I thought that going in, which is why I looked it up. I pride myself on having a pretty good knowledge of old terms and usages. It also seems to be a western regional term, which would explain why it had hitherto escaped my attention.
Sadly so will ranchers and sheep herders die off.
As federal allotments are ‘vacated,’ much more of our food will be completely produced in feed lots. Former free range cows and sheep will have lots of drugs and growth hormones instead.
Sad but inevitable unless enough people are willing to pay extra for real meat. Feed lots are more efficient (read cheaper) than grazing and will force out grazing even absent the vacating of Federal allotments.
Also most people are more used to the milder flavor of feed lot meat and prefer it to the slightly stronger taste of free range meat. I don't have to like it, and I don't, but there it is.
When Ted Turner and friends succeed in closing the public lands to grazing, hunting, fishing, logging, mining, tie hacks...then the die is cast. It may take a while, but the family rancher and family farmer are dead.
Ted will buy cheaply at the bank foreclosure auction, then offer ‘sanctuary’ in his new lodge to his Hollywood elites at a high price...