A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called stockgrowers or ranchers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as elk, American bison or even ostrich, emu, and alpacas.
Ranches generally consist of large areas, but may be of nearly any size. In the western United States, many ranches are a combination of privately owned land supplemented by grazing leases on land under the control of the federal Bureau of Land Management. If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land, the ranch may also engage in a limited amount of farming, raising crops for feeding the animals, such as hay and feed grains.
Ranches that cater exclusively to tourists are called guest ranches or, colloquially, "dude ranches." Most working ranches do not cater to guests, though they may allow private hunters or outfitters onto their property to hunt native wildlife. However, in recent years, a few struggling smaller operations have added some dude ranch features, such as horseback rides, cattle drives or guided hunting, in an attempt to bring in additional income. Ranching is part of the iconography of the "Wild West" as seen in Western movies and rodeos.
Man's achievements measured
In machinery
His progress documented
By industrial scenery
Can we stop the mechanical hand
That murders nature and rapes the land?
I'm not preaching convention
I'm protesting this excess
Your dubious intentions
Are not for the best
Can we stop...
These towers hold no powers
Dollars can't be spent in lifeless hours
Money motivation holds no station
In the life cycles circulation
The machine age has fatal flaws
That contradict natural laws
That's why we're wrenching the works
How many more monsters do they have to make
Before they realize the gravity of their mistakes
Can we stop...
Concrete, glass, and steel
Do not care how the planet feels
The men who mold it, have bought and sold it
But it's not theirs
Can we stop...
Enough is enough
Can we find a balance?