Ranching
the business of cattlebreeding as pursued on a large scale in the unsettled districts of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific coasts, and from the Bad Lands of the Upper Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico.
The name is derived from the Spanish rancho, properly "mess" or "mess room,' but used in Mexico also for a herdsman's hut, and finally for a grazing farm, as distinguished from a hacienda, a plantation or cultivated farm. The specialty of ranching is that the cattle are raised and kept in a half-wild condition, with little or no house shelter provided and no artificial feeding.
Large fortunes were made in the wild old days, but the gradual settlement of the ranching country has seriously embarrassed the business of the ranchman.
The great events of the ranchman's year are the "round-up when stock is taken, the cattle are branded, and such full grown cattle gathered into a herd as are suitable for market; and the departure of the herds for market or porttimes of hard work and severe strain for all concerned.