The History of the Diamond A Ranch
The Diamond A Ranch, also known as The Big Boquillas, is the largest cattle ranch today in Arizona. It was originally the headquarters for the VVV Livestock Company that encompassed over half of Northern Arizona, running 30,000 cows and 1500 horses.
The ranch covers 750,000 acres and stretches 75 miles beginning at the town of Seligman, Arizona and ending at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Strong commitment to ranching heritage and preserving the land, livestock and wildlife habitats still remain priorities for the ranch today.
The late Harvey Dietrich, former mentor and partner of Rick Kieckhefer, began operating the Diamond A in 1982, in 1987 the Navajo Nation purchased the ranch from Teneco Oil Co. Dietrich continued to operate the ranch for the next 36 years. In 2018 Kieckhefer bought half interest in Cholla Livestock, upon Harvey’s passing in 2020 Rick took over all operations. 2022 marked 40 years that Cholla Livestock has operated the Diamond A Ranch. The ranch has an extensive cattle operation running 6,000 cows and over 400 bulls. Cattle from the ranch supply part of the “K4 Brand” boxed beef platform, K4 Gourmet Beef and K4 Copper State Reserve.
There are 12 full-time cowboys and 10 full-time maintenance employees who look after the massive and rugged ranch country.
The Diamond A currently runs a Remuda of 85 saddle horses, 35 broodmares, 5 stallions, and 40 young geldings and fillies. The bloodlines from the ranch are mostly from cow horse and ranch horse stock and include Tanquery Gin, Doc O’Lena, Colonel Freckles, Peppy San Badger, Bueno Chex, Driftwood, Zan Parr Bar, PlayGun, Easy Jet, Doc Tom Tucker, Popular Resort Figure, and Metallic Cat.
The horses and cowboys of the Diamond A are part of an old cowboy tradition that continues to live on throughout the Southwest dating back to the turn of the century.
The Diamond A horses are offered for sale at the Legacy Ranch Horse Sale every September.