Ranch

In fiction, it is used as exoticism and has semantic variations: in Latin America, a ranch is a large area latifundia , the center of which is a manor’s house — hacienda , in Portuguese-speaking countries — hacienda . In the USA and Canada, a ranch usually means any farm located in a rural area. One way or another, the main economic specialization of the ranch is cattle breeding , first of all cattle . This ranch is different from plantations , the main specialization of which is crop production ( bananas , sugar cane , cotton , etc.).

In contrast to land plots that are densely populated and smaller in Europe, ranches are much larger. The first ranches were founded in the Spanish colonies in the New World by immigrants from Spain who occupied empty lands or pushed the Indians away from them. The Spaniards brought cows, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, etc. to the new world. In the center (not necessarily geographically) of the ranch, there is the master's house or house , next to it there is a pond and other agricultural buildings (pens, stables, etc.).

When free time was given out on the ranches of cowboys , they entertained themselves with all sorts of "funny" competitions: whose horse works better with a cow, who sits longer on a wild bull or a mustang, who quickly barracks a lasso cow, etc. , found established rules, overgrown with traditions and peculiarities of training horses and riders. From the middle of the 20th century, official cowboy competitions were held in the USA, and western sport appeared .

• The corral is called “coral” ( corral ).
• The rancher is called the patron , working on the ranch - peons (semi-dependent peasants ).
• Livestock ranchers are called vacuero (Mexico) (from the word “waka” - cow ), in Argentina - gaucho , in the USA and Canada - cowboys (husband) and cow (wife).
• In the United States, up to 1865, many ranches also used the work of slaves- Negroes imported from Africa (see Slavery in the USA ), especially in areas of mixed agricultural specialization (for example, Texas and especially East Texas ). After the liberation of the slaves, a special subculture was formed here - “Black Cowboys”.
• In Mexico, on the basis of the ranch, a special culture and folk music of Norteño has taken shape , the version of which in the USA was called country .

• Station (cattle breeding)
• Cattle farm
• Prairie
• Free grazing
• Campos
• Llanos
• Pampas
• Wild West
• Kaatinga
• Western (equestrian)

• Cattle Ranges of the Southwest // The Portal to Texas History (eng.)
• Western Watersheds Project (English)

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