Ranching is the grazing of livestock over grasslands where animals may roam or feed; cattle ranching is the dominant range industry in the US. Ranching is associated with the sparsely populated West and Midwestern Plains states. Old World cultural stock practices were adapted to diverse environments to create Texan, Californian and Midwestern ranching practices. Modern ranches in these regions continue to accommodate constantly changing politics, technologies and markets.

Westward expansion introduced ranching as a frontier pursuit on the western fringe of settlement, displacing the native buffalo with beef cattle. The range cattle industry grew when post-Civil War cattle drives moved huge herds of untended cattle from Texas to railheads and markets. English breeds of cattle were introduced to the East and Midwest, and industrialization and eastern urbanization led to increased market demand for cornfed beef. Refrigerated transport facilities, industrialized meatpacking plants, and large feedyards enabled stockmen to respond to increased beef demand. While ranching was less affected by government intervention than farming, governmental influence in agricultural policy encouraged the larger, specialized, high-output land tract over the smaller, diversified family farm.

Native ranchers, those with work experience and background in livestock, share their trade with many outside investors though the economic gain is limited. The attraction for many outside capital investors continues to be an American fascination with the prestige and mythology surrounding the Romantic West, the American cowboy, and land ownership. Ranching encapsulates deeply American values embracing individualism, independence, freedom, and open space. The cowboy ranch-hand’s dress continues to influence fashion and marketing trends. Suburban sprawl and “ranchettes,” small tracts primarily used for hobby ranching or status leisure retreats, actually threaten ranching cultures as land prices are driven above cattle business profits.

Corporatization of agriculture brought change to agribusiness in the 1970s. Vertical integration in animal production, confined growing from birth to finish, is not conducive to cattle-growing as it has been for swine and poultry production. Therefore, the rancher continues to supply cows grown on range grasses to the huge feeder and packer facilities.

Industrial scales of efficiency presently inhibit specialized beef production such as highly marbled, organic, grass-fed or hormone-free beef, though there is increasing consumer interest. Cattle producers are forming cooperatives to purchase interests in these facilities to increase their control over beef marketing and pricing.

Land-use controversies are of growing concern to ranchers as development encroaches on agricultural land and outside interests affect formerly local politics. Private landowners are affected by rural zoning and environmental and wildlife legislation.

Volatile disputes surrounding some ranchers who maintain grazing contracts with the federal government have brought widespread attention to public domain land use. As cattle grazing produces beef utilizing large land tracts while inhibiting many forms of development, controversies will likely increase.