Exactly what kind of farm does John Twist have?

[mvansand76]

In the book:

"The ranch was a meagre little place, leafy spurge taking over. The stock was too far distant for him to see their condition, only that they were black baldies".

What kind of farm does he have and how does he make his money?

[Ellemeno]

My sense of the word 'farm' is that it implies that vegetative crops are grown too.  The word 'ranch' means primarily larger animals (sheep and bigger, not chickens) are what's grown.  Black baldies are cows.

I just Googled and found this about leafy spurge - as usual, Annie Proulx says a surprising amount with just a couple of words:

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) is a creeping, herbaceous perennial weed of foreign origin that reproduces from seed and vegetative root buds. It can reduce rangeland cattle carrying capacity by 50 to 75 percent. About half of this loss is from decreased grass production. Cattle won't graze in dense leafy spurge stands and these areas are a 100 percent loss to producers.  (Entire article here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/03107.html)

So the two words "leafy spurge" confirm the sense of run-down, neglect, and poverty of the Twist ranch.  No one has licked that leafy spurge into shape.  It helps us understand Mr. Twist's bitterness at the promised help that never come to pass.

Here's a poignant line from further down in the article:

Sheep or goats can be used to help control leafy spurge.

[mvansand76]

My sense of the word 'farm' is that it implies that vegetative crops are grown too.  The word 'ranch' means primarily larger animals (sheep and bigger, not chickens) are what's grown.  Black baldies are cows.

I just Googled and found this about leafy spurge - as usual, Annie Proulx says a surprising amount with just a couple of words:

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) is a creeping, herbaceous perennial weed of foreign origin that reproduces from seed and vegetative root buds. It can reduce rangeland cattle carrying capacity by 50 to 75 percent. About half of this loss is from decreased grass production. Cattle won't graze in dense leafy spurge stands and these areas are a 100 percent loss to producers.  (Entire article here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/03107.html)

So the two words "leafy spurge" confirm the sense of run-down, neglect, and poverty of the Twist ranch.  No one has licked that leafy spurge into shape.  It helps us understand Mr. Twist's bitterness at the promised help that never come to pass.

Here's a poignant line from further down in the article:

Sheep or goats can be used to help control leafy spurge.

Wow, thank you so much, this is very helpful!

I always wondered how John Twist made his money in the later days. From the article you quoted it seems like he was never really able to keep the ranch into shape on his own, couldn't prevent the leafy spurge from taking over his ranch. Annie mentioning the leafy spurge can't be a coincidence, nothing she mentions in the short story is a coincidence! I think I wrote farm because in Europe we always say farm!  So John Twist would have been milking the cows or selling the meat of the cows?

[Ellemeno]

Wow, thank you so much, this is very helpful!

I always wondered how John Twist made his money in the later days. From the article you quoted it seems like he was never really able to keep the ranch into shape on his own, couldn't prevent the leafy spurge from taking over his ranch. Annie mentioning the leafy spurge can't be a coincidence, nothing she mentions in the short story is a coincidence! I think I wrote farm because in Europe we always say farm!  So John Twist would have been milking the cows or selling the meat of the cows?

I'm guessing that all the cows we see in the short story or film are for meat.  There doesn't seem to be any kind of dairy operation.  Usually, I think, if it's for milk, it's called a dairy farm.  "Ranch" implies plenty of pasture (except when "winter feedin' starts" because the grass has stopped growing for the year) for the cows to eat, a tougher life, probably no indoor shelter for the cows.