Why Ree Drummond Wanted Her Husband To Quit Ranching
When the Drummond clan gathered to celebrate the engagement of Paige to her boyfriend David, mom Ree updated her Pioneer Woman blog with a lengthy post about all of the family in attendance. While most of it was chatty and cheery — grandma's doing great, Alex is expecting a baby, and the basset hounds will be wearing tuxes to the wedding — she hit a somber note when talking about husband Ladd. No, the couple's not getting a divorce. They've been together since before the millennium (married in 1996) and are still going strong. Ree, however, would like to see him split up with the ranch since it seems to be taking quite a toll on him.
Ree described Ladd's summer as having been "slightly rough." All of the long days and labor-intensive chores, not to mention those early morning farmer's hours, have been hard on her 55-year-old husband. Ranching is a difficult life no matter your age, and Ladd has been injured in several different work accidents over the last few years. Ree says she even told him, "I don't think we can do this anymore." She admitted she was (sort of) kidding as she doesn't expect he'll want to give up the family business quite so easily. After all, there have been Drummonds ranching in and around Pawhuska, Oklahoma for over a century.
What would happen to the ranch if Ladd were to retire?
If the unthinkable happened and Ladd agreed to give up the ranch, what would the Drummonds do? Well, they probably won't need to ask for a lot of financial help. Ree's celebrity reportedly earned her millions of dollars over the years, and the Drummonds are among the nation's largest landowners.
It's possible that Paige might want to extend her cowgirl summer indefinitely by taking over the ranch, but even if she doesn't, the Drummonds have four more kids who might be willing to carry on the family legacy. If no Drummond offspring want to spend their lives ranching in Pawhuska, though, there's still Ladd's brother Tim and his kids. Tim and Ladd are partners in Drummond Land & Cattle Co., and he and his wife Missy have a son named Caleb and a daughter named Halle.
Should worst come to worst and no next-gen Drummonds step up to the plate, Ladd and Tim could always sell out. There are actually a number of Drummond ranches in the Pawhuska area. One of these, the 6,850-acre Drummond South ranch, was listed for sale in 2023 at a price of nearly $19 million. Since Ladd and Tim's spread is 433,000 acres, they'd probably get an okay price for the OK homestead.