Biggest Ranches in the World | Largest Ranch in Texas & Globally (2024)

Sprawling fields, endless meadows, acres of terrain, and the beauty of wildlife roaming. Searching for a place that stands in stark contrast to a familiar urban jungle isn’t as difficult as it may seem. Some of the biggest ranches in the world offer a picturesque experience that is unlike any other. In these areas, it’s easy to imagine how life may have been during the good old days of the Wild West—difficult and intense, albeit majestic. Today, the largest ranches in the world celebrate the unique beauty of life beyond concrete streets and high rise buildings.

Several ranches among this list protect various endangered species and they have served as a home in solitude for many others. Curious to know more about the biggest ranches in the world? First, let’s talk a little more about what a ranch is and how they’re qualified. Fair warning: this article is packed with mind-blowing details on some of the largest ranches found around the globe. From landmass to wildlife, ranches are a world apart from morning traffic and a nine-to-five job.

What Is a Ranch?

If you didn’t grow up roaming the open plains and sleeping under the stars, you might have trouble knowing exactly what a ranch is. Many people confuse a ranch with a farm, but there is a bit of a difference. Ranches raise animals whereas farms are dedicated to crops and producing food. It can get tricky because they often overlap. More precisely, farms are a tract of land devoted to agriculture and ranches are a large farm for raising bison, cattle, goats, horses, pigs, sheep, etc. In this list of the biggest ranches in the world, there are a few that include exotic animals such as alpaca, elk, emu, ostriches, and even wolves. Similarly, geographic regions often dictate types of ranches. While we’re mostly accustomed to cowboy outlook and cattle raising, ranching in South America, for example, expands beyond grasslands into rain forests.

What Is Ranching?

With the exception of Antarctica, ranches exist on every continent around the world. Australia, South America, North America, and Africa are some of the more prolific continents that depend on ranching and ranchers to raise necessary livestock. Ranching is the practice of raising livestock and wildlife to provide meat, dairy, products, and raw materials for fabrics. Ranching, on a large scale, can improve rangeland and plant biodiversity. In another light, some ranches, most often nameddude ranches, offer tourist facilities. Dude ranches allow guests to help out in real ranching activities, while others focus on horseback riding, trail rides, and even hunting.

Who Owns Them?

One interesting tidbit about these ranches is that they’re not all owned by cowboys. They’re big investments, and a lot of the people holding the deeds are rich folk who spend more time in boardrooms than on horses. The American who owns the most land is John Malone, a big shot in the cable business, and he’s followed by another media man, Ted Turner. These two seem to have a friendly competition on who can own more acres! Also among the top 10 is Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. Other notable figures and conservationists have adopted ranches in other regions throughout the world. Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of The North Face and ESPRIT, and his wife, Kristine Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. own a ranch in Chile, called Fundo Los Leones.

Public lands also dominate the landscape of the rural West in the United States. In some areas, federal land exceeds 80 percent of the total land in the state. This means that ranching frequently requires the leasing of public land. What are some of the largest ranches in the world, though? We’re reviewing a select few below.

Vermejo Park Ranch

Location: Colorado and New Mexico, U.S.A.

Land Size: 590,823 acres

Other Features: 19 fishable lakes, 1,200+ Bison, on-property spa services, 30 miles of pristine streams

It’s easiest to start this list off with something local, even though this one only has a small part in Colorado. It’s one of the spots owned by Ted Turner, and it’s so big that it sprawls across state borders from New Mexico north through Colorado. As one of the biggest ranches in the world, Vermejo Park Ranch covers 590,823 acres. It’s primarily used for conservation and recreational activities, but it does offer hunting, fishing, and natural gas collection. This amazing ranch is open to the public and even offers exclusive accommodations with its many cottages, eco-friendly mountaintop lodges, and mansions. This property is known for hosting workshops, tours, and even seasonal festivals such as the October Harvest Festival.

Explore the many activities on Vermejo Park Ranch and all that northern New Mexico and Colorado has to offer.

Waggoner Ranch

Location: Texas, U.S.A.

Land Size: 520,527 acres

Other Features: Raises and sells cattle and horses

Another massive ranch in the United States unsurprisingly sits in Texas. This one got its start back in 1852, and over time it grew to about 520,527 acres. It’s been in the news a lot over the past few years because it was sold back in 2012. Even with the asking price of $725 million, Stan Kroenke, the owner of two sports teams in Denver, bought it in 2012. The W.T. Waggoner Estate stretches into six counties, with headquarters in Vernon, Texas. The main purpose of Waggoner Ranch is ranching, oil, and approximately 26,000 acres of cultivation. The ranch itself employs approximately 96 people ranging from cowboys, farm hands, oil fields workers, and office staff.

King Ranch

Location: South Texas, U.S.A.

Land Size: 825,000 acres

Other Features: Multiple land use including ranching, farming, and thoroughbred raising

Those ranches are big, but they can get bigger. King Ranch comes in at about 825,000 acres, and this makes it the biggest ranch in Texas. The ranch is located in south Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Unfortunately, it’s not as amazing as you would first expect. Instead of one massive area full of cows roaming around, it’s split into four neighboring parts. As a more modern ranch, King Ranch has a variety of business operations including:

King Ranch also has extensive operations in Florida. There, it is involved in sugar cane, sod, sweet corn, green bean, and specialty lettuce production and farming. In all, King Ranch is often considered the birthplace of ranching in North American and operates, today, in ranching, farming, retail, and more.

Anna Creek Station

Location: Australia

Land size: 2M Acres

Other features: 9,500 cattle

Australians use a different vocabulary word to describe a ranch. In this country, ranches are referred to asstations. Anna Creek Station is one of the largest ranches in the world sitting at over 2,000,000 acres). Accurately, it has been dubbed the world’s largest working cattle station. Anna King Stations has a blend of sandhill country with swamps and large areas of gibber tableland.

Interestingly enough, it was first started as a place to raise sheep. Unfortunately, the dingoes were eating too many of them, so they switched to the much more durable cow.

Alexandria Station

Location: Australia

Land size: 4M Acres

Other features: 200,000 cattle

If you truly want to be a modern-day cowboy or cowgirl, you might want to take a trip down under. For the last 140 years, the North Australian Pastoral Company has been crafting the finest quality beef for the Australian region. Its landmass crosses Queensland and the Northern Territory, as well. In 2009, NAPCo entered into a formal partnership with Bush Heritage Australia to support conservation initiatives across 14 North Australian and Queensland properties. They’ve dedicated sections of three properties as Nature Refuge, attempting to strengthen the lands’ biodiversity, productivity, and carbon density.

Mudanjiang City Dairy Farm

Location: Heilongjiang, China

Land size: 22.5M Acres

Other features: 100,000 cattle

This is a dairy farm instead of a classical ranch, but it still is impressive because that capacity is far bigger than any ranch in North America. The farm was only recently established in 2015 as a response to the Russian ban on dairy products to the EU. This ranch farm specializes in dairy and has around 100,000 cows, three times bigger than the largest livestock ranch in the US. The ranch can produce 800M liters of milk a year. In comparison, Fair Oaks, Indiana in the United States is the largest dairy farm with nearly 30,000 cows.

Tswalu Kalahari

Location: South Africa

Land size:200,000 Acres

Other features: Home to more than 79 species of mammals

Billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer of De Beers diamond owns one of the biggest ranches in the world. Tsawalu Kalahari is a private area in the Northern Cape, South Africa. It is effectively South Africa’s largest private game reserve covering over 200,000 acres. It is also a world-class conservation initiative for a vulnerable ecosystem. Here you can find the black-maned lion, oryx, aardvark, and meerkats. Its purpose servers ecologists and researches for strides in wildlife preservation.

Largest Ranch in the World

What is on the top of the chart to take the title of the largest ranch in the world? The answer is subjective. Whether you’re discussing land mass per square acre or the largest privately owned ranch, there are several different options. By definition, Tswalu Kalahari is the largest ranch that provides a purpose to care and protect wildlife with the safety of refuge in this South African ranch. In terms of land size, King Ranch out of Texas may take the title. Australian Ranches are also some of the largest by landmass size, but may not be as diverse as other ranches found throughout the globe. There are other types of ranches, too, like dude ranches that are becoming more popular as glamping takes mainstream by storm.

Largest Ranch in Texas

Making a list of the biggest ranches in the world would be a moot point if not for the great state of Texas. As one of the largest states in America, Texas has an abundance of open land that can serve the purpose of ranching. Not to mention, Texas is known for its cowboy heritage and amazing country music. However, the clear winner of the largest ranch in Texas is definitely King Ranch. Sitting at nearly 825,000 acres, its landmass is larger than the state of Rhode Island. It is home to 35,000 cattle and over 200 Quarter Horses. It also offers a diversity in its business practices with shops, hardware stores, cattle, and thoroughbred selling, and farming in both Texas and Florida.

Preserving the Land

These large ranches around the world are big business, there’s no doubt about that. However, it’s inspiring to think that some of the biggest landowners buy up land in order to preserve it. This is a nice step towards making sure we always have those wide-open spaces we love so much.

Is It Time to Be a Rancher?

Now that you know there are such big tracts of land where cowboys and cowgirls are spending their days exploring with cattle, does it make you want to make a lifestyle change? You have plenty of options! If you don’t, you can always come by the Grizzly Rose when you want to get into the spirit of the Wild West!

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Biggest Ranches in the World | Largest Ranch in Texas & Globally (2024)

FAQs

What are the largest ranches in the world? ›

The largest cattle ranch in the world, Anna Creek, is on the market in Australia. For context, the ranch is about the size of New Hampshire, according to Time magazine. This ranch is just one (big) part of an entire parcel that's for sale.

Is King Ranch still the largest ranch in the world? ›

Today, King Ranch sprawls across 825,000 acres of South Texas land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. As the home of 35,000 cattle and over 200 Quarter Horses, King Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world today.

What are the names of the top 3 largest ranches in Texas? ›

The 10 Biggest Ranches in Texas
  • Waggoner Ranch - 535,000 acres.
  • O'Connor Family Ranches - 500,000 acres. ...
  • Hughes Ranch - 390,000 acres. ...
  • Longfellow Ranch - 350,000 acres. ...
  • Nunley Brothers - 301,500 acres. ...
  • Kokernot Heirs (06 Ranch) - 278,000 acres. ...
  • The Four Sixes Ranch - 275,000 acres. ...
  • Jones Family Ranch - 255,000 acres. ...
May 27, 2022

Who is the richest rancher in America? ›

The ten largest landowners in America are 1. cable and media honcho John Malone (2.2 million acres), 2. lumber titans Emmerson Family, 3. CNN founder Ted Turner, 4.

Who owns largest ranch in us? ›

John Malone — 2.2 million acres

John Malone, who has been nicknamed the "Cable Cowboy" for his telecommunications ventures, is the single largest landowner in the United States with 2.2 million acres of land.

Who owns the largest ranch in the world? ›

Billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer of De Beers diamond owns one of the biggest ranches in the world. Tsawalu Kalahari is a private area in the Northern Cape, South Africa. It is effectively South Africa's largest private game reserve covering over 200,000 acres.

What is the largest ranch in United States? ›

King Ranch, largest ranch in the United States, composed of a group of four tracts of land in southeastern Texas, totaling approximately 825,000 acres (333,800 hectares). The King Ranch was established by Richard King, a steamboat captain born in 1825 in Orange county, New York.

Who is the biggest landowner in Texas? ›

The largest private landowner in Texas is King Ranch, Inc., with 911,215 acres.

What famous person owns a ranch in Texas? ›

Matthew McConaughey: Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey has owned a ranch in Texas since 2001. The LP Ranch, which the movie star owns with his wife Camila Alves and his brother Mike, is primarily used to raise angus beef cattle. But there is also an option for visitors to go hunting if they choose.

How much is the King Ranch in Texas worth? ›

If the Waggoner is worth $725 million, the King is worth $1.1 billion, Grunnah estimates.

Who owns the King Ranch today? ›

For six generations, the King Ranch has remained in the hands of one family: the descendants of Richard King. Since his death in 1885, there has always been a family member in charge of the “home ranches,” the four massive divisions of land in South Texas.

Who is the CEO of the King Ranch? ›

Who owns the most cattle in the US? ›

Texas has the most cattle in the United States followed by Nebraska & Kansas. Texas has the most cattle in the United States followed by Nebraska & Kansas. Texas accounts for roughly 13% of the cattle inventory in the United States.

How much land does China own in the United States? ›

While China raises concerns over American boots on the ground in Asia, the country continues to grow its own footprint in the U.S. USDA's latest data shows China owns over 191,000 acres of U.S. lands, but that was before a North Dakota land sale this Spring.

Who owns most land in world? ›

1. Roman Catholic Church: 70 million hectares. The largest landowner in the world is not a major oil magnate or a real estate investor. No, it's the Roman Catholic Church.

Who owns the most property in the United States? ›

John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. Malone made his fortune as a media tycoon, building the company Tele-Communications, Inc, or TCI, and acting as its CEO before selling it to AT&T for $50 billion in 1999.

How many acres does Dutton own in Yellowstone? ›

How much might John Dutton's Yellowstone Ranch be worth? Let's take a look 👇 In an early episode, Chief Thomas Rainwater from the Broken Rock Reservation tells John that he owns “a ranch the size of Rhode Island," which suggests the family ranch is more than 776,000 acres.

Are ranchers rich? ›

In 2016, the Census Bureau reported that 85.8 percent of farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers are male, earning an average income of $55,803 per year. Females in this categorical group reportedly earn $38,233 per year.

What country owns the most land in the United States? ›

Canadian investors hold the largest share of this land, at 29 percent, with the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom collectively owning another 33 percent. The remaining 38 percent is held by entities from almost a hundred other countries.

Who owns the 6666 ranch now? ›

Photos: Historic West Texas 6666 Ranch Has a New Owner

“Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan, who graduated from Fort Worth's Paschal High School, was rumored to have led the group that purchased the ranch.

Who owns the largest ranch in the world? ›

Billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer of De Beers diamond owns one of the biggest ranches in the world. Tsawalu Kalahari is a private area in the Northern Cape, South Africa. It is effectively South Africa's largest private game reserve covering over 200,000 acres.

How many acres is the 6666 Ranch? ›

The largest and oldest of the three divisions is the 6666 Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, which boasts over 142,000 acres and is listed for $192.2 million. It includes a state-of-the-art water filtration plant, 20 employee houses, two bunk houses, an airplane hangar, and a private landing strip.

Who owns the most property in the United States? ›

John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. Malone made his fortune as a media tycoon, building the company Tele-Communications, Inc, or TCI, and acting as its CEO before selling it to AT&T for $50 billion in 1999.

How much land does Dutton own? ›

How much might John Dutton's Yellowstone Ranch be worth? Let's take a look 👇 In an early episode, Chief Thomas Rainwater from the Broken Rock Reservation tells John that he owns “a ranch the size of Rhode Island," which suggests the family ranch is more than 776,000 acres.

How many acres is the largest ranch in the United States? ›

King Ranch, largest ranch in the United States, composed of a group of four tracts of land in southeastern Texas, totaling approximately 825,000 acres (333,800 hectares).

Who owns Yellowstone ranch? ›

The ranch is owned by John Dutton. His family has owned the land for seven generations and has been under constant threat by land developers, casino moguls, and the Broken Rock Reservation. The Duttons are the sole residents of the ranch along with the workers and hired hands who protect and improve the ranch.

How much did Yellowstone ranch sell for? ›

“The final purchase price of the ranches remains undisclosed, but it's publicly known the ranches were collectively listed for sale at $341 million just for the real estate itself,” said Bell. “At over 266,000 acres, this is one of the most significant ranch purchases in recent U.S. history.”

Is there really a Dutton ranch in Montana? ›

As Town & Country reported, the real Dutton Ranch is located in Darby, Montana, and it's just as glorious as you'd expect. It also happens to have cabins available for rental.

How much is the King Ranch in Texas worth? ›

If the Waggoner is worth $725 million, the King is worth $1.1 billion, Grunnah estimates.

Who is the largest landowner in Texas? ›

The largest private landowner in Texas is King Ranch, Inc., with 911,215 acres.

Who owns King Ranch today? ›

For six generations, the King Ranch has remained in the hands of one family: the descendants of Richard King. Since his death in 1885, there has always been a family member in charge of the “home ranches,” the four massive divisions of land in South Texas.

Who owns the biggest ranch in Montana? ›

Who Owns Montana's Largest Ranch? Montana's largest ranch is owned by Dan and Farris Wilks. The Wilks Brothers made a fortune from the fracking industry in Texas. They have bought large tracts of land in Montana and are the second largest landowners in the state.

Who owns the biggest ranch in Texas? ›

  • King Ranch Heirs | 911,215 acres. ...
  • Briscoe Family | 640,000 acres. ...
  • O'Connor Ranch Heirs | 580,000 acres. ...
  • Stan Kroenke | 510,527 acres. ...
  • Jeff Bezos | 400,000 acres (up 110,000 acres) ...
  • Hughes Family | 390,000 acres. ...
  • Malone Mitchell 3rd | 384,000 acres. ...
  • Nunley Brothers | 301,500 acres.
May 10, 2017

Who is the old cowboy at the 6666 on Yellowstone? ›

GUTHRIE, Texas — An iconic Texas cowboy has ridden off into his final sunset. Buster Welch, a well-known horse trainer at the 6666 Ranch in West Texas, has died, according to "Yellowstone" production. Welch played an older cowboy last season who helped the main character brush up on his cowboy skills.

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