Farmer or Rancher?

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Farmhand

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Just curious. Do you consider yourself a farmer or a rancher? How would you define each?
 
Farmhand":3kxkx3un said:
Just curious. Do you consider yourself a farmer or a rancher? How would you define each?

Farmer

Ranchers can't get close to their animals!.... :lol:
 
Farmhand":1iwrq99j said:
Just curious. Do you consider yourself a farmer or a rancher? How would you define each?

Rancher

My dad always said a rancher was someone that utilized livestock themselves to harvest a crop/ or forage..rather than hauling the feed in to the cows..

My cows almost never see the homeplace ..or corrals ..we try and make them get as much of their own feed as possible..
 
How bout' a livestock engineer, I know I'm row crop challenged. The only thing we grow that some folks call farming is hay.... :lol:
 
depends on where i am at!!
here in az i think i am a farmer!!
when i am at my place in ok i think i am a rancher!

does that make me a farmcher?????? :D
 
Rancher. We don't farm anything but hay and to me that doesn't qualify somebody for being a farmer. It's funny how terminology changes. When I was growing up you would normally wouldn't call places that were less than one or two sections anything but farms – even if there weren't any crops on them. Now people call just about anything a ranch. Part of that would depend on the area you're in. But in this area the words have changed.

Craig-TX
 
I remember a new guy once at work who said he grew up on a ranch in Utah. I thought, 'I like this guy already', after a couple weeks I found out his dad's ranch was 5 acres and 2 horses. For some reason I felt betrayed and never cared for the guy much after that.
 
Well I guess it would depend on who you ask. I raise cattle, wheat, milo, soybeans, rice, hogs....etc. About the only thing I don't do much of is sleep.
 
The ranch farm thing is I think more of a regional difference. NeoSho Farms runs/ran multiple 100 head of registered Red Angus cows in at least 2 states and I think three, the corners of AR, OK and MO. They seem to call themselves aternatly a ranch or a farm.

dun
 
Now to add to the story. I am interested in where any of you would feel I fit in. When I think of "farmer" I think of livestock and crops but the crops are mainly grown to be sold, not just to feed their livestock. When I think of "rancher" I think of livestock and crops but the crops are mainly grown to feed to their livestock. Also I think of smaller acres for farmers and larger acres for ranchers. I have searched for definitions of these terms but have not found anything for the number of acres needed for either of these.

So here is my situation. We have 160 acres and access to another 160 acres for 320 acres total. The only crops we have are fed to our livestock. Our livestock consists mainly of about 100 head of cattle with about a 40 head cow/calf operation. The rest we finish out in a feedlot. We also have about a 80 sow farrow to finish hog operation. The cattle are my first love. We also have the typical dogs and cats but I also have a handful of ducks and quineas(more pets than anything). I have been teasing my husband by calling our place Tin Can Ranch (another story) but am curious if it should be Tin Can Farm instead. Like how Tin Can Ranch sounds better. :D Don't know that we qualify as farmers because we don't sell any crops. Don't know that we qualify as ranchers because of our size. What are your opinions?
 
Years ago I was sitting in a urban cowboy bar with a friend of mine from Montana. He was raised on a 800 cow ranch around Deer Lodge. He was wearing a business suit and didn't look at all like a cowboy. Along came a urban cowboy type who I knew and sat down with us. The urban cowboy starts telling us stories about "the ranch" this and "the ranch" that.
After a while the Montana cowboy asked him just how big is your ranch? The urban cowboy replied 7 acres.
With a straight face the Montana cowboy said, "calving must be a b*tch". That comment went right over the urban cowboys head. I don't think he understood why I was rolling on the floor either.
To me if you need (key word need) to use a horse to gather your cattle you probably have a ranch. If you can easily walk across your pasture in less than 15 minutes you probably have a farm. That leaves a lot of grey area in between that could go either way. My place is in that grey area.
Dave
 
Farmhand, I'd say to call yourself what YOU want to call yourself , and have not the least bit of concern about what others call you or think you should call yourself! ;-) (yeah, I know that's a lot of "yourself" but what the hell)
 
Farmhand":3klf3wul said:
Just curious. Do you consider yourself a farmer or a rancher? How would you define each?

Haven't thought much about it but when I talk to someone I talk about working on the farm, getting something for the farm. Sometimes I just call it " the place ", as in this place is wearing me out!

;-)
 
TLCfromARK":10w671pf said:
Farmhand":10w671pf said:
Just curious. Do you consider yourself a farmer or a rancher? How would you define each?

Haven't thought much about it but when I talk to someone I talk about working on the farm, getting something for the farm. Sometimes I just call it " the place ", as in this place is wearing me out!

;-)

I think there is also something tax wise that makes a difference if you are a farm or a ranch. :cboy:
 
TLCfromARK":xz8zca5o said:
Farmhand":xz8zca5o said:
Just curious. Do you consider yourself a farmer or a rancher? How would you define each?

Haven't thought much about it but when I talk to someone I talk about working on the farm, getting something for the farm. Sometimes I just call it " the place ", as in this place is wearing me out!

;-)

Pretty well put :D
 
INO anything less than 500 acres would be a farm anything more would be a ranch. We are ranchers.
 

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