Explain how cattle ranching shifted from open range to an organized business operation?

Answer 1

There are a lot of variables and factors that came about that made ranching go from open-range to a business operation:

1. Completion of the railroad in c. 1865
2. Increased popularity and use of barbed wire from 1870 onwards which helped define property lines more often
3. Great Winter of 1887-88 which killed thousands of cattle due to lack of winter feed and overgrazed rangeland
4. Ranchers learned a hard lesson from that winter to put up feed for their livestock to avoid this same disaster again.
5. Feral cattle population decreased to almost the point of extinction as most were sent east to be slaughtered
6. Introduction of European and British breeds to the American cattle population which increased variety and choice of the breeds to raise on ranches and farms
7. Great War (World War 1) increased demand in beef from the states (and Canada) causing ranchers to buy more cattle to raise on their land and to sell to market.
8. Dirty 30's (1930 to 1939) which seen the crash of the Stock Market and major dust storms across the American plains, primarily from both intense overgrazing of native prairie grasslands by horses and cattle and turning over the prairie for crop production--all practices lead to extensive soil degradation and erosion.
9. United States government officials (finally!) started realizing some form of range management needed to be done to minimize and reduce overgrazing of rangelands; practices needed to be studied and critiqued in order to help native prairie and rangelands grow back to the way they were when the bison once roamed the plains. Studies on stocking rates, overgrazing, carrying capacity and over-all range management were done in the 1940s, and these reports were circulated by the government to all farms and ranches in order to teach the owners about proper grazing management.
10. Ranchers, learning from scientific studies done on rangeland management started to incorporate these practices to their land, and also learned that having a lot of grass didn't necessarily mean they had to put a lot of cattle on. Thus planning and organization was key to grazing their pastures and range properly.
11. Demand for beef skyrocketed as World War 2 came into effect, but ranchers, learning from the past, knew to not stock as many cattle on their range land as before. But, in order to meet this demand a large number of cattle needed to be fed, and thus grain-feeding in feedlots came into effect in order to meet this high demand. Since all farmers answered to the call for more grain to be shipped overseas, they produced a lot of grain, but there came to be a point where too much was produced, thus in order to not waste this grain, it was fed to livestock.
12. More breeds were imported after the war, especially since the British breeds (like Hereford and Angus) could not grow large enough nor have a large enough carcass without having to trim off all that fat to be processed for beef. Thus European breeds like Limousin, Charolais, Gelbvieh and Maine Anjou made their way into the market to meet this demand.
13. More research was done on raising cattle for profitability, teaching more ranchers and farmers about making raising cattle into a business.
14. Animal husbandry practices were adopted and forced into play when the Humane Societies began to form and increase in popularity and size, which forced and lead producers to treat animals with more respect and treat them as living beings, not as inanimate objects that were not sensitive to any pain or abuse that was done to them.
15. As the horse was replaced by the tractor and other machinery, and less ranchers used the horse as a means to sort and treat cattle, handling facilities were adopted and put into use to handle cattle safely and more efficiently by less people. Temple Grandin improved upon these facilities for more humane and calmer means of handling livestock, to increase safety for both humans and animals.

Essentially we can say that cattle ranching really started to become an organized business operation when the barbed wire fence was introduced and ranchers started to use this fencing to prevent any wandering cattle from getting in with their animals, especially since purebreeding and the creation of certain breeds began in the early 1900's in the USA and Canada. And the barbed wire fence also guarded roving livestock from eating the crops (both hay and grain), which were needed for both human consumption and animal feed. As ranchers and farmers learned more about responsibly raising their animals as time went on, from learning the hard way to starting to open themselves up to the various new methods that were coming out for better management, safer handling and healthier animals.