farm or ranch

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Lazy M

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How do you refer to your operation? I was talking to a buddy from Kansas, and I said that I was a part time farmer. He asked if I was growing corn or beans. I said just cattle and hay. He claims that I'm not a farmer, but a rancher. If I told someone around here that I was a rancher they'd look at me funny.
This must just be a regional thing, but I'm curious if you consider yourself a farmer or rancher, and how do you define the difference?
 
People would think you were playing cowboy here if you said you owned a ranch. We only have farms, and farmers.
 
Cattle only rancher
Crops only farmer
Cattle and crops rancher -farmer
Cattle and hay rancher
Pigs-chickens-turkeys goats-sheep rancher
Kids - monkey rancher :cboy:
 
When we ran under range conditons it was ranching. Now under pasture conditions is farming.
 
Farmer- from where I'm from anybody that calls them self a rancher is just trying to impress someone. we do have a couple of ranches around they are pretty big.

IMO you don't qualify for rancher until you have 500hd , Just My 2cents
 
"perhaps" in my area, if someone derived all of their income from cattle, they could refer to themselves as a rancher. People would still think they were showing out, as we say here.
 
As others have said, it's always been my understanding that ranch refers to a fairly large operation.

And if you really think about it, we're all farmers. Grass is our crop; we're just using cattle to harvest it.
 
Around here raising any kind of livestock you would be called a Rancher.
Raising crops you would be called a Farmer.

Since I have been here on CT I have picked up using the terminology of "Farmer" more. However if I referred to someone (as well as myself) here in public as a "Farmer", it would be assumed that they grew crops. Not livestock.
I am considered to have a "small ranch".
 
You should see the looks I get in Austin when I tell people I'm a " grass farmer!"
Some want to call 911 and some want to know if they can get a quarter pound...;)
 
Rafter S":28x8bjzw said:
As others have said, it's always been my understanding that ranch refers to a fairly large operation.

And if you really think about it, we're all farmers. Grass is our crop; we're just using cattle to harvest it.

Someone made that statement on here once, and it changed how I do business. I've made grass my focus.
 
Kingfisher":370wk5wb said:
You should see the looks I get in Austin when I tell people I'm a " grass farmer!"
Some want to call 911 and some want to know if they can get a quarter pound...;)

I imagine most of them want the quarter pound. My son went to UT, and had fairly long curly hair when he started. One time when he came home he had cut it real short. When I asked him why he said he was tired of people asking him where they could buy weed.
 
branguscowgirl":32oq8p71 said:
Around here raising any kind of livestock you would be called a Rancher.
Raising crops you would be called a Farmer.

Since I have been here on CT I have picked up using the terminology of "Farmer" more. However if I referred to someone (as well as myself) here in public as a "Farmer", it would be assumed that they grew crops. Not livestock.
I am considered to have a "small ranch".

^^^^^^This^^^^^^^ Let me ask: What do you all of you put as your "occupation" on your IRS paperwork? Since I started at age 18 I have always used "self-employed rancher"

I'm no farmer and don't claim to be one. Can't remember the last time I hooked a tractor on to a tillage or planting implement. I do remember the last time I used the combine was in 1986. Sold alfalfa seed that fall for $1/lb.

I guess techically since I own no cattle anymore I'm no longer a rancher. I put up hay in the summer and that's it. Maybe that does make me a farmer, but I've never felt the "farmer" thing fit me. I do wear a ball cap, not felt or straw if that makes any diference. I've never owned a 4 legged horse either :p :p :p

Very few people are or would consider themselves "farmers" here. I give my neighbor who rents my pasture guff about being a farmer and he should get himself a pair of bib overalls. He weans all of his heifers in the fall and sells them after the first of the year. Feeds them in a lot all winter with a TMR mixer, but the heifers do have room to run out. He kept the best and sold the rest recently to make space for calving his 2 yr old heifers ahead of the cows. Usually keeps 50 -70 replacements each year.
 
When I hear ranch I always think of the west. There are a few places around here that are called a ranch but they are mostly owned by people who made a lot of money doing something else then bought land and cows. When I think of a ranch I think about someone out west pulling up on a high hill and saying "I own everything you can see." I was on a place like that out in west Texas once, 14,000 acres. I asked how many cattle they could run and he 250. It was still a ranch to me. I think it's land size more than anything.
 
We have all kinds of "Farmers" here. Rice farmers, hay farmers, soy bean farmers, potato farmers. Most do not own livestock. People here would not understand if I called myself "a Farmer".

As far as "size" being a determining factor for a "Ranch", much smaller here. More about what you raise.
 
In the actual meaning of the words, farm generally means crops and vegetables and ranch means animals. But most have just come to use the term farm for most ag related things.

I grow grain, grass and animals. So I guess I'm a framcher
 
Bigfoot":2ptrohbf said:
Rafter S":2ptrohbf said:
As others have said, it's always been my understanding that ranch refers to a fairly large operation.

And if you really think about it, we're all farmers. Grass is our crop; we're just using cattle to harvest it.

Someone made that statement on here once, and it changed how I do business. I've made grass my focus.

X100. Grass is the crop. Cattle are the harvesting machine.

IMO, if I did anything right in my whole life it was to get better water distrubution throughout my entire "ranch". Yes, I will readily admit I did it with help from Uncle Sam through the EQIP program. I had 3 seperate EQIP contracts over a 15 yr time span. I could have done it on my own but would have taken longer without the cost share.

IMO, the trouble with EQIP is it requires a Cadillac system where a Chevy would do fine, and you have to jump through Uncle Sam's hoops. The "environmental" part of the Enviromental Quality Incentives Program required that I plant a shelterbelt to aquire enough points to qualify for the project. While I totally agree more trees are always better, it had otherwise nothing to do with the waterline.

Today my ranch has 15 water tanks spread out so no cow has to go more than 1/4 mile to water. That certainly helps spread out the grazing load, and utilize grazing that cows normally wouldn't touch because it was too far from water. Also helps immensely in drought years where there is some grass, but no surface water.

Treat your grass right, and it will take care of you and your livestock.
 
Deepsouth":jajq4xjz said:
When I hear ranch I always think of the west. There are a few places around here that are called a ranch but they are mostly owned by people who made a lot of money doing something else then bought land and cows. When I think of a ranch I think about someone out west pulling up on a high hill and saying "I own everything you can see." I was on a place like that out in west Texas once, 14,000 acres. I asked how many cattle they could run and he 250. It was still a ranch to me. I think it's land size more than anything.

"Here" you could probably run 250 cattle on 7500 acres year around. Probably have to cull deeper than usual in drought years. The water deal is often a major deciding factor. Anything a farmer/rancher can do to improve water supply/distribution is a good thing. I've done enough water hauling to last me several iifetimes :yuck:
 

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