Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799
edits
Changes
→The Montie Ritchie years
Montie’s daughter, Cornelia "Ninia" Bivins, 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>[http://www.ranches.org/JayOBrien.htm Jay O'Brien<!--Bot generated title -->]</ref> They changed the herd to predominantly black Angus and Charolais bulls. In 2005, a fifth generation took charge when Andrew Montgomery Bivins (born c. 1969), son of Teel and Ninia Bivins, joined the JA management team.<ref>[http://www.ranches.org/ninia_Bivins.htm Ninia Bivins<!--Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Montie’s daughter, Cornelia "Ninia" Bivins, 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>[http://www.ranches.org/JayOBrien.htm Jay O'Brien<!--Bot generated title -->]</ref> They changed the herd to predominantly black Angus and Charolais bulls. In 2005, a fifth generation took charge when Andrew Montgomery Bivins (born c. 1969), son of Teel and Ninia Bivins, joined the JA management team.<ref>[http://www.ranches.org/ninia_Bivins.htm Ninia Bivins<!--Bot generated title -->]</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/>
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/>
Montie Ritchie assembled an [[art]] collection which was donated to the Dixon Museum in [[Memphis]] [[Tennessee]].<ref name=JA/>
Montie Ritchie assembled an [[art]] collection which was donated to the Dixon Museum in [[Memphis]] [[Tennessee]].<ref name=JA/>
Though the JA was not as large or as famous as the XIT Ranch to its west, which included parts of ten counties, it was the largest cattle operation solely in the Panhandle and one still in the hands of the heirs of one of the original founders, John Adair, after the passage of more than 130 years.
Though the JA was not as large or as famous as the XIT Ranch to its west, which included parts of ten counties, it was the largest cattle operation solely in the Panhandle and one still in the hands of the heirs of one of the original founders, John Adair, after the passage of more than 130 years.