Ranch

Ranches are islands bought by players that are subscribed.

Access

Ranches can be accessed via the dock house, just type in the player's name and it'll get you there. If you are going to your own ranch, right under the search engine for other people's usernames is a button that will give you the option to go to your ranch.

Obtaining one

If you are a subscriber, you are able to buy a ranch island of your own. Ranch islands do not show up on the maps.
To buy a ranch, go to any City Hall. On the walls there, you will find a Community Board. Clicking on this will bring up the Ranch window.
Here you are given a choice of sizes and terrains, varying from Tiny to Huge. "Grassy" isles grow Fruit and Nut trees. "Plains" isles grow flowers and plants. Which trees/shrubs/plants appear on a particular ranch island is randomly set when you buy your ranch. Nota bene: these trees, etc. are not pickable. Instead, their produce goes into the ranch owner's inventory once a day, beginning 24 hours after the ranch has been purchased.
Clicking on any of these options will buy you your island. To get to the island, go to the nearest dock. At the bottom of the Routes list, you will see, "Transport to your own ranch for $100." You can use this option to get to your own island from any port on the Isles. It is also possible to buy a Lifetime Pass which, once you own it, allows travel to and from your ranch for free. This pass costs $20,000 and is available from some of the harbormasters.
Note: You can only buy a ranch from City Hall, and you can only sell it to City Hall. Players cannot sell ranches to one another. Also, only one player may own any ranch; players cannot "share" an island.
The first thing you'll see on your island is a Welcome sign. Clicking on this sign tells you what your ranch has produced since your last visit (if anything) and also gives you the option of sailing back to the port from which you came. From the welcome sign, you also have the option to type in a description and edit it. You also can access some things you have "planted", "bought", or "constructed" on your ranch, such as, (if you have bought these things) your breeding barn (you can set your prices and decide who is allowed to breed to your horses and what breed can breed with your horses), horse store, adventure kayak (this is where you access what foreign isles you'd like to visit), just to name a few. It also shows what is produced on your ranch. You can also toggle who you want and don't want on your ranch. You can set it to everyone, just buddies, just clubbies, just buddies and clubbies, or no one. If you do not want certain individuals on your ranch, then mute that/those individual(s) and they will not be able to access your ranch (or speak to you).

Benefits

Horse sheds and barns, which allow you to keep additional horses. Feed Silos, which automatically feed your horses. Water towers, which automatically water both you and your horses. Farm Plots, which feed you and generate extra produce which you can sell; the produce these farm plots provide is not found "in the wild" on the isles, and some of it is necessary for various quests. Maple Trees, Milk Cows, Hen Houses, Sheep providing more items not found "in the wild" which you can then sell to other players. Mines, which generate various metals and gems, five chunks/nuggets and three gems per day per mine. Windmills, which generate money. Training Centers which allow you to train your own horses at home. Stores, where you can sell your own crafted items and produce, as well as horses and pets. Adventure Kayaks, which allow you to travel to Foreign Isles where you can gather extra supplies for cooking, crafting, sewing and jewelry making (these isles do not have quests, treasures or wild horses). For Each ranch house level that you upgrade to, you are allowed 15 additional inventory slots for more room. Additional things There are 8 levels of several different architectural styles: Victorian Plains Native American Medieval Classical Greek Log Cabin Hill Home Tree House There is five (5) different sizes of ranches you can buy from the city hall. Tiny-300k Small-500k Medium-1m Large-2m Huge-5m You can choose grassy (which has darker grass and some trees on the beach) or plains (lighter grass and different plants that are auto generated, and no trees on beach) for each size. You can get a Decay (Dead) Isle with a huge isle if you like, although it does not grow anything automatically. Levels of your building What kinds of buildings you can put on your ranch sometimes depend on the level of ranch house you own. There are eight different levels. At the lowest levels, you can put up horse sheds which allow you to own one additional horse (over the five you are allowed at the start of the game). It is not until you have erected a level 4 Ranch House that you may place a Horse Barn, which allows you to own three additional horses per barn. (Gold Barns are also available, but at level 7, which allow more horses per barn.) You may place as many barns, as well as many other types of structures, as you want, but some structures are limited to one per island. When you click on a paddle to add or demolish a structure, you will be given a list of what can be put on that spot.