The Pros And Cons Of Open Range Ranching

Open-range ranching is where the cattle were branded and able to roam around freely and eat as much as they wanted. When the ranchers decided that they were healthy enough the cattle would be killed or sold for food, clothing, or other materials in order to make money for the rancher (Carnes and Garraty 388). It all began when the cattleman found out that Texas stock would not die throughout the winter and there was a great amount of food and land for the animals to live off of (Carnes and Garraty 388). To make this possible they needed a source of water nearby and by having that available gave the cattleman more control over their land. As a result, the stock was able to grow more abundantly over time. There were many pros that made it a success. The soil stayed fertile and the food for the cattle renewed and the idea of open ranching became more popular (Carnes and Garraty 389). As time went by the want and need for meat grew and the cost of transportation decreased enabling more profit to be made.

This started the downfall of open-range ranching. It allowed people to commit fraudulent acts in order to obtain land and soon enough this led to another problem (Carnes and Garraty 391). It became too crowded due to the fact that many people were ranching on untitled land (Carnes and Garraty 391). With so many people doing the same thing the cost and want of cattle decreased. Barbed wire fences were put in place to allow people to regain control of their land (Carnes and Garraty 391). This brought the ranchers to a huge disagreement over the land and the fences negatively affected their profit and cattle. The animals were restricted by the barbed wire fences during droughts and blizzards not allowing them to roam around freely as they previously did (Carnes and Garraty 391). Disabling the cattle from scouring for food and water caused many of the animals to die. Before long open-range ranching soon came to an