There are two major distinctions, open range and closed range. Open range places the legal burden on land owners to keep cattle out off of their land. Closed range places the legal burden upon the cattle rancher to keep their cattle out of other's property.
There are laws around all of this and yet most of the people in the region do not fully understand them. Instead they have their own version of what they think the laws are and they settle most disputes without legal intervention. This means that disputes are settled based on a convoluted version of the law, which because it is used most often is far more important (and interesting) than actual law.
Ellickson, Robert C. (1991). Order without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
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