Still, most operators consider cattle ranching a lifestyle as well as a business. With proper management, ranching is a productive and attractive activity in semiarid environments like the Great Plains.
Kenneth C. Dagel Missouri Western State College. Jordan, Terry. North American Cattle Ranching Frontiers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Schlebecker, John T. Cattle Raising on the Plains — Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, XML: egp. Image credits. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains David J. Wishart, Editor. Today, events such as roping, barrel racing , and bull riding demonstrate those same qualities among professional athlete s.
Dogs are also common on ranches. Several types of dogs have been bred for their herding abilities. Many of these highly intelligent, agile animals are simply called shepherds; Australian shepherd s and German shepherds are probably the most familiar.
Collies and sheepdogs are also used on ranches. Livestock guardian dogs do not herd animals, but are used to protect herds from predators. For example, the Great Pyrenees was bred to protect grazing animals from wolves and other predators native to the Pyrenees mountains in Spain and France.
Ranching Around the World Today, ranches exist on every continent except Antarctica. South America enjoys an enormous ranching culture. The largest beef -producing company in the world is the Brazilian multinational corporation JBS-Friboi.
The South American ranching industry continues to grow. Many South American countries, led by Brazil and Argentina, are rapidly develop ing. The growing middle class has expanded the market for beef. Argentina and Uruguay are the worlds top per capita consumers of beef. In Australia, like the Americas, ranching is a way of life and a strong part of the economy. A typical jackaroo or female jillaroo is a young, seasonal employee. Stations may employ their own veterinarians, mechanics, and engineer s.
Sheep stations are more common than cattle stations in Australia. The difficult, annual process of shearing sheep is a symbol of Australian livestock culture.
A shearing team or company usually moves from ranch to ranch with specialized shearing equipment and machinery. In Africa, most ranches are wildlife ranch es.
Wildlife ranches, also known as game ranch es, maintain healthy populations of species such as rhinoceros , elephant , leopard , and antelope. People pay a fee to hunt these animals on the ranch. Wildlife ranches also appeal to ecotourists. Ecotourism promotes traveling in a way that has minimum environmental impact and benefits local people. Large-scale cattle ranching is rare in Asia but fairly common throughout the islands of the South Pacific.
In the U. Cowboys in Hawaii are called paniolo s. In Europe, few ranches exist outside Spain and Portugal. Most countries in Europe are too small to support ranches. In fact, Australias Anna Creek station is only slightly smaller than the entire nation of Belgium. Ranching and the Environment Ranching is an efficient way to raise livestock to provide meat, dairy products, and raw materials for fabric s. It is a vital part of economies and rural development around the world.
However, the livestock industry has major, disruptive effects on the environment. In South America, ranching has expanded beyond grassland s into rain forest s.
Ranchers clear large swath s of forest in order to create pastureland for their cattle. This clearcutting reduces habitat for native species such as monkeys, tropical birds, and millions of species of insects not found anywhere else in the world. During the past 40 years, about 20 percent of the Amazon rain forest has been cut down, much of it for cattle ranching. Ranches established on former rain forest lands are usually not economically productive.
Cleared rain forest land usually makes poor grazing land. A rain forests biodiversity exists in its above-ground canopy , not the earth beneath. Grasses do not thrive in the thin, nutrient -poor soil. Even outside of the rain forest, many ranching practices have significant effects on the environment. Overgrazing, a threat throughout the Great Plains of the United States and Canada, puts the native tallgrass prairie ecosystem at risk.
This can lead to soil erosion. The loss of valuable topsoil can reduce the agricultural productivity for crops and grazing lands. Poor agricultural practices contributed to the Dust Bowl of the s, which destroyed hundreds of ranches throughout the Great Plains. Compaction of the soil from animal hooves further degrades the land. This is unique to introduced species. Bison, native to the Americas, have small, sharp, pointed hooves.
Their stampeding aerates the soil and actually contributes to the prairie ecosystem. Cattle have heavy, flat hooves that flatten the soil and reduce its ability to absorb water and nutrients. Drylands are especially at risk for overgrazing and reduction in the quality of soil. In fact, ranching can be a key cause of desertification. Livestock ranching also contributes to air and water pollution. Runoff from ranches can include manure , antibiotic s and hormone s given to the animals, as well as fertilizer s and pesticide s.
Chemicals from tanneries that treat animal hide s can also seep into water. Most beef cattle, even those finished on grain, spend most of their lives grazing on grass. Calves are carefully weaned from their mothers at months.
Most cow-calf ranches sell the steer male calves. Most steers go to small grow yards or are turned out on grass for several months before a slow transition to a grain-based diet for finishing. Ranchers choose the best females heifers to keep in their herds to continually improve the quality of their cattle and the beef they produce.
The remaining heifers may be sold to other ranches for breeding purposes or sold off like the steers. Agri Beef purchases a large majority of our cattle for our supply chain at this point in the beef lifecycle. Does this sound like you? Take our free career test to find out if rancher is one of your top career matches. Ranchers typically live on site in a ranch house, and the ranch may include housing for employees and family members as well. You will find a rancher mostly outdoors, herding cattle to and from different pastures, overseeing the maintenance of fences and buildings, and taking care of any sick or injured animals.
Many ranchers use motorized all-terrain vehicles as a primary mode of transportation, with some horses as working animals.
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