what is the difference in a name. Farm VS Ranch.

[Country Living Farm]

We are moving and I am remaning the farm. So what is the difference between naming a place a farm or a ranch?

 

[mom'sfolly]

Ranch to me is lots of acres and critters. A farm is mixed critters and crops and is smaller. Ranches are not for crops, unless it is hay for ranch use. JMHO

 

[Illia]

Ranches are HUGE places, often with or without crops, doesn't matter - But they're usually very large and hold a lot of livestock, such as cattle, yaks, bison, horses, etc.

Farms can be large too, but focus more on vegetables, poultry, pork, etc. They aren't so "open range" and often aren't as focused on livestock.

I call my place a farm, because it is on about 5 acres, half of which is pasture, but only for chickens and goats. The rest of the place is greenhouses, crops, and other gardens. And houses/buildings of course.

 

[Dunkopf]

Ranches have Cowboys.

 

[turney31]

The last ranch I worked on was 13,000 acres. Now thats a ranch! I think the difference is what you use the land for, predominately. Few cows, gardens, small livestock, row crops, farm.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Farm= vegetable/poultry/small livestock focus

Ranch= hay/large livestock focus

The size of the land doesn't really matter, it is the focus of the land that is the differentiating factor.

You never see a broccoli or carrot ranch. Maybe dipped in ranch, but that's different

 

[groaners]

Ranch= typically LARGE scale livestock operation, cattle or sheep, horses, etc. on rangeland. If crops are raised for more than "personal use" it's almost always feed for the livestock. Ranches are self-sustaining and often have pastures also harvested for hay...

Farm= typically smaller with greater variety of livestock in smaller numbers, often also with crops as well, orchards, etc.
Farms tend to focus more on animal husbandry (for example, for calving--ranch cattle give birth on the range, while on farms regardless of size they're typically in birthing areas and monitered more, intervention is much more likely to occur. This doesn't mean that range cattle aren't given the same quality of care.)

Neither definitions are exact

In some regions it's a "farm" regardless of size and what is being raised, while in other's it's a "ranch".

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

A ranch runs cattle and grows crops to sustain the cattle. It may have a garden to sustain the ranchers family.
A farm raises crops for it's use as well as sell to the community.

If you're not raising cattle then you live on a farm

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Sorry, but bison and yaks fit in there too.

 

[Wild Trapper]

Quote:
If it is a farm now, just give it a new name and consider it a farm, If ranch..... I call mine a farmette.

The main focus here is farm crops, but I also have chickens and a pig.