Ideals of freedom, independence, and land ownership helped form and perpetuate the mythology of ranching in the United States. However, stereotypes emerged as a result of distortion from the media and the move away from the land. Social philosophies changed
regarding the environment, land use, and the health and safety of the food supply in the
late 20th century. In relation to the mythology, stereotype, and social theory regarding the
ranching culture, this research seeks to clarify the fundamental principles, business
philosophy, lifestyle, and values of men and women raising beef as a food product on both
public and private lands in the 1990's. The mythology surrounding ranchers and cowboys
are the result of three historical periods in the United States; however, the last 100 years
have had the most profound effect in developing stereotypes. In this survey, 42 ranchers
in Lake County, Oregon and Modoc County, California describe the challenges,
satisfactions, and the partnership with Nature that is part of their livelihood in the harsh,
high desert environment of eastern Oregon and northeastern California. The low ratio of
private ground in these counties creates a dependency on use of public lands for grazing.
This use if often stereotyped as "welfare ranching," without computation for other
variables that make it comparable with private leasing. Historically, the Taylor Grazing
Act authorizes fee grazing between ranchers and the U.S. government, but current philosophy has shifted its view of free enterprise on public lands, terming it "resource
extraction." Although ranching is high in risk and low in economic return, ranchers stay in
the business because they value freedom, hard work, family cohesiveness, and the
interaction with Nature and the land. The future of ranching is challenged by
environmental policy, government agency relations, public opinion, the high cost of land
and production, and a lack of unity in the beef industry. To survive, ranchers need to
unify, sharpen communication skills, provide education about ranching practices to the
public, and become service-oriented as an organization to change stereotype and meet the
social criteria of the next century. / Graduation date: 1998
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/33804 |
| Date | 30 April 1998 |
| Creators | Steward, Judith A. |
| Contributors | Smith, Courtland L. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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