Is a farm and ranch the same thing?

Answer 1

Not really. Farms can be the same size as ranches but are more directed to grow cash crops than animals, though farms can be either or both. Farms are also known to raise more than one type of animal, or intensively raise stock like finisher cattle, pigs, and farm fowl. Ranches are a more extensive means of raising livestock, primarily cattle and/or horses, with all crops and land being used to raise/feed animals, unlike with most farms. Ranches are usually found in the western parts of Canada and the United states. Farms can be found almost anywhere in the world.

However, it's interesting to note that anyone can call their farm or ranch a farm or ranch, no matter what size it is. It is a common belief that a ranch has to be a piece of land that is over 1000 acres in size and raises only cattle and horses with limited crop growth and focus only on pasture and range production. This, in today's world, isn't necessarily true. There are ranches that raise sheep, goats, bison, elk, deer and even creepy-crawly creatures like worms and crickets and such. A person can call their place a ranch even if it's only 10 acres in size and qualifies as a "hobby farm." And, a ranch can still be a ranch even when there's extensive crop production that is used only for feeding the animals in the winter or with the feedlot operation that coincides with the whole ranch business. Ranches, though, are mostly centered around those extensive animal breeding/production systems in North America, Central America and South America.

A farm, on the other hand, is more well-known to be an operation that often focuses on plant production, from trees to crops to even flowers. It can be either a monoculture or a multi-culture of crops. It can also have animals, but it doesn't have to. And, in today's world, a farm is one that is, if it does contain animals, associated with the intensive feeding/raising operations of livestock, like that of dairy farms, poultry farms, pig farms and feedlots.