Barbed wire, it would kinda sting the cattle if they touched it
The railroad.
Joseph McCoy had promised the Texan ranchers that if they brought their cattle to Kansas, where they could be shipped by rail, that he would pay them well for the cattle. The ranchers received three times what they could locally for their cattle, which greatly increased the profitability of ranching.
There are many factors that helped the farmers on the great plains to overcome opposition from cattle ranchers. For instance they bought new and improved machinery which improved efficiency in their farming.
barbed wire
The growth of cities meant there was less land to raise cattle and less grass for cattle to feed on. The railroads helped the cattle industry by allowing ranchers to be able to deliver cattle to areas where they could not be transported on foot.
Cattle trails helped western economic development because they helped to move cattle easily and therefore trading was easier. Ranching helped because they could have the food to themselves in times of drought, and could easily sell to other ranchers who had poor crops. Hoped I helped to answer your question. -7th grader
Barbed wire because it helped farmers/rangers keep their cattle from being stolen
The railroads significantly opened the cattle industry to sales and sales meant ranchers could expand their lands and herds. Ranchers from even Texas could drive herds north to meet the railroad, and both factors helped develop towns in the Great Plains.
The Chisholm Trail was important because it is how cattle were driven from Texas to Kansas before the railroad expanded. It was the main route ranchers used and it allowed them to get beef to the Northeast and the sale of cattle helped Texas get out of the poverty left over from the Civil War.
The railroads helped to create cattle kingdoms in the southwest because cattle could be shipped all over the country. Raising cattle in the southwest provided the ranchers with lots of land and grass to feed the cattle.
Refrigerated railroad cars could take the processed meat to the East. Actually the railroads enabled ranchers to drive their cattle shorter distances to the trains that came to their most local cow-town. The railroads allowed cattle to be transported long distances, quickly and efficiently to distant markets. This meant that herding of cattle on foot over long distances, using much man power, would eventually be consigned to the western cowboy movies.
Before the invention of barbed wire, a rancher's cattle just went all over the land, and during roundup time, you had to go find them. Also, someone driving cattle could simply cut across a person's land in order to get to market. With the invention of barbed wire, roundups becanme easier, and "Line houses" were set up along the fences of some larger ranches, in order to make sure the cattle were in good health year round. The upside/downside (depending on who you ask) was that it kept cattle drivers from cutting across property, making them go aroound, thus lengthening their travel time.