About
Murdock Land and Livestock
Our Ranch
Raising Quality Cattle
Since 1889
The Drift was listed on the National Register in November 2013. Because it is still being used much as it has for more than 100 years, the Drift was listed as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP), the first ranching related TCP in the nation."
Situated in Western Wyoming's Green River Valley, our family ranch sits at the confluence of the New Fork and Green Rivers. With two scenic rivers bordering the ranch, we have the great opportunity to see moose, mule deer, and white-tailed deer, coyotes, beavers, otters, various birds and waterfowl like swans and ducks, as well as fish like Sock-Eye Salmon as they spawn in the fall.
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Our historic ranch lands have been handed down over generations and we strive to maintain a healthy landscape as we graze cattle and harvest hay. With the ranch divided by the Green River, we use that natural boundary to rotate our cattle through fall pasture use, winter when hay is fed, and spring for early-season grasses.
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Aside from the ranch land, we rely on the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service Lands to keep our family business operating during the year. These Public Lands are used to graze our cattle during the spring, and summer, and into part of the fall as we irrigate and grow hay during the summer. This is an essential time to prepare for the long winter months that Sublette County is known for.
Like the migrating wildlife, we too migrate our cattle to summer pastures. This migration is known as, "The Green River Drift", a historical cattle drive that has been in use since 1896. The route spans an area from the Little Colorado Desert (our current BLM allotment) to Green River Lakes. Ranchers in the area use this historical drive for many reasons, as the cost of trucking a large amount of cattle is too expensive and we find that most of our herd gets bred while trailing to the mountains and does well on the long trail.
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Currently, we raise black and black baldy Angus cattle influenced by Black and Red Angus as well as some Hereford genetics. Historically, the ranch raised Hereford cattle and those genetics still influence the cow herd. The ranch's bread and butter are the calves we sell in the fall. We take pride in our herd genetics and see that in our calves as they grow each year.
We also keep ranch-raised replacement heifers that come from tried and true, high-altitude cattle with influence from local ranches in the area.
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Our Story
Local & Historic
Stanley G. Murdock, founder of the ranch, was born in Utah to a Scottish immigrant and Mormon bishop of the Wasatch Stake. Stanley become foreman for R. Thornton in Utah and then in Wyoming in 1883. The Thornton Ranch, now owned by the Anerson McGinnis family, ran for 3,000 to 4,000 cattle, which were shipped by rail.
He married Mary A. Solon, a school teacher from Iowa, and built the present day Murdock Land and Livestock. In an unfortunate accident in Nebraska taking cattle to Omaha by train, Stanley died leaving Mary to tend to four children, Pat, Caryn, Solon and Joe, and the growing ranching operation.
Joe took over the operation and married Jeane Francis, of Jackson, Wyoming in 1940. Jean's father, Jim Francis, was a pioneer of Teton County, Wyoming, and served as the first sheriff for many years. Joe and Jeane raised seven children and continued to run a successful commercial cow-calf operation. Joe and Jean passed in 2005 and 2006 leaving the ranch to their children.
Currently, their sons Bill, Robin, and Joey along with their Daughter Jeannie oversee the operation who is ran by France and Haley Clark.
