What factor negatively affected open range cattle ranching

Open range, in U. S. history, the areas of public domain north of Texas where from about 1866 to 1890 more than 5,000,000 cattle were driven to fatten and be shipped off to slaughter. The open ranges of western Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and other western states and territories served as huge pasturelands for the herds of the Texas ranchmen.