Located in El Dorado, Arkansas, Draggin’ M Ranch is owned by the Milam Family. Mr. John’s cattle heritage dates back to the 1800′s when his family started ranching in West Texas. John's introduction into the Brangus business began in 2005 when he made his first purchases from the Brinks herd at Camp Cooley Ranch in Franklin, Texas. Originally, John was a cooperator in the Camp Cooley program where he raised and sold a very popular bull, “Pecos of Brinks 99S87″ for $23,500. In 2009 he joined with some of his fellow Brangus breeders to form GeneTrust in 2010. GeneTrust was a marketing alliance consisting of nine Brangus breeders from around the United States. Since the inception of GeneTrust, Draggin' M has thrived and become a household name when looking for quality Brangus bulls and females.

Today

Today Draggin’ M Ranch is home to some of the greatest donors in the Brangus breed and features offspring of a slew of up-and-coming herd bulls like Top Gun, Crossroads, Cash Flow, Investment, Empire, and Dynasty. We have invested in the cows that we believe are capable of producing the greats of tomorrow. These females compliment the daughters from our original herd sires, Newt of Brinks 302P16; Next Step, Csonka, L11 and others that are well into production. We continue to build our female program to give young bulls a great set of cows to prove themselves on.

We continue to utilize artificial insemination and embryo transfer aggressively to enhance our program. In recent years we have added powerful, promising young females in the prime of their lives to our Donor Pen and continue to keep heifers resulting from our most successful matings.

We are excitedly looking forward to the future of our program and our partnerships with fellow Brangus breeders, TTT Ranches, Johnston Brangus, Elias Brangus, Sewell Cattle Company and Double W Ranch with the partnership of CDP Brangus. We are proud to be a part of this great breed and associated with great cattleman like these. We look forward to this partnership. Visit our website here.

Our Team

John Milam, Late Owner
John Milam’s story is an interesting one with a rich family history in agriculture dating back to West Texas in the 1800’s.  John was raised primarily in Billings and the northeast corner of Montana, and grew up working on an Angus/Ranch Horse operation. His background includes summers working on his uncle’s ranch north of Dalhart, TX backgrounding commercial steers and managing flood-irrigated wheat and alfalfa crops. He was accepted to Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine but had to change to a Civil Engineering major for a quicker degree that would allow for quicker results for his growing family. Upon graduation he joined a Petroleum Engineering firm in based in Denver, CO - where is first assignment took him back to his birthplace, El Dorado, AR. From there he learned the ropes of the land and eventually began his own very successful construction company based in El Dorado.

He took up Team Penning in the early 90’s and enjoyed riding with a small group of horseman that completed in the USTPA with great success. Around that same time he started buying land and commercial cattle. He traveled to Camp Cooley Ranch and purchased two Angus bulls for that first herd. At that sale he met Craig Green and began a long friendship. Over the following years, under Craig’s guidance, John’s started selling the commercial cows to make room for Registered Brangus cattle. He was able to market those cattle through Camp Cooley and became a part of the larger Camp Cooley family where he met Joe Cavender, David Wood and the Johnston family, and many more. Those initial friendships eventually led to the formation of GeneTrust, and then Cavender - Draggin’ M and Partners and today to CDP Brangus.

With beginnings stemming back to Camp Cooley in 2005, the Draggin’ M program saw steady growth in their registered program until the formation of GENETRUST in 2009. The years that followed, through some key genetic and personnel additions, saw the DMR program jump to the next level.  With a number of elite females passing through DMR including the $70,000 415R23, $60,000 30X6 among a host of others, DMR has established itself as a source of front-end females.  Along with elite donors, herd sires such as Top Gun, Eldorado, Coronado, Main Event, Crossroads and Cash Flow have also been raised or resided in the beautiful bermuda pastures at Draggin’ M Ranch.

With an aggressive AI and ET program, John and manager Grady Green continue to push the envelope in an effort to improve their product and in turn their customer’s success. The DMR business plan concentrates on breeding and raising the absolute best cattle in the breed. With Grady’s management and some key genetic additions, we feel like we are producing a high quality product that can fit into every producers herd.

Grady Green, Ranch Manager

Phone: 870-314-3673
Email: grady@dragginmranch.com

Grady Green grew up on large scale commercial and Registered Brangus ranches in both Texas and Arkansas. He graduated high school in Franklin, Texas. His interests from an early age included team roping, where Grady qualified for the Texas State High School Rodeo Finals all four years of high school. While in high school he would spend early mornings before school assisting with the large embryo transfer program at Camp Cooley Ranch. His afternoons and weekends were spent assisting in the management of up to 1,000 bulls on gain test, working donor cows and any other tasks associated with the management of the Brinks Cowherd at Camp Cooley. From conception to calving to development to marketing, being involved in such a highly successful program at an impressionable time in his life, helped him to build great knowledge of the intimate detail that goes in to creating pedigrees and types of cattle that work in the ranching industry.

Upon graduation from high school Grady went to work for Center Ranch near Centerville, Texas. There he worked with Hall of Fame trainers to hone his skills training and riding cutting horses. From Center Ranch he went to work for Fluharty Farms Angus operation outside of Gause, Texas. Grady then worked part-time at Chimney Rock and for John Milam building what would soon be the start of the operation Draggin’ M is today.

Grady then was then accepted to the prestigious Texas Christian University Ranch Management program where he learned financials involved in managing a successful cattle operation.  First class each day would be running break-evens on all classes of cattle. Grady graduated TCU in May 2009, on a Friday, and started to work at Draggin M Ranch on Monday.

Draggin M Ranch has grown rapidly under his direction as a hands on manager, into the fifth largest Brangus herd in the nation. Through an aggressive donor selection program, embryo transfer has been used effectively by Grady and John to quickly multiply and improve the quality and depth of the cowherd. They are raising cattle that consistently top sale averages across the breed. In the fall of 2014 and 2016 Draggin M produced the high selling Brangus bulls in the breed. Today Draggin M bulls are senior herd sires in many progressive operations worldwide and are some of the most highly sought after AI sires.

DMR Females have out averaged their bull counterparts and gone on to prove very valuable investments in other seed stock programs both in the US and abroad. 

Today the ranch consists of registered cattle and commercial females used as recipients. All registered heifers are given one opportunity to breed AI to Grady’s breed-wide choice of the most promising young herd sires in the industry.

Draggin M Ranch, under Grady’s care, has successfully developed bulls and heifers at the ranch. Today they are flushing outside donors along-side DMR donors, with Grady making most of the mating decisions. They are also raising embryo transfer calves for various clients and partners, while continuously hunting for the next great breed influencing genetics.

Grady has served on the Board of Directors for the Texas Brangus Breeders Association, the IBBA Breed Improvement Committee, the IBBA Promotions Committee and is a current member and 2024 President of the IBBA Board of Directors.

Grady and his wife Sara have two children, Hadley and Breck. Together they enjoy raising their family at the ranch and teaching the next generation about the Brangus cattle that have shaped Grady’s life.

785 Hinson Road | El Dorado, Arkansas | 71730