This is something I've wondered for a long time and I know you all in your infinite wisdom can set me straight. What is the difference between a farm and a ranch? I've always thought of a farm as being in the eastern part of the US and a ranch in the western part. Are there other differences?

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 27, 2000

Answers

Around these parts, Texas, a farm is a few acres to a couple thousand acres where crops are cultivated and a ranch is generally 3,000 or more acres (many ranches in Texas are a couple hundred thousand acres) where livestock like cattle or sheep or horses or, usually a combination, is raised as a product.

-- Shooter (jcole@apha.com), October 27, 2000.

Generally is the West (don't know about the East) it depends upon the primary activity. If you grow crops, it's a farm; if the primary activity is raising cattle (livestock), it a ranch.

-- JLS (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), October 27, 2000.

That's what I said.

-- Shooter (jcole@apha.com), October 27, 2000.

Interesting, but in these parts, KY. I have never heard anyone call their farm a ranch even if all they raise are livestock. It sounds to me like "ranch" is more of a western thing??????

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 27, 2000.

i also believe ranch is a western term,i do not think anyone around here calls their place a ranch.i am in maryland.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), October 27, 2000.

I believe ranch came from the Spanish "rancho", which means "farm". As in the previous posts, somewhere along the line, in the West, farm came to mean crops and ranch to mean livestock. In the east, where the Spanish influence was slight, ranch never "took hold". That's what I think is how it happened. I think you are free to call your landholding anything you want to call it! ;-)

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), October 27, 2000.

Joy, I agree, we can call our piece of terra firma anything we want. I was just curious what the difference was between ranch and farm. I'm not trying to convince anyone to change what they call their homestead, farm, ranch or as in my sister's case, their shangrala!

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 27, 2000.

You are talking about me, my ears are ringing! Yeah, Yeah, we are different and we like it. I worked out west for years on horse ranches, and Steve loves horses. Our big ranchhouse has wood floors like a ranch house, decorated cowboy and indian everywhere. Slamming screen doors, raw wood boxes for furniture, ropes, spurs, harnesses and boots for knick-knacks. We painted the whole place Red Rock, my floors are painted Saddle Brown and my walls Canvas Brown. Next comes the big hanging sign over the gate enterance! We DO raise livestock and not crops though, if that counts. We are more of a ranch than a farm. We don't wear our overalls everyday, and we don't sit down at the BP every morning drinking coffee!! he he he

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), October 27, 2000.

I know of two "ranchers" here in N. AL. What they both said is the difference is the size, anything over 1500 acres can be called a ranch.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 27, 2000.

Never had anyone call their place a ranch growing up, but then noone had 1500 acres. 200 acres was a big farm back east,at that time. But The land is more fertile and productive and more watered!!! So 200 acres here is like 2000 in the semi arid West. Something that backeasters don't always realize when they retire & move out west, from a few acre lot onto their forty acre "spread" and think they are in hog heaven, til they start looking for that water.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), October 28, 2000.

I did not mean to start a war over east versus west! But while we are on the subject, since western land is less fertile and dryer, is it cheaper than land in the east? Of course, land in the east varies according to location. Here in central Ky. where I live, not including the horse farm land around Lexington, land sells for anywhere to $1000 an acre to 10 or 20 thousand an acre, depending on how close it is to Louisville or Lexington or other fairly large metropolitan area. We bought ours for about $600 an acre 7 years ago but that is hard to find now.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 28, 2000.

bwilliams, we had to sell an ac. 2 years ago to help pay some bills off, we sold it for 45 thousand ,now that was for residental not ag.it had a well. we paid 120 thousand for 6 ac. and a house{that was a real deal!}i think ag. land is going for 15-25 thousand for nothing but land{no well or building rights} i live in maryland right below pa.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), October 28, 2000.

Phew! Renee, I'm glad I don't live where you live. Of course, your salaries are probably comparatively higher there too. Prime horse farm land here is extremely high but if you get out a ways I guess it is pretty reasonable, although it is going up in cost. I'm still curious what land "out west" sells for, anyone????

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 28, 2000.

Right now in my neighborhood, 5-7 acre lots with power, septic and water access and building site are going $10,000.-12,000. an acre. Black dirt prairie with standing timber. There is a thirty acre parcel down the road, same amenities, plus a livable shack for $9,000. an acre.

The nice thing about here is that all your land is usable all year 'round.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), October 28, 2000.

I live in W. Washington State, northeast of Seattle by something like 50 miles. Two years ago, a one acre LOT about a mile from us sold for $110k. It had water, power and septic. No buildings. It would be around 10% higher now. Okay, I just read that Microsoft has spawned 10,000 millionaires around here (!!!!) so yeah, maybe the income level is higher, but judging from what I have read on this forum it sounds pretty high! I have no clue what other areas are, except for Silicon Valley, which is so astronomical that it's unreal. Oh....in Eastern Washington, you can still get some reasonable deals, although I think I have lost my perspective totally, and no longer understand the concept! I am very grateful that we are almost paid off here...

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 28, 2000.

Bwilliams -I'm in eastern Ky and land here is abt 1000 an acre or more,up from abt 250 to 500 just 5 years ago when we bought our farm. we knew that was coming ,from checking other areas in other states, and bought while the price was still reasonable.Back home in PA it's like renee reported.

Out west we had looked in Colorado in the mountains just west of the semi arid plains and it was 1000 an acre 5 years ago, so no the price is not necessarily less. Which is why we live in KY. I like to have water and trees around me, not wonderful views and 6 feet of snow.Hard to eat either.I still have nice views. No offence to you westerners!Nice place to visit but I did'nt want to live there.Admire you perserverence!

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), October 29, 2000.

Here in the Flint hills of Ks. We call land that is being farmed with crop land, a farm & land that is grass land that is used for cattle is a ranch. Doesn't matter the size. As some ranches in these flint hills are several thousand acres of grass land. And down in the river bottom is great farming, we call farm land & a farm. So we are farmers or ranchers here! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), October 29, 2000.

Around here, no matter how big or small, it's called a farm, folks would laugh and think you uppity if you called your place a ranch! We bought property here 6 years ago, after determining that it was just about the cheapest place in the continental US to buy land, can be as cheap as 300-400 an acre, cheaper the more you buy. We bought 104 acres, nice old farmhouse, big bank barn, 3 large outbuildings, half pasture with fencing, the other half hardwood forest (not timbered in over 25 years) with lots of wild cherry and oak, on a dirt road with no visible neighboors, 83,900 in 1994. Prices have gone up about 25% since then, but you can still find a decent house with a barn and some pasture for under 50,000. We used United National (now United Country) to find this place, we studied property for 3 years all over the country before buying here. Bargains can be had here, one sign of that is that more and more Amish are moving here, they no longer can afford Middlefield and Sugarcreek, we're happy to see them come! Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 01, 2000.

Hi there, DUnno about the rest of the world, but in Florida, one has either a cattle RANCH or a horse FARM. Acerage is not a factor. If one raised both, it'd be a ranch. Strange, huh?

-- K-K-K-Katie (yarnspinnerkt@hotmail.com), November 01, 2000.

Its a farm if its east of the mississippi, ranch if west -:)

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), November 02, 2000.

As is plain to see, acreage has very little to do with the name. Nowadays, has to do with your livlihood and how you were raised AND what the appraisal district will allow. Easterners and S. Easterners change their ways when they move to Texas, as is necessary for survival. As for the price, "location, location, location". In Texas, the price is for water and proximity to sprawling development/city benefits one may actually need (hostpitals, etc.) or wish to have (bus routes, live theatre, etc). It's the same everywhere but, in Texas, there are many more miles between some of these benefits. The developers that have swooped down on us (ranch and farming families are still forced into selling their land for various reasons) from the east and west (where the controls got too tight against careless development) have finally wised up and add $K's/acre for established trees. Of course, they still run a bulldozer too close and the trees die withiin 10 years, anyway. We just did search and it all still ranges from less than $1K-to over $100K per acre--as in California and Washington. Yes, Texas is still big but thanks to those "foreign" developers that know nothing about the native climates and ecosystems, the same mistakes are being made here that were made in California and Florida--too many people for the water supply. Greed also driving the property value AND TAXES beyond reason. The taxes on our acreage, overgrazed agricultural land (no longer able to support agriculture) went up 300 percent in one year... Sorry for the venting.

-- Bluebonnet (Zumende@aol.com), November 03, 2000.