Ranches

A ranch (from Spanish: rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Western Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers, cattlemen, or stockgrowers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as horses, elk, American bison, ostrich, emu, and alpaca.

A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate.

Ventura Farms, formally known as Deerwood Stock Farm and Kentucky Park Farms, is a historic estate that is located in the Hidden Valley near Thousand Oaks, California. Known for being a film location, the 2,200-acre (890 ha) ranch has been featured in a number of Western films and is still used for filming. Historically recognized for breeding thoroughbred horses, the ranch is situated at the east end of Lake Sherwood near the entrance to the Hidden Valley.

Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area.

An estancia or estância is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias are located in the southern South American grasslands of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia, while the pampas, have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Puerto Rico, an estancia was a farm growing frutos menores; that is, crops for local sale and consumption, the equivalent of a truck farm in the United States. In Chile and Argentina, they are large rural complexes with similarities to what in the United States is called a ranch.

A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agrotourism.

The African Wildlife Defence Force (AWDF), Kikosi cha ulinzi ya wanyama pori barani Afrika (Swahili), is a private park ranger and anti-poaching organization based in Dungu, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. AWDF uses direct action tactics to protect wildlife and rainforests. The organization was founded in 2012 by Congolese-Belgian philanthropist Jean Kiala-Inkisi. It is proposed as an alternative to regular park ranger organizations who struggle with corruption, and seeks to eliminate the increasing levels of violence which poachers face.

The Sánchez Navarro ranch (1765–1866) in Mexico was the largest privately owned estate or latifundio in Latin America. At its maximum extent, the Sánchez Navarro family owned more than 67,000 square kilometres (16,500,000 acres) of land, an area almost as large as the Republic of Ireland and larger than the American state of West Virginia. The Sánchez Navarro latifundio was more than five times the size of the largest ranch, the XIT, in the United States and extended 350 kilometres (220 miles) from north to south. The latifundio was located in the Chihuahuan Desert, mostly in Coahuila, but also in Nuevo Leon, Durango, and Zacatecas.

The Flying H Ranch, near Roswell, New Mexico, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The listing included 10 contributing buildings on four discontinuous areas.

The Ervin Homestead-Gist Bottom Historic District is a historic district in the Missouri Breaks area of Blaine County, Montana which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.