MacFarlane's Ranch

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“I don't think I've ever seen a ranch with its own store before.”

MacFarlane's Ranch is a location featured in Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II in the Hennigan's Stead region of the New Austin territory.

Background

Red Dead Redemption

MacFarlane's Ranch is a cattle ranch, home to Bonnie MacFarlane and Drew MacFarlane, and the largest ranch in the game. The ranch plays a key supporting role in the narrative of Red Dead Redemption, especially the first chapter. In addition, the player can find work here such as cattle herding and nightwatch jobs. On the ranch, there is a small Foreman's Office, a General Store, a Doctor's Office, a train station, a large pen for cattle, a corral for horses, a large barn, and a small chicken coop (clearly with a hole in its fence, as the chickens are often roaming around the ranch).

MacFarlane's Ranch is one of the first places that the player will visit in Red Dead Redemption. Here, Marston will awaken after an initial confrontation with Bill Williamson, who shoots Marston in the abdomen and leaves him for dead. After recovering, Marston will follow a few tutorial missions introducing the player to the gameplay mechanics.

All of the story missions in the Bonnie MacFarlane mission strand begin at this location. The Irish mission "On Shaky's Ground" ends here and a portion of both Abigail Marston missions "The Outlaw's Return" and "Old Friends, New Problems" take place in this location.

Undead Nightmare

Despite the best efforts of the ranch's residents and workers, MacFarlane's Ranch has not been spared the destruction of the undead uprising; the undead prowl the street, attacking any living thing they can get their hands on and the town's survivors have been forced to either flee or get to high ground, grab the nearest weapon they can get their hands on, and focus on trying to eliminate the undead hordes clawing at their feet. Bonnie MacFarlane has locked herself inside her family home, and Drew MacFarlane has decided to take on the difficult task of herding as many of the undead as possible into the barn in a vain attempt to allow the other residents to carry on with their day-to-day lives.

In the Undead Nightmare DLC pack, this is one of 23 locations that must be cleared of the Undead and then protected from re-infestation thereafter. Also during the Undead Nightmare, the side-mission "Paternal Pride" begins and ends at this location. Once the mission is completed, the player will receive the Winchester Repeater. The survivors defending the ranch are Solomon Flake, Granville Berry, Eunis Randle and an unknown woman.

In Multiplayer, this is one of 7 locations that has a Land Grab game available. The post to start the game is located on the on top of the Foreman's Office.

Amenities

General Store: Shop Keeper present only during the daytime. Items include: Survivalist Map, Hennigan's Stead Map, Ammunition, Weapons, and Horse Deeds.
Doctor's Office: Items include: Medicine, Snake Oil, Chewing Tobacco, Apple, Horse Pills
Safehouse
Stagecoach
Telegraph Office: Pay off a bounty on your head.
Train Station

Activities

Horseshoes (Playing and winning at this game in MacFarlane's ranch is the third scrap for the Bollard Twins Outfit)
Land Grab
Nightwatch (Completing this job in the ranch is the second scrap for the Bollard Twins Outfit)
Poker
Wanted Poster (Claiming a Bollard Twins Gang Bounty alive is the fourth scrap for the Bollard Twins Outfit and the poster is put here)

Native Plants

Wild Feverfew

Safehouse

Red Dead Redemption

Main article: MacFarlane's Ranch Safehouse

Located within MacFarlane's Ranch is a safehouse (shed), accessible to the player early in the gameplay narrative. It is the very first safehouse the player is given. It's located near the pen where the horses are kept. In there, you can find a chest with ammo in it. You can save your game here as well.

Undead Nightmare

In the Undead Nightmare DLC the player has a different safehouse instead of the shed, which is the cell in the Foreman's Office where the player can save, change outfits, and fast-travel to another destination.

Known Glitches

The flag at the train station acts quite strange; at times stretching to extreme lengths.
If you play Poker and are caught cheating, after the duel (If you win) the playing cards may appear be stuck in Marston's right arm.
If you wait in the Cattle pen, the bull may charge into the fence, glitch, and eventually bounce out of the area. It can then be seen running around New Austin.
After unlocking the Blue Train, while riding the Red train the blue train may come through the red train, knocking the player over.
In Undead Nightmare, just like Blackwater , MacFarlane Ranch can become a lost town without warning. It will give the player no notification of an attack prior.
Sometimes a horse might spawn as a bull in singleplayer and allows a player to have a bull as a mount in singleplayer but it makes horse sounds and has the ability to jump

Animals Commonly Found in This Location

Trivia

On the road sign East of the ranch, MacFarlane's Ranch is misspelled "McFarlane Ranch".
MacFarlane's Ranch was originally Hennigan's Stead. During development the ranch was renamed to MacFarling's Ranch, then again to MacFarlane's ranch and the region in which the ranch resides was renamed Hennigan's Stead.
The general store owner makes a reference to another character, a general store owner, from the 2000 comedy film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Both characters say to the protagonist, "You want something, we can order it. Be here in a couple of weeks."
During the night the people of the ranch can be seen gathering around the campfire near the safe house, talking or playing an instrument. In Undead Nightmare, once the town has been saved, a couple of the town's defenders can also be found around the campfire just as the ranch's past inhabitants could be.
Contrary to popular opinion, the American Flag seen at the train station is correct as it has 46 stars; however, the flag is inaccurate in 1914 as the flag should have 48 stars.
North of the ranch is a Targeting Range with bottles and cans that can be locked on with Dead Eye.
In Undead Nightmare, it's possible to get stuck behind the counter of the telegraph office if the player climbs on the awning outside and jumps in through the window. The door of the telegraph office is boarded shut, and the windows at ground level cannot be jumped through.
The US flag in MacFarlane's Ranch is realistic in that it only flies when there is a wind in the air. Otherwise it will remain limp.
A part of the Southwestern Railroad Company is located here and at Benedict Point, the main part of the company is located at Armadillo.
In Undead Nightmare the flag near the train station appears to be burnt and torn.
MacFarlane's Ranch is the only location in Red Dead Redemption where both the trains stop at the station.
If you go into the MacFarlane's Ranch Foreman's office and shoot the prisoner in the cell he will become hostile and pull out a Winchester Repeater, but he can easily be killed and most of the time cannot shoot through the cell bars.
Two chests can be found in the ranch; one is inside the Poker building, and the other is underneath the bridge which lies next to the MacFarlane's home.
The ranch reappears in Red Dead Redemption II with minor differences. One notable differance is that the barn house is nowhere to be seen, even though Bonnie stated during the mission New Friends, Old Problems that her father built the barn himself when she was a little girl. This might be an oversight by Rockstar.