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A Ranch is an area of landscape,
including buildings and structures, given primarily to the practice of Ranching,
meaning grazing of livestock such as cattle or sheep on rangeland by
ranchers.
Ranching also a method used to raise less
common livestock such as Elk, American Bison or even ostrich and emu.
Ranches generally consist of large acreages, but may be of
nearly any size. If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land,
the ranch may also engage in a limited amount of farming, raising
crops for feeding the animals, such as hay and feed grains. Some
ranches also cater to tourists (see dude ranch). Ranching also
forms part of the iconography of the "Wild West" as seen
in Western movies.
The word usually applies to livestock-raising operations in the
western United States and Canada.
Historically, during a period on the Frontier in North America
after the removal of the American bison and the Native Americans
and before the coming of the homesteaders, ranching dominated
economic activity. The public lands on the Great Plains consisted
of "open range," where anyone could turn cattle loose
for grazing.
Barbed wire, invented in 1869, gradually made inroads in
fencing off privately owned land, especially for homesteads but in
addition caused suffering to many calves and cows trapped in it.
Ranching became limited to lands of little use for arable farming.
Deep Hollow Ranch, 110 miles east of New York City in Montauk,
New York, claims to be the first ranch in the United States,
having continuously operated since 1658.
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