Ranches for Sale: A Brief History of American Ranching

Throughout human history there has been one constant in the need to eat. Eating requires the use of food, which can come in many forms such as crops like grains, fruits and vegetables, or in the form of animals. Farming animals is commonly referred to in North America as ranching, and a ranch is a piece of land purchased and owned by the rancher within which the animals grow. United Country is passionate about the real estate of ranching, and offers a wide variety of ranches for sale across America, keeping the industry of an important and historical piece of America alive.

The Evolution of Ranching

Ranching had humble origins within the Iberian Peninsula, a tradition commonly practiced within Spain to handle a large herd of animals. Spanish nobility often received large land grants to defend their land and create revenue, and the ranching of sheep and cattle was an efficient way to make a lot of money in larger plots of land.

Following the settling of the Americas, many Spanish ranchers moved or expanded their ranching businesses to Mexico and the modern western States. As British and French settlers moved into the western lands they began to adopt the farming techniques of the Spanish and began a large and lucrative part of the American dream, with many people following the Oregon Trail to make their money via ranching.

These lands were, and are, well suited for this type of open range farming to allow a multitude of animals, including the commonplace sheep and cattle, and even more uncommon animals such as bison, alpaca, elk and, especially overseas, large birds like ostriches and emus.

Following the declaration of war starting the American Revolution of 1776, ranching was even used in attempts to drive cattle to safety away from the battlegrounds and ensure that people were still able to be fed in times of need.

In the time after independence was won, the ranching industry continued to expand across America and even into Hawaii, which continued throughout the settlement of Texas and the American civil war, with ranching overly dominating the Western economy. This grew a demand for more crops to feed the livestock, as well as the humans, and farms and ranches grew on the frontier alongside one another, with the industry even being large in the necessity of the invention of barbed wire to keep out intruders.

Even as the open range years of America drew to an end, ranching continued as the necessity for food was still vital for the growth of the large country, with severe winters and even the great depression being helped, in part, due to the hard work of ranches across the states.

And in the present, in a time of mass production, the demand for luxury, high-end foods that promote ethical agricultural practice is popular in support of animal rights, and a ranch that grows healthy animals in a natural and old-fashioned way is becoming increasingly popular throughout America and the rest of the world, and as the ranching business continues to strive forward the demand for the real estate of ranches will continue, and if you have a vested interest in the industry then it may be worth investing into a ranch of your own.