I was watching Yellowstone and I have few question.
1. How does ranches work
2. What is their main source of revenue? I don’t see John Dutton selling anything.
3.How a rancher will be the sherif of that place?
4.What motivates the cowboys to work for the ranch owner? Because in the show they say they have low pay.
Thanks in advance ☺️
24 comments
TV is not a good source of information, especially escapist stuff like Yellowstone.
1. Keeping cattle for sale
2. They sell cattle
3. TV is not real life
4. TV is not real life
1-Ranches tend to be for large herds of livestock like bison or cattle
2-They raise, sell, and breed livestock
3-By getting elected
4-Typically its because they were raised in agriculture and do not have the desire to break family tradition
Most ranches deal in livestock. Beef cattle being the most common one related to ‘ranching’. They breed and raise cattle and sell them for meat and other animal products.
>I don’t see John Dutton selling anything.
Its just a TV show. Don’t overthink it.
>3.How a rancher will be the sherif of that place?
A sheriff is usually elected. Thus, in rural areas, its possible the sheriff is a well known and/or respected member of the community.
>4.What motivates the cowboys to work for the ranch owner? Because in the show they say they have low pay.
The pay is low, but for some people its still an opportunity. Its hard work, but it can be rewarding too. Also, it tends to attract a rougher crowd who have less interest in 9-5 corporate jobs.
1. They sell cattle
2. The sale of cattle
3. Sheriff is usually an elected position, so presumably the voters elected him.
4. Low pay is better than no pay.
They murder everyone and get paid for it. Dutton gets like $60,000 every time a character ends up dead.
OK, that is a joke, ranchers make money by selling cattle or whatever other livestock they are keeping.
It isn’t easy, so a lot of ranchers supplement their income by allowing drilling on their land, windmills, they have tours of ‘working ranches’ etc.
Ranches have land. They graze cattle and others on that land. They start with calf operations, raise them until they are bigger, and sell those animals.
Some ranches do dairy and have those milking operations.
They may do their own alfalfa production for hay.
And then ultimately, the value of the land appreciates over time. Ranch land is often taxed at a much lower rate.
1. American ranches requires vast acreage of land to let cattle roam or guided by cowhands before sending them to the feedlots for final fattening. These are typically meat cattle although dairy cattle ranches do exists as well.
2. They sell cattle to the slaughterhouse or feedlots
3. Sheriff is an elected position and ranchers are usually landowners with a bit more money and prestige than other residents of the county but anyone can be elected for sheriff
4. Money and work. And yes being a cowhand is low pay and traditionally, a lot of cowhands in the American west are either young white male in a need of a job and seeking adventure or black or Hispanic males who were deprived of their property during the conquest of the West and need work. Being a cowhand is hard work so even a CA minimum wage of $15/hr isn’t really enough
1️⃣ Cattle ranches work by breeding and selling cattle for consumption. Ranches in general are not limited to cattle but the overwhelming number of ranches raise this product as a meat source for the general population. Generally the cattle are either pre purchased through a contract with a meat company or they are sent to an auction at a specified age and weight. Modern ranches utilize feed yards where many cattle are penned and fed to fatten them up while limiting their mobility. There are exceptions to this, but growing up this was the norm in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
2️⃣ their main source of revenue stems from livestock sales but can also be rental or farming income, where a ranch will let a plot of land for agriculture. Many ranches also make money through the sale of oil and minerals if they own the rights to those.
3️⃣ in the series a rancher is also the sheriff, this can be achieved through general election in the Unit d States. A Sheriff resides over a County. If a landowner owns enough land and employs enough people and thereby garners enough influence, it would be no difficult manner in a time period or relative lawlessness to be elected the sheriff of your own domain. I’m sure there are real examples of this but I have none at hand. Bear in mind though that Hollywood does take considerable liberties with the reality of the “old west.”
4️⃣ The motivation for working for a ranch owner in those days was the same as today. A landowner and rancher would be required to pay for their services. In addition, the ranch hands would also receive in many cases food and lodging as part of their pay. Traveling cow-hands we’re often called saddle-tramps because they were functionally homeless. Their possessions were usually small, being a saddle and some Knick knacks and maybe a rope and a good knife. Not as many people owned firearms in those days as movies would have you believe. Working for a rancher allowed a saddle-tramp to stay in one place for a season or two sometimes longer. I guess their low pay would be a reflection of how much they were given after their lodging and food expenses were taken out etc.
Ranches are huge areas of grassy lands, on which farm animals graze. Once those animals grow up, they are either used for meat or milk.
1. Ranches sell animals
2. Ranches sell animals.
3. It’s a TV show and it is not representative of how things work.
4. It’s a TV show.
Guys, don’t be mean to him, it’s a legitimate question lol
A lot of modern ranches have converted to “dude ranches”, which are resorts for guests (called dudes). They either supplement their ranch income with it, or their entire income is from the guests. The guests pay a certain amount of money for lodging, food, and activities. The activities usually include trail riding and other things
The cowboys who work on these ranches are called “wranglers”. They have typical ranch duties and help accommodate the guests. The pay is very low, so most wranglers are college students working during the summer or other people just looking for a cowboy experience. A lot of the ranches hire wranglers without experience, so they aren’t necessarily cowboys
I’ve never seen Yellowstone, so I’m guessing it’s not supposed to be a dude ranch, but that’s probably what it would be if it was real
They start with how ever many cattle they buy.
That herd has cows. They graze the land. At times supplementary food source is provided.
The rancher either owns a bull or two, or rents a stud to breed those cows.
Baby cows, calves, are born. The herd increases in size.
The rancher then sells as many cattle as needed to continue year after year.
I saw a clip today where Beth points out that their revenue model *doesn’t* work. Specifically that the money was in selling beef rather than selling cattle,and that if “doing things the old way” made money, the valley would be full of ranches rather than vacation homes and hobby-farms.
In real life a large majority of ranch workers are immigrants. What motivates them is poverty.
1. They raise cattle to sell. Some buy young cattle and raise them, some breed and have successive generations.
2. Selling cattle to slaughter houses.
3. Sheriff is an elected position, so anyone can be elected sheriff no matter their usual occupation. In most counties, sheriff would be a full time job, but in many rural areas, sheriffs have other jobs, such as ranching or farming.
4. Experinced ranchhands do make a fair bit of money for their areas, keep in mind rural areas tend to have lower wages and also lower costs of living. “Cowboys” is somewhat outdated (don’t tell any of my rancher friends I said that), A cowboy in the classic sense was someone who drove cattle herds up to hundreds of miles to market, but minus a few exceptions there are no massive cattle drives anymore. Many ranchhands still see themselves as Cowboys though, and there is prestige to them in the term, even in modern rural culture. So part of the reason they may accept the conditions and pay is due to the prestige, being a cowboy is a dream to many kids. I guess you could say their motivation is cultural rather than economic.
Depends on the type of Ranch. But for the sake of this question and the comparison you’ve made to the show, im assuming your talking about a cattle ranch.
Cattle ranchers make money by breeding cattle and then selling them. They can also make money by selling the cattle meat. A famous ranch that sells cattle meat is 6666 Ranch, yes its a real ranch.
The pay can be low i guess it depends on the rancher. What you need to understand is that in places like Wyoming, Montana, Dakotas etc.. there are not a lot of people im states like that and tbh theres not much of anything. Theres areas where you’re either gonna be working retail, oil or something along those lines or be a ranch hand (cowboy), thats it those are your only options for work. So you can see why ranching is inviting especially if thats what most people know, for some its a family business.
Rancher isnt gonna be sheriff of anything unless he gets elected. Also, don’t get your info from shows or movies.
If you want to learn about ranches there is a great YouTube video called Ram Ranch that explains it all.
Regarding 4. My cousin was at one point wanted in a couple states for not paying child support and domestic violence (he’s not a good human being). But he was working on a ranch in Wyoming/Montana area because it provided a place to sleep and he was paid in cash.
He’s no longer wanted, settled the financial stuff, but still it a good human. I think he’s a drunk in Kentucky now.
I grew up on a ‘hobby farm’ but the economics are pretty similar, just on a smaller scale. We had about 40-50 cows; bring the bull in to do his thing, and have babies 9 months later. After the calves are weaned, they are fattened up and sold for beef. Since our operation was smaller, we were able to change a premium for the beef from customers who wanted to see what they were eating (and it was damn good beef). I’ve dramatically oversimplified everything but it gives you a general idea of the process.
The cows became almost like family; I remember my grandmother crying anytime we had to put down one of ‘her girls’.
1. They raise cattle and sell them for beef. They might stud (breed) some bulls at a premium.
2. The sell some of their livestock and keep some to breed for next season. That’s the short version
3. There is something called Livestock Officer. I didn’t know they existed till I watched Yellowstone. But yes they are law enforcement, they are cops. But they only deal with crimes related to cattle.
4. The show says they get paid $400 a week. But they have no bills. No rent and I’m going to guess free food.
A little research shows that getting $400 is very much on the low end for ranchers.
But in the end….its a tv show and to be honest it’s a great show, but it’s not very realistic. I know next to nothing about ranching…but even I see glaring holes making it seem not very realistic.
“As seen on tv!” Count: 323.
Television is not real life good sir.
Ranches breed their cows then raise the calves and sell them and then repeat that cycle. That’s why they refer to how many they run by “pairs” because they’re running cow-calf pairs.
Also, they don’t make any money lol. Idk myself, but every single rancher ever says they make no money. They do become pretty wealthy, but that’s because if they own a lot of land the value of the land goes up so much over time.
If a rancher is the sheriff it’s because he was elected to that position by the voters of the county. A lot of ranchers can be established pillars of their communities (which are often extremely small) so it wouldn’t be too surprising if they won in a run for public office.
You also have to keep in mind that Yellowstone is just a show. Some of the stuff it shows about ranches is or might be correct, but most of it is fiction. Real ranches aren’t stacking up the local law enforcement with their own family that way they can kill everyone who pisses them off lol
3. He held an appointed office of Livestock Commissioner. They only get involved if the issue relates to farm animals.
I know your question is in good faith but it’s a little bit like going to Egypt and asking when the mummies are awake.
The answers here are good, but also, please please PLEASE remember that this show is escapist fantasy. No one is branding humans. No one is killing random trespassers (and if it does, rarely, occur, they don’t get away with it!). Ranching is hard, boring, and doesn’t pay well. Also, in case no one has said so, most ranches west of the Mississippi are on public lands, which means they lease their ranch land from the government for a fee, and have to answer to a federal government office, especially for how many cows are allowed and where they are allowed to graze for which month. The only ranchers I know who are in business also have wives with jobs in town that pay for things, or they bought the ranch as a dream project after making their fortunes owning other companies. I read somewhere once that the best way to make money on cattle is to have some nice oil wells for the cows to rub against.