We were thrilled with the feature story in the December 2017 issue of Western Horseman profiling IX Ranch. The IX Ranch is a legacy ranch – it is huge, has a long history of stable ownership and a respected reputation in reputation ranch country. Its central Montana location is 80 miles northeast of Great Falls and adjacent to the town of Big Sandy. The current owners are the second owners in the ranch’s 128-year history.
This professionally managed operation runs a cattle herd of 4,300. They currently winter around 3,375 bred females, 120 3-year-and-younger bulls and ranch horses, together with 4,000 tons of winter feed. In the spring, around 650 of the previous years’ heifer calves will return to the ranch for breeding from a grow-lot near Billings. The operation covers over 126,000± acres, of which 59,809± is deeded and the majority of the balance being State grazing leases.
