In Practice
Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018
HMI 2017 Annual Report Dear HMI Community, 2017 was another busy year for HMI as we collaborated with over 100 organizations around the globe to deliver 105 days of programming in 13 countries. To provide in-depth training in Holistic Management, we held 13 Open Gates and six Whole Farm/Ranch Business Planning or Land Management Series or Beginning Farmer/Ranching Training Programs. We also had 305 farmers and ranchers enroll in HMI’s Getting Started Courses and other online training. HMI’s programming and global network of over 60 Certified Educators trained and presented on Holistic Management to 4,462 people, while also positively impacting 5.86 million acres. Thanks to the support of our generous donors in 2017, HMI was able to increase the total amount of scholarships to over $35,000 to beginning and transitioning farmers and ranchers needing financial assistance. On the outreach front, we continue to expand our scope by educating more people about Holistic Management and HMI. By the end of the year, our outreach outcomes included almost
a publication of Holistic Management International
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21,000 Facebook fans and 14,000+ Twitter followers. Over 16,000 people subscribe to our e-letter and over 110,000 visitors engage with our website. While HMI finished 2017 with a net loss of $19,764, we were able to increase our reserves by $86,720, while decreasing our expenses by 14%. Importantly, net assets have risen by 93% since 2015 and contributions from our donors have grown by 42% since last year. We continue to use those donation dollars wisely, with 82 cents of every dollar going directly to programs. In 2017 we also deepened our collaboration with the Quivira Coalition by developing a New Agrarian Online Training program, providing online training to support their New Agrarian Program as well as buttressing other educational farms and ranches throughout the globe. Together, apprentices, interns, and young farmers were able to learn Holistic Management to support their educational experience on these farms and ranches. This year HMI is partnering with the Quivira Coalition and the American Grassfed Association for the 2018 Regenerate Conference in a not-to-be-missed regenerative agriculture gathering, to be held at the Hotel Albuquerque in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 31st–November 2nd, 2018. We hope to see you all there. We will have a pre-conference Holistic Management Social on October 30th so please come in town early enough to participate and meet HMI’s Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and Certified Educators. We look forward to reporting on our 2018 programming in the ensuing 2018 annual report, as this year has already been a busy one. Thanks to our committed team of Board, staff, Advisory Council, Certified Educators and our network of practitioners and allies, we continue to grow the circle of those who are practicing Holistic Management and creating healthy land and thriving communities.
Ann Adams - Executive Director
Danny Nuckols - Board Chair
save the date ______________________________________________ Caring for the Land nurture resilience, build diversity
REGENERATE
2018
Oct 31 - Nov 2, 2018
Albuquerque, NM
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Balancing financial, human, and natural resources is a tough job in any business. Agricultural businesses deal with additional challenges as they address weather as well as market challenges. But for holistic managers the desire to care for the land remains a touchstone for all management decisions. Learn how Louis Martin has met these challenges and the results he’s achieved in the article about Round River Resource Management starting on page 10.
2017 Audited Financials Annual Report Financials Summarized Statement of Activities
Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.
In Practice a publication of Hollistic Management International
HMI educates people in regenerative agriculture for healthy land and thriving communities. STAFF Ann Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . Executive Director Kathy Harris. . . . . . . . . . . Program Director Mary Girsch-Bock. . . . . . Development Manager Carrie Stearns . . . . . . . . . Communications & Outreach Manager Julie Fierro. . . . . . . . . . . . Education Manager Stephanie Von Ancken . . Program Manager Kimberly Barnett. . . . . . . Administrative Assistant
2016
135,987 163,779 26,478 351,934 211,445 7,653 85,464 1,070 55,760 71,826 10,596 1,121,992
159,834 202,240 25,825 370,529 189,863 4,332 87,147 1,743 0 -8,909 65,915 1,098,519
Expenses Educational programs Outreach Fundraising Administration Total Expenses
860,406 77,576 55,798 147,886 1,141,666
815,349 239,423 203,916 71,800 1,330,488
Change in net assets
-19,674
-231,969
572,652 1,658,749 111,739 5,478
$3,000 591,683 910,118 4,401,339
453,090 1,734,134 152,284 7,179 0 13,628 539,271 0 3,000 535,923 1,011,230 4,449,739
29,198 42,338 27,248 4,868 237,134 340,786
17,999 50,978 23,376 9,826 267,333 369,512
Net Assets Unrestricted Investment in Property & Equipment Temporarily restricted Total net assets
3,704,780 269,558 86,215 4,060,553
3,663,412 248,562 168,253 4,080,227
Total liabilities and net assets
4,401,339
4,449,739
(Restated)
Summarized Statement of Financial Position
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2017
Revenues Educational Programs Grants Publications Mineral interests Contributions Investment income (net) Partnership and trust income Miscellaneous income Unrealized gain (loss) on closely held stock Net realized gains on sales of investments Unrealized gain on investments Total Revenues
Assets Cash and cash equivalents Investments Accounts receivable Prepaid expenses Unconditional promises to give Inventory Property and equipment, net Unconditional promises to give - long term Other Stock in closely held companies Mineral interest, net Total Asset
Daniel Nuckols, Chair Walter Lynn, Vice-Chair Kelly Sidoryk, Past Board Chair Gerardo Bezanilla Avery Anderson-Sponholtz Kirrily Blomfield Kevin Boyer Jonathan Cobb Guy Glosson Wayne Knight Robert Potts Jim Shelton Sarah Williford
HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT In Practice
Liabilities Accounts payable Compensated Absences Payable Curent portion of long term debt Deferred revenue Long term debt payable, less current maturities Total Liabilities
(ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by: Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2018 Holistic Management® is a registered trademark of Holistic Management International
13,980 533,940
FEATURE STORIES
LAND & LIVESTOCK
NEWS & NETWORK
Hills of Milk and Honey— Craving Community
Round River Resource Management— Caring for the Land & Mentoring the Next Generation of Agricultural Professionals
Program Round Up.................................................. 18
San Pedro Ranch — Focusing on Conservation and Holistic Management in Texas
Market Place............................................................ 21
AMY MILLIRON............................................................................. 5
Being Without Prejudice
TONY MALMBERG....................................................................... 7
ANN ADAMS...............................................................................10
HEATHER SMITH THOMAS.......................................................14
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Grapevine................................................................ 19 Certified Educators.................................................. 20 Development Corner............................................... 24
Donors & Supporters HMI would like to thank all of our donors whose generous contributions help make our work possible. Betsy & Reeves Brown Catherine Semrod Clint & Betty Josey Danny & Martha Nuckols Elisabeth Keller Emry Birdwell & Deborah Clark Gail Hammack & Doug McDaniel Gary & Mary Cox Genevieve Duncan Joan Bybee Joe & Julie Morris Kelly Curtis Kirk Gadzia Leigh & Charlie Merinoff Mary Etta Johnston Ron Chapman
Stewards ($50,000+) The Christiano Family Charitable Foundation Thornburg Foundation Guardians ($10,000+) Bill and Marian Cook Foundation Hudson Valley Farm Hub Martha Records & Rich Rainaldi Patagonia Regenerative Agriculture Foundation Simply Organic Protectors ($5,000+) Cindy Dvergsten Farm Aid Inc Leaves of Grass Fund Lorin McDowell Richard King Tecovas Foundation TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation Keepers ($2,500+) C.D. Pounds Clif Bar Family Foundation Grasslans Charitable Foundation Joy Law Paicines Ranch Tracy Litle
Patrons ($1,000+) xpenditures Amy & Joseph Morel xpenditures Armando J. Flocchini III Expenditures
Ben & Denise Bartlett
Sustainers ($500+) Ann Adams Ann Beeghly Belva Locker Casey Wade Charles Mitchell Cheryl Newman Don & Randee Halladay Emery Mitchamore Gail Kursel George Rodes H. Kimberly Lukens Jenny Carloye Jette Schuh Jim & Sara Shelton John Nelson Kathy Harris Kelly Sidoryk Kent Reid
Laura Gill Mark & Theresa Cohen Molly Baldrige Martha Holdridge Mary N. Adams Pono & Angela Von Holt Rebecca Nunnally Rob & Marti Rutherford Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Ryan Jarvis Sallie Calhoun Susie Hagemeister The Community Foundation Walt Davis Supporters ($250+) Albert Lowry Avery C Anderson Barbara & Louis Sklar Byron & Wayne Eatinger Cameron Duncan Charles & Jennifer Sands Chase Curie Edwin Brown Ernest & Edwina Diswood FUSA Insurance Agency Gene & Carole Francis George & Elaine Work Jack & Teresa Southworth James F. Dudley Jaye Henneke Jennifer Klass Joan Kelleher Kenneth Riddle Lauri Celella Lisa Bellows Louis Hagener Lowell & Mary Forman Mancos Grange Hall Marsten & Carolyn White Master Gardeners Group Michael Storm Michael Sweeney Nancy Ranney & David Levi NRCS Mountainair
2017 Funding Expenditures
Educa5onal programs
Educa5onal programs Educa5onal programs Educa5onal programs Outreach Outreach Outreach Outreach Fundraising Fundraising Fundraising
Fundraising Administra5on Administra5on Administra5on Administra5on
Peter & Helen Schulze Richard Teague Rick & Kasthy Kaesebier Sarah Williford Tague Hurley Todd Staats Vivianne Holmes Friends (<$250) Aaron Hand Alisa Gravitz & Joe Garman Ana Lopes Angela Boudro Arapahoe County Fairgrounds Barbara & William Scaife Beatrice Ludwig Ben Coleman Berenika Byszewski Berni Ortensi Betsy Ross Brian Megaw Brian Russ Brian Wehlburg Carl D Warrick Carrie Stearns Catherine & Steven Koenig Cecilia Schulz Celia Bell Charles & Peggy Schmidt Charles (Butch) Tindell Christoffel Den Biggelaar Cornelis Tromp Craig Leggett Cynthia Villa Dan Towery Dave Dorrance Dave Maxwell Delane J. Atcitty Denise Bostdorff & Daniel O’Rourke Dennis & Ruth Demmel Dennis Pufpaf Derek & Kirrily Blomfield Dmitry Popov Don (Roc) & Judy Rutledge Don Faulkner Donald E & Lana Whitten Douglas Dockter Drausin Wulsin Duane Hilborn Edgar Henson Edvard Nordenskjold Elizabeth Wheeler Emil & Maryann Casciano Erin Flynn & Skip Connett Esther & Norm Harte Fran MacKenzie Frank Hayes CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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Donors & Supporters Gary Lee LeGare Gary & Sue Price Gerry Rackley Greg & Lauren Edelen Harry Kemp Helene de Batz Hugh B. Garnett Jr. James & Geraldine Matthews Jason Klinge Jeff & Denise Hunewill Jennifer Peotter Joe Glode John & Julie Ott John & Suzanne Fain John C & Rosalyn G Phillips John Chandler John F. Gerber John Grover John Wernette Josep Ramon Sainz de la Maza Benet Joseph & Blair Fitzsimons Julie Gahn Justin & Lisa Jessop Kanna Hoki Karen Galles Karen Parkhill Kari Hamerschlag Katie Morrison Kay Allen Keith McGill Kelli & Bill Parker Kelly Mulville Ken Gallard Kenneth & Bonita Miller Kent Burnett Kim Marshall Kirk Cunningham Lauren Bradbury Lawrence & Lynn Levine Leslie & Steve Dorrance Linda Davis Linda K James Lowry McAllen Lucy McKain Luke & Emily Frey Luke Jones M.K. & Veronica Campbell Manuel Rodriguez Morales Margy Rogers Marilee Williams Marja Kozelj Mark & Wendy Pratt Mark Whitley Myra McPherson 4 IN PRACTICE
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Peggy Cole Peter Wizinowich Rich & Anne Morris Rita Talbot Robert Maggiani Robert Potts Robin Temple Russell Chamberlin Sally Wellborn & William Gallagher Sam Ryerson Sara & Jesse Bullis Sims Cattle Co LLC Stacey Sullivan Susan Brook Susan Bunnell Susan Stropes Tita Berger Tom & Irene Frantzen Tom White William Jenkins A special thanks to the following organizations and individuals who have graciously supported our programs. 77 Ranch Alpine Alley Café Austin Green Gate Farms Brittany Jensen Bunchgrass Flats California Certified Organic Farmers California Polytechnic State University Carolyn & Marston White Carter Randolph Circle P Ranch City of Austin Colorado State Land Board Connecticut NOFA
September / October 2018
Conservation Commission on Soil Health Desert Oasis Teaching Garden at the Albuquerque Academy Diné College Land Grant Office Duke Phillips Ernest and Edwina Diswood FARFA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Four Corners Farming and Ranching Coalition Gabe Brown Gentle Giants Gerardo Bezanilla Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District Goulburn Broken Greg Judy Guy Glosson Haymarket Feed Store Healthy Food Systems Healthy Habits Meal Prep High Desert Conservation District Honey’s Acres Farm Inside Outside Management James Parker Jay Whiteside Johnathan Cobb Kelly Sidoryk Kevin Boyer Lowry Ranch Mancos Conservation District Miller-Coors Monte Prieto Ranch Morris Grassfed National Center for Appropriate Technology National Landcare Programme National Young Farmers New Mexico NRCS Noble Foundation North Central Catchment Management Authority
Oklahoma Farmers and Ranchers Association (OFRA) Oklahoma NRCS Ranchlands ReGen UK RegenAg Robert Potts Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Ron Chapman Rough Stone Ranch Sallie Calhoun Sam White San Benito Working Landscapes Group San Juan Water and Soil Conservation District Seed2Need Sidonia Beef Simply Organic Sonoma Resource Conservation District Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance (SWGLA) Speakeasy Gardens Street Food Institute Sustainable Food Center of Austin T.O. Cattle Company Tarrant Regional Water District Texas Draft Horse and Mule Association Texas Grazing Lands Coalition Texas NRCS The Grasslander The Nature Conservancy Three Sisters Kitchen TOFGA Trainor Cattle Company TX AgriLife Research Walter Lynn Wayne Knight Whole New Concepts, LLC William Burnidge
2017 Income Sources Educa&onal Programs Grants Publica&ons Mineral interests Contribu&ons Investment income Partnership and trust income
Hills of Milk and Honey—
Craving Community BY AMY MILLIRON
I
thought it might be too late in my life to start a farm. A beloved mentor encouraged me to go for it. I am a 42-year-old women who has longed for the chance to provide an inclusive space centered on regenerative agriculture that fosters community and allows folks the chance to learn from each other. My formal background and graduate level education is in teaching and curriculum and instruction. All previous titles I’ve held prior to choosing a career in agriculture have revolved around teaching young children through adults. When I am facilitating the learning of others, I learn as well. There is so much we all have to offer each other when we come together and share our knowledge.
networking with folks in agriculture and I first participated by taking Holistic Management’s online Getting Started course. I was hooked! That bit of information I received, as well as visiting a local Open Gate day, led me to register for the full Beginning Farmer Training Program. I knew that the knowledge I would learn from the course would help me manage the challenges I was facing, almost entirely, if I put into practice what I was about to learn from the course.
Holistic Help
Creating a holistic goal and committing every decision made from that point on to fit
nearly a year ago. The instructors were very well prepared and extremely knowledgeable. The pace of the course was perfect and allowed time to discuss, think through, brainstorm with the class, and put new skills into practice on my own farm and in my own enterprises. I was just in the beginning phase of launching my farm and my business so the timing of the course was perfect. I was able to use the Decision Testing Questions to help determine how to handle many looming questions including whether I should buy a tractor right away, whether I should take out a loan, whether I should rent out a guest house to earn more income, and much
Community and Learning
I have found that I am not the only person who craves community as much as I do. When I decided to begin my educational farm, Hills of Milk and Honey, in Dripping Springs, Texas, I spent several years preparing for the launch of my business. I volunteered on local farms, networked at farmers markets, interned in teaching gardens, worked for and became an apprentice beekeeper, and I completed my certification in Holistic Management International’s Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Training Program. My goal was to learn as much as I could about launching a diversified farm where my community could come together and learn from each other. While participating in all of these endeavors to gain experience as a farmer, I shared my unique ideas about my farm with everyone I came in contact with to gauge interest. I explained to folks about my desire to ‘grow farmers’ in an effort to encourage children, teens and adults to get involved in the slow food movement. The response was overwhelmingly positive and these folks who believed in this idea from the beginning are now the farm’s biggest fans! The challenges faced in the beginning included obtaining land, connecting with mentors in each of the enterprises I planned to implement, researching profitability of each enterprise, learning how to obtain funds to begin the process, fine tuning my marketing skills, and knowing where to focus my energy each step of the way. I had learned about Holistic Management International though my
Amy Milliron found HMI’s Beginning Farmer Training Program just what she needed to start a profitable farm. One of the core values in her holistic goal is to engage her community with her farm and children as a big part of her community. within that holistic goal was exactly the focus I was seeking when I was planning the future of my educational farm. Prior to learning how to create a holistic goal, I had lots of ideas swirling around about how to diversify my farm and offer educational opportunities to my community. It wasn’t until I really spent time on creating my holistic goal, that I realized how manageable it would be to move forward with my business plans. I had previously tried creating a business plan from scratch, with every detail figured out in advance. Oh goodness, that just doesn’t work. Instead, Holistic Management teaches to decide on the profit desired in advance, and make the plans to get there fit the holistic goal. Voila! It works! The benefits I received from taking the course were worth every penny spent and every minute dedicated to the training I completed
more. This tool has proven invaluable because our family now applies these test questions to all major, and some minor, decisions that we make even when they are unrelated to the farm as a business. I have stayed in contact with the instructors, and almost every single classmate from the course. In fact, several of the folks have taken part as presenters here at Hills of Milk and Honey as we’ve increased our workshop offerings to the community. After getting to know so many of them, it was clear that each person had individual, specialized skills that would be an incredible asset to my community. Each time I fill the semester’s calendar with workshops, I put out a request for proposals to the community, including the instructors and classmates from HMI’s Beginning Farmer CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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All of the curriculum for each program created here on the farm has been developed by me, with my experience and research completed Training Program. It brings me great joy to revolving around regenerative agriculture, be able to provide a platform here on my sustainability, biodynamic farming, the slow food educational farm for others to share their movement, farm and food related advocacy knowledge. And, although I teach workshops efforts, permaculture design principles, and here as well, it is great fun for the community most of all, Holistic Management’s principles to learn from a variety of experts in the and practices of nature including functioning in regenerative agriculture field. wholes, and understanding your environment. Hills of Milk and Honey focuses on healing In areas where more experience or skill is called the soil in order to grow nutrient-dense food for for, I call in mentors and experts to partner the animals to graze and for the community to teach with me, as is in the case with the autism eat. A herd of Alpine and Nubian dairy goats, day camp week this summer and several a flock of laying chickens, honeybees, rabbits, other programs. broiler chickens, and livestock guardian dogs Before starting the farm I had to make a big fill the farm with their sweet presence while decision. I had to decide whether to run the each meets a specific need on business as a non-profit or the farm. I spent the first year for profit. It is my hope that adding all of the livestock to I can encourage farmers to the farm. create enough manageable Now, in my second diversity on their farm to earn year, I am teaming up with a livable wage that allows for permaculture designers, healthcare, savings, and the while also completing my ability to hire more help and own permaculture design lessen the number of hours certificate, to create a whole personally dedicated to hard farm design plan using Holistic labor as the farmer ages. Management principles Knowing that a farmer and practices in addition deserves to be able to obtain to permaculture practices. those goals just the same Included in this plan will be as any other profession, continued grazing plans for practicing what I preach is the livestock, as well as crop necessary. So, I created a for rotations for the vegetables, profit company. This means While Amy has numerous enterprises, including laying hens, she went through fruits, and nuts that are being that grant opportunities the enterprise analysis process to determine which enterprises made the most added this year. are not as abundant, and sense for her farm. bootstrapping is key! One of A Community Farm my favorite t-shirts says ‘no The business plans for the farm are choose to pay full price for a drop-off option days off’ and I wear it proudly. I am in a season purposely left a bit open-ended to allow for or participate weekly in leading small groups where I must work hard nearly every single day the community’s interests and requests to be for a discounted option. This is a pilot program in order to create a baseline for this business considered along the way. What started out as with plans to offer semester-long, home school that allows it to flourish as it grows. This is just a diversified farm that would host field trips of programs each fall and spring. a season. I will not be able to keep up with this school students on weekdays, has morphed A special program was requested by a parent pace forever, and I don’t plan to. I continue to into so much more. Choices for community in our community who has a child with Autism test out when and how to hire help using the involvement include workshops for children Spectrum Disorder. This very passionate, Decision Testing Questions. and adults (i.e. composting, raising backyard amazing mom requested that I develop a camp One day, hopefully soon, I will be able to chickens, soap-making, gardening, meditation, week dedicated to those with Autism Spectrum hire an actual, full-time employee. For now, I farm art creation, and more). These workshops Disorder so that they could experience the farm pay for very part-time, project-based help here take place on weekdays, weeknights, and in their unique way. I partnered with a specialist on the farm. It is a lot to manage, but I have an weekends. Also, folks may request a private and created a camp week dedicated to meeting incredible ‘pool’ of people to contact as needs group farm experience, a private farm themed the needs of children, teens and young adults arise. And, although I write about the farm from party, Girl Scout badge workshops and with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I can only first person, I have the best partner/farm hand/ overnight camps, use of the farm for photo imagine the lifetime of opportunities that I will husband in the world and incredible children. shoots, and overnight stays in the guest house. be able to offer to my community if I continue to My husband, Matthew, has a full-time, off-farm In addition, the summers are filled with day listen to their needs, take their requests to heart, day job, but he comes home and either heads camps for preschoolers, elementary-aged kids, and test them to make sure they fit my holistic straight into the kitchen to cook dinner, or and middle school tweens and teens where they goal. This is just the beginning! straight out to the barn to do chores. There is CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
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get to become a ‘farmer for the week.’ Several community requested programs have been created based on leaving room in the business plan for just such things. These include a preschool/senior citizen intergenerational farm program that occurs monthly. What’s better than an 83-year-old and a three-year-old digging for worms together in the garden? Another program was created out of the desire to streamline many requests received throughout the year from homeschool families and groups. This spring, homeschool families may register for an eight-week program that meets weekly, to learn about regenerative agriculture through hands-on learning and research here at Hills of Milk and Honey. This is a hybrid co-op program where parents may
September / October 2018
never an end to the honey-do list inside or in the barn, but the list isn’t assigned to either one of us. We just keep a running list, and we each tackle what we can, when we can. It is a joy to have such a supportive husband who is helping bring this educational farm dream to life. I could not do this without him or our two children who also help out immensely as well.
Overwhelmingly, folks tell me they just want to come be on the farm, experience it, volunteer, work, get dirty, plant gardens, care for the animals, and live the life of a farmer for even just a little bit. Every time I hear someone tell me that, I get the chills. That is how I feel about the farm every day, and I get so excited when I hear people tell me that’s what they crave too. Getting the Word Out We are not currently able to In the beginning of marketing offer ‘open’ hours on our farm for the farm, I created my website people to just come by and visit, Amy has a herd of Nubian and Alpine goats that are part of her grazing after learning how to do so on but we hope to get to that point plan to improve soil health. She uses guardian dogs to protect them my own. I created a social media someday. In the meantime, we and integrates the goats with her other enterprises, including teaching following, and work hard to provide hope to meet people at one of people how to make goat’s milk soap. relevant connections for people the many workshops we offer that to make with the farm from afar. are taught by me, or an expert in This requires a lot of time, and I where I am invited to set up a booth to advertise the community. Or, we hope folks look forward to handing off the marketing task the farm. If the clientele at the function will be will join us for one of the many other programs someday so that I don’t have to choose whether my ideal customer, I love to set up booths and we offer on the farm, including film screenings of to plant more tomatoes or fill social media with talk to people and invite them to get involved on relevant documentaries related to small scale photos and stories about farm happenings. I the farm. When the media contacts me about farmers. And, lastly, we hope to inspire our love providing the connection for folks, but in writing a story for a local magazine, or the news community to support local farmers by buying order for the farm to actually work, I have to wants to interview me for a broadcast, or a radio their food from farmers they trust. We will work have time to actually farm. show invites me as a guest, I do everything I hard to earn that trust, and in turn will provide HMI’s Beginning Farmer Training Program can to say yes because that is free marketing! nutrient-dense fruits, veggies, nuts, eggs, meat does provide helpful insight into marketing I recently won a $7500 grant from the and honey for our community while also creating decisions. The holistic goal plays a big role Austin Food and Wine Alliance to be put toward an inclusive place for us all to learn from each here as well. This is my current challenge. It’s summer camps and the teaching gardens at other. Come visit us at Hills of Milk and Honey an issue of creating balance so that quality of Hills of Milk and Honey. Not only is this funding the next time you find yourself in Central Texas. life doesn’t take a hit. Marketing can take up from this incredible organization an absolute We look forward to meeting other Holistic so much time if we let it, so I am working on blessing, it has also provided opportunities to Management practitioners! rereading and supplementing my learning on continue to spread the word about the farm and how to create efficient marketing strategies that everything we are offering to our community. To learn more about Hills of Milk and allow for more time outside doing the farming. Now that the farm is about one year old, Honey contact Amy Milliron at: One way I have learned to get the word out I have again asked the community what amy@hillsofmilkandhoney.com or and market the farm easily is to attend functions they crave from Hills of Milk and Honey. 512.829.1003.
Being Without Prejudice BY TONY MALMBERG
P
rejudice pervades every pore of our existence. We have prejudice concerning race, sex, social status, culture, experience, inheritance, learning and who knows what other influence? If aware and receptive to others, we may be aware of some of our prejudice, but we most likely have some lurking beneath our conscious thinking. We must constantly delve into our core being and behavior, peeling back our callous layers of indifference, justification and excuse protecting our prejudice, if we are ever to
empower decisions at the soil surface. The practice of Holistic Management asks us to propose actions “without prejudice.” Ideally, the process of selecting tools, proposing actions, and using the context filters, or testing questions will help us mitigate our prejudice. However, in my experience, most practitioners pay simple lip service to this critical step in the Practice of Holistic Management. We need assistance from people outside our clique, if we are to effectively smoke out our prejudice.
Are You a Racist?
When I think of prejudice, my first thought
is racism. Thirty years ago, I was confident in my opposition to affirmative action. I was eating lunch with my hired hand, Pee Wee, and a friend of ours, Leslie, after we finished working some cattle. We were discussing what we wanted to be after we grew up. I started off with a story about wanting to be a game warden just because an older boy I went to school with wanted to be a game warden. But I never seriously thought about anything other than being a cowboy. Leslie followed and she could never remember wanting to be anything other than a cowgirl. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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with the idea of a “steer pasture,” the “fall pasture,” etc. We assume yearlings and cows need to be in separate herds and the first calf Pee Wee started off, “Well, when you heifers need to be pampered. One of the worst are an Indian, you can’t be much. You can’t bottlenecks in land management comes with be a cowboy. You can’t be President of the the cavvy. We overgraze our horse pastures, so United States.” they are handy. Pee Wee, of A good example the Shoshone of this mentality was tribe, was one recently experienced at hell-uv-a hand. the Diamond Cross ranch, And he was near Birney, Montana. a really-good We spent an afternoon guy and friend working on grazing plans, of mine. His starting with 2–3 hours on statement really the preliminary big-picture shook me and discussions. One of the I became an primary probes in our advocate of bantering came down affirmative action. to consolidating herds. We might talk We didn’t get far on that equality but in topic, because there were reality, young reasons based on water people need limitation, breed up, and someone to seasonal work that each look up to and herd was being run the Tony’s ranch hand, Pee Wee, helped Tony identify. Just as way that they were. explore the challenges of prejudice. plant density and As we finished the day, diversity leverage sunshine, minerals and water, I asked the crew to sleep on it and see what different human perspective, life experience, surfaced. We’d pick it up the next day. and knowledge leverage our resource base. As Holistic Management practitioners It is not good enough to assume inclusion. know, fewer herds can be one of our greatest We can consciously seek out the input from Marginal Reactions. By concentrating cattle, we those that we have dropped through the cracks. concentrate labor. Actually, we leverage labor, After racism, my thought of prejudice goes because we can see all of the animals regularly to sexism, which demonstrates how powerful rather than some of them occasionally. We can subconscious, cultural influence can be. By that, get around some fence, without having to get it I mean that I have been surrounded by very all done. One FTE can handle 750–1,000 Stock competent women my entire life, yet my culture Units or more. Once the infrastructure gets set has assumptions about a woman’s place. up, we are more efficient and it takes much less Go figure. labor than running many small herds over huge But then my prejudices become more subtle areas. But just like Pee Wee couldn’t imagine and lurk in the shadows of my psyche. One of being President, ranchers have a hard time the most detrimental—being tradition. seeing things differently. It takes effort. Back to the Diamond Cross. Matt and Alecia Traditional Prejudice manage Hanging Woman Creek, one of the William Faulkner delved into southern racism ranch’s three units. Hanging Woman Creek’s and the traditional mantra of the wealthy, whiterange climbs off the creek and stretches nearly southerners loving the individual, while hating 11 miles west, and that’s as the crow flies. It the Negro race. This deeply ingrained reality sprawls through rough, pine and juniper breaks became cultural. Neither tradition, culture, or over 45,000 acres. It’s steep. It’s rugged. A “just because” can excuse or justify what we do. saddle horse works better than an ATV when So how does this happen? popping cattle out of the brush. Matt and Alecia Maybe traditions develop because of a know this country and how cattle deal with decision to do something that worked very well. its character. Because it worked so well, we do it again the next year and then the next, until it becomes Get ‘Er Done a habit. They showed up to the second day of Most of us in the ranching culture are familiar grazing planning, with the intention of making CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
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things work. “You know, we were up all night calving heifers and we thought about this,” ventured Alecia. Matt continued, “We can put all of our yearlings in one herd, if we can run the cows in the Anderson. But to do that, we need to get that old fence on the south side of the pasture repaired and split the pasture with a cross-fence so we can get the cows bred.” Matt and Alecia demonstrated a cowboy’s greatest asset. Once we see what needs to be done, we get ‘er done. They thought through the situation and asked what they needed to merge two herds into one. They got more information. Information, facts and data can lift our mind past our prejudice.
What Do We Need?
In 1987, I came home from my first Holistic Management seminar and went to see my Bureau of Land Management (BLM) range conservationist, Roy Packer. “What do you think of Holistic Management?” I queried. Roy never batted an eye, “Any management is better than none.” “What do I need to run more cattle in Hall Creek?” I asked. We both knew the allotment had grass not being used but the riparian areas and lower slopes were getting thumped. He paused. I could tell he was thinking. The key is asking the question, so you don’t get a flat “No.” If I had asked if I could run more cattle, the answer could have been no. By seeking more information and asking what I needed to run more cattle, we were without prejudice. Roy continued, “We need to establish some permanent trend and condition transects. If we can document that the range is improving, yeah, we can run more cattle.” We did just that. We established 5 permanent trend and condition transects and after 5 years we read them and the rangeland health had improved. We got an increase in our permit. We got another increase in 10 years and the third increase in 15 years and our stocking rate grew by 260%. All because we asked a question, “Without Prejudice.”
Values or Beliefs?
There may be times when we go down the road of gathering more information and come to a juxtaposition. For example, we might ask our banker, “What do I need to get a loan and buy the neighbor ranch?” He might say that you need another $1 million of equity. Maybe that means getting a partner and giving up a stake in ownership. We
may not be willing to go there but our decision wasn’t due to prejudice against having a partner, but a personal value of not wanting to give up ownership. When sorting through our prejudice, it is important to clarify what we “believe” and what we “value.” By remaining without prejudice, we continue gaining information, until we see a way to proceed or a value based reason not to proceed.
“We established 5 permanent trend and condition transects and after 5 years we read them and the rangeland health had improved. We got an increase in our permit. We got another increase in 10 years and the third increase in 15 years and our stocking rate grew by 260%.” If we can train ourselves to ask questions about our beliefs, yes, our prejudice, our tradition, and our habit, we will gain a chance to change. If we can’t combine two herds, because the cows won’t get bred, is that real or prejudice? What does herd size have to do with cows getting bred? If we can’t combine herds because we don’t have enough water is that real or prejudice? Can water be developed? Can a fence change to access a river? Prejudice blinds the obvious. We can take inspiration from Matt and Alecia and ask, “How can we…” They did this in-spiteof a massive workload, shortage of time, and sleep deprivation.
Being Lazy
A shortage of time falls into the scarcity mentality, another sneaky form of prejudice. Scarcity causes us to dwell on what we don’t have. A scarcity mentality can appear around the lack of money, lack of friends, and one that our ranching culture embraces—lack of time. We call this, “working hard” but it is merely a symptom of our prejudice in what’s important and how we do things. We find comfort in keeping our nose to the grindstone and getting up each morning to repeat what we did the day before.
In my experience, we find the ultimate defending positions rather than our principles. laziness in busyness and working hard. I once Look around at the people in your circle. left a $250,000 calf sale check on my kitchen Who is coming in and who is going out? Are table for a week because I had to go find a bull, decisions based on the past or the future? put in a fence corner and turn on an irrigation Are leaders being defended or promoted? Are ditch. It was the late ‘70’s inflation era and my accounts growing or shrinking? Are people loan kept chomping away at 21% interest as I victims or empowered? As we shrug off stayed busy. I’m sure I groveled to my banker immature beliefs, our inherited prejudice and how hard I had been working, when I finally owned prejudice, we begin to dare. went and paid down the loan balance. When we first began practicing Holistic Our ranching culture wears hardship like a Planned Grazing, we went from six herds to badge. Once we get into the rut of being busy, three. As we settled in three herds went to our senses numb, until we only think about what two and I noticed a big difference in the work. we are doing. The prejudice of working hard We no longer dragged our ass into camp in blinds us from the “why.” If we can take a step the moonlight. We no longer needed a string back and check in on our holistic context, the of 5 or 6 horses looking like gutted snakes. “why” we are likely to see more clearly a path We had time. Our work was more intense and to “How” we are approaching our work. Finally, more focused, but we would be done in a few much of “what” we are doing falls away as hours and the horses got fat. We started seeing irrelevant, or as we see it for what it is, a selfwillows sprouting along the creek bank, Basin righteous busyness. So how do we get in these Wildrye flourishing on the benches and Service lazy ruts? Berry stretching up the slopes, as our stocking A thought initiates action and if the action rates increased and expenses declined. Life works, it becomes behavior. Behaviors become became more pleasant, as we lingered into traditions and eventually shape our culture. the evening conversing, going to our kids Sometimes our behavior and traditions get us sporting events and having company over for in a rut. Being without prejudice takes work and an afternoon. introspection. The Being without work involves pushing prejudice allows ourselves away from us to think and those, who confirm consider different or even excuse our behavior. Our new beliefs. So how do we behavior will build know, when we have more diverse plant been surrounded by communities, more those supplanting diverse social our prejudice? communities and As I look back a more diverse on my life, I have stream of income. been prejudiced Our changed against town kids, thoughts and Indians, Russians, behaviors will build Californians, a culture grounded Democrats, in our values. Environmentalists, Being without and in later years, prejudice allows us Tony Malmberg Republicans and to DARE! Being season-long-graziers. When I think about my without prejudice presents possibility. Being behavior and those around me, when I was in without prejudice empowers others in our these ruts, it was pretty similar. We excluded resource base. Being without prejudice those of difference, we chastised and ridiculed empowers decisions at the soil surface. those who differed, and we defended those in our clique even when their behavior violated our This article was written by long-time values. We were lazy. Holistic Management educator and
Those Who Dare!
It came down to exclusion vs. inclusion. It resulted in a shrinking whole rather than a growing whole under management. It involved
practitioner, Tony Malmberg and was originally published at Holistic Management.guide where you can read more of Tony’s writing: https://www.holisticmanagement.guide/blog/.
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Round River Resource Management—
Caring for the Land & Mentoring the Next Generation of Agricultural Professionals BY ANN ADAMS
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ouis Martin didn’t grow up on a ranch, but currently he is the CEO and general manager for Round River Resource Management, LLC and oversees management of two ranches: the Brett Gray Ranch (50,000 acres) near Rush, Colorado and the Lyme BX Ranch (25,000 acres) near Pueblo, Colorado. There is some complexity to these ranches as he works in collaboration with the Colorado State Land Board (SLB), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and investors like the Lyme Timber Company as well as other stakeholders to help meet the desired outcomes. In addition, Louis has spent time developing an apprenticeship program for Round River Management so he can teach the next generation of agricultural professionals how to successfully achieve their goals and prepare them for work in the agricultural industry.
A Well-Rounded Education
“With John as a mentor, I was able to see the possibilities and opportunities that existed in ranching. Even though, I was frequently discouraged by friends, family and others to not go into agriculture, because it was so difficult to make a living, I decided to go to Texas A&M University and major in Animal Science to become a ranch manager.
While Louis didn’t grow up on a ranch, he did have some mentoring from other relatives. “I first became interested in ranching as a child growing up in Fort Worth, Texas and going to visit my grandparents and uncles who farmed and ranched near Brownwood, Texas,” says Louis. “I always enjoyed going down there and spent many summers helping out. I loved After taking over the Brett Gray in 2008, there were only 40 paddocks on the 50,000-acre ranch. the outdoors, the livestock, the wildlife and all Louis and his team have developed over 130 paddocks with an improved water infrastructure to of the diversity and the fact that things were support planned grazing, working to improve upland rangeland and riparian areas. ever-changing. “Then I got involved in 4H, showing some sheep. My family then bought a small piece of property in the country “Shortly after I started my degree plan, I quickly realized that to be near Crowley, Texas, and I began showing cattle and started developing a a successful ranch manager it would take much more than an Animal small herd of registered Polled Hereford cattle. We were very successful Science degree in production agriculture. I then started to look at options in the show ring, and I was very interested in the business aspect of it as and started taking as many courses as possible outside of my degree well. In high school, I worked summers baling and hauling hay, and had plan including courses and training in business, accounting, economics, the opportunity to work for a very successful rancher John Merrell in our agronomy, range science, wildlife management and others so that I could area, who was also the Director of the Texas Christian University Ranch have a well-rounded and balanced experience and education. Management Program. “In the summer of 1979, between my sophomore and junior year, I had 10
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the opportunity to work as a student worker for the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Center. I continued to work there as a student worker through my senior year, moving up to a foreman’s position. Then shortly after graduation while I was working on my master’s degree, the manager’s position became open and I applied and was hired as the General Manager. “There we had three breeds of registered purebred beef cattle (Hereford, Angus and Brahman) as well as a commercial x-bred herd of cattle, we grazed stockers and fed cattle for slaughter. These cattle were all used for teaching and research for the university. During my time there I continued to work on my master’s degree, again in Animal Science, but followed a similar pathway as my undergraduate program, again trying to find balance and a broad perspective. During my tenure as Beef Center Manager, I had the opportunity to work with all aspects of beef production and ranch management. In addition, I had the opportunity to work and collaborate with many leaders in the agricultural industry who served as mentors as well. “It was during this time while at A&M while I was working on my master’s degree and while managing the Beef Center that I first heard of Allan Savory, Stan Parsons and Holistic Resource Management in the mid-1980s. While their ideas and the principles they advocated where highly controversial at the time, based upon my experiences and observations, their ideas made perfect sense to me. It was then I became a student of Holistic Management and began my first attempts at practicing Holistic Management. I continued trying to refine my Holistic Management skills and managing the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Center until 1998 when I left the University to pursue other opportunities.”
Holistic Implementation & Results
Louis took all that he had learned and began applying his knowledge and experience to a variety of ranches. In 2001 he accepted a position to manage a large, very remote, public lands ranch (450,000 acres) in eastern Utah near the Colorado border. “My time there included the 2002 drought, and we adopted our grazing planning to a herding situation, to more effectively utilize available forages, and create longer recovery periods,” says Louis. “In addition, we early weaned calves to reduce nutritional stress on the cows and began working to moving calving season from February to a May calving season. Due to some of the management actions, we were able to increase the stocking rate by 30% and achieve a 90% conception rate that fall, all during one of the worst droughts on record and reduced operating expenses and production cost by 25% in the first two years of Holistic Management there.” But while Louis was able to increase production, reduce cost and increase profitability during his two years of Holistic Management there, he was unable to change the culture that quickly and was asked to leave in 2003. “Even though I was asked to leave and had to depart from there before my job was completed, it was a blessing in disguise,” says Louis. “My family and I landed in Colorado to manage a large ranch (29,000 acres) for a family (Frasier Farms) that had been involved in Holistic Management for over 25 years. This was a great opportunity. The family understood Holistic Management, the business was successful, and they were good to work with.” Then in 2007 the real opportunity presented itself: the Colorado State Land Board and the Nature Conservancy collaborated to purchase and protect the Brett Gray Ranch. This ranch is a very unique and historical piece of property for eastern Colorado, first founded in 1873 by the Thurlow Land and Cattle Company. “From an ecological standpoint, the ranch has a large spring fed stream that begins on the ranch and runs 11 miles through the ranch,” says Louis. “The stream is fed by many
springs located along the riparian area, in addition, there are over 200 playas located across the ranch. It was because of the size, history and the ecological features, the SLB and TNC wanted to be sure it was well managed in a way that would protect and regenerate the natural resources located on the ranch.
“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, ‘What good is it?’ If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of eons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” –“Round River” in The Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold.
“In the fall of 2007, the SLB and the TNC sent out a Request for Proposal to lease, manage and regenerate the natural resources of the ranch. This was the opportunity I had dreamed of. I submitted a proposal to the Frasier Family to create a land management business that would submit a management proposal to lease and manage the Brett Gray Ranch. That was how Round River Resource Management was created. “I named it after the metaphorical river described by Aldo Leopold in his essay “Round River” in The Sand County Almanac. The river flows endlessly into itself, circling around and around in a never ending circuit symbolizing the flow of life as energy streams from the soil into plants, then into animals back into the soil in a continuous circuit of life. “Round River Resource Management is a land and livestock management company that manages ranchlands and livestock. We custom graze livestock (yearlings, cow/calf) to utilize them as a tool in a planned intensive grazing system designed to improve the ecosystem processes, regenerate our rangelands, and protect and improve our riparian areas. We are also building our own herd that is Global Animal Partnership (GAP) certified. We take them up to finishing, but they are finished elsewhere. “Aldo Leopold became a big influencer for me when he wrote The Sand County Almanac. ‘The Round River’ essay really hit home. It tied back to what I had learned and studied in college and what I had learned and studied with Holistic Management. I knew if I ever get my own CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
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place, I was going to name after that idea of the Round River. I also read the Holistic Management textbook three times and it reinforced these concepts and explained how to manage with the ecosystem in mind.” Louis knew he needed to move beyond the university approach to natural resource management where there was a focus on one piece of the puzzle without looking at how other things that are impacted by those decisions. What I had seen and observed told me there were all these relationships and Holistic Management was a tool to help manage those relationships. After reading the book, I began to implement those practices. When I first started I hadn’t received formal Holistic Management training. When I moved to Colorado I went to
a day, then allowing the paddocks to fully recover before coming back to graze again. “When we first moved on the Brett Gray it took us a while to figure out our system. We had about 40 paddocks and watered out of the riparian areas. The cattle congregated and degraded the riparian areas and some areas away from the riparian zones weren’t grazed at all. We were down to a few species and there with limited diversity. But then we developed a water system and began splitting up some of the larger paddocks that were 2,500 to 6,500 acres in size. We went from 40 paddocks to 130 paddocks, but there is still half the ranch still to develop. We’ve managed to get most paddock sizes down to a 500 acres average size. We graze once during the growing season and then once during the dormant season. We graze yearlings for 140–50 days and we work for 300+ days of recovery in riparian areas.
Increasing stock density has allowed Louis and his team to put more litter on the ground at the the Brett Gray as can be seen in these pre- and post-grazing pictures taken in August 2017. Stock density was at over 500,000 pounds/acre. Average graze period was 14.5 hours. They provide as much as a year of recovery before coming back to some areas. Certified Educator Kirk Gadzia’s Holistic Management class twice which gave me more perspective, and in 2005 I heard Allan Savory speak in Niobrara, Nebraska. “What Holistic Management has helped me with is the power of observation and the interrelation between different aspects. I don’t go through all the process every time, but being able to understand things through the system approach it offers. I remember one time right before I was leaving the university, I was doing some consulting on financial planning. We had workshops and were doing financial analysis. There were three ranches owned by one family in three stages of development, with one using Holistic Management. After doing the analysis on $85/hundred weight cattle pricing two of the ranches were just breaking even. But, the holistically managed ranch had reduced input costs and had a$35/cwt profit margin on their cattle. That was another eye opening moment for me. “Also, having a written grazing plan helps with the grazing implementation. Holistic Grazing Planning simplifies everything. You know how much forage you have and how much you have ahead and you don’t get caught not know what’s going on. During my work on the Brett Gray I have seen dramatic improvement in our rangelands. We’re closing in on achieving climax species on the ground compared to what we had as we look back over old data. Back then we had five key grass species. This year we had all 17 desired grass species. We’ve been able to accomplish that through planned grazing sometimes concentrating over 2000 yearlings on as little as 2.5 acres and moving them four to five times 12
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“There are also 15 monitoring sites across the ranch. Over the years there has been a huge decrease in bare ground and an increase in litter cover and our stocking rate is going up. We have gone from 70% bare ground to 70% litter cover. TNC is monitoring wildlife and bird species and they are starting to identify rare species on the ranch that weren’t there before. We developed the water system for what they thought the stocking rate would be. We tried for three years running 1,300 AU, but weren’t able to achieve it. We were only able to run about 1,000 head. But now that our systems are in place we’re up over 1,600 AU and have forage for 600–800 more, but we’re too limited with water and are currently developing plans to improve water availability. Louis and Round River also manages the Lyme Ranch which is 60 miles away and is privately owned by the Lyme Timber Company. Their intention is to improve and then sell the ranch with a conservation easement. TNC is involved in the monitoring of the ranch. Louis began managing the ranch in 2014. The infrastructure was very poor with 1-¼ inch PVC filled with sediment as part of a 40-year-old water system. The stocking rate was about 400 AU/annually. The production wasn’t good because there had been continuous grazing, so they switched to dormant season grazing with adequate recovery. “We let it rest and had a water system developed that was designed to handle 1,000 AU. The Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) helped with design. The NRCS asked Lyme Timber to sign a waiver because they didn’t think the land would ever handle1000 AU. So we began management in November 2015 and had 400 AU’s. As
we were able to develop the water system (it was completed in April 2016), we’ve been able to increase the stocking rate to over 800 AU’s and have doubled carrying capacity. We also designed a fencing system that has allowed us to move from 13 paddocks to 38 paddocks. This ranch was more degraded than the Brett Gray, but we’re seeing a lot of improvement. The predominant grass species are sand dropseed, galleta, and sacaton. There had been 80% bare ground and most of the plants were annual grasses and forbs like kochia and tumbleweed. We’re seeing increased root structure but there hasn’t been a significant change in plant diversity yet.
term apprentices. Louis has interns for three to six months and then offers a two-year apprenticeship on a rotating basis. The apprentices start by supervising interns. “Ideally my goal is to move them through the intern and apprentice positions and then have permanent positions to offer them,” says Louis. “I try to maintain a long-term relationship with them. “I started out getting most of my interns through all the surrounding agriculture schools—connecting with Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Colorado State University, Wyoming State University, and New Mexico State University. Then I started advertising in other places and also joined NAP. Some of the apprentices do not necessarily have a background with animals Site Description: Salt Meadow R069XY030CO or agriculture, but show a strong interest # Grasses & Grass Likes 2008 2017 # Grasses & Grass Likes 2008 2017 1 Alkali Sacaton X X 11 Little Bluestem X and desire to learn. A lot of the applicants 2 Switchgrass X 12 Slender Wheatgrass X are ecologically-based in their studies and 3 Prairie Cordgrass X 13 Foxtail Barley X interests, but I’ve even had an English major. 4 Alkali Bluegrass X 14 Green Muhly X It’s often easier to work with people who 5 Vine Mesquite 15 Scratchgrass X have limited ranching experience because 6 Big Bluestem X 16 Baltic Rush X X 7 Alkali Cordgrass X 17 Nebraska Sedge X X they are frequently more open minded than 8 Canada Wildrye X X 18 someone who is from a traditional ranching 9 Inland Saltgrass X X 19 background. Their abilities are more about 10 Indiangrass X 20 their vision and desire to learn; they have some goal of what they are looking for. There This site description for the Salt Meadow paddock on the Brett Gray shows that from 2008 to is often a lot of romanticized views about the 2017, the management improvements have resulted in an increase in perennial species from work, but those apprentices will frequently 4 to 16 even on this challenged salt meadow pasture. become disenchanted pretty quickly. Good “The things we’ve accomplished on these ranches are really exciting, communication skills are important to me, and I can see their ability to see how we’ve been able to shift our rangeland toward the climax plant through their cover letters and answers to the questionnaire we ask them species and the improved production and biodiversity has been amazing. I figure it takes five years to really make changes. It takes one to two years to learn the system and determine what you have and the third year you implement the changes and the 4th and 5th years you begin to see the results. We’ve been on the Brett for nine years and it just keeps getting better and better. It’s really exciting to see that change.”
The Rewards of Mentoring
While Louis is rightfully enthusiastic about the results he has achieved on the land, he is just as excited about the apprentice program he has to provide the opportunity for young agrarians to learn and participate in all aspects of ranch operations and enterprise development. He also works to develop an appreciation for conservation and sustainable ranch management practices. During the six-month program, apprentices get hands-on learning opportunities such as: grazing planning and management; rangeland monitoring; general maintenance of equipment and facilities; livestock handling and health management; enterprise budgeting; and animal nutrition and reproduction. From 2008 to 2017, the management improvements have resulted in an increase in While he has his own intern and apprentice perennial species from 4 to 16 even on this challenged salt meadow pasture. programs, Louis has also begun to provide mentorship for the Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program (NAP). to complete. Their response is the first weeding before they come for an He had four interns and apprentices over the summer and one was a interview. They need to be able to articulate what they are looking for and NAP position. One of his apprentices has stayed on and is moving into have a plan to try to get there. a human resources position to help manage the intern program. Louis “My interest in teaching others is based on my own personal is also looking to hire two longer term apprentices and then two shorter CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 Num ber 181
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background. I was not directly involved with agriculture growing up. My father was engineer and my mother’s family had to sell out of farming. I didn’t have a ranch to go to or the capital to start a ranch, and I understand how difficult it is for young people to get involved in agriculture and how cost prohibitive the industry can be. My goal is to change that. Our population is one of aging producers and there is already a huge shift in land ownership and few know how to manage these properties effectively. “I enjoy finding the young people who can learn and show them how they might reach their goal. I get 40–50 applicants and weed through many exceptional applications to select our apprentices. There are lots of good applicants out there. “I’ve learned that there is a lot of energy and desire and a lot is lifestyle related. But, in order for an operation to be successful, it’s got to be operated as a business. It’s not just about living in the country and riding horses. Some of our interns and apprentices are overwhelmed by the isolation and distance. We try to help them adjust and build some community. We have weekly staff meeting and activities, dinners and get togethers. This past year we took the staff on a kayak trip down Arkansas River. Having some other young people helps like having four apprentices instead of just two. We work all day with each other, so we need time to play with others. “It seems to be that more and more people are hosting interns and apprentices. Some are structured programs and some people are just looking for help. I was drawn to the NAP program because they are trying to build structure for mentors and mentees to make these kinds of positions more successful. In the past, I’ve sent my apprentices to
Ranching for Profit or Holistic Management training to get them that kind of formal education. Now with NAP, Holistic Management International provides that training through their New Agrarian Online Training series in collaboration with Quivira. “I’ve learned a lot in how to work with and train young people through our apprentice program. I’ve had the experience of working with students in other positions and those experiences drew me to create our apprentice program. I see the excitement the apprentices have, and I try to maintain that excitement and see them grow and learn, whether it’s helping them learn how to move 2,000 head of cattle with just two people or learning a software program like Pasture Map. I’ve seen growth even if they don’t go all the way through the program. “So far we’ve had 27 interns and apprentices. Five of them went to veterinary school. Two were offered assistantships to graduate school. One stayed for four years and now is managing a holistically managed ranch in Kansas. One apprentice’s goal was to get into the ranch management graduate program at the Texas A&M King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management, and they were recently accepted, and another was hired as a research assistant. Even though they haven’t all stayed here, they achieved their goals and are in the industry. Seeing the growth in them is exciting for me.”
If you are interested in being a mentor for the Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program, learn more about the program at: https:// quiviracoalition.org/newagrarian/#about.
San Pedro Ranch—
Focusing on Conservation and Holistic Management in Texas BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
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n southwest Texas near the Rio Grande River lies the San Pedro Ranch. This 23,000-acre ranch is located in Dimmit and Maverick Counties, 30 miles southwest of Carrizo Springs. Twenty-six different soil types support a diverse plant and animal community. This area is part of a migration corridor for many bird and butterfly species and provides an environment for unique plant and animal species that are found only in this region of Texas. The ranch was originally part of an 1812 Spanish Land Grant. Prior to 1932, when Hugh Fitzsimons Sr. purchased the ranch, only two other individuals had held title to the property. Hugh Fitzsimons Sr. was a pioneer in oilfield exploration and engaged in the oil industry, but quickly realized the uniqueness of the ranch and began managing the land with conservation in mind. He also replaced the wild Mexican steers with a herd of purebred Hereford cattle. The family has been raising cattle ever since, while working to improve the pastures and wildlife habitat.
Synergy for A Healthy Ecosystem
Current owners Joseph Fitzsimons and his sister, Pamela Fitzsimons Howard, are third-generation ranchers, and rooted in conservation and 14
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Holistic Management. Today, along with their children, they continue these practices. “My father, Hugh Jr. became acquainted with Allan Savory and Stan Parsons when the two of them came to San Angelo, Texas to put on a workshop,” says Joseph. Always interested in forward-thinking management techniques, Hugh Jr. had already begun operating the ranch holistically in the mid-1970s. Hugh Jr. realized that utilizing the synergy of the water cycle, plant communities, and planned grazing leads to a healthier ecosystem, which in turn supports healthier livestock and wildlife. “My father recognized that over the long term we were in the resource and habitat business, and that cattle and wildlife were the crops we produced. We have an integrated approach to livestock and wildlife management. Our philosophy Pamela Howard and is that if we work to maximize Joseph Fizsimons
the native habitat in an ecological approach, then the livestock and wildlife unique landscape we manage,” says Joseph. will also benefit,” Joseph explains. Their current general manager, Chase Currie, started working for the “Dad introduced us to Holistic Management,” says Pamela. She went ranch in 2012. “I didn’t really know much about Holistic Management to one of the first schools in San Angelo in 1983, and then Joseph and his prior to coming to work here,” says Currie. “The Fitzsimons and Howard wife Blair went to the school in 1989. families introduced me to the ins and outs of Holistic Management. The “My wife and I moved down to the ranch in 1989 and the financial biggest take-away thus far for me is managing the system as a whole. planning part of Holistic Management was very helpful to us at first,” says You can’t neglect any one aspect and make it work. It is important to Joseph. “We realized that we wouldn’t be able to sustain the ranch and understand that when you are managing a system that’s centered around our resources if we didn’t get the financial part right,” he says. ecology, you will make plenty of mistakes along the way—but it is all part “We concentrated on that, and then adopted the planned grazing. A of the learning process. The more you start to understand, the more you well-known HRM (Holistic Resource Management) practitioner and mentor realize how much you have left to learn.” who guided me was Bill Finan. Bill owned Currie has gone to Holistic a ranch in Mexico, across the river from Management schools and courses, plus us. We have also been fortunate to work many field days throughout the state. “I with other HRM practitioners along the went to an Holistic Management school way. We have been to several of the three years ago in New Mexico and workshops hosted by Peggy Cole and spent a week with Kirk Gadzia. I have Kirk Gadzia, who have been instrumental more of a grasp on Holistic Management in helping us lay out our HRM plan as now in terms of managing the system as well,” Joseph says. a whole and I understand that one of the “One of the things that appealed to aspects you can’t neglect is quality of all of us about Holistic Management life. I am only thirty-three years old, but is that it wasn’t just about cattle and with each year I understand even more grazing. Wildlife has always been a the importance of this,” he says. very important part of what we do here, “Managing a ranch requires a great and this is one of the reasons we kept deal of time and effort, and at times it is the ranch. Optimizing wildlife habitat is easy to forget about the most important one of our goals, and also part of the things in life. Maintaining a good quality financial plan, since wildlife are one of the of life benefits your overall production. ‘crops’ that make this ranch sustainable,” As a team here on the ranch, we strive says Joseph. to maintain a good quality of life, and in “We try to make the most of nature’s turn, are more efficient in what we do,” bounty by practicing Holistic Management explains Currie. and weighing each decision against the “This is also important for the cattle goal of improved native habitat and a as well,” says Pamela. “If they have a healthier ecosystem. The ranch converts good quality of life and good disposition, sun, soil, water, plant, and livestock they do better, and are much more resources into a valuable food source. gentle and easier to work! They are Wildlife is a strong consideration in land management We like to say that we help nature do easier to move, less stressed, and they practices at San Pedro Ranch. Wildlife habitat has what she does best,” Joseph explains. perform better,” she says. improved which leads to trophy animals that bring in “Once of the best things about 40–50% of ranch income. Holistic Management is that it is 100% Cattle Fitted for the Land quantitative and science-based,” The San Pedro herd today consists says Pamela. That is what makes the monitoring component of HRM of approximately 275 head of hardy, gentle, registered Beefmaster cattle. so effective. “We have genetically selected our cattle to thrive in an arid and often “For example, the scientific work that is being done on carbon harsh environment,” says Joseph. “Our San Pedro Beefmaster bulls reflect sequestration utilizes a very complex formula, lots of data collection and such distinguished lineage as L Bar 5502, Ranger’s Pride, Casey, Tres many components. This is fascinating to be able to relate what’s above Hijos, Frenzel, and Nolan Ryan bloodlines. Our heifers descend from cows the ground to what is going on underneath in the soil, and how it all works who have consistently weaned a calf every year, even in difficult drought together to impact the vegetation utilized by wildlife and livestock,” she conditions,” he says. says. There is complex interaction and many pieces that make a healthy The San Pedro has always been committed to selecting cattle for whole. She feels that the tools available to make decisions are so much functional efficiency. Hugh Fitzsimons Jr. applied these practices to his better, with Holistic Management. original Hereford herd with the help of Dr. Jan Bonsma from South Africa, “We are blessed with a very loyal, devoted team at the San Pedro, of who visited the ranch on several occasions and assisted in establishing a which all are committed to the principles of Holistic Management and land successful breeding program. stewardship. Antonio Gallegos, who has been with the ranch for 37 years, “Jan Bonsma was a good friend of our father and was also a close manages the rangeland and cattle. He has been the backbone of ranch advisor to Tom Lasater, who developed the Beefmaster breed. Bonsma for over three decades now and understands what it takes to manage the was involved in the development of two breeds, the Bonsmara and the entire system. We feel a sense of responsibility for each other, and the CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 Num ber 181
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San Pedro Ranch
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Beefmaster,” Joseph says. “The whole Bonsma philosophy was a big influence on Allan Savory; they are both from southern Africa. Bonsma’s book was the beginning of the holistic model for grazing in the 1950s. His concept of functional efficiency in cattle emphasized the need to adapt the cattle to the environment, and not the other way around.” In the early 1930s, Tom Lasater developed the Beefmaster breed in
Joseph and Pamela continued this same selection process with the Beefmasters, and combined Dr. Bonsma’s principles of functional efficiency with strict adherence to Tom Lasater’s Six Essentials of Beefmaster breeding. Rigid and ruthless culling has yielded a Beefmaster herd highly adaptive to harsh environments and capable of efficiently converting grass to a well-muscled meat carcass. “These cattle are well adapted to our part of the world. They work for us, but just as in any breed, you have to continuously select and keep applying selection pressure to your herd,” Joseph says.
The San Pedro Ranch focus on conservation has led to multiple awards for the ranch including 2007 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Environmental Stewardship Award. southern Texas. Beefmasters are a composite breed made up of roughly one-half Bos Taurus genetics using Hereford and Shorthorn, and one-half Bos Indicus genetics (Brahman). The American Brahman was created earlier by using the Nelore from Brazil (a type of cattle that came originally from India), and the Gir (a dairy breed from India) and Guzerat, a breed developed in Brazil from the Kankrej cattle imported into Brazil from India between 1875 and 1964. The Guzerat was very instrumental in creation of the American Brahman. The blend of British breeds with the zebu type cattle (the latter providing more heat tolerance and insect resistance) to create the Beefmaster was of great benefit to cattle raisers in Texas and other southern regions of North America. Beefmasters blend strong maternal traits with excellent growth and carcass traits and are well known for ability to handle heat and drought, with more insect resistance than most British and European breeds. They tend to be moderate in size, and are generally light red to dark red in color. Some have white mottling on their faces and underline. In 1937, Tom Lasater closed his herd and no outside genetics have been introduced into the foundation herd since that time. In 1954, the Beefmaster breed was recognized by the USDA as an American breed. Currently, Beefmaster Breeders United is the fifth-largest breed registry in the U.S. Tom Lasater, the founder of the breed, selected cattle on the “Six Essentials” of disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, milk production, and hardiness. Today’s Beefmaster breeders also select for calving ease, fast early growth, moderate frame, easy fleshing ability and longevity. Adhering to the Lasater six essentials makes these goals easier and faster to accomplish. “The San Pedro is an arid, hot, brittle, often challenging environment,” says Pamela. “If we were going to use cattle as a land management tool and as catalysts for transforming plant material into an edible, nutritious protein source, then we knew the breed we chose had to be particularly suited for our environment,” she adds. It was this thinking that led the San Pedro team to make the change from Herefords to Beefmasters in 1992. 16
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Value of Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat
The San Pedro Ranch offers some of the finest native white-tailed deer hunting in the country. From the mesquite savannah to the rolling gravel hills, the ranch provides some of the best native wildlife habitat in south Texas. The San Pedro is home to the northern bobwhite and scaled quail (blue quail), Rio Grande wild turkeys, collared peccaries (javelina), and a multitude of other wildlife species. Over the years, the ranch’s wildlife management practices have attracted many hunters, and produced some of the highest quality trophy white-tailed deer in Texas, as measured by the Boone & Crockett Club. “Between 40–50% of our ranch revenue comes from hunting, depending on the year,” says Joseph. Well-managed habitat supports a lot more animals and variety of animals, both wild and domestic, and a good balance of grazers and browsers. “Managing for wildlife has given us the opportunity to manage for the whole,” says Pamela.
Cattle for Land Reclamation
Another aspect that must be integrated into the whole picture on the ranch is oil and gas development. “Although the ranch doesn’t own any mineral rights, it is required to accommodate the oil and gas production on the surface. We’ve done that in a number of ways, using the cattle as a tool for reclamation of these sites afterward. We’ve also helped the oil and gas companies understand Holistic Management, and they have been more cooperative than you’d expect,” says Joseph. “We use Holistic Management to envision the big picture when we are planning oil and gas development,” says Currie. “We look at the ranch as a whole and how a specific drilling location or pipeline will impact the ranch. We go through a review process to determine the location of a drilling location or pipeline. It is important to consider how that will affect the habitat of the ranch and our grazing program.” Pamela mentions that when Currie first came on board he created a
checklist of everything that should be considered when the oil and gas companies propose a location. “The checklist includes archaeological sites, geology, vegetation, wildlife and water, riparian corridors, sensitive habitat, and soil types,” she says. “We have several soil types here on the ranch that are unique to this area of south Texas,” says Currie. “Each soil type supports a unique plant community and we do our best to mitigate the oil and gas development in those areas, even though it is a constant work in progress,” he says. The ranch has also participated in wildlife research projects with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute (Texas A&M University, Kingsville) on the issue of oil and gas development and its impact on native wildlife and vegetation. “We’ve showed that you can mitigate the impacts of oil and gas development on wildlife,” says Joseph. “It all depends on how you do it,” says Currie. “One of the things that Holistic Management has helped us do is to use the oil and gas development to our advantage to create more suitable habitat than we had before,” he says. “We’ve actually improved the habitat by strategically positioning a drilling location in an area of less desirable habitat, then creating more suitable habitat during the reclamation process,” explains Joseph.
fragmentation of larger ranches into smaller pieces. According to the CKWRI’s publication The Last Great Habitat, South Texas is home to more plant, butterfly, and vertebrate species than any other ecological region of Texas or many other natural areas around the world. For instance, even though the Everglades in Florida receives more attention for its biodiversity, the number of plant species in South Texas exceeds the number of species in the Florida Everglades. The Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge at the southern tip of South Texas is only 1/17th the size of Everglades National Park, but has more combined amphibian, bird, mammal, plant, and reptile species. As stated in the CKWRI publication, many plants and animals of South Texas are found nowhere else in the U.S. South Texas is also of great importance to migratory birds in North America; their populations would sharply decline without the many stands of oak trees, woodlands, and wetlands this region provides for resting and feeding during their migration. Some of the things that allow for this great diversity, uniqueness of fauna and flora, and habitat for migratory birds include a subtropical climate with mild winters, a range in average annual rainfall from 34 inches near Victoria, Texas to only 17 inches near Zapata (a distance of only 169 miles), a variety of soils ranging from Stewarding a heavy clays to fine sands, and the Unique Environment Laguna Madre and its influences on Texans have a legacy of stewardship. weather and wildlife. For instance, “At the San Pedro we were brought up to the Laguna Madre of South Texas respect those values and we want to pass and Laguna Madre del San Antonio in that appreciation along to our children,” northern Mexico together form one of says Joseph. “After much research, only two hypersaline lagoon areas in thought, and discussion, we realized the world that are of significant size, that placing a conservation easement on with great biologically diversity. the ranch through the Texas Agricultural All of these factors make South The San Pedro Ranch run Beefmaster cattle that Land Trust was the most natural, Texas a unique region of hemispheric do well in a harsh landscape. appropriate step we could take, and a importance for plants and animals, partly memorialization of our attitude toward because of the large, well-managed stewardship. Restricted from future industrial or commercial development, private ranches whose vast landscapes are relatively undisturbed. This the San Pedro will continue to be an important ecological site and riparian region includes saltwater wetlands, freshwater wetlands, prairies, shrub corridor for all wildlife species, both native and migratory,” he says. land, and woodlands. Over the past two decades the ranch has received several awards for Prairies are a vanishing vegetation type in the U.S. Much of the stewardship and responsible land management. These awards include original Shortgrass Prairie in the Texas Panhandle has been converted to the 2016 Lone Star Land Steward Award, South Texas Region; the 2015 farmland. The natural vegetation of the Blackland Prairie, Coastal Prairie, Harvey Weil Sportsman Conservationists of the Year (Joseph and Blair and Fayette Prairie has been almost completely lost to cultivation and Fitzsimons); 2007 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Environmental development. Less than 5% remains of the original Tallgrass Prairie that Stewardship Award, Region IV, and the 2005 Outstanding Rangeland once extended from Oklahoma south through the eastern half of Texas to Stewardship Award. the Gulf Coast. Yet South Texas is still rich in native prairies with at least That stewardship is critical for this unique environment in south Texas. eight distinct native prairie types. “The Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute (CKWRI) calls south Large ranches like the San Pedro provide a mixture of habitats ranging Texas one of the last great habitats in North America, so we feel that from woodland and wetland to prairie and desert. Unfortunately there are what we do to maintain it is very important,” says Joseph. South Texas is many forces of “progress” and economic development that would change one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, and one of the much of South Texas forever, and increasingly threaten this Last Great last regions in Texas that contains extensive tracts of contiguous wildlife Habitat. This is why the Fitzsimons family is dedicated to keeping their habitat. Most of the other natural habitats in Texas are shrinking, due ranch ecologically healthy, with the help of Holistic Management. to urbanization, industrialization, large-scale cultivated agriculture, or Num ber 181
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PROGRAM ROUNDUP Regenerative Ag Scholarship Fund HMI is excited to announce that we recently received funding from the Greenacres Foundation for the Greenacres Regenerative Agriculture Scholarship Fund. This fund provides scholarships to young and beginning farmers and ranchers or those producers transitioning to regenerative agricultural practices for in depth Holistic Management training. These full and partial scholarships are need- and merit-based to train the next generation of regenerative agricultural producers. To learn more about HMI’s scholarship program visit our website at www.holisticmanagement.org.
2017/2018 TX Beginning Farmer/ Rancher Training Results The 2017–2018 Beginning Farmers and Ranchers in Texas and Oklahoma offered 15 participants exposure to the full spectrum of integrated trainings in Holistic Management with a host of talented Holistic Management educators and practitioners from November 2017 to Kim Barker teaching Holistic March 2018. Financial Planning HMI Certified Educator and award-winning rancher Deborah Clark did a great job teaching the first class, while also hosting the class, which took place at the 14,200acre Birdwell and Clark Ranch, which Deborah owns and operates with her husband Emry Birdwell. Day Two of the first session brought Dr. Lisa Bellows in from North Central Texas (NCTC) to facilitate the understanding of the ecosystem processes, assessing land health and the practice of biological monitoring. HMI Certified Educator Tracy Litle assisted both days and shared her extensive training in the soil food web. The second session was held at HMI Certified Educator C.D. Pounds’ Triple Cross Farm in Fruitvale, Texas. Certified Educator trainee Lauri Celella taught time management. The next session, Grazing Planning, was taught by Tracy Litle. The Financial Planning session was held at the Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Kim Barker did a great job making the planning process meaningful and interesting by forming groups to create an operation for which they created financial plans. The final sessions were held at NCTC in Gainesville, Texas, with field work with Dr. Lisa Bellows completed on several area ranches including the Dixon Water Foundation ranches. Business Planning, Marketing Planning, Land Planning and Leadership modules were presented by Deborah Clark, C.D. Pounds and Lauri Celella.
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92% of the participants said they intended to change their management practices because of this training. 93% of the participants graduated from the program.
Managing for Tough Times Program a Success Ninety-one percent of the ranchers who came to HMI’s “Managing for Tough Times” program expect economic benefits from regenerative practices. On May 15th and 16th, 96 people, who together report managing or influencing almost 255,000 acres, gathered at the Agrilife Extension building in Wheeler, Texas. The group included mostly ranchers or farm/ranch employees, along with some agency folks, and a good group of West Texas A&M students. All came to hear world-renowned grazing xxpert and HMI Certified Educator Ian Mitchell-Innes from South Africa, and the slate of awardwinning and experienced ranchers who shared their ideas on how to meet the demands of ranching challenges in these times. Ian Mitchell-Innes shared his passion, pragmatism, and ranching experience from across the world. “Don’t go home and change everything all at once,” he cautioned. “Just set up a small, temporary inclusion zone to bunch animals for a portion of a day, and see how the land responds.” Wally Olson, an experienced rancher who was originally trained by Bud Williams, now teaches Livestock Marketing. He shared an overview of the Sell-Buy Marketing strategy, explaining how he creates cash flow by strategically selling and buying livestock. A key, he explained, is understanding the cost of maintaining livestock on grass. Deborah Clark told the story of how she and her husband, Emry, made it through tough times by combining herds. They experienced some of their best results in improved forages during the drought, and have even seen the return of native perennial Eastern Gamma grass. Thanks to our funder, The Tecovas Foundation, and for our co-hosts Joe and Janie VanZandt, Thomas Cunningham and all the great folks at Wheeler County Texas A&M Agrilife Extension. Thanks also to our sponsors: Twin Mountain Fence, First Priority Irrigation, Wheeler Land & Livestock, Wellington State Bank, Texas Farm Bureau Wheeler County, Farmers Cooperative, Capital Farm Credit, Bayer Animal Health, and John Deere – Western Equipment.
NE SARE Program HMI and CADE (Center for Agricultural Development and
Program participants for the NE SARE PDP Whole Farm Planning program come from Maine to West Virginia.
Entrepreneurship) have been collaborating since 2017 on this USDANE Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (NE SARE)-funded professional development training program in Whole Farm Planning for 29 Technical Agricultural Service providers from the Northeast. In December 2017 we had a 2.5 day residency program taught by HMI Certified Educator Phil Metzger and Sarah Williford. Participants learned how to work with farmers to create a Whole Farm Resource Inventory and a holistic goal along with how to use the holistic management decision making framework including testing decisions using the testing matrix. In March, we had a series of online Holistic Land Planning classes with HMI Certified Educator Larry Dyer. As part of the program, participants are currently working with 3 to 6 farmers and are sharing challenges and best practices on our monthly group video calls. In addition we have HMI Certified Educators Larry Dyer, Elizabeth Marks, Seth Wilner, and Erica Frenay serving as mentors for our educator trainees.
Bean Hollow Open Gate Report Over 20 people showed up to participate in HMI’s Open Gate event in June, which took place at Bean Hollow Grassfed in Flint Hill, Virginia. The day began with a presentation by HMI Certified Educator Ben Bartlett and participants introducing themselves—with experienced farmers and ranchers and new producers present, along with representatives from non-profits from nearby Washington D.C. as well as environmental and conservation groups.
GRAPEVINE The
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N E W S F R O M H O L I S T I C M A N AG E M E N T I N T E R N AT I O N A L
Environmental Stewardship Awards Congratulations to HMI Professional Certified Educator Blain Hjertaas and his wife Naomi of Redvers, Saskatchewan on having won the Environmental Stewardship Award from the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. Blain and Naomi have been farming since 1974 and changed their grain Blain Hjertaas operation to grass when they started using Holistic Management in the 1990s. They have seen improved soil health on their 800 acres through multi-species planned grazing. Blain is a seasoned educator in Holistic Management and monitors many sites in Western Canada. With a passion for carbon sequestration, Blain enjoys speaking to groups on how the environment functions and how our actions will ultimately influence the ecosystem. He says, “We are all learning and leading by practicing regenerative agriculture from
Next, Mike Sands, coowner and manager of Bean Hollow Grassfed, provided a general background of the Bean Hollow operations, followed by a pasture walk. Bean Hollow is primarily a pasture lambing sheep operation, but Mike also runs cattle, chickens and hogs. Mike’s goal is to graze year around and in just three years of Holistic Grazing Mike Sands Planning, he has reduced winter feeding to only 65 days. Mike has also seen a significant increase in diversity including warm season grasses not seen before. The afternoon activities began with a short presentation on gross profit analysis by Ben Bartlett. Mike and Ben then demonstrated various fencing and watering tools, including a solar powered pump to provide water from an excluded river (a project of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation). Thank you to FarmAid for funding this learning day. Thanks also to our collaborators: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, A Greener World, Virginia Working Landscapes, American Grassfed Association, Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District, Piedmont Environmental Council, and the Stockman GrassFarmer.
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the tools Holistic Management has given us. Learning never stops.”
Finland
HMI Certified Educator Tuomas Mattila and his wife Iiris won the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Environmental Award for Farmers in the Baltic Sea region. This award was created to spotlight farmers who are pioneers in farming methods that are sustainable, regenerative and do not harm the Baltic Sea. Tuomas and Iiris have been managing 200 hectares in Pusula, Finland for ten years; 75 hectares are under production and the rest is forest. They both have backgrounds in microbiology and soil science so much of their success has come from research and trial and error on their Kilpiä Farm. They are currently experimenting with various regenerative farming techniques including keyline design, crop rotation and cover cropping. This year has been unusually dry in Southern Finland but with these methods they have been able to remain almost completely unaffected with only 7 hectares of the total 75 being negatively affected by the drought. The WWF group was most impressed with Tuomas’ ability to work with the natural contours of the land to Tuomas Mattila at control erosion and hold water in the soil. Kilpiä Farm Congratulations Tuomas and Iiris! Num ber 181
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U N I T E D S TAT E S
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COLORADO Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 • 970/739-2445 (c) wnc@gobrainstorm.net Katie Miller 22755 E Garrett Rd, Calhan, CO 80808 970/310-0852 • heritagebellefarms@gmail.com
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KANSAS Bill Casey 13835 Udall Road, Erie, KS 66733 620/423-2842 • bill.caseyag@gmail.com MICHIGAN Larry Dyer 1113 Klondike Ave, Petoskey, MI 49770 231/347-7162 (h) • 231/881-2784 (c) ldyer3913@gmail.com MISSISSIPPI Preston Sullivan 610 Ed Sullivan Lane NE, Meadville, MS 39653 prestons@telepak.net 601/384-5310 (h) • 601/835-6124 (c)
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MONTANA
Driggs *1551AmyBurma Road, Eureka, MT 59917
208/310-6664 • adriggs@ldagmachinery.com Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 • 406/581-3038 (c) kroosing@msn.com Cliff Montagne Montana State University 1105 S. Tracy, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/599-7755 (c) • montagne@montana.edu
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NEBRASKA Paul Swanson 5155 West 12th St., Hastings, NE 68901 402/463-8507 • 402/705-1241 (c) pswanson3@unl.edu
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Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy. 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554 • glosson@caprock-spur.com Tracy Litle 1277 S CR 305, Orange Grove, TX 78372 361/537-3417 (c) • tjlitle@hotmail.com Peggy Maddox 9460 East FM 1606, Hermleigh, TX 79526 325/226-3042 (c) • westgift@hughes.net Katherine Napper Ottmers 313 Lytle Street, Kerrville, TX 78028 830/896-1474 • katherineottmers@icloud.com CD Pounds 753 VZ CR 1114, Fruitvale, TX 75127 214/568-3377 • cdpounds@live.com Peggy Sechrist 106 Thunderbird Ranch Road Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/456-5587 (c) • peggysechrist@gmail.com
NORTH DAKOTA Joshua Dukart 2539 Clover Place, Bismarck, ND 58503 701/870-1184 • Joshua_dukart@yahoo.com
WISCONSIN Heather Flashinski 16294 250th Street, Cadott, WI 54727 715/289-4896 (w) • 715/379-3742 (c) grassheather@hotmail.com Larry Johnson 453 Woodside Terrace, Madison, WI 53711 608/957-2935 • larrystillpointfarm@gmail.com Laura Paine N893 Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925 920/623-4407 (h) • 608/338-9039 (c) lkpaine@gmail.com
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The following Certified Educators listed have been trained to teach and coach individuals in Holistic Management. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives and to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management.
ARIZONA Tim McGaffic P.O. Box 1903, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 808/936-5749 • tim@timmcgaffic.com CALIFORNIA Lee Altier College of Agriculture, CSU 400 West First St., Chico, CA 95929-0310 laltier@csuchico.edu 530/636-2525 Owen Hablutzel 4235 W. 63rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90043 310/567-6862 • go2owen@gmail.com Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 rking1675@gmail.com 707/217-2308 (c) 707/769-1490 (h) Kelly Mulville P.O. Box 23, Paicines, CA 95043 707/431-8060 • kmulville@gmail.com Rob Rutherford 4757 Bridgecreek Rd., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 805/544-5781 (h) • 805/550-4858 (c) robtrutherford@gmail.com
NEW YORK Craig Leggett 6143 SR 9, Chestertown, NY 12817 518/494-2324 (h) • 970/946-1771 (c) craigrleggett@gmail.com Erica Frenay Shelterbelt Farm 200 Creamery Rd., Brooktondale, NY 14817 607/539-6512 (h) 607/342-3771 (c) info@shelterbeltfarm.com Elizabeth Marks 1024 State Rt. 66, Ghent, NY 12075 518/828-4385 x107 (w) 518/567-9476 (c) Elizabeth.marks@ny.usda.gov Phillip Metzger 120 Thompson Creek Rd., Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-2407 (h) • pmetzger17@gmail.com
Ralph Tate 1109 Timber Dr., Papillion, NE 68046 402/932-3405 • 402/250-8981 (c) Tater2d2@cox.net NEW HAMPSHIRE Seth Wilner 24 Main Street, Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) • 603/863-9200 (w) 603/543-7169 (c) • seth.wilner@unh.edu NEW MEXICO
Ann Adams Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252 • anna@holisticmanagement.org Kelly Boney 4865 Quay Road L, San Jon, NM 88434 575/268-1162 • kellyboney_79@yahoo.com Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/263-8677 (c) • kirk@rmsgadzia.com Jeff Goebel 1033 N. Gabaldon Rd., Belen, NM 87002 541/610-7084 • goebel@aboutlistening.com Kathy Harris Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252 • kathyh@holisticmanagement.org
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OREGON Angela Boudro PO Box 3444, Central Point, OR 97502 541/ 890-4014 • angelaboudro@gmail.com SOUTH DAKOTA Randal Holmquist 4870 Cliff Drive, Rapid City, SD 57702 605/730-0550 • randy@zhvalley.com
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TEXAS
Bellows *NorthLisaCentral Texas College
1525 W. California St., Gainesville, TX 76240-4636 940/736-3996 (c) • 940/668-7731 ext. 4346 (o) lbellows@nctc.edu Deborah Clark PO Box 90, Henrietta, TX 76365-0090 940/328-5542 • deborahclark90@sbcglobal.net
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For more information about or application forms for the HMI’s Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Ann Adams or visit our website: www.holisticmanagement.org. associate educators provide * These educational services to their communities and peer groups.
I N T E R N AT I O N A L AUSTRALIA Judi Earl “Glen Orton” 3843 Warialda Rd. Coolatai, NSW 2402 61-409-151-969 (c) • judi_earl@bigpond.com Paul Griffiths PO Box 186, Mudgee, NSW 2850 612-6373-3078 paul@holisticmudgee.com Graeme Hand 150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 (h) • 61-4-1853-2130 (c) graemehand9@gmail.com Dick Richardson PO Box 341 Balhannah SA 5242 61-0-42906900 (c) dick@dickrichardson.com.au Jason Virtue P.O. Box 75 Cooran QLD 4569 61-0-754851997 • jason@spiderweb.com.au Brian Wehlburg Pine Scrub Creek, Kindee, NSW 2446 61-2-6587-4353 (h) • 61 04087 404 431 (c) brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au CANADA Don Campbell Box 817 Meadow Lake, SK S0X 1Y6 306/236-6088 • 320/240-7660 (c) doncampbell@sasktel.net Ralph Corcoran Box 36, Langbank, SK S0G 2X0 306/532-4778 rlcorcoran@sasktel.net
September / October 2018
Blain Hjertaas Box 760, Redvers, Saskatchewan SOC 2HO 306/452-3882 • bhjer@sasktel.net Brian Luce RR #4, Ponoka, AB T4J 1R4 403/783-6518 • lucends@cciwireless.ca Tony McQuail 86016 Creek Line, RR#1, Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 519/528-2493 • mcqufarm@hurontel.on.ca Kelly Sidoryk Box 72, Blackroot, A B TOB OLO 780/872-2585 (c) • 780/875-4418 (w) kelly.sidoryk@gmail.com FINLAND Tuomas Mattila Töllintie 27, Pusula, 3850 +358 40 743 2412 tuomas.j.mattila@gmail.com KENYA Christine C. Jost Box 30677, Nairobi 00100 773/706-2705 (c) • 703/981-1224 (w) cjost@usaid.gov NAMIBIA Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii P O Box 24102, Windhoek 9000 264-812840426 (c) • 264-61-244028 (h) kandjiiu@gmail.com Colin Nott PO Box 11977, Windhoek 9000 264-81-2418778 (c) • 264-61-225085 (h) canott@iafrica.com.na
Wiebke Volkmann P. O . Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@afol.com.na NEW ZEALAND John King P. O. Box 12011, Beckenha Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 john@succession.co.nz
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SOUTH AFRICA Wayne Knight Solar Addicts, P.O. Box 537, Mokopane, 0600 South Africa 27-0-15-491-5286 +27-87-550-0255 (h) +27-82-805-3274 (c) wayne@theknights.za.net Jozua Lambrechts PO Box 5070 Helderberg, Somerset West, 7135 +27-0-21 -851 5669 +27-0-08-310-1940 Ian Mitchell-Innes 14 Chevril Road, Ladysmith, 3370 +27-83-262-9030 ian@mitchell-innes.co.za UNITED KINGDOM Philip Bubb 32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496-2925 (h) +44 7837 405483 (w) pjbubb99@gmail.com
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Bring the shade to your animals! The all-new SH600! MOBILE SHADE
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Visit us at www.shadehaven.net
“Shade can be natural with trees, but many people don’t have trees in their pastures. So providing artificial shade is very beneficial... it is important that it is movable, because the cattle will make a lot of manure and foot action that will compact the ground.” Dr. Guy Jodarski, Lead Vet for Organic Valley “Our herd looked noticeably better this fall after the dry season than any time in the past. The cattle look absolutely phenomenal.” Scott Foster, Corydon, IN
855-247-4233 Num ber 181
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Kirk L. Gadzia, Certified Educator PO Box 1100 Bernalillo, NM 87004 Pasture Scene 505-263-8677 Investigation kirk@rmsgadzia.com www.rmsgadzia.com
How can RMS, LLC help you? On-Site Consulting: All aspects of holistic management, including financial, ecological and human resources. Training Events: Regularly scheduled and customized training sessions provided in a variety of locations. Ongoing Support: Follow-up training sessions and access to continued learning opportunities and developments. Land Health Monitoring: Biological monitoring of rangeland and riparian ecosystem health. Property Assessment: Land health and productivity assessment with recommended solutions.
with Richard McConnell & Tina Williams
ByBy World Dr.Grandin Grandin WorldFamous Famous Dr. Originator of Curved Ranch Corrals Originator of Curved Ranch Corrals Thewide widecurved curved Lane makes The Lane makes filling crowding tub easy. fillingthethe crowding tub easy.
Includes detailed drawings for loading Includes detailed drawings for loading ramp, VV chute, round crowd pen, dip ramp, chute, round crowd pen, dip vat, andand hinges. Plus cell vat,gates gates hinges. Pluscenter cell center layouts and layouts compatible with with layouts and layouts compatible electronic sorting systems. Articles on electronic sorting systems. Articles on cattle behavior. 27 corral layouts. $55. cattle behavior. 27 corral layouts. $55. Low Stress Cattle Handling Video $59. Low Stress Cattle Handling Video $59. Send checks/money order to:
Send checks/money order to:
GRANDIN GRANDIN LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS
LIVESTOCK 2918 Silver PlumeSYSTEMS Dr., Unit C-3 2918 Silver Plume Unit C-3 Fort Collins, CODr., 80526
Fort Collins, CO 80526 970/229-0703 www.grandin.com 970/229-0703 • www.grandin.com
May / June 2016 2018 h September / October
22IN IN PRACTICE 22 PRACTICE
“Bud Williams” Livestock Marketing & Proper Stockmanship Learn how good stockmanship can make your livestock handling experiences how livestock marketing based on today’s price We (noimprove crystalthe ball) you realize waycan youhelp manage your land, human and financial resources. May 25-26 — 2 Day Stockmanship On-site Introductory HM Course: only, Dickinson, Durham RanchND Seminar, Wright, May 30-June 1 — 3 WY Day Marketing/
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THE MARKETPLACE
Resource Management HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT® Services, LLC CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Phil Metzger
Order online www.acresusa.com or call toll-free 1-800-355-5313
Kirk L. Gadzia, Certified Educator PO Box 1100 Bernalillo, NM 87004 Pasture Scene 505-263-8677 kirk@rmsgadzia.com Investigation www.rmsgadzia.com
How can RMS, LLC help you? On-Site Consulting: All aspects of holistic management, including financial, ecological and human Over 35 years of hands-on experience resources.
Over 30 years farms, of hands-on with individuals, small experience businesses with individuals, farms, small businesses, Training Events: Regularly scheduled and groups of all types and sizes, including and groups of all types and sizes. and customized training sessions facilitating workshops, training, and provided in ateaching. variety one-on-one • Goal setting of locations. Improved decision making •• Goal setting Ongoing Support: Follow-up • Improved Financial planning decision making training •sessions and access to Grazing planning •• Financial planning continued learning opportunities and Land assessment assessment •• Land developments. Biological monitoring monitoring •• Biological Group&Facilitation •• Land Infrastructure Planning Land Health Monitoring: Biological
monitoring rangeland riparian Let me helpofyou maximize and profits, regenerate ecosystem your landhealth. and improve your quality of life. Free initial phone consultation.
Free initial phone consultation. Property Assessment: Land health Contact Phil at at 607-334-2407 607-316-4182 or Contact Phil and productivity assessment withor pmetzger17@gmail.com. pmetzger17@gmail.com. recommended solutions.
22 IN PRACTICE
A unique environmental program designed Planning Software to teach children about the region where they live, connecting them to the land • User-friendly and a more interface sustainable future. excel-based
• Let the computer do the math while you plan • Easy SAU and ADA calculations • Account for multiple herds • Grazing Manual hyperlinks • Livestock Land By World and Famous Dr. Grandin Performance Worksheet Originator of Curved Ranch Corrals • And many more features The wide curved Lane makes filling the crowding tub easy. Includes detailed drawings for loading ramp, TO vat, gates V chute, round crowd pen, $40 dip E ADlayouts R Kids the Land is ready for an appearance G andOn hinges. Plus cell center and P U layouts compatible with electronic in your school district. sorting “Thissystems. tool hasArticles alreadyongiven a many fold cattleus behavior. Peggy Maddox can come help yourand host return beyond our initial investment 27 corral layouts. $55. landowner and school get started. weLow have just Cattle begunHandling to use it.” Stress Video $59. • Make a donation SendMattson, checks/money orderServices to: Branch, — Arnold Agri-Environment
$150
Agriculture andaAgri-Food Canada • Offer your land as a site for KOL program GRANDIN • Become a volunteer LIVESTOCK TOExecutive LEARN MORESYSTEMS TO ORDER: Director –or Peggy Maddox 2918 Silver Plume Dr., Unit C-3 325/226-3042 Fort Collins, CO 80526 Call 505/842-5252 or visit us at peggy@kidsontheland.org 970/229-0703 www.holisticmanagement.org/store/ http://kidsontheland.org www.grandin.com
March / April 2013
s, Inc. gricultural Service
E? R U T S A P E S N E D NUTRIENT
KINSEY A
Larry Dyer Ecological
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Agriculture Consulting
JEFF GOEBEL
Helping farms and communities through the holistic lens of an ecologist
Helping People Solve Complex Problems
Educational Programs • Group Process Facilitation • Group and Individual Consultation •
✦ Increase profitability ✦ Effective in: conflict resolution with Specializing diversevegetable issues production • Organic •✦Season Successful goal achievement extension by overcoming limiting beliefs • Passive solar greenhouse management •✦Local foodscale systems Large holistic planning and • Whole Farm implementation Planning with Holistic effective
Management® To learn more, contact: JEFFKlondike GOEBEL 541/610-7084 1113 Ave.,• Petoskey, MI 49770 goebel@aboutlistening.com 231-347-7162 • 231-881-2784 (cell) www.aboutlistening.com ldyer3913@gmail.com
Number 162
IN PRACTICE 23
How many animals truly receive feed that has been grown with correct nutrients added to the soil? 95+% of all pasture and hay soils we test do not have the fertility required to provide the animals that eat it with even close to good nutrition. What about yours? You can only manage what you correctly measure. Soil test as soon as conditions permit to add lime or other needed nutrients for pasture and hay crops.
For consulting or educational services contact:
Soil test as soon as conditions permit to add lime or other needed nutrients for pasture and hay crops.
Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc. 297 County Highway 357 Charleston, Missouri 63834
Ph: 573/683-3880, Fax: 573/683-6227 www.kinseyag.com • info@kinseyag.com
Num ber 181
h IN PRACTICE 23
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a publication of Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 USA
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