Changes

  | birth_place=Palo Duro Canyon of [[Texas]]<br>

  | birth_place=Palo Duro Canyon of [[Texas]]<br>

(Peaked in 1883 with 1,335,000 acres in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle)}}

(Peaked in 1883 with 1,335,000 acres in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle)}}

'''The JA Ranch,''' founded jointly by [[John George Adair]] and Charles Goodnight (1836-1929), is the oldest privately owned [[cattle]] ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon section of the Texas Panhandle southeast of [[Amarillo]], [[Texas]]. At its peak size in 1883, the JA, still managed by descendants of the Adair family, encompassed some 1,335,000 acres of land in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle.   

'''The JA Ranch,''' founded jointly by [[John George Adair]] and Charles Goodnight (1836-1929), is the oldest privately owned [[cattle]] ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon section of the Texas Panhandle southeast of [[Amarillo]], [[Texas]]. At its peak size in 1883, the JA, still managed by descendants of the Adair family, encompassed some 1,335,000 acres of land in six counties and a herd of 100,000 cattle.   

Montie’s daughter, Cornelia "Ninia" Bivins, the former wife of Texas state Senator Miles Teel Bivins (1947-2009) of Amarillo, himself a rancher, carried the JA into a relatively brief fourth generation. On Montie’s retirement in 1993, Ninia formed a partnership with Jay O’Brien of Amarillo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranches.org/JayOBrien.htm|title=Jay O'Brien|publisher=Ranches.org|accessdate=September 20, 2019}}</ref> The ranch consisted predominantly of black Angus and Charolais bulls. In 2005, a fifth generation took charge when Andrew Montgomery Bivins (born 1979), son of Teel and Ninia Bivins, joined the JA management team.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranches.org/ninia_Bivins.htm|title=Ninia Bivins|publisher=Ranches.org|date=no longer on-line.}}</ref>​

Montie’s daughter, Cornelia "Ninia" Bivins, the former wife of Texas state Senator Miles Teel Bivins (1947-2009) of Amarillo, himself a rancher, carried the JA into a relatively brief fourth generation. On Montie’s retirement in 1993, Ninia formed a partnership with Jay O’Brien of Amarillo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranches.org/JayOBrien.htm|title=Jay O'Brien|publisher=Ranches.org|accessdate=September 20, 2019}}</ref> The ranch consisted predominantly of black Angus and Charolais bulls. In 2005, a fifth generation took charge when Andrew Montgomery Bivins (born 1979), son of Teel and Ninia Bivins, joined the JA management team.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ranches.org/ninia_Bivins.htm|title=Ninia Bivins|publisher=Ranches.org|date=no longer on-line.}}</ref>​

Montie Ritchie attributed the success of the ranch to its employees, whom he described as “men of imagination, men of skill, men of courage, men who braved the elements day or night, men who took pride in their crafts, loved their horses and understood their cattle, and were eager to enhance the reputation of the JA and proud to be a part."<ref name=JA/> Other than Montie Ritchie, the longest-serving JA employee as of 1940 was J. W. Kent, who retired that year after having worked a record fifty-seven years for the company.<ref name=hbook/> Ritchie was the manager for fifty-eight years until his retirement in 1993. However, in 1989, [[Tom Blasingame]], known as the "oldest working cowboy in the West," died after seventy-three years in the saddle, mostly at the JA.<ref name=PPHM/>​ Still another JA Ranch employee, [[Clarence Hailey Long]], was the inspiration for the "Marlboro Man" advertising blitz by Philip Morris International in the 1960s.

Montie Ritchie attributed the success of the ranch to its employees, whom he described as “men of imagination, men of skill, men of courage, men who braved the elements day or night, men who took pride in their crafts, loved their horses and understood their cattle, and were eager to enhance the reputation of the JA and proud to be a part."<ref name=JA/> Other than Montie Ritchie, the longest-serving JA employee as of 1940 was J. W. Kent, who retired that year after having worked a record fifty-seven years for the company.<ref name=hbook/> Ritchie was the manager for fifty-eight years until his retirement in 1993. However, in 1989, [[Tom Blasingame]], known as the "oldest working cowboy in the West," died after seventy-three years in the saddle, mostly at the JA.<ref name=PPHM/>​ Still another JA Ranch employee, [[Clarence Hailey Long]], was the inspiration for the "Marlboro Man" advertising blitz by Philip Morris International in the 1960s.