Ranching

Ranching, breeding and raising usually of cattle or sheep on large tracts of land; in California also the name for farms smaller than 10 acres. Ranches, called stations in Australia, exist throughout the world. Land boundaries for U.S. ranches in the West were established in the mid 1800s. Cowboys (sometimes cowhands or cowpunchers), brand young animals with the farm insignia, oversee grazing cattle, and round up and lead animals in a cattle drive to market. Sheep ranchers harvest sheered wool from sheep as well as manage the herds. Today, in addition to horses, ranchers use trucks, jeeps, and sometimes helicopters to increase production.