate minerals. The Inner Bluegrass is famed for its high phosphate soils, billowing grasslands, plank fences, thoroughbred horses, burley tobacco, and bourbon whisky. Central Kentucky’s thriving thoroughbred industry owes its success to the high calcium and phosphate content in the soil and forage with the resulting sturdy bone development in the horses. As early as 1800, farmers noticed that horses grazing in the Bluegrass region were hardier than those from other regions. The Kentucky River meanders through thick limestone formations and offers a marked contrast to the surrounding landscape by forming picturesque palisades along a deep gorge.”
Karathanasis, Anastasios D. and USDA Natural Resources and Conservation Service, “Kentucky Soil Atlas” (2018).
The USDA has surveyed the land across the nation and boasts digital soil maps for more than 95% of the country’s counties. Consulting these maps is an important component of Kirkpatrick & Co.’s pre-sale research.
Each of our listings includes a soil survey, with a map detailing a property’s soils. Also provided is a table with the percentage of each soil type present and its classification. We then can provide analysis of these materials.
Kentucky farm buyers are savvy regarding soil types and the composition of a farm’s soils affect its valuation.
Two particular highly-prized soil types can be found in the inner Bluegrass. The Maury & McAfee and Lowell soils are favored by horse farms for pastures.
Maury and McAfee
These deep, silty soils are common around Lexington. They drain well, are good for pasture and grain production, and are ideal for livestock and horses.
Lowell
Lowell soils consist of deep and very deep well-drained soils that formed in limestone residue interbedded with thin layers of shale.
We help our clients navigate the evaluation of soils as buyer or seller. Providing & interpreting data is a hallmark service of our brokerage. How may we help you in your search?
