Why were there conflicts between farmers and cattlemen in the West during the 1800s? Cattlemen intruded on unfenced farmlands. C
attlemen kept the railroads from building where farmers needed them. Farmers fenced off grazing lands that they did not own. Farmers created a shortage of the barbed wire cattlemen needed to keep their herds safe.
Conflicts happened in many states. There were the so-called the Fence Cutting Wars. At some point, cattlemen started to use barbed wire to fence their lands; farmers or smaller cattlemen saw this as improper taking of public lands and an obstacle to roads and began cutting the fences.
