A cattle baron is a historic term for a person who possessed great power or influence, generally as owner of a large ranch

Ranch

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...

 and many cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

, specifically beef cattle

Beef cattle

Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production . The meat of cattle is known as beef. When raised in a feedlot cattle are known as feeder cattle. Many such feeder cattle are born in cow-calf operations specifically designed to produce beef calves...

. A cattle baron in the United States was sometimes called a cowman

Cowman (profession)

A cowman is a person who works specifically with cattle.-Usage:Usage of the word "cowman" has significant geographic variation, though is sometimes used interchangeably with terms such as "stockman", "cattleman", "rancher" and "grazier."...

 or a rancher. In Australia, similar individuals owned large cattle stations

Station (Australian agriculture)

Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...

.

Notable cattle barons

Otto Franc

Otto Franc

Count Otto Franc von Lichtenstein was a cattle baron, sheriff and judge in the Big Horn Basin region of the U.S. State of Wyoming. Franc was born in Germany as a member of the German nobility. He emigrated to the United States in 1866...

 was suspected to be an active member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association

Wyoming Stock Growers Association

The Wyoming Stock Growers Association is a historic American cattle organization created in 1873. The Association was started among Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry, but quickly grew into a political force that has been called "the de facto territorial...

, and is believed to have bankrolled part of the Johnson County War

Johnson County War

The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River, was a range war which took place in April 1892 in Johnson County, Natrona County and Converse County in the U.S. state of Wyoming...

, a conflict between small cattle owners and large wealthy cattle outfits in 1892.

Peter Menegazzo

Peter Menegazzo

Peter Menegazzo was an Australian grain grower and cattle baron. Born to a modest immigrant family of fruit and vegetable growers, Menegazzo was said to be an intensely private person who rarely gave media interviews....

 in Australia.

Sidney Kidman

Sidney Kidman

Sir Sidney Kidman was a pastoralist in Australia and controlled huge tracts of land.-Early life:Sidney Kidman was born near Adelaide third son of George Kidman , farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Mary, née Nunn...

 in Australia.

Charles Goodnight

Charles Goodnight

Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...

. Essayist and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 J. Frank Dobie

J. Frank Dobie

James Frank Dobie was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range...

 said that Goodnight "approached greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history."

John Chisum

John Chisum

John Simpson Chisum was a wealthy cattle baron in the American West in the mid-to-late 19th century. Born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, Chisum's family moved to Texas in 1837, with Chisum finding work as a building contractor...

Conrad Kohrs

Conrad Kohrs

Conrad Kohrs, born Carsten Conrad Kohrs was a Montana cattle rancher .He was born in Holstein, a province that was ethnically and culturally German and part of the German Confederation but ruled at the time in personal union by Denmark...

; see Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site

Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site

Established by Canadian fur trader Johnny Grant, and expanded by cattle baron Conrad Kohrs, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site commemorates the Western cattle industry from its 1850s inception through recent times. The park was created in 1972, and embraces 1,500 acres and 90 structures. The...

Cattle barons in popular culture

Cattle barons appear in numerous Westerns

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

, including Broken Lance

Broken Lance

Broken Lance is a 1954 Western film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The movie stars Spencer Tracy and features Katy Jurado, Richard Widmark, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Eduard Franz, Hugh O'Brian and Earl Holliman.Shot in color and...

. Frequently the cattle baron is a villain. Examples include Lawman

Lawman (film)

Lawman is a 1971 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb, and Robert Duvall.The film is about the quest of a lone peace officer, Marshal Jered Maddox , to bring several men to justice...

.