V7 Ranch
WHO WE ARE
John, President, present patriarch, father and grandfather.
Christy, John's wife, mother, grandmother.
Jason, Vice President, son, father to 2 small sons, Jacob & Zebediah.
Vivienne, Jason's wife and mother of his children.
Misty, the daughter, and her husband Jim, live on another edge of the ranch complex with her four children, Hannah, Caleb, Kees, and Jedrek.
We are a very close knit, Christian, working, family of four generations on this ranch. All of us are involved in ranching operations including cattle work and the hunting operation. V7 ranch is a registered corporation in New Mexico as Sub Chapter S. With the exception of the grandchildren at present the rest are share holders. John has a bachelor of science in range science from New Mexico State University. Jason has a bachelor of science in Agricultural Economics from New Mexico State University.
This ranch was put together by two brothers from Texas named Tom and Mathias Stockton around 1860. Mathias' grandson Alvin had no family of his own. He wrote a professor at NMSU wanting a graduating senior from the Ag college to maybe work up into the business. At the time this ranch was 9,000 deeded acres and a 340 cow outfit. John replied to the letter and was hired. It worked out so well that within a year he was earning shares in the corporation. That was 1970 and the year Jason was born. From 1970 to 1992 Alvin and John built this ranch from 9000 deeded acres and 340 cows to 16,000 deeded acres and 500 cows. John and Jason have since built it to 34,500 deeded acres and 1,100 cows.
The first fall John was here it became apparent that he needed to limit access to the property by the public. So he formed a hunting club and that was the first step to game management. This worked well all through the 70's however over that decade the game numbers began to thrive and the local outfitters all began to compete for our business and we farmed the hunting out to a local we knew and trusted. This arrangement lasted through the 80's right up to 95 at which point we entered a five year agreement with our neighbor to our south the NRA Whittington Center in which we grazed their property and they ran hunts on our land.