05/04/2021
Miller Land & Livestock Named 2021 AQHA Best Remuda
Breeding quality horses for generations, this Wyoming ranch is honored with the AQHA Best Remuda Award.
Miller Land & Livestock has been breeding American Quarter Horses for 80 years.
"It means a lot to us to be recognized for something that we have worked most all our lives for", said Mike Miller.
Honoring a long legacy of ranching, Miller Land & Livestock is the 2021 AQHA Best Remuda winner. Since 1992, the American Quarter Horse Association has honored the contributions ranch horses have made to the heritage of the American Quarter Horse by presenting each year the AQHA Best Remuda Award to a ranch that raises outstanding ranch horses.
Based in Big Piney, Wyoming, the ranch is managed by Mike Miller, along with his wife, Tara, and their sons, Will and Wes.
The Millers manage an operation of about 2,400 cow-calf pairs and 1,900 yearlings on land some of which was first ranched in the late 1870s and that has been in their family for more than 130 years. The Millers brand their cattle – Sim Angus, Hereford and Irish Black crosses – with the historic “67” brand. Their operation is spread out and requires many miles of riding. Cattle are moved around, worked and doctored regularly all year long.
“It is a horseback outfit,” said Mike.
Their American Quarter Horse breeding program has existed since AQHA was founded in 1940. Most of the Millers’ horses have spent their lives as working ranch horses, but they include notable show, rodeo, roping and other competitors. Mike is a very accomplished in National Reined Cow Horse Association competition, with earnings of more than $600,000 – most earned aboard home-bred horses and all self-trained.
Among the horses bred on the ranch is the late Pl***oys Buck Fever, a son of Freckles Pl***oy that the family bred, competed on and owned. Pl***oys Buck Fever earned around $60,000 in competition and has sired the earners of more than $356,000 in reined cow horse competition, including two NRCHA superior reined cow horses.
The ranch currently breeds 15-25 mares per year.
Miller Land & Livestock will receive a specially designed award presented during the AQHA Breeder Banquet tentatively scheduled during the 2022 AQHA Convention at Las Vegas, and the ranch will be featured in The American Quarter Horse Journal.