Matador Ranch, which is owned and operated by The Matador Cattle Company, is a 130,000-acre working cattle ranch that covers parts of Motley, Floyd, Cottle, Crosby and Dickens counties. Matador Ranch lies primarily on the Rolling Plains of Texas, although the western edge touches the Caprock or High Plains escarpment. Its terrain includes mesquite, cedar, rolling hills, rugged canyons and open pastures.
The ranch supports more than 3,000 head of cattle, as well as Quarter horses and diverse wildlife. Cattle carry the flying V brand, while the horses are marked with a “50.” Both brands were acquired by Fred C. Koch, when his company purchased the ranch in 1953.
Koch companies such as The Matador Cattle Company utilize a business philosophy, Market-Based Management®, which encourages employees to be principled entrepreneurs.
The ranch’s management goal is to improve the long-term health and productivity of its renewable natural resources to profitably sustain domestic livestock and wildlife. To achieve this, the ranch has implemented innovative water and grazing management practices. Much of the ranch lies above the Seymour Aquifer, whose springwater is pumped by windmill to manmade tanks. The Middle Pease and Tongue rivers cross the ranch, along with various wet-weather creeks; the Middle Pease feeds into the North Pease River, while the Tongue River empties into the South Pease River. Earthen tanks supplement the watering capacity for wildlife and livestock. The ranch also has a pipeline system to move water to portions of the ranch. Precipitation, mostly rainfall during summer thunderstorms, is about 19 inches annually. Through the use of rest-rotational grazing systems, the ranch has worked to manage the soil and grasses, to ultimately increase the quality and quantity of forage produced.
In the early 1980s, ranch management began experimenting with seeding improved grasses – specifically Ermello Weeping Lovegrass – to supplement the natural grasses available. In the late 1980s much of the Matador’s farmland – primarily cotton fields – was converted to improved pasture, specifically W.W. Spar bluestem. The ranch is experimenting with high-density, short-duration grazing cells, using about 3,200 acres of improved grasses to rest native grasses. An additional 440 acres near the headquarters seeded to Ermello Weeping Lovegrass also provide the rest-rotation options.
Matador Ranch is active in the Matador, Texas, community, supporting the Motley County Chamber of Commerce, the Motley County Livestock Show Association, and the Motley County Volunteer Fire Department. The ranch is also a member of American Quarter Horse Association, Ranch Horse Association of America, Ranch Cutting Horse Association, Stock Horse of Texas Association, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Texas Department of Agriculture’s GoTexan program, Texas Deer Association and North American Deer Farmers Association.
The Matador Cattle Company is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc., and operates ranches in Texas, Montana and Kansas that cover about 440,000 acres.