Will Stine was born in 1847 in Illinois, the seventh of twelve children born to German immigrants. In 1884, the Stines moved their large family by covered wagon from Illinois to southeast Kansas. Shortly after their arrival, they made their home in Indian Territory, in Craig County, Oklahoma, about seven miles southeast of Edna, Kansas. The fertile grassland of native bluestem was a draw to the cattle business.

Will Stine’s roots were deeply planted in the grassland country and started to expand the family’s farming and ranching enterprise along with his two young sons, Virgil, Martha’s grandfather, and D.E. They began purchasing more land in Oklahoma, where they grew yearling cattle. In 1952, the V Bar Ranch began with Virgil and his son-in-law, Calvin Nunnallee, Martha’s father. The operation entailed purchasing calves out of Louisiana, growing them to 800-900 pounds, and then selling the yearlings in late August to early September.

Today, the heritage of the V Bar is continued through A Bar Ranch. Mike and Martha Armitage, coming from cattle and ranching families, began their partnership in 1985. Together they worked to build A Bar Ranch and over the past 40 years have grown the ranch, in which it maintains a cow herd of over 2500 head and breeds over 800 head of replacement heifers each year. The headquarters ranch, located at Claremore, Oklahoma, was the original Cherokee Indian Allotment of Frank and Dora Rucker, established in the early 1880s. This eastern Rogers County ranch also operated with the historic Open A brand.
 The present-day operation is multi-faceted ranching in six Oklahoma counties and two Texas counties with three divisions: commercial cow-calf, livestock marketing, and performance horses.

The commercial cow calf division was developed from registered Hereford cows mated to Brahman bulls, producing F1 Brafords. These F1 females were then mated to performance Angus genetics. The bulk of the cow herd today consists of Angus and Ultrablack females. These females are then mated to Express Ranch Angus genetics.