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

 

[WTA]

I've only got 25 acres here and the IRS sure calls us a working ranch. We have horses, goats, cows and chickens and grow and sell about 30-35 tons of hay a month during the warm months. That's about 1000 square bales of bermuda and alfalfa. I just planted a pasture with Tiffany also so it will be even more in about a month or so.

I think this fits the definition of a ranch.

 

[Lasgambler]

Since all of the developement of the big ranches in my area, Most people have between 36 and 40 acres and call them ranches weather they run cows or have horses. However, I have a freind in Las Vegas that has 2 acres, and has no problem calling it his Poodle Ranch.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a 1 acre ranch. I harvest about 50 head of Scalopus aquaticus from it each year. It all depends on your farming practices as to how many you can support on a given body of land. Fortunately, we are blessed with very fertile soil, plenty of sunshine and good water. Out west, many folks cannot support 1 head on 1 acre.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Yea, I suppose it's all relative. I have 13 acres and call it "the house". My M-I-L lives on 150 acres, raises cows and calls it "the farm". Go figure.

 

[tallyho8]

I have a 1 acre ranch. I harvest about 50 head of Scalopus aquaticus from it each year. It all depends on your farming practices as to how many you can support on a given body of land. Fortunately, we are blessed with very fertile soil, plenty of sunshine and good water. Out west, many folks cannot support 1 head on 1 acre.

What do you do with a mole after you harvest it?

 

[N80]

What do you do with a mole after you harvest it?

Mole (sauce) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[R_Walter]

I've only got 25 acres here and the IRS sure calls us a working ranch. We have horses, goats, cows and chickens and grow and sell about 30-35 tons of hay a month during the warm months. That's about 1000 square bales of bermuda and alfalfa. I just planted a pasture with Tiffany also so it will be even more in about a month or so.

I think this fits the definition of a ranch.

Sounds like you got a little farm with a hay field. Where's 'here'?

 

[R_Walter]

Seems like the word 'ranch' is more fitting to certain regions of the country than others. Originally it had a Spanish derivation as I recall. Therefore, it would have originated in Old Mexico or in the southwest US or California likely. I would argue that anything east of the Missisippi couldn't begin to qualify as a ranch. I also think it's got to be tens of thousands of acres to be serious.

 

[WTA]

Here is near Lubbock, Texas. Hot and dry Lubbock. I tried to tell my wife it's a farm but she calls it a ranch. If I had known that was a spanish term I would have really put my foot down about it.

Someone once told me the definition of a farm is when your tractor payment is bigger than your car payment.

On a large farm it's bigger than your house payment.

On a corporate farm then you are rich anyway and everyone else owes you money.

 

[RedRocker]

Got no critters, got no crops, do have 17 acres and call it a ranch cause
calling it the little place out in the country is kinda cumbersome. I know it's
not a ranch or a farm in real life, but it's mine and I can call it anything I want.