Question

What conflict arose between farmers and ranchers settling western lands?

Answer 1

In Western Kansas and the cattle range in Texas it was barded wire and the Lone Star Tick and Texas cattle that carried and spread Texas Fever in cattle.

To my grandmother born in 1886 and her mother born in 1864 bob-wire was something on the order of horse thieves, but better than sheep.

Before The Big Die-Up in the Northwest, The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Big DieUp in Texas bared wire had become a problem for Ranchers both by farmers using to break up the open range to protect their farms from grazing cattle and cattle drives. Some ranchers where using to cut other ranchers off from water and trying to stop the cattle from drifting south in front of storms on the Texas Plains. That caused strife among ranchers.

The cattle drives spread Texas fever to the cattle Kansas farmer brought from the East and the drives also trampled their fields. Farmers put up wire fences, forced the rail head further west causing the trails deeper into Comanche.

The Big DieUp ended it all. By the time the cattle numbers built back up there was Rail service to Ft. Worth, Amarillo, and Wichita Falls Texas so the day of the long cattle dive was over and barbed wire was king other than a few spots of open range here and there. Most of the big ranches didn't make it to the 20th century.

Answer 2

The conflict between ranchers and farmers basically comes down to either of the two not wanting each other on their land. Ranchers wanted to keep their often big amounts of land for grazing and driving cattle, and farmers wanted to settle down on the ranchers land and farm