The invention of barbed wire contributed to the demise of the open range system.
In the winter of 1886–87 the open range industry was ruined as hundreds of thousands of cattle perished and homesteaders took over and fenced the lands with barbed wire.
By 1890 there was little remaining of the open range system.
The open range system was a common practice among ranchmen in the United States between 1866 and 1890, and consisted of cattle wandering freely in the land regardless of the ranch owner. It was a great business that produced a lot of money. Then, the invention of the barbed wire in the 1870s started to mine the increase of open range system since landowners realized it was cheaper to fence cattle than paying cowboys lo look after the cattle. It was until the 1890s that the barbed wire became a standard practice among ranchers and it marked the end for the open range system booming.
