How much is what?

[R_Walter]

I've seen folks on this forum talk about their 10 acre ranch, their 27 acre ranch and so on.

My question is just how much land really can be called a ranch?

I'm used to the word ranch being used, maybe when you're talking about 50,000 acres or more like 100,000 acres and up. Parcels under 50,000 acres are more like a 'big place.' Parcels, say, consisting of 3,000 to, say, 5,000 acres or so are just 'little places.' A piece of land of 100 acres and under is at best, a 'ranchette.'

Just wondering what your take on things is?

 

[tallyho8]

I say that if your place is larger than 10 of the average size places in your county put together, and if you raise horses or cattle instead of farming, then your place is a ranch. It's all relative. A 1 acre spread in New York city would be a large ranch.

 

[dmccarty]

Its all relative. You are in NM with lots of land and a few people compared to say Rhode Island with little land and lots of people.

Later,
Dan

 

[Podunkadunk]

My place is almost 36 acres. It definitely isn't large enough to be a "ranch" in my opinion. I just call it a "mini-farm". Of course, I grow stuff, have a couple horses in a pasture, etc.

When I think of a ranch, I think of the "Ponderosa", where it's a 3 day horse ride to the other side. My opinion again.

2-3 acres and a riding lawn mower (aka lawn "tractor") does not a "ranch" make. I see that a lot around here, especially just south of me in NW Florida. Northern city folk will move down, buy a few acres, pull in a new single-wide, put a fence around it that would keep out rhino's and hang a sign above their driveway that says "K-Bar Ranch, Private Property". You never see them or meet them...they haven't figured out southern hospitality I reckon.

Podunk

 

[Western]

That's commom here too, a developer will build a "Snub-division" with 1-3 acres each and sell them as "ranchettes".
I have 15.28 acres now and had in the past 387 acres, I called both my "farm".

When I see a wrangler running fence or moving cattle on horse back, he is a "ranch " hand so I figure he is on a ranch. I guess that makes me a "farm" hand..LOL

 

[N80]

I don't think the word 'ranch' has anything to do with acreage. If you've got 100,000 acres and its all pine trees or turkey houses, its not a ranch. But if you have 100 acres with cows on it, its a ranch.

I also think 'ranch' is a regional term. My B-I-L raises cows. He has somewhere between 2000 and 3000 acres. The official name of the operation is the Horned M Ranch. But no one around here calls his place, or other places like it a 'ranch'. They call it a farm and call him a farmer. He is on the board of local 'cattlemen' and I don't think they use the term 'rancher', but they might.

I think a good definition for ranch would be a parcel of land on which cows are raised that is large enough to allow rotational movement of cows from one grazing area to the next. This would help differentiate it from a food lot or a dairy farm.

 

[mjarrels]

Mustang ranch in NV only had rooms!

mark

 

[dmccarty]

Mustang ranch in NV only had rooms!

Mark, how do you know?

Later,
Dan

 

[Podunkadunk]

Mustang ranch in NV only had rooms!

mark

Mark,
You know, come to think of it, the Cherry Patch isn't a farm either...

Podunk

 

[mjarrels]

Many TAD trips to NAS Fallon!

mark