9 Mile Ranch 



9 Mile Ranch is a family owned and operated 1,000 head cow/calf operation located in Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon.  The ranch is owned by the Dykes family, including Josh, Kristin, and their two children, Jackson and Shelby.  The operation also includes Seth Leachman and his son, James, formerly from the famed Leachman Cattle Company in Montana.  The lead cowboy at the ranch is past World Champion Steer Wrestler, Brad Gleason, who along with his wife, Karen, have been at the 9 Mile for many years and know the ins and outs of the ranch.  Also working at 9 Mile is Enrique Vasquez, a skilled horseman and cowboy with many talents.

We strive at 9 Mile for running our cattle with low-inputs, and a ‘no-excuse’ attitude when it comes to soundness and fertility… the cows have to earn the right to stay at 9 Mile!  From October until late May, the cows winter at our headquarters in WA, where the hills are covered with cheat grass and rocks.  On a normal year we can winter, calve and breed here with little to no supplemental feed, just salt and mineral.  Around the first of June, the cows and calves are loaded up on trucks and hauled to one of our two locations in Oregon, with the registered Red Angus cows headed to Joseph, and the commercial cows headed to the Middle Fork of the John Day River.  The registered bull calves will be weaned in late August and return to WA where they will go on test for our annual bull sale.

Our goal at 9 Mile is to become a full-service genetic provider for Red Angus and Red Angus hybrid genetics in the West.  We have substantially increased our registered cowherd the past few years, mainly through an extensive embryo transfer program where we have propagated our most elite donor cows.  We strongly feel that the Cow makes the Difference and the majority of the bulls and females we sell will be out of these ‘difference maker’ donor cows, and or sired by their top sons.

We love breeding cattle and designing superior genetics, but we are also in the business of feeding cattle, and thus are in the market to purchase and feed out many calves from our customers’ programs.  We are producing cattle that work in this environment, and now we are identifying the genetics that can bring premiums back to our customers when they are hung on the rail.

Visitors are always welcome at 9 Mile and they can expect to see a real western ranch in full working order.  If you visit in the summer between June and September, you can view the cattle in the majestic high country of Oregon, and during the fall and winter, October until May, come and see a cowherd managed on native prairie where they calve and breed without any supplement.  Oh yeah, and don’t miss our main event, the Annual Bull Sale, held every third Saturday in March! Visit us Today!