“IT RECLAIMS YOUR HEART, EVERY SINGLE TIME. IT’S HOW MY GRANDFATHER FELT… GROUNDED, PROUD AND RESTORED.”
It starts with a Mission…
“IX Ranch is a model, multi-generational Montana ranch which produces exceptional quality livestock. IX Ranch is dedicated to long-term value creation for our shareholders, management, employees, and customers. Enlightened utilization and conservation of natural resources and superior economic returns are the primary benchmarks of accomplishment.”
With principles that guide…
- Require absolute integrity in all that we do;
- Maintain a culture of excellence in our people as reflected in their work, our products and our physical facilities;
- Demonstrate respect for one another in our business, personal, and professional relationships;
- Exercise superior stewardship of our land, air, water, wildlife, and all our other natural resources;
- Demonstrate leadership among our colleagues in ranching and to our State and Local Governments in matters affecting our business, our property, and our people;
- Always be a good neighbor;
- Reflect a quiet, confident pride in our values and vision;
- Dedicate ourselves to continuous improvement and to best management practices
But it evolves into something so much more…
Part working ranch, part retreat, part time-machine… IX Ranch offers something truly unique in our over-connected, stressed out and entitled society. It’s a salve for your soul, a personal wilderness ecosystem and vehicle to live your legacy.
IX transports you back to a time when your word was your bond and taming a piece of the “Wild West” meant something. A modern day expression of a pioneering spirit that has never died.
IX reminds us that being the “real deal” isn’t something that you call yourself. It’s what others call you after you earn it over 143 years.
Own a piece of history…
Remember when your word was your bond? It still is today on the IX and can be for your future generations.
Its origin reads like an old tale of how the West was won. It’s a story of everything that is iconic; railroads, small towns, vision, courage, risk, and reward.
The ranch’s coveted single-iron IX brand was first registered in Montana in 1877. Ten years later, while Montana was still a territory and the days of open range cattle ranching were clearly numbered, local businessmen C.J. McNamara and Thomas Marlow (McNamara and Marlow) began assembling the bulk of what is now the IX Ranch. They were early in the game and were able to target the strongest grass and critical water resources. They imported the best Hereford genetics from Kansas City, brought Shire draft horses in from Illinois, and also ran Suffolk sheep imported from England. The ranch stayed in their families until long after they had passed away – into the early 1950s.
William and Theodora Lang of the Hamms brewing company family took up the mantle from the McNamara and Marlow descendants in 1955 and their ranch managers, Art and Audrey Roth, became partners with them in the early 1960s. Four generations have built the IX into what it is today. The new owners will be only the third owners in over 128 years.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “stake your claim” and own one of the true “reputation ranches” in Montana.
Recapture your pioneer spirit…
Retrace the steps of Lewis & Clark and other legends, you’re at the epicenter of a living history lesson.
This land saw the early period of open range ranching days (think Lonesome Dove). The ranch and town began in 1887 with the arrival of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway (later the Great Northern Railway). Cornelius J. McNamara and Thomas A. Marlow, owners of the McNamara Cattle Company, opened the town's first store and formed the IX Ranch.
Capture the explorer, pioneer and settler spirit found here to propel your next generation into the future.
"IT WILL CAPTURE YOU, IT'S RESTORATIVE... EVERYTHING MELTS AWAY"
Retreat and restore…
Experience the best of the West.
There are no compromises, everyone’s vision of recreation and restoration is indulged.
The outdoors person gets to enjoy one of the most diversified western hunting experiences available on the market today. Big game - 425 elk, 295 mule deer, 300 whitetails, 355 antelope and 39 mountain lions. Upland Bird - Hungarian partridge, sharp-tail grouse, and pheasant. That’s when they’re not casting into one of over 53 miles of creeks, ponds and lakes.
Fish, fowl or filet… the choice is yours.
How about the adrenaline junkie?
How about 50 miles of trails for: ATVS, motorcycles, mountain bikes, snow mobiles and cross country skiing? That should do the trick.
What about the explorer of the family?
Got you covered, hike any of the expansive network of trails or blaze your own. Trace the steps of legends and be home for dinner.
What if I want to relax and take it all in?
Here’s the secret, you may have figured it out! The sunrises, sunsets and clear night skies have inspired artists, musicians and poets. Every direction on the compass is rewarded. Every vista, every view tells a story for all of your senses. Feel the morning sun on your face, hear the crisp morning breeze.
It’s a 360 degree C. M. Russell painting and you’re in it.
Your personal wilderness ecosystem…
How about a wilderness adventure… any time you’d like?
We challenge you to find a better combination of animals, habitats and sustainable feed production. IX boasts elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, antelope, mountain lion, and five species of upland birds. All living together on productive meadows and rolling hills, which give way to steeper mountain country with scatterings of aspens and evergreens. Healthy vegetation and water, all superbly managed and recognized for superior environmental stewardship.
Are you ready to be the envy of even your most “worldly” friends and family?
Remember we said “no compromises”?
What if I told you that it supports itself?
That’s part of what it means to be one of the last of the great “reputation ranches." IX Ranch is one of a unique category of ranches called a “Hybrid” - Retreat and Working ranch. It features an impressive diversity of revenue sources and a dependable feed base. A professionally managed operation runs a cattle herd of 4,300 so well that they have always made a profit…never in debt.
So ask yourself… You ranching “with” money or “for” money?
A Culture/Philosophy of Excellence
“It’s just how things are done… Can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
You don’t earn the title of “reputation ranch” without a clear and hardworking culture and philosophy of excellence. Modern technique meets tradition to produce the definition of a "properly run" ranch. The combination of the voices of 3 generations of ranchers and a tireless work ethic yields an unparalleled pride of ownership.
It’s the perfect place to raise your children/grandchildren while instilling timeless lessons of respect and stewardship.
A “living legacy”…
This is truly rarefied air. Very few get the opportunity to be part of what they build… of what they leave behind. IX Ranch embodies the tradition and values to cure the ills of modern day life. Expose your children and their children to the iconic principles that conquered the West.
5 Values I Learned On The Ranch
1. Responsibility – At the ranch, you care for your animals before yourself. Cattle don’t care what holiday it is or where you need to be, they have to eat. These animals are our livelihood and it’s our responsibility to care for them before we worry about anything else. Along with responsibility comes time management. I knew that I had to be ready for school and have the steers fed before the bus got to our house.
2. Respect – There’s an endless amount of ways to learn respect on a cattle ranch. Respect includes anything from doing what your father tells you (the first time he asks) to understanding that herd bulls are bigger than you, and won’t always go where you want. If you respect your animals, they’ll respect you. The cattle return his respect because he never treats them poorly.
3. Integrity –The importance of being honest and doing the right thing, especially when no one is around to see it, was burned into my mind as that steer I said I’d trained but hadn’t showed my questioning mother how much time we hadn’t spent together.
4. Compassion – I grew up riding in the passenger seat of the ranch pickup, watching dad care for hurt animals and help newborn calves. When I got big enough, helping these animals became part of my responsibility. It was sometimes confusing as a young child to see an animal in pain or a calf that needed extra help. There were plenty of cold winter nights spent in the barn helping calves nurse or giving extra attention to sick ones. Learning how to truly care for something else might be the best thing I learned on the ranch.
5. Work Ethic – There’s always something that needs to be done on a farm or ranch. When I got home from school, I had a list of chores to be done before dark. On weekends, while my friends slept in, I was up working cows in time to be done before we had to be at the school for a sporting event. When I’d get home, there were nighttime barn chores. It’s important to learn how to get things done and work hard to accomplish goals. My friends always thought that it must’ve been horrible to work this hard—what do you mean you don’t sleep until noon on Saturday?! But it’s rewarding to know that you’re contributing to the productivity and success of an operation. Those of us that grew up in agriculture don’t know lazy, it’s not how we were raised.
Broker's insight
In this broker’s opinion, the IX Ranch is one of the finest ranches in Montana. Some might think that one can enter the market at any time and buy a ranch of this stature. I’ve been selling ranches in Montana for decades and can attest that these only come along once in a generation. It took three generations for the IX to come on the market.
For anyone interested in buying one of Montana’s great ranches, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.
