The Matador Cattle Company

Matador Cattle Company's full-blooded Akaushi cattle operations are centered at Spring Creek Ranch.

Matador Ranch offers a number of hunting packages that include first-class accommodations.

Beaverhead Ranch was honored by the Montana Preservation Alliance for maintaining the historical integrity of many of its ranch buildings, including this 1860s barn.

The Matador Cattle Company, a division of Koch Agriculture Company, operates three ranches: Beaverhead near Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Spring Creek in the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas, and the historic Matador Ranch in Texas.

Acquired between 1941 and 1952 by Fred C. Koch, the ranches total about 425,000 acres under management, including about 240,000 deeded acres. They wean about 10,000 calves annually and support more than 15,000 head of cattle.

The company has implemented innovative safety measures that include annual horsemanship clinics, and training in hazard communications, environmental compliance, vehicle safety and more.

Read the Progressive Farmer and American Quarter Horse Journal to find out how the company relies on employees' knowledge and participation to stay successful.

Spring Creek Ranch is located in the Flint Hills of Kansas and was the first ranch purchased and developed by Fred C. Koch. It was at Spring Creek where Charles and David Koch spent much of their childhood fishing, hunting, riding horses and working. On the property are many reminders of the past. An exhausted, one-room schoolhouse—still standing—has the old slate blackboard hanging on the wall. A relic of a stagecoach way station and remnants of headstones from an infant cemetery are standing in the middle of what is now a large cow pasture. The Matador Cattle Company’s full-blooded Akaushi cattle operations are centered at Spring Creek.

Matador Ranch lies primarily on the Rolling Plains of Texas, although the western edge touches the Caprock or High Plains escarpment. Stewardship efforts at the ranch have been recognized with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's Lone Star Land Steward award, Texas Section Society for Range Management/Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association's Outstanding Rangeland Stewardship Award; and by the Environmental Stewardship Award Program sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the National Cattlemen’s Foundation, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. It also received a 2012 Koch Industries EH&S Excellence Award. The ranch offers a number of hunting packages and a full line of hunting clothing and outdoor gear for men, women and children.

Beaverhead Ranch is located on more than a quarter million acres in Southwest Montana. It stretches along a 90-mile road from Dillon to the Idaho border then east to Yellowstone Park. It is home to cow/calf pairs, bald eagles, elk, and beaver. The ranch earned a Preservation Excellence Award from the Montana Preservation Alliance for preserving the historic character of its buildings. Interior walls that had to be replaced were kept, including one with signatures of cowboys dating back to the 1880s. In 2002, Beaverhead was the first ranch certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council for outstanding natural resource management initiatives. Other recognition include: The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Environmental Stewardship Award; the first-ever National Private Lands Fish and Wildlife Stewardship Award; and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Administrator's Award.