means A person who owns or operates a ranch, raising livestock like cattle, sheep, or horses over wide stretches of grazing land.

from From 'ranch,' which rode north into English from American Spanish 'rancho' — a word for a group who eat together or a humble settlement, ultimately from Spanish 'rancharse,' to lodge or be billeted. The trail traces back through Old French to a Germanic root tied to forming a row or ring (a cousin of 'rank' and 'arrange'). So beneath the dust, a rancher is someone who gathered people and beasts into one settled circle on the open land.