History of the Milbourn Ranch

Henry Milbourn was a farmer and miller  living in the mountains of Virginia. During the Civil War their home was  used as a hospital for Union Soldiers. When he realized soldiers were  raiding farmsteads for food to live on and feed for their horses, he  planted his oats in the middle of the night to save his seed crop from  being taken for horse feed.

       When Henry and his family left  Virginia it took three days traveling over the mountains to reach the  railroad 45 miles away. They traveled five days by railroad to reach El  Dorado. On the train a gentleman was selling stock in an automobile  manufacturing plant. No seemed interested in buying from him. His name  was Henry Ford. They arrived in El Dorado, February 18, 1878, and lived  there for two weeks before Henry found a place in the Cole Creek  Territory that suited him. John Milbourn was 16 years old at the time.  In 1888 3/4 of mail south of the original homestead a two story , walnut  log cabin was moved on to the premises. In 1896 this cabin was moved to  a location close to were a new two story house was built . This was  John’s home and Homer was born there in 1899.

        School  district regulations necessitated John to build a home in El Dorado so  Homer could attend high school there. A man owning land west of El  Dorado was interested in the home and wanted to trade some grassland for  the home. John inspected the land and decided the grassland was  extremely rocky and did not look that productive to him. Later on this  land oil was discovered . This land was a part of the big oil discovery  that made some of the big oil companies of today and El Dorado a oil  town.

        Homer remained working on the ranch and his home  was located next to the original homestead. It is still standing but  unoccupied. Homer got got married in 1924 and had a daughter named Mary.  Shortly after getting married, Homer got into the cow business . John,  Homer’s father said if he wanted to mess with cows he should start with  good ones. They purchased registered breeding stock from Mr. Hazlett, a  noted Herford breeder from El Dorado. He sold registered bulls private  treaty for a few years. Most of the buyers wanted bulls in the spring  and that interfered with the farming operation so he cut the horns off  the cows and quit maintaining the registration papers. He kept the cows  straight bred, using registered bulls . This practice is still used  today.

       The Milbourn ranch today is a larger ranch due to a  merger of two ranches. Mary Milbourn married Arlan Stackley in 1957.  Arlan’s family ranch adjoined the Milbourn ranch on the south side. Mary  and Arlan both attended a one room school house that was not far from  their homes. It is still there but is being used as a residence . They  really did not start noticing each other till they got to high school.  At the time of their marriage Arlan was a senior at K-state. After  graduation Arlan joined the Air Force and they spent 3 years in Okinawa,  Japan. In 1961 Mary and Arlan returned to the ranch and Arlan went to  work for Homer , Mary’s father. Arlan also rented from his father ranch.  In 1963 Mary and Arlan had David. Mary is a registered nurse and works  at the hospital in El Dorado. David went to K-State and has two degrees  graduating in 1985. After college he returned to the ranch to work along  side of his father. David decided to move into the two story house that  his great grand father ,John had built. At the time it had been  unoccupied for sometime. He lived in the house as he was remodeling it.  The walnut log cabin is still 500 ft away and still in fair condition.  Many years later David married his long time friend Faith . Faith also  is a registered nurse and works at the hospital in El Dorado. They have  been blessed with two children, Madelyn and Cade. David also raises  cutting bred registered Quarter Horses . These horses were started and  rode on the ranch doing the day to day cattle work.

        The  Milbourn ranch is located 10 miles Northeast of El Dorado, Kansas. It is  considered the foot hills of the Flint Hills. In the late 1970's most  of the farmland was seeded to brome grass with a small acreage planted  to sudangrass and triticale. Most of the native grasslands are utilized  as full season grazing with some grass being heavily stocked early and  some utilized for winter grazing. Keeping all replacement heifers and  growing stock. The ranch can handle 300 cows.

      The cow herd  is divided between spring and fall calving. All replacement heifers are  selected from the cow herd. The calves are weaned, back grounded and  grown to 800 pounds before being sold. A feeder in Nebraska has bought  the steers and cull heifers for the last 43 years. Low birth weight  Angus bulls are used on 1st calf heifers. The F1 black bald face heifers  are bred, calved out and sold as pairs.