A ranching family with ties to one of the state’s most historic ranches sold a vast West Texas property to a Midland oilman.
Frying Pan LP purchased the 29,071-acre Y Bar O Ranch southeast of Marfa, Texas, from the Yarborough family on April 14, public records show. Frying Pan LP is registered to Midland oil and cattle businessman D.K. Boyd and his wife T.J. Boyd. The Yarborough family was asking $46.5 million when the property sold, amounting to $1,600 per acre, but the final sale price was not disclosed.
The ranch is north of Big Bend National Park in Brewster County, a border county in the Trans-Pecos area of the state. The property includes some residential improvements, including a four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot stucco home that commands a view of Cathedral Mountain, according to the listing; however, its primary value lies in cattle and recreational hunting. The ranch has been operational as a cattle business, but ample water supply through springs, creeks and wells supports a healthy game population that includes mountain lions, black bear, aoudad and mule deer, the listing claims. The sale included mineral rights as well.
Hall and Hall partner Chad Dugger had the listing.
Oilman William “Dub” Yarborough assembled the ranch gradually starting in the 1960s. Yarborough worked for Humble Oil, a drilling company that was founded during the Gulf Coast oil rush in 1911 and was eventually acquired by Standard Oil. He married Katherine Kleberg, according to his obituary — a member of the family that founded the King Ranch in South Texas in 1853, the biggest ranch in America, and for whom Kleberg County was named. King Ranch Incorporated formed the subsidiary King Ranch Oil and Gas in 1980, and Yarborough became the president, CEO and board chairman of the company, managing the business until his retirement in 1988. Yarborough died in 2006.
The purchase almost doubles the Boyds’ holdings in Brewster County. In 2024, Frying Pan LP bought the 33,911-acre Iron Mountain Ranch just north of Marathon from Greg Batterton, according to county records.
The ranch was one of the biggest properties for sale in the state. Only five listings in Texas currently offer more acreage, and four are in Far West Texas, according to Land.com.