# What qualifies as a Farm,Ranch,Homestead?



## MTplainsman (Oct 12, 2007)

I've heard folks refer to a property of a handfull of acres containing stock as a "ranch". Of course I've heard of spreads up to a quarter million acres refered as such too. I honestly am not sure what is concidered a "homestead" these days neither... Than you have the title "farm" as well. What in your minds classifies as a farm, ranch, or homestead??? I know this will have many opinions, but it will be fun just to see what each of us think as the "true" make-up of a farm, ranch, or homestead. So please have fun, think about it, and decifer them for me. Joel


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## doing it in NM (Feb 5, 2007)

Everyone here says they have so many sections of land, and calls them ranches. But they run cattle, horses and some times sheep on them. But many call their house their homestead. Farms are for raising crops and some times smaller animals. I think a farm is where you raise crops for others use, primarily. I think a homestead is anything from a lot to whatever you have. It's a matter of heart. I have 3 calves, 6 pigs, 25 hens, 3 horses and a dog and cats. I will sell 4 pigs and 2 calves, but don't consider I am anything but a homesteader and have felt that way for years even when I worked away from home.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

ranches raised animals for profit- farms raised food with small animals along side, but the food being the reason they are there. Now days, people move to my parents area - with 20-40 acres and call it a ranch.... :shrug: No animals in sight. I guess you can call where you live what ever you want.


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## Scrounger (Jan 6, 2007)

A guy my wife knew, before we were married, wanted her to come live with him on his 3.456 acre "ranch".........


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## gracie88 (May 29, 2007)

> A guy my wife knew, before we were married, wanted her to come live with him on his 3.456 acre "ranch".........


I'd say that's a little optimistic  although I too have been known to refer to my vast herds (one small cow, 4 calves) thundering 'cross my endless plain (6.5 acres)  
I tend to think of a ranch as a large spread where one raises large numbers of large livestock for profit. A farm would be crops or more intensively raised livestock i.e. dairy, chickens, etc., also for profit. A homestead would be smaller and the focus would be more about providing for the physical needs of the inhabitants in a sustainable manner. A hobby farm would be small, and raising whatever for fun more so than profit which is where I am at right now. I would like to call it a homestead, but that would be a little like the guy with the 3.456 ac. ranch.


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## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

In some states, a farm can be as little as 5 acres as long as you sell $500 worth of "goods" produced via agriculture.

I knew of a film technician who bought a 5 acre spread and put bee hives on the land. He produced 2 quarts of honey that he sold for $250.00 each and reaped around $10,000K in tax breaks for his "farm". He spent most of his time flying around doing video production in New York, Chicago, LA, Houston, etc. and came home to those money-making bees!

Don't know if the tax laws have changed. This was back in 1996.


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

You can call it whatever you like. I've heard that people in some eastern countries that own more than 2 dogs are ranchers.


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## BasicLiving (Oct 2, 2006)

I don't know much about ranches, but this is what the princeton dictionary defines as homestead:

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=homestead
Noun

* S:  homestead (the home and adjacent grounds occupied by a family)
* S:  homestead (land acquired from the United States public lands by filing a record and living on and cultivating it under the homestead law)
* S:  homestead (dwelling that is usually a farmhouse and adjoining land)

Verb

* S: (v) homestead (settle land given by the government and occupy it as a homestead)

I tend to agree with Doing it in NM - homesteading is what is in your heart, regardless of the amount of land. We had a house in town that I never would have considered a homestead. But when bought our property, it became our "homestead" - our piece of earth where we are learning to be self sufficient and self reliant. In my heart, that's what homesteading means to me. Of course, I'm the one that calls my Jeep my "chariot" :shrug: 

Penny


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## Shinsan (Jul 11, 2006)

Most of our larger stock raising properties are known as ' Cattle Stations', or Sheep Stations'', whereas those used for growing crops on a large scale are simply 'properties'. 'Farms' usually applies to cropping or mixed enterpises on a smaller scale. In both cases, the area occupied by the house and its surrounds, and sometimes a few oubuildings, is known as the Homestead. Thus you could enter upon a property, and then proceed to the homestead. But then, that's 'Down Under'.


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## TxAprilMagic (Nov 8, 2007)

A "farm" or "ranch" has nothing to do with "homestead".

Farm or Ranch is just what you prefer to call your property. Most City people who move to the country for the first time in their lives , that buy a small piece of land even as small as 2 acres call their place a farm/and or ranch. Calling it a farm or ranch for those is more of a personal/emotional word.

"Homestead/Homesteading" is completely different. Homestead is wherever you live. Actually live on the property for more than half the year even if all you have is a small lot in a subdivision. That is why so many snowbirds from the north who come to the south for the winter at retirement time have such an attitude about paying the full amount of taxes on their southern home. You can only homestead one house. If you file for "homestead exemption" on more than one house you are breaking the law. Homestead act of 1862 provided land to people from the federal government mostly in the west to entice people to move out west and set up towns. They gave you the land to call home as long as you lived on the land , work the land, built your home and made a productive living on the land. You couldn't take/claim the land and live somewhere else. You have to live on the land. You had to work the land. If you live on that land from the government for a certain amount of years it became yours. But you had to prove yourself. If you waived from any of the rules you forfeited the land and had to get off. "Homesteaders" were often called "Squatters" which made the people that were already in the area (locals) using the government land for free grazing very angry and that is where the "Range Wars" started when the fences started going up by the "Homesteaders". There is no more or very little "homestead" land available anymore that I know of since you actually have to buy it to live there. When you buy any home now you go to the property apprasiers office and file for a "homestead exemption" so your property taxes are a 1/3 of what you would pay if you didn't homestead it, no matter what house you buy or where you live. Now , if you live on land today that you received / inherited or got from family that has been passed down from generation to generation then you may very well live on a true "Homestead". That is history and needs to be treasured.

Now we have the insertion in there that is called "Adverse Possession" That comes from the "homestead act" that says if you don't live on the land, work the land, make a home on the land you forfeit the land to someone else that has or can make better use of it. It is still on the books and part of the Homesteading Act of 1862. So if you abandon/leave/move out of your house even if you still pay the mortage and taxes on it but you haven't went back to check on it for years and someone decides to take up resident in and make it their home , also known as "Squatters" you may just have one heck of a time getting them out and off your land. I believe it is 5-7 years. Depending how long you have been gone from that home or land you may just loose it. It still requires lawyers and judges for all of that to happen. Most Squatters aren't going to take care of your place and work the land they are just gonna live there til someone runs them off then find another , most of them are just called bums.

So even though a lot of people call their home "homesteads" unless you got it for free from the government with rules to live by it is really just a home you bought. 
On the other hand you can call your place anything you want. I have 25 acres and actually make a living off my land and call it a "Ranch".

There is also a catagory for "Agriculture" land which also saves you on taxes. So if you only have land, don't live on it, but use it for livestock or farming of foods/hay and it is zoned agriculture then that is also a different tax bracket.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

If you pay for it you can call it anything you want.


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## TxAprilMagic (Nov 8, 2007)

pancho said:


> If you pay for it you can call it anything you want.


Doesn't make a difference if you paid for it or not and inherited it you can still call it whatever you want, it is still your home.

My post was just a bit of information from the "Library of Congress" and the "Homstead Act of 1862" and not meant to rile you in any way. I am a history buff and because I have land and I do make a living off my land I keep up with every change in the State, County and Federal government almost on a daily basis. I grew up on land making a living off the land so it is important to me to keep tract of how others think , meaning the government, I should be using my land for. History is my passion. "If you don't know where you came from how in the world do you know where you are going" is my motto. 
Now , as far as the "Homesteaders" are concerned I think that they were the rarest of breed and I admire eveything they stood for or went through to make a better life for themselves. I would be proud beyound anything if I could have one day to go back in time and walk beside any of them. They arrived in a hostile area with only the clothes on their back to face some of the hardest , roughest and most dangerous sitiuation only to survive and make a place to call home. They are my heros and the coolest of cool. If you should be so lucky to live on real "Homestead" land from your gr-gr-gr-granparents you should be so proud that that land was worth enough to stay in the family. The stories that can be told, wow. If there are any of you out there I would love to hear the stories of your famlies struggles and victories.
I didn't mean to upset anyone with my "Homestead" post. I really like this forum. It is one of the finest and chock full of information that I have come across.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

What an apporopriate thread - I was going to mention this.

Today - Sunday - in the Minneapolis (Minnesota) Star & Tribune newspaper (biggest in the state) they have a front page article on changine rules in Minnesota. Seems a 'farm' to qualify for ag tax staus needs to be 10 continuios or more acres being farmed. Many 'new' farms forming outside of the Twin City metro area are on 10 acres; but you can't count the land the house & buildings set on, so these are now being taxed at city housing tax rates. Likely you could find it on their web site - they tend to want you to sign up for free to read anything....

It's kicking up a bit of controversy, as they say, there are some half million dollar houses sitting on 8 acres with 2 acres of grassland & a horse & trying to claim ag use.... While there are also Hmog multi-families living on 8 acres and generating over 1/2 of their incomes from the farming activities on these 8 acres.

Surely one is not an ag business, while the other should be, and the 10 acre rule is govt regulators being arbitary again....

Ranch means mostly livestock to me.

Farm means mostly grain crop to me.

Truck farm or gradener means mostly human foods - veggies & fruits - seems to be what many do in this forum?

I don't get too hung up on size, tho for legal use I would like to see some threshold - more based on dollars or amount produced - to limit McMansion types from getting an ag deduction. I don't really like the acre limitation Minnesota has. I think to get the tax deduction you should be doing ag for business sales of some type - not just own use.

--->Paul


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I own 2 parcels of land. 

The place I live on has 1 acre, and I regard it as a homestead because what I raise is mostly for my families consumption.

The OTHER place has 5 bare acres, and I regard it as my farm because I am hoping to raise vegetables to make a profit instead of making a dinner.


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## MoonShine (Mar 17, 2003)

I've seen questions similiar to this asked before and there's never been a definitive answer. Everybody seems to think something different..but it's a good question.

When I think of a homestead,I think of a small farm where a person could raise a garden,have some livestock,and generally just try to be self sufficient.

I live on a farm and have my entire life,but I don't know if I'm considered a farmer or not. In a good year I can raise enough produce for us to eat fresh(that includes me,immediate family,some extended family,some friends and neighbors),enough to can/freeze/store nearly all the vegetables my family will need through the winter,and still have enough to sell a little and make some profit. So,I usually refer to this place as a farmstead,because it seems somewhere in between.

When someone says "ranch",I imagine a big spread where people have cattle...I don't know anything about that way of life except what I've seen in western movies so I try not to speculate too much,lol.


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## Ole Man Legrand (Nov 15, 2003)

In N.C. Guilford county you have to have 10 acres of cleared land and make $1000. per year to be called a bonafied farm for tax purpose.Some counties vary on the amount of cleared land.


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## tnokie (Jan 30, 2007)

My property is called "Rocking Chair Ranch." This is where I" Farm "with all my animals,and plant my crops,Its also my "Homestead" where I try live and grow and be self sufficent!It also happens to be one acre!


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

To me ranch means a farm in an area that has limited resources so you have to have a lot of it to make a profit. Maybe you need ten or twenty acres for a cow instead of two acres per cow. And it's going to be livestock because the climate isn't suited to crop growing for the most part. In other words, a ranch is a specialized farm. A farm is a place where you grow food or landscape products for sale. Homesteading I see as mainly a lifestyle choice and profit may or may not enter in the picture but it's probably not going to be large scale profit, in any case. 

Jennifer


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Ranch - raising meat animals only, or horses, or combination
Farm - raising crops/other food items (dairy) with or without meat animals
Homestead - either of the above when operated by people with a self sufficient attitude. Income has no bearing on the definition. You don't have to be "poor" to homestead, since the original meaning of homesteading has been long lost to the modern versions (what many of us on this board aspire to).

I call my place a farm. You can call it whatever you want. It fits the definition I have above, running about 65 acres of all organic market garden, sheep (wool and meat), goats (dairy and meat), poultry, horses, timber, going off grid a little at a time, green attitude.


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## RosewoodfarmVA (Oct 5, 2005)

Farming......raising crops or livestock for the purpose of making an income.

Ranching......same as farming except only containing livestock of some kind.

Homesteading.....mainly to provide for the food needs of the family, not to provide alot of income.

The big difference is whether the goal is to earn a living, or just put meat and veggies on the table. Some people combine both farming and homesteading, like we do. But please be honest with yourself about what your purposes are with your land. The number of acres isn't necessarily the issue, but rather the purpose behind it.

I get a big kick out of people that have 1 or 2 acres and call it a "ranch." I'm not putting down anyone for owning 1 or 2 acres, but 2 goats in a brush pile isn't ranching! Two horses on 3 acres isn't a "farm," it's a hobby!


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

I think it depends on context. If you use the words "farm" or "ranch" to the tax folks it means a very different and very specific thing than if you use the word "farm" or "ranch" on this forum. I'm not sure if the tax folks use the word "homestead" or "homesteader" much?

Generally I go along with most folks definitions of a "farm" being mostly crops for profit and a "ranch" mostly animals for profit. "Homestead" is generally for family. We live on a tiny piece of property in a rural area with a big garden, a few fruit and coffee trees, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. and we do a lot of foraging and fishing. I'm not sure exactly what we would be, but of the three "homesteaders" might be closest should a label be of any use.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

We are on 10 acres and call our place a farm. All our friends refer to our place as "the farm". We have livestock, but also grow food crops for ourselves, with the eventual goal of growing enough to sell at market.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

For me a farm is mostly crops. A ranch is mostly animals. A homestead can be a farm or a ranch, with the main difference being the work is done by the family without the help of hired hands. 

To go into more detail... you can own a farm or a ranch that you don't live on. It can be run totally by hired hands. A family lives on a homestead, if you don't live on the land, then it's not a homestead. 

Even more detail... a homestead can be anything from large acreage to a small apt in the city. What makes it a homestead is the lifestyle you choose. Even a small apt. can have a tomato plant in a flower pot, lettuce in a window box, and veggies/animals purchased from outside of the city. Maybe rabbits in cages, chickens on the roof, etc.


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## MTplainsman (Oct 12, 2007)

I am suprised... I thought there would be far more opposing views than there were. It appears that the majority of you generally agree on the same ideas.

Now...tell me this...

I now have a paid off house near our county's only highway. It is surrounded by aproximately 4 acres. On those acres I raise a few sheep, a little beef, ducks, geese, chickens, pheasants, rabbits, and a donkey. I will have turkeys, and goats soon too. These animals are more for food than they are for pleasure, but I get great joy in keeping them. I have a very large garden as well. I do not have to by eggs or meat ever. I live at this house year around now. I keep 120 pair of cattle, however they run in pastures 11 miles and farther from where I now live. I sublease out 280 acres of fallow to the neighbor, so I make extremely little or no profit from cropland. I strive to be independent of the poisoned foods from the commercial retail market. I hunt large and small game to supplement my domestic meat supply. I do profit slightly off the critters that run around my yard. I run a trapline most years for management and some sideline money. I do work for others at times, to make ends meet, but I could "lay off" outside income and still making a living for myself if I had to. With all that said of my "crazy" operation... just what in the world is my "description title" anyways??? Am I a farm, ranch, or a homestead?


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## Jena (Aug 13, 2003)

To be a farm or ranch, I think one must make a significant part of your income from it. If it isn't a farm or ranch, then it's a homestead, hobby farm or just a plain old house with acreage....or even just a home or apartment.

Farms have more crops, ranches have less crops. Either can have livestock.

Jena


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

MTP- I'd say you are a rancher who lives on a homestead. Some ranchers live in a house in town, some ranchers live on the ranch - but they are still ranchers.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

MTplainsman said:


> Now...tell me this...
> 
> I now have a paid off house near our county's only highway. It is surrounded by aproximately 4 acres. On those acres I raise a few sheep, a little beef, ducks, geese, chickens, pheasants, rabbits, and a donkey. I will have turkeys, and goats soon too. These animals are more for food than they are for pleasure, but I get great joy in keeping them. I have a very large garden as well. I do not have to by eggs or meat ever. I live at this house year around now. I keep 120 pair of cattle, however they run in pastures 11 miles and farther from where I now live. I sublease out 280 acres of fallow to the neighbor, so I make extremely little or no profit from cropland. I strive to be independent of the poisoned foods from the commercial retail market. I hunt large and small game to supplement my domestic meat supply. I do profit slightly off the critters that run around my yard. I run a trapline most years for management and some sideline money. I do work for others at times, to make ends meet, but I could "lay off" outside income and still making a living for myself if I had to. With all that said of my "crazy" operation... just what in the world is my "description title" anyways??? Am I a farm, ranch, or a homestead?


I'd say you are a homesteader who owns a ranch 11 miles down the road, with 280 acres of investment property that hasn't matured into a profitable investment at this point in time.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Ranch, Farm, call it what ever you want. Both can be for lifestock. I don't know where people get this idea that farms are crops. Pig farm, Dairy farm, Chicken farm, Horse farm, etc, etc. A farm can be either or both plants and animals. See the dictionary:

Farm [fahrm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
ânoun
1.	a tract of land, usually with a house, barn, silo, etc., on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood.
2.	land or water devoted to the raising of animals, fish, plants, etc.: a pig farm; an oyster farm; a tree farm.
3.	a similar, usually commercial, site where a product is manufactured or cultivated: a cheese farm; a honey farm.
4.	the system, method, or act of collecting revenue by leasing a territory in districts.
5.	a country or district leased for the collection of revenue.
6.	a fixed yearly amount accepted from a person in view of local or district taxes that he or she is authorized to collect.
7.	a tract of land on which an industrial function is carried out, as the drilling or storage of oil or the generation of electricity by solar power.
:


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Guess this would be the place to use the definitions a big-money consultant got in Northern Ontario when they were asked to count the number of farms by type in an area where they were considering opening a large dumpsite.

The definitions they used, driving down every road in the area (they pointed this out AFTER they cashed the cheque):
1. Dairy farms have tall silos
2. Beef farms have cows in the yard that are red with white faces.
3. Chicken farms have long metal buildings.
4. Pig farms smell bad.
5. Anything that didn't meet those scientific standards went down as "Other"
Some red-faced politicians, and lots of "Other"


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