The Biggest Ranches in Montana
- Makayla Bishop
- 35 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Montana is home to some of the most expansive, legendary land holdings in North America. From multi-generational cattle operations spanning hundreds of thousands of contiguous acres to conservation-minded mega-properties owned by high-profile stewards, Montana’s land market represents the pinnacle of American land ownership.
Acreage figures for large ranches shift over time as land is bought, leased, or sold off in parcels, so the numbers below reflect the most commonly reported totals from ranch operators, brokers, and industry press. For landowners, buyers, and real estate professionals who want to see exactly where these boundaries fall, we've included a short workflow at the end showing how we mapped each ranch.
The Biggest Ranches in Montana
The biggest ranches in Montana are Padlock Ranch, Beaverhead Ranch, IX Ranch, Broken O Ranch, Flying D Ranch, Galt Ranch, Bair Ranch, and Castle Mountain Ranch.
1) Padlock Ranch: 475,000+ acres
The largest ranch in Montana is the 475,000+ acre Padlock Ranch, which straddles the Montana-Wyoming state line along the Tongue River. The ranch is located in Montana's Big Horn County and Wyoming's Sheridan County. Homer and Mildred Scott started the operation in 1943 with just 3,000 acres and 300 cows near Dayton, Wyoming. Nearly a century later, the Scott family still owns and operates Padlock, which now runs roughly 11,000 head of cattle across six ranching units, including significant leased agricultural land on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Padlock has also been recognized nationally for its environmental stewardship, including the NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award.
2) Beaverhead Ranch: 340,000+ acres
Beaverhead Ranch is the second largest ranch in Montana. It spans 340,000+ acres and sits in the Beaverhead Valley of southwest Montana, crossing three mountain ranges on its way toward the Idaho border. Koch Industries' Matador Cattle Company bought the ranch in 1951 and ran it for 70 years before selling it in 2021 to media mogul Rupert Murdoch for roughly $200 million- making it the largest ranch sale in Montana history. Of the ranch's 340,000 acres, about 113,000 are deeded, with grazing rights on the rest. Murdoch also picked up the adjacent Selkirk Ranch in the same transaction, creating one of the largest contiguous cattle operations in the country.
3) IX Ranch: 140,000+ acres
Located southeast of Big Sandy in Chouteau County, the 140,000+ acre IX Ranch sits in the foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains, next to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. It's a genuine legacy property: the ranch has had only two owners in over 130 years, and it's currently run by three generations of the Roth family. IX carries a herd of roughly 4,300 cattle and is known for strong wildlife populations, including elk, mule deer, antelope, and multiple species of upland birds. Known for its exceptional range management, the property encompasses roughly 60,000 deeded acres coupled with state and federal grazing leases, bringing its working footprint to well over 140,000 acres.
4) Broken O Ranch: 124,000+ acres
Purchased in 2012 by billionaire sports mogul and one of the nation’s largest landowners Stan Kroenke, the 124,000+ acre Broken O Ranch sits along the Sun River near Augusta. William and Desiree Moore, founders of the Kelly-Moore Paint Company, spent nearly 25 years assembling the ranch before selling it to Kroenke in 2012 for a then-record $132.5 million. The ranch contains Montana's largest single block of irrigated farmland, which is about 13,000 acres. Kroenke also owns Cedar Creek Ranch and PV Ranch elsewhere in Montana. It boasts extensive water rights, massive center-pivot irrigation systems, and premier Rocky Mountain views.
5) Flying D Ranch: 113,000+ acres
Flying D Ranch spans 113,000+ acres in the Gallatin Valley southwest of Bozeman, between the Gallatin and Madison rivers, bordering the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Ted Turner, the CNN founder, purchased the ranch in 1989 from the Wilkinson family and converted it from a traditional cattle operation into a bison ranch that is home to one of the largest privately held bison herds in the country. Turner passed away in May 2026, and Turner Enterprises has said the ranch will continue operating as private, conserved working land under his broader conservation legacy.
6) Galt Ranch: 100,000+ acres
Nestled between the Big Belt and Little Belt Mountains near White Sulphur Springs in Meagher County, Galt Ranch has been a working cattle operation for close to a century under the Galt family. Bill Galt currently oversees the ranch, which runs cattle and horses and has built a reputation for American Wagyu beef. The Galt name carries weight in Montana ranching and political circles alike - the broader Galt-Rankin family holds significant additional acreage across central Montana.
7) Bair Ranch: 80,000+ acres
Bair Ranch, spanning 80,000+ acres near Martinsdale along the Musselshell River in central Montana, traces back to Charles M. Bair, who made his fortune during the Klondike Gold Rush and went on to become one of the largest sheep ranchers in the world, running as many as 300,000 head at his peak. The historic ranch house and Charles M. Bair Family Museum preserve that legacy today. The working ranch itself continues under the Bair Ranch Foundation, which maintains wool and livestock production and partners with Montana State University on agricultural research.
8) Castle Mountain Ranch: 47,000+ acres
The eighth largest ranch in Montana is the Castle Mountain Ranch. Nestled at the base of the Castle Mountains near White Sulphur Springs, this high-elevation ranch features timberland, lush pastures, pristine streams, and exceptional elk habitat. The ranch has been owned by the Ward family - whose fortune traces to Russell Stover Candies - since the late 1960s, and it remains a family-owned, family-operated cow-calf and yearling cattle operation to this day.
How We Mapped Montana's Largest Ranches with LandApp Pro
If you're picturing these ranches on a map rather than just reading acreage figures, LandApp Pro makes it possible to trace ownership boundaries for any property in the country, not just the ones covered in a blog post. Here's the workflow we used to build the maps for this article:
Open the Parcel Search tool, select a state, and add the owner's name to pull every parcel tied to that ownership entity.
Save the search results to a Portfolio to keep the full set of parcels organized in one place.
View the Portfolio in the Parcel Data tool, where you can review individual parcel details, generate Property Reports, and build a map of the complete ranch boundary.
The same workflow works for researching any landowner nationwide - a neighboring property, a ranch you're considering buying, or land under an LLC you're trying to identify.
See Montana's Land for Yourself
Every one of these ranches is visible on LandApp's free nationwide parcel map, along with property lines, soil types, flood zones, and other data layers for any parcel in the country - no account required. You can also create and browse unlimited real estate listings, each automatically enhanced with parcel data, at no cost.
For landowners, buyers, and real estate professionals who need to go a level deeper, LandApp Pro unlocks nationwide ownership and assessor data along with the Parcel Search and Portfolio tools used to build the maps in this article.