About Pine Creek Ranch

Pine Creek Ranch sits at the base of Pine Creek Pass at about 6000 feet in elevation and about 5 miles north and east of Swan Valley, Idaho. Its northern border is Pine Creek, which grinds its way through the Pine Creek gorge on its way to the South Fork of the Snake River only a few miles downstream from the Ranch. Its eastern boundary is Targee National Forest. The Ranch is located on Highway 31, the major arterial connection between Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Pine Creek Ranch is almost exactly midway between those two destinations. The topology around the Ranch varies from 8,000 - 10,000 ft. forested mountains on one side to rolling hills of dry-farmed grain on the other. We have a 4-season climate with considerable snowfall in the winter and generally moderate summer temperatures. Each season brings vistas of wonderful changing scenery, the next more spectacular than the past. Sunsets here are like the caldrons of creation and several times each summer we see perfect double rainbows that trace the extent of the property after rain storms. Our water comes from deep in the ground and is cool and fresh, and the pine creek breeze negates the need for air conditioning in the hot months; we just open the windows. The stars are not more spectacular anywhere else in the world, and that's especially true in the early morning hours during calving season when everything is so very quiet, just waiting for the sounds of new life. We have frequent visitors; moose, elk, and deer, who obviously don't know they don't own this place, but it's okay because in a very real sense, they do.

The Ranch was originally homesteaded in the early 1900s by Ed and Harriett Kopp (it was the Diamond K ranch back then) and it has been a ranching and agricultural operation continuously since that time. The Clark Family acquired the property in 2001 (or, truth be known, it acquired us). The Ranch consists of approximately 235 owned acres and 720 leased acres. We grow and harvest our own winter feed and graze our livestock on Ranch grass during the summer months. Our time is spent much as the Kopp's spent theirs: driving the cattle and horses from one pasture to the next, fencing, branding, trimming and shoeing, feeding, calving and foaling, doctoring, and taking care of the Ranch and its buildings. We respect and honor the past while looking progressively toward the future. Diamond K and Diamond KC are our brands, commemorating those who came before us. We do employ advanced genetics in our breeding programs and we stay up-to-date in our feeding and vaccination regimens. Pine Creek Ranch is more than a place; it is a commitment to a way of life that is centered on our animals, and to preserving that lifestyle for future generations. That is the legacy we wish to build and to pass-on; it's what's important to us. We can be successful only by providing superior livestock at competitive prices over the long-term; our reputation depends on it..