Ranch
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2008-07-17T03:46:13Z
Montanabw
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Let us not list every single animal that can be ranched, the list could be endless
{{otheruses4|a type of land use and method of raising livestock|information on people who handle cattle on ranches|Cowboy|a kind of salad dressing or condiment|Ranch dressing}}
[[Image:Grant-Kohrs Ranch.jpg|thumb|400px|View of the [[Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site|Grant-Kohrs Ranch]] near [[Deer Lodge]], [[Montana]]]]
A '''ranch''' is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of '''ranching,''' the practice of raising grazing livestock such as [[cattle]] or [[sheep]] for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western [[United States]] and [[Canada]], though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called stockgrowers or ranchers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common [[livestock]] such as [[elk]], [[American Bison]] or even [[ostrich]] and [[emu]].
Ranches generally consist of large areas, but may be of nearly any size. In the western United States, many ranches are a combination of privately owned land supplemented by grazing leases on land under the control of the federal [[Bureau of Land Management]]. If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land, the ranch may also engage in a limited amount of [[farm]]ing, raising crops for feeding the animals, such as [[hay]] and feed grains.
Ranches that cater exclusively to tourists are called [[guest ranch]]es or, [[colloquialism|colloquially]], "dude ranches." Most working ranches do not cater to guests, though they may allow private [[hunter]]s or [[outfitter]]s onto their property to hunt native wildlife. However, in recent years, a few struggling smaller operations have added some dude ranch features, such as horseback rides, cattle drives or guided hunting, in an attempt to bring in additional income. Ranching is part of the [[iconography]] of the "Wild West" as seen in [[Western movies]].
==Origins of ranching==
Ranching and the [[cowboy]] tradition originated in [[Spain]], out of the necessity to handle large herds of grazing animals on dry land from horseback. During the [[Reconquista]], members of the [[Spanish nobility]] and various [[military order]]s received large land grants that the [[Kingdom of Castile]] had [[reconquista|conquered from the Moors]]. These landowners were to defend the lands put into their control and could use them for earning revenue. In the process it was found that open-range breeding of sheep and cattle (under the [[Mesta]] system) was the most suitable use for vast tracts, particularly in the parts of Spain now known as [[Castilla-La Mancha]], [[Extremadura]] and [[Andalusia]].
==History in North America==
[[Image:RanchOklahoma.ws.jpg|700px|thumb|center|The historic 101 Ranch in Oklahoma showing the ranchhouse, corrals, and out-buildings.]]
===Spanish North America===
When the [[Conquistadors]] came to the [[Americas]] in the 16th century, followed by settlers, they brought their [[cattle]] and cattle-raising techniques with them. Huge land grants by the Spanish (and later Mexican) government, part of the [[hacienda]] system, allowed large numbers of animals to roam freely over vast areas. A number of different traditions developed, often related to the original location in Spain from which a settlement originated. For example, many of the traditions of the [[Jalisco]] ''[[charro]]s'' in southern Mexico come from the [[Salamanca (province)|Salamanca]] ''charros'' of Castile. The [[Vaquero]] tradition of Northern Mexico was more organic, developed to adapt to the characteristics of the region from Spanish sources by cultural interaction between the Spanish elites and the native and ''mestizo'' peoples.<ref>http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0814_030815_cowboys.html Haeber, Jonathan. "Vaqueros: The First Cowboys of the Open Range" ''National Geographic News,'' August 15, 2003. Accessed online October 15, 2007.</ref>
===United States===
[[Image:Cattle round up.jpg|thumb|200px|Cattle drive in New Mexico, USA]]
As settlers from the [[United States]] moved west, they brought cattle breeds developed on the east coast and in [[Europe]] along with them, and adapted their management to the drier lands of the west by borrowing key elements of the Spanish [[vaquero]] culture.
However, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. [[Deep Hollow Ranch]], {{convert|110|mi|km|-1}} east of [[New York City]] in [[Montauk, New York]], claims to be the first ranch in the United States, having continuously operated since 1658.<ref>http://deephollowranch.com/history1.htm Deep Hollow Ranch History </ref> The ranch makes the somewhat debatable claim of having the oldest cattle operation in what today is the United States, though cattle had been run in the area since European settlers purchased land from the [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian people]] of the area in 1643.<ref name="Newsday">[http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-hs328a,0,6827509.story Ochs, Ridgeley. "Ride 'em, Island Cowboy," ''Newsday,''. Accessed May 5, 2008</ref> Although there were substantial numbers of cattle on Long Island, as well as the need to herd them to and from common grazing lands on a seasonal basis, the cattle handlers actually lived in houses built on the pasture grounds, and cattle were ear-marked for identification, rather than being branded.<ref name="Newsday"/> The only actual "cattle drives" held on Long Island consisted of one drive in 1776, when the Island's cattle were moved in a failed attempt to prevent them from being captured by the British during the [[American Revolution]], and three or four drives in the late 1930s, when area cattle were herded down Montauk Highway to pasture ground near Deep Hollow Ranch.<ref name="Newsday"/>
===The Open Range===
The [[prairie]] and [[desert]] lands of what today is [[Mexico]] and the western [[United States]] were well-suited to "open range" grazing. For example, [[American bison]] had been a mainstay of the diet for the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] in the Great Plains for centuries. Likewise, cattle and sheep, descended from animals brought over from Europe, were simply turned loose in the spring after their young were born and allowed to roam with little supervision and no fences, then rounded up in the fall, with the mature animals driven to market and the breeding stock brought close to the ranch headquarters for greater protection in the winter. The use of [[livestock branding]] allowed the cattle owned by different ranchers to be identified and sorted. Beginning with the settlement of [[Texas]] in the 1840s, and expansion both north and west from that time, through the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and into the 1880s, ranching dominated western economic activity.
Along with ranchers came the need for agricultural crops to feed both humans and livestock, and hence many [[farm]]ers also came west along with ranchers. Many operations were "diversified," with both ranching and farming activities taking place. With the [[Homestead Act]] of 1862, more settlers came west to set up [[farm]]s. This created some conflict, as increasing numbers of farmers needed to fence off fields to prevent cattle and sheep from eating their crops. [[Barbed wire]], invented in 1874, gradually made inroads in fencing off privately owned land, especially for homesteads. There was some reduction of land on the [[Great Plains]] open to grazing.
===End of the Open Range===
[[Image:Chinook2.gif|thumb|left|The severe winter of 1886-1887 brought an end to the open range. ''Waiting for a Chinook'', by [[Charles Marion Russell|C.M. Russell]].]]
The end of the open range was not brought about by a reduction in land due to [[arable farming]], but by [[overgrazing]]. Cattle stocked on the open range created a [[tragedy of the commons]] as each rancher sought increased economic benefit by grazing too many animals on [[public lands]] that "nobody" owned. However, being a non-native species, the grazing patterns of ever-increasing numbers of cattle slowly reduced the quality of the rangeland, in spite of the simultaneous massive slaughter of [[American bison]] that occurred. The winter of 1886-1887 was one of the most severe on record, and livestock that were already stressed by reduced grazing died by the thousands. Many large cattle operations went bankrupt, and others suffered severe financial losses. Thus, after this time, ranchers also began to fence off their land and negotiated individual grazing leases with the American government so that they could keep better control of the pasture land available to their own animals.
===Ranching in Hawaii===
Ranching in [[Hawaii]] developed independently of that in the continental United States. In colonial times, Capt. [[George Vancouver]] gave several head of cattle to the Hawaiian king, [[Pai`ea Kamehameha]], monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and by the early 1800s, they had multiplied considerably, to the point that they were wreaking havoc throughout the countryside. About 1812, John Parker, a sailor who had jumped ship and settled in the islands, received permission from Kamehameha to capture the wild cattle and develop a beef industry.
The Hawaiian style of ranching originally included capturing wild cattle by driving them into pits dug in the forest floor. Once tamed somewhat by hunger and thirst, they were hauled out up a steep ramp, and tied by their horns to the horns of a tame, older steer (or [[ox]]) and taken to fenced-in areas. The industry grew slowly under the reign of Kamehameha's son Liholiho ([[Kamehameha II]]). When Liholiho's son, Kauikeaouli ([[Kamehameha III]]), visited [[California]], then still a part of [[Mexico]], he was impressed with the skill of the Mexican [[vaquero]]s. In 1832, he invited several to Hawaii to teach the Hawaiian people how to work cattle.
The [[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiian]] cowboy came to be called the ''paniolo'', a Hawaiianized pronunciation of ''español.'' Even today, the traditional Hawaiian saddle and many other tools of the ranching trade have a distinctly Mexican look, and many Hawaiian ranching families still carry the surnames of vaqueros who made Hawaii their home.
==Ranching in South America==
In [[Argentina]], ranches are known as [[estancias]], and in [[Brazil]], they are called [[fazendas]]. In much of [[South America]], including [[Ecuador]] and [[Colombia]], the term [[hacienda]] may be used. ''Ranchero'' or ''Ranchos'' are also generic term used throughout [[Latin America]].
In the colonial period, [[Pampas]] regions of [[South America]], particularly the [[Semi-arid Pampas]] of [[Argentina]], were often well-suited to ranching and a tradition developed that largely paralleled that of Mexico and the United States. However, in the 20th century, cattle raising expanded into less-suitable areas. Particularly in [[Brazil]], the 20th century marked the rapid growth of [[deforestation]] as [[rain forest]] lands were cleared by [[slash and burn]] methods that allowed grass to grow for livestock, but also led to the depletion of the land within only a few years. Many of [[Indigenous peoples]] of the rain forest opposed this form of cattle ranching and protested the forest being burnt down to set up grazing operations and farms. This conflict is still a concern in the region today.
==Ranches outside the Americas==
[[Image:Dehesa Boyal. Bollullos Par del Condado (Huelva).jpg|thumb|Cattle in a ''dehesa'' in [[Bollullos Par del Condado]], Spain]]
In Spain, where the origins of ranching can be traced, there are ''ganaderías'' operating on ''[[dehesa]]''-type land, where [[bullfighting|fighting bull]]s are raised.
In [[Australia]], ranches are known as '[[Station (Australian agriculture)|stations]]' in the context of what stock they carry - usually referred to as [[Cattle station]]s or [[Sheep station]]s. The largest cattle stations in the world are located in Australia's dry [[rangeland]] in the [[outback]]. Employees are known as [[Stockmen]], [[jackaroo]]s and ringers rather than ranchers or [[cowboy]]s. A number of Australian cattle stations average 10,000 km² or more, and the very largest is [[Anna Creek station]] which measures 23,677 km² in area. Anna Creek is owned by S Kidman & Co.
[[New Zealand]]ers use the term ''runs''.
The term "ranch" and the need for vast grazing area is not used in [[United Kingdom|British]] agriculture. The nation has far less land area, and sufficient rainfall to allow the raising of [[cattle]] on much smaller areas. From [[medieval]] times, [[cattle]] were traditionally raised in the small-area [[bocage]]. For similar reasons, the concept of a "ranch" is also not seen to any significant degree in most of western [[Europe]]. The only stock-raising properties in the [[British Isles]] that are anywhere close to the size of the smaller ranches in other nations are the largest hill farms in the upland areas of the [[United Kingdom]].
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==See also==
<!--Please don't put specific ranches here, put them in list of ranches and stations and in Category:Ranches-->
*[[Pastoralism]]
*[[Farm]]
*[[Cowboy]]
*[[Horse]]
*[[Guest ranch]] (also known as a Dude Ranch)
*[[Rangeland]]
*[[Movie ranch]]
*[[Hunting]]
*[[Animal husbandry]]
*[[Transhumance]]
*[[List of Ranches and Stations]]
*[[Ranch-style house]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* [[Judy Blunt|Blunt, Judy]]. ''Breaking Clean'' Knopf: 2002, hardcover, <small>ISBN 0-375-40131-8</small>
* Campbell, Ida Foster and Alice Foster Hill. ''Triumph and Tragedy: A History of Thomas Lyons and the LCs'', High-Lonesome Books, Silver City, New Mexico, 2002, softcover, ISBN 0-944383-61-0
* [[George F. Ellis|Ellis, George F.]], ''The Bell Ranch As I Knew It'', Lowell Press: 1973, hardcover, <small>ISBN 0-913504-15-7</small>
* Greenwood, Kathy L. ''Heart-Diamond'', University of North Texas Press, 1989, hardcover, <small>ISBN 0-929398-08-4</small>
* Paul, Virginia. ''This Was Cattle Ranching: Yesterday and Today'', Superior Publishing Company, Seattle, Washington, 1973
* Ward, Delbert R. ''Great Ranches of the United States'', Ganada Press, San Antonio, Texas, 1993, paperback, ISBN 7-880-510-25-1
==External links==
<!--Do not post individual ranch links here, they will be removed. IF your ranch is significant, create its own wikipedia page-->
*[http://www.civilisations.ca/aborig/rodeo/rodeo00e.html The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Native Ranching and Rodeo Life on the Plains and Plateau ]
*[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/azr2.html ''The Handbook of Texas Online:'' Ranching]
*[http://www.rangelands.org/index.shtml ''Society for Range Management'']
*[http://www.quiviracoalition.org/ ''The Quivira Coalition'']
*[http://rangelandswest.org/ ''Rangelands West'']
*[http://www.westernwatersheds.org''Western Watersheds Project'']
*[http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-2412 Cattle Ranges of the Southwest], published 1898, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
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