#182, In Practice, November/December 2018

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2018

Developing HMI’s 55-Year Legacy

BY ANN ADAMS

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s we head into our 35th year as an international NGO, HMI continues to offer training and support to farmers, ranchers, and other land stewards who are looking for a new path—a path towards regenerative agriculture. We also continue to build the capacity of our network through being the leader in Holistic Management educator training, training agricultural professionals around the world.

As HMI wraps up our 7-year strategic plan we began in 2012, we are pleased to announce that we have averaged 110 days of programming per year. With the help of our 60+ Certified Educators we have reached an average of over 7,000 people per year for a total of almost 44,000 producers—agricultural producers who have gone on to get results on the ground and in their businesses and communities. As a result of these efforts, over 100 million acres are being influenced by the work of these agricultural producers.

Our collaborators and supporters have also enabled us to bring Holistic Management to 130 countries, building momentum toward healing the planet and solving critical environmental and food security issues.

People’s lives have been profoundly changed as they learn about how to improve the health of the land they manage as well as their ability to positively impact their communities.

We are now looking ahead to our 20-year Strategic Plan with a focus on post-training support to achieve long-term behavior change and results on the land that we can capture and share to encourage others. Likewise we are building capacity for the next generation of our Certified Educators and Management Clubs that offer regional support and communities of practice. Lastly, we will use this strategy to continue to focus on HMI’s international role and our collaborative role within the global

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

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regenerative agriculture community. The goal is to reach an additional 80,000 producers in that time and influence another 60 million acres.

This year’s conference we co-hosted is an example of the collaborations we have developed with regenerative agricultural organizations like the Quivira Coalition and the American Grassfed Association. Holistic Management teaches us that diversity is a critical component in the health of ecosystem function. Likewise, the power of symbiotic relationships is evident throughout nature whether with bees pollinating flowers or predators keeping prey herds healthy.

At HMI we take these principles to heart as we work to collaborate with over 100 organizations each year. We identify the unique opportunities and resources HMI brings to the regenerative agriculture table.

With our international network of Certified Educators and practitioners, we bring over 30 years of experience in Holistic Management practice, education, and research. We pair this experience and expertise from around the world with identified requests for Holistic Management training at all different levels, both place-based and online—teaching this powerful tool and growing the base of people practicing and teaching it. We also work to evolve the tool of Holistic Management and the curriculum to

keep the Holistic Management practices and principles relevant and current.

Like any organization, HMI has evolved and changed strategies over the years. Since 2008, we have clarified our organizational objectives and grown our programming dramatically. In the early 2000’s we focused on supporting our Africa programs, particularly the work of the Africa Centre for Holistic Management with the Hwange villages near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

While this work was important, we realized that we needed to put more effort in supporting and scaling the work that all our Certified Educators were doing. We also wanted to leverage the additional capacity we had developed through our Certified Educator program that had been funded by the USDA through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program in 2001 and 2003.

By 2009, we had received more USDA support through the Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program to develop Beginning Farmer training in Whole Farm/Ranch Planning training. We developed curriculum that would engage producers from any region of the world regardless of the amount of land they were managing. In developing that programming and engaging our Certified Educators we were now able to train and influence 4–5,000 people a year around the world—bringing Holistic CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Working with Nature INSIDE THIS ISSUE Ken Miller and his family won the 2017 Leopold Award in North Dakota for their efforts in improving land and soil health. Ken attributes Holistic Management as helping him to make the paradigm shift to working with nature—a shift that resulted in improved quality of life, profitability, and land health.

To read more about his story, turn to page 10.

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 Carrie Stearns . . . . . . . . . . . . Communications &

Outreach Manager Stephanie Von Ancken . . . . . Program Manager Oris Salazar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Program Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Daniel Nuckols, Chair Walter Lynn, Vice-Chair Kelly Sidoryk, Past Board Chair Gerardo Bezanilla Kirrily Blomfield Kevin Boyer Jonathan Cobb Guy Glosson Wayne Knight Robert Potts Jim Shelton Avery Anderson-Sponholtz Sarah Williford

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT In Practice (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

Management to new communities and new We know through the post-training surveys geographic regions. In turn, we developed a we have completed, that people who have strong collaborative business model so we could had more than two days of training are far more effectively work with local and regional more likely to actually continue to use Holistic organizations in other regions of the world to Management and experience the results on address their needs for Holistic Management the land. training and address our need of increased Key findings from this research include program capacity and geographic scope. that a large percentage of these respondents In 2012 with additional funding from USDA did implement some practices from what they through the WSARE Professional Development learned (95%), got results (92%), and are Program, we improved our online classes so still practicing Holistic Management (92%). they could be used for distance training of whole However, there is significant difference in the farm/ranch planning trainers and agricultural results achieved and how quickly practitioners producers from around the world. see results depending on the amount of training.

In 2012 we also began a series of The survey results suggested that at least 3 investments to increase our outreach and days of training is critical to increase efficacy of marketing programming to consumers and practice for improved results within the first year policy makers as well as numerous conventional of practice. agricultural communities to expand the reach of those who had not heard about Holistic Management and the power of regenerative agriculture to address numerous environmental and human health issues. These efforts included not only Open Gate Field Days with topics to attract consumers as well as agricultural producers to bring those communities together, but efforts to also increase our presence on various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and HMI Certified Educator Kirk Gadzia presenting at HMI YouTube.

Open Gate Field Day at Paicines Ranch.

Because of these investments, HMI now has over 20,000 friends and followers on I’m proud to be a part of this incredible Facebook and Twitter, as well as a robust email Holistic Management network who are list of almost 20,000 people. We also have over accomplishing extraordinary results. We want to 800,000 views on our YouTube Channel. grow this network and to hear from you about These outreach efforts help get the word your experiences and interests and to better out about not only HMI’s programming, but also learn how we can serve the regenerative the programming of our Certified Educators agriculture community and evolve as a relevant and other key collaborators in our regenerative regenerative agriculture organization in the 21st agriculture community. We work to support our century, creating a world where lands and Certified Educators’ efforts because we know communities flourish through the practice of that our network of Certified Educators is the Holistic Management and other regenerative only way we can effectively scale the in depth agricultural practices. Please contact us at training in Holistic Management necessary for hmi@holisticmanagement.org with changed behavior and mental models. your ideas.

FEATURE STORIES

LAND & LIVESTOCK

NEWS & NETWORK

Re-Greening the Corn Belt— Ten Reasons Why All Farmers Should Raise Livestock

The Miller Ranch— Improving Soils and Pastures with Cattle

From the Board Chair.............................................. 16

LAURA PAINE............................................................................... 3

How Consensus Building Helps Improve Communication— Case Study of Morris Grassfed Beef

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS.......................................................10

Practice Areas— Regenerating Grasslands

GRAEME HAND..........................................................................14

MICHELLE KATUNA..................................................................... 7

Reader’s Forum....................................................................... 9

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November / December 2018

Program Round Up.................................................. 17 Grapevine................................................................ 19 Certified Educators.................................................. 20 Market Place............................................................ 21 Development Corner............................................... 24

Ten Reasons Why All Farmers Should Raise Livestock

BY LAURA PAINE

Aldo Leopold is one of my favorite ecological thinkers. Leopold was an internationally recognized ecologist and conservationist who lived and worked all over the world, but whose work was particularly inspired by the landscape of the farm he owned along the Wisconsin River.

Although I grew up in the corn country of central Illinois, I was drawn as a young adult to this landscape and have made Wisconsin my home for going on 40 years. Over those 40 years, I have watched the agriculture of each of these two adjacent states evolve in very different directions, largely as a result of livestock.

From a shared history of diversified livestock and cropping agriculture, Wisconsin evolved toward dairy and Illinois evolved toward cash grain, with profoundly different ecological results. Leopold argued for a holistic view of conservation that placed humans and our animals squarely within the ecosystem. He said, “The farm is a place to live. The criterion of success is a harmonious balance between plants, animals, & people; between the domestic & the wild; between utility & beauty.”

Over the decades, agriculture has forgotten this premise and followed a… “self-imposed doctrine of ruthless utilitarianism” where “The farm as a food factory and the criterion of success is salable products.” Livestock are one of the most effective tools for returning to that harmonious balance and farming for land health.

Using the contrasting agriculture of Wisconsin “Mother earth never attempts to farm without livestock. She always raises mixed crops, great pains are taken to preserve the soil and to prevent erosion; the mixed vegetable and animal wastes are converted to humus; there is no waste; the processes of growth and the processes of decay balance one another; ample provision is made to maintain large reserves of fertility; the greatest care is taken to store the rainfall; both plants and animals are left to protect themselves against disease.”

Sir Albert Howard

and Illinois, I’ll illustrate at least 10 reasons why every farmer should include livestock in their system.

1) Mother Nature Farms with Animals

biomass and organic matter is high.

5) Mineral cycles and nutrient exchange in the community is slow.

6) They have high tolerance to ecological disturbances.

What role do livestock have to play in such a system? A large one! Many ecologists view the role of ruminants in the earth’s ecosystems as pivotal. The plant kingdom plays its role by covering every square meter of the earth’s surface with living plants to maximize the capture of sunlight. It is the job of ruminants to process this vegetation (an estimated 19 billion metric tons per year from grasslands alone) to make energy and nutrients more readily available to other life. This pivotal step in the food web makes ruminants a key energy broker

Sir Albert Howard captured the importance of livestock in agricultural systems in his 1940 book, An Agricultural Testament. In it, he expresses one of the foundational principles of organic and regenerative agriculture. The template for ecologically sound, efficient, regenerative farming is modeled in nature. If we pattern our farming systems as closely as possible to the natural ecosystem, we are more likely to benefit from the synergies and mutual relationships that make natural systems so efficient. We’re not looking to maximize yield or profit; we’re looking to optimize the functioning of our farm ecosystem.

Nature’s farming system creates a diverse stable community of plants and animals that efficiently captures the sun’s energy, cycles nutrients and conserves water.

Across the planet, she has created climax ecosystems that are exquisitely Drew Votis is one of DGA’s first graduates. Drew and Ashley are returning suited to the climate to restart their family’s long idled dairy near Green Bay, Wisconsin. and soils of the location where they are found. Every niche for earth’s ecosystem. So in order to make the is filled; every resource is used and recycled best use of livestock in our agricultural system, over and over again. The agriculture of the we have to stop feeding them human food (we Corn Belt with its emphasis on annual crops is currently feed about 40% of our grain production an invitation to nature to fill in the gaps—the to livestock) and put them to work doing what empty niches—and to move the system back they do best: consuming vegetation that we (and toward the stable tall grass prairie that once other omnivores and carnivores) can’t eat and existed here. The more we can shape our turning it into something we can eat. agroecosystems in nature’s image, based on what nature ‘wants to be’, the less energy 2) Capture More Sunlight and resources we expend trying to stop the Farming is fundamentally about harvesting inevitable process of succession. sunshine, so if we farm with the goal of So what are the characteristics of Mother maximizing the capture of the sun’s energy Nature’s farm? Ecologists tell us that all climax on our land, then all subsequent steps in the ecosystems share these characteristics: chain of production will have more to work with.

1) They have high species diversity.

Annual cropping systems that dominate in my 2) The plant community is mostly perennial. neighboring state of Illinois, are one big missed 3) Transfer of energy is in the form opportunity when it comes to capturing the of complex food webs, not simple sun’s energy. On 21 million acres of Illinois soil, food chains. crops are planted in May and ready to harvest 4) Net community production is low, while CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship

Re-Greening the Corn Belt—

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by September, leaving the ground devoid of living plants nearly 70% of the time over the two-year rotation. Bringing forage crops into the rotation can bring the proportion of bare ground down to 30% over a four-year rotation. Then there is perennial pasture, which can maximize energy capture. In Illinois, 80% of the cropland is corn or soybeans, in Wisconsin it’s 43%. The difference is livestock, and the hay and pasture needed to feed them. If you think of this on a continental scale—over 90 million acres of annual crops nationwide, you can imagine how much ecosystem productivity is lost, how much organic matter storage is missed, how many calories of the sun’s energy are wasted, just warming bare ground.

Utilizing Land Unsuitable for Crops If you are on board with the notion of maximizing energy capture on your land by keeping the ground covered, then livestock can serve as a valuable tool for vegetation management. They are singularly effective at processing large volumes of slow recycling vegetation into stable, readily available nutrients and soil carbon. Every farm has odd areas and corners that are unsuitable for conventional crops. In fact, between Wisconsin and Illinois, there are nearly 10 million acres of land in farms that are not utilized for crops. Why not manage the vegetation in these areas using livestock? On steep slopes, brushy woodlots, or marshy areas, carefully managed cattle, goats, sheep, and even pigs and poultry can utilize this vegetation and turn it into meat and milk for our consumption and manure for fertilizer, helping convert those calories captured on your farm into food and organic matter.

3) Fix Atmospheric Nitrogen

Until industrial nitrogen fertilizer production began in the early twentieth century, nitrogen fixing legumes and other species provided our only access to that all-important nutrient.

Nitrogen makes up 78% of the atmosphere but it exists in a form that is unusable by life.

The mutualistic relationship between legumes and rhizobial bacteria has historically provided the planet’s primary means of converting this nutrient into a form that is available to plants and animals. A plowed down crop of alfalfa can provide 150 pounds per acre or more of nitrogen--all that subsequent crops need for the next one to three years. Leguminous crops like soy and fava beans contribute nitrogen, as do some cover crops, but systems with livestock 4 IN PRACTICE

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have the best opportunities for taking advantage of this free resource. Wisconsin’s 1.7 million acres of alfalfa produce 255 million pounds of nitrogen a year in addition to feed for 3.5 million head of beef and dairy cattle.

Photo Credit: Laura Paine

Re-Greening the Corn Belt

Natural communities move from simplicity to complexity. Our weed-free crop fields are an invitation for nature to fill them with something so that every calorie of the sun’s energy is captured.

4) Enhance Nutrient Cycling

Both organic and biodynamic farming embrace the concept of the farm as an organism—with the goal of creating a closed system in which nutrients are recycled internally with little waste or need for external purchased inputs. Livestock serve to optimize internal nutrient cycling on the farm. If the farm can be structured so that animal waste is food for crops and crop waste is food for animals, mineral cycles and nutrient exchange will be slowed and the system will be more closely simulate efficient and stable natural ecosystem.

Manure is the Perfect Fertilizer The recycling of vegetation through livestock creates a perfect fertilizer that, sadly, continues to be viewed as a waste product by many farmers. It provides a balanced blend of organic matter and slow release macro- and micro-nutrients. Each ton of cattle manure contains 9 pounds of nitrogen, 5 pounds of phosphorus, 7.5 pounds of potassium, 7 pounds of calcium, and 2 pounds of magnesium, plus sulfur and other micro-nutrients, and, of course, nearly 2,000 pounds of organic matter.

Synthetic fertilizers may increase short term yields of crops, but manure provides the kind of slow-release fertilizer that healthy functional ecosystems need.

November / December 2018

Processing Crop Aftermath It only makes sense to process crop aftermath and waste produce through animals to maximize the nutrient cycling benefit. On nature’s farm, nothing is ever wasted. All organic material becomes food for something else. But that can’t happen on a farm without our livestock energy brokers. Grazing corn fields in winter was a common practice historically. Today, the U.S. Corn Belt represents a massive untapped source of feed for cattle. Illinois alone could feed an estimated 3 million beef cows over each winter on 11 million acres of post-harvest corn stalks. This most economical source of feed—a blend of high quality fiber and waste grain—is not only nutritionally balanced for a dry cow, but helps break down crop residue and returns fertility and organic matter to the soil in the form of manure and urine. The same cycling can occur on a much smaller scale on a diversified produce farm. The imperfect tomatoes and squash, windfall apples, and left over pumpkins can all be part of the diet of livestock from poultry to pigs.

Crop Insurance: The Feed Value of a Failed Crop One of the biggest challenges of organic farming is weed control. Reliant primarily on cultivation for weed control, organic farmers are at the mercy of the weather for timely weed control. Organic farmers are not alone in being challenged by crop failure. The 2012 Census of Agriculture reports that crops are abandoned on approximately 11 million acres annually, and cover crops and other non-harvested, soil improving crops are grown on another 36 million acres. Many of these acres, whether intentionally or unintentionally left unharvested, could provide feed for livestock and allow that vegetation to be processed into high quality manure.

If we compare nutrient cycling on a Wisconsin dairy farm versus an Illinois cash grain farm, the difference that livestock make becomes clear. An Illinois cash grain farm might grow 300 acres of corn and 200 acres of soybeans, with inputs of $12,000 worth of nitrogen fertilizer, plus another $49,000 in other crop inputs. At the end of the season when the grain is harvested and sold, a total of more than 70,000 pounds of nitrogen, 23,000 pounds of phosphorus, and 23,000 pounds of potassium are exported off the farm when the grain is harvested and sold.

The system draws energy and nutrients from distant places, transforms them into grain, and distributes them to other distant places, all at great expense in terms of energy, resources,

5) Improve Soil Health

Soil health is the foundation of regenerative agriculture and the soil microbiome—the life of the soil is the foundation of soil health.

Creating a habitat that allows soil microbes to thrive is made much easier with the perennials associated with livestock systems. The four keys to enhancing the diversity and functionality of the soil microbiome are less soil disturbance, more plant diversity, living roots year round, and continuous soil cover. The diverse, perennial plant community of a pasture provides a perfect environment for a healthy soil microbiome. On the continuum from annual cropping systems and perennial pasture, the more forage crops you can incorporate into your rotation, the more closely you will simulate the conditions needed for a healthy soil community.

Minimize Soil Erosion A big part of keeping soil healthy is protecting it from erosion. Soil erosion is still the most serious threat to soil productivity worldwide.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service estimates soil losses to wind and water erosion at 75 billion tons per year. Since intensive tillage-based agriculture began 150 years ago, we have lost half of the planet’s topsoil.

Research conducted on farms in Wisconsin measured soil losses from a spectrum of systems. The cash grain rotation lost the most soil at 2.8 tons per acre per year. The dairy rotation with three years of hay followed by one year of corn lost just under a ton per acre per year. And well-managed pastures lost an almost unmeasurable 58 pounds per acre per year.

6) Diversify your Crop Rotation

Diverse crop rotations are required under the organic standard and cropping system diversity is beneficial to all farmers regardless of whether organic or not. The longer and more diverse a cropping system is, the more effective it is at interrupting insect life cycles, suppressing soil borne plant diseases, controlling weeds, preventing soil erosion, building organic matter, fixing nitrogen, and increasing biodiversity.

Adding forages is an easy way to diversify a crop rotation. A two- or three-year crop of alfalfa hay is a significant benefit on a larger operation. Even if you don’t raise livestock yourself, finding a livestock farmer to partner with can ensure a market for grain and hay crops and give you the benefits of including the forage in your rotation. Several large confinement dairies and cash grain farms in Wisconsin are creating such partnerships.

The farms share a set of equipment. The dairy gains a secure source of feed for their animals, grown to their specifications, and the cash grain farmer gains a valuable crop to diversify their rotation and manure from the dairy, providing them with a savings in fertilizer and pesticide

7) Invite Biodiversity onto Your Farm

Biodiversity is an important concept in Holistic Management as well as in organic farming. Leopold said, “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering,” suggesting the importance of biodiversity on the farm for the broader support of the farm’s food web. We may not know what all of the players in our food web are or what they do, but supporting biodiversity through a mixed crop and livestock system can yield many benefits in addition to those listed in the last section. Many forage crops can serve a dual purpose: wildflowers, “weeds”, forage legumes, and other plant species can provide habitat and Photo Credit: Courtesy of Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship

and soil health. In contrast, a Wisconsin dairy might have 100 acres of pasture, 200 acres of corn and 200 acres of alfalfa hay. Between manure from the cattle and the plowed down alfalfa, the farm has no need for nitrogen fertilizer and inputs of herbicides and pesticides are reduced. The corn and hay are fed to the cattle keeping those nutrients cycling on-farm and a comparatively small proportion of energy and nutrients are exported off the farm in the form of milk and meat.

Children raised on farms gain, from a young age, a sense of responsibility for themselves and the animals they care for. costs. And both farms have moved themselves along the continuum of practices toward a more regenerative agricultural system.

Add Value to Cover Crops Cover crops are the latest trending concept across the Corn Belt and many farmers are experimenting with them in aid of controlling soil erosion and contributing to soil health. The list of cover crop species (cereal grains, brassicas, annual ryegrass, sorghum Sudan grass, annual legumes) is remarkably similar to the list of annual forages. All are high quality feeds. All can be utilized to fill in gaps when perennial pastures are dormant. And what better way of converting those cover crops into readily available organic matter and nutrients than through livestock.

Livestock and cash grain producers in Iowa and Minnesota are partnering to make this happen. Grazing cover crop acres in fall, after pasture grazing is completed can extend the grazing season, reducing costs for the livestock producer and improving soil health and fertility for the cash grain farmer.

food for multiple beneficial species.

Provide Pollinator Habitat Many farmers are setting aside acres for pollinator habitat to support production of fruit, nut and vegetable crops. Pollinators provide an estimated $29 billion in value to US farms.

Pollinator habitat happens naturally, and on many more acres, when forage crops such as clover and alfalfa are part of the cropping system. The same habitat that supports pollinators also supports natural enemies to crop and livestock pest insects. In an ecologically healthy cropping system, natural enemies can control 33% or more of pest damage.

Provide a Home for Wildlife Another impact that 90 million acres of cropland have had in the U.S. is the displacement of native habitat. The rich prairie soils that gave rise to the Corn Belt once harbored more than 3000 wildlife species.

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remaining, pastures and forages can substitute for native habitat and provide a home for declining grassland species like meadowlarks and bobolinks. Rotationally grazed pastures can harbor more than 10 times as many nesting pairs of grassland birds than annual crop fields.

Our 500-acre dairy with perennial pasture and hay crops can provide a home for more than 300 pairs of nesting grassland birds.

8) Diversify/Stack Enterprises

For direct market growers, the single most labor intensive and costly part of the business in both time and resources is marketing. We may not realize how much time and energy we invest in marketing and customer relations. That’s why it’s so effective to stack enterprises. Going out and getting a new customer costs a lot; selling an additional product to the same customer just makes a world of sense. Many direct market producers are capitalizing on this fact, knowing that the customer who buys their CSA box is likely to be eager to buy their chicken, eggs, pork or beef. This is another opportunity for partnering. Even if you don’t want to raise the livestock yourself, perhaps partnering with a neighbor is an option. That way you can share customer lists, sell more of both farms’ products and share manure and other services livestock can provide.

Bill and Laura Paine Stacking enterprises is also an effective risk management strategy for larger farms. Many cash grain farmers in Wisconsin also finish steers, and many dairy and beef operations have cash grain enterprises. Having income streams from both livestock and crops can provide flexibility to adapt to changing markets.

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9) Building Your Community

To rebuild a livestock sector in a state like Illinois requires a community effort.

Losing its livestock farms also meant losing all of support businesses like large animal veterinarians, meat processors and sale barns, as well as markets for hay and straw, and dealers that handle and service equipment for livestock and Diverse pastures support grazing cattle on forage production. Most Paine Family Farm important, they have lost the culture of animal agriculture.

Without a community of peers, a single about the honey bee and the fruit tree. Or the livestock producer will struggle to survive. swallows and blackbirds that follow our herds But, with a few pioneers, that culture can be and reduce fly populations, or the mutualistic rebuilt and partnering can be a big part of that relationships between mycchorizal fungi and transformation. Throughout this article, I’ve crop plants. mentioned opportunities where partnering with The domestication of livestock can other farmers can bring the benefits of livestock be viewed as a fundamentally mutualistic to a farm that may not have the capacity or relationship between humans and the plant and inclination to raise livestock themselves. The animal species that produce our food. In his local food movement brings many opportunities book, Covenant of the Wild, Stephen Budiansky for farmers to partner to bring their products to paints a compelling picture of how both humans an eager community of local eaters. and the domesticated species benefit from But why not expand those partnerships to association with one another. In his words, include complementary opportunities to share “Domestication was not an act of exploitation but resources and enhance nutrient cycling across a brilliantly successful evolutionary strategy that multiple farms? Building a community on the has benefited humans and animals alike.” basis of sharing the In this view, animal species chose to benefits of livestock associate with humans and in exchange for can support everyone’s providing food, fiber and labor for humans, they triple bottom line, received a safe, relatively comfortable life and providing economic an improved chance at replacing themselves by and environmental producing offspring. I think this long relationship benefits in addition to we’ve had with livestock is one of the most enriching the lives of all important reasons why we should consider those involved. livestock as a part of our farming systems.

Over tens of thousands of years, our species 10) The Human- has developed a fundamental need to have Animal them in our lives. Having that direct relationship Connection with the animals that nourish us both physically Ecology is a and emotionally, is a connection of great science focused significance, largely unrealized by the vast on understanding majority of non-farming humans. Raising relationships among livestock teaches us responsibility, compassion the physical and for life, and a connection with the planet in a biological components way that nothing else can. of the ecosystem. As farmers, we deal every day with three types of ecological Laura Paine is the Program Director relationships: predation, competition, and of the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (a parasitism. However, one of the most important, national work-based training program) and a but perhaps least appreciated ecological Holistic Management Certified Educator and relationship in agriculture is mutualism, a practitioner. She can be reached at: relationship in which both species benefit. Think laura@dga-national.org or 608-338-9039.

November / December 2018

Photo Credit: Laura Paine

Re-Greening the Corn Belt

How Consensus Building Helps Improve Communication—

Case Study of Morris Grassfed Beef

BY MICHELLE KATUNA

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t was maybe the first time Greg* took in that some of the other cowboys didn’t feel listened to by their co-workers—and he was the one writing it on the poster at the front of the room under the column What Could Be Better?

There was a comfortable silence as we sat in the circle of arranged chairs and waited for the next person—Allan—the newest and greenest of the crew, to take his turn to speak.

He mentioned links between our work and his last ranch job, and offered up observations of how healthy the land looked. Greg wrote Allan’s exact words under the other column What’s Going Well? When Allan finished, it was Bryan, our foreman’s turn, and he spoke to being happy we completed our summer projects.

Other thoughts, both of things going well and things that could improve, were voiced, ranging from confusion over what ranch we were supposed to report to each morning, to how pleased we were to have the vacation times we requested. We wondered if our delivery days to San Francisco should be re-thought. We brought up first visions for a pasture re-design at one ranch to facilitate cattle moves and improve land use. As each person spoke, Greg recorded the ideas, word for word, in the appropriate column.

The feeling of the meeting contrasted with the normal scenes of barbed wire rolls and mid-July sun, where a hierarchy had emerged in the crew, communication was limited, and we adhered to the direct instructions of our boss, Joe Morris, or in its lieu, the ideas of the same one or two in the crew. For myself, coming to agreement with my co-workers had become challenging and I had reached out to Morris a few weeks prior for help navigating. As Morris

led us through questions that asked for our full engagement, insight, and creativity in this crew meeting, the power dynamics within our crew faded. We all were given space to speak, to listen, and to come to collective solutions.

I didn’t know it then, but there was a structure which led to the listening and thoughtfulness of that meeting and the other conversations I would experience Morris facilitating that year. The structure is known as Consensus and Morris had come to learn it

What is Consensus?

Consensus meetings rely on a framework of practices and questions to get to the root of a conflict within an individual or group and then guide the person or group in coming up with actions and strategies that will move them towards a desired outcome. The Consensus structure can be used and adapted to address conflicts of many scales—intrapersonal, interpersonal or intergroup—and to address conflicts of many types, such as those of power inequality, scarcity, and transformational change. At Jeff Goebel’s Consensus Institute workshop, the basic structure of a Consensus meeting was explained and laid out as follows:

Grounding

Peter Riekowski and Michelle Katuna from teacher and facilitator, Bob Chadwick and Chadwick’s successor Jeff Goebel. When this Consensus-guided depth of conversation was demanded of our crew, we were reminded and recommitted to our work among the things we all valued—the land, the business, and the people we worked with and for.

Last fall, Morris pointed me towards a three-day workshop put on by Jeff Goebel’s Consensus Institute at Frey Winery in Redwood Valley to learn more about the Consensus process. As I was taught the philosophy and framework of Consensus I was able to see how gatherings like the crew meeting are repeatable and also how this style of conservation and facilitation is applicable to any work with land and communities where shifts in behavior are needed to re-align with goals and values.

Morris began our circle-seated employee meeting with two questions: “How do you feel about being here?” and “What are your expectations for this meeting?”

He motioned for one of us to start and to continue around the circle. These two questions are called the Grounding, and are always used to start a Consensus meeting. The Grounding is the first place the facilitator introduces the behavior of respectful listening, a practice that teaches each participant to listen when not their designated time to speak. Because the act of listening is discussed and the structure of Consensus gives a guaranteed and clearly defined verbal territory to each participant, power dynamics within a group have the potential to relax. Each person’s words have a place within the discussion.

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How Consensus Building Helps Improve Communication

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allows the speaker to acknowledge and release worries about the meeting. The second question asks about expectations, engaging the logical left-side of the brain and also gives the speaker a chance to express hidden agendas such as leaving early, or needing help with a personal issue. The Grounding brings participants into the present moment, slows the group down, informs the facilitator, and creates a foundation for the rest of the meeting.

Roles of the Facilitator and Recorder

The facilitator of a Consensus meeting tailors the Consensus structure to guide an individual or group in solving their own problems. In the case of our employee meeting, Morris re-worked the Consensus questions to get to the heart of specific conflicts in our business around personnel, land management, and finances and to reflect on the successes of our work.

Morris’ questions allowed our group to think, listen to one another, and propose answers and solutions.

The facilitator chooses a person to record verbatim—that is, without paraphrase or word/ idea screening—what is said by each participant on a poster visible to the entire group. The recorder still participates in Consensus questions when it is their turn to speak. After each question, a new participant can become the recorder. The purpose of recording the conversation, word for word, is to ensure that the viewpoint of each participant is heard accurately and made visible to the group. From the recorded words we can begin to see how to move forward, together.

The Four Questions of Consensus

In its most basic form, Consensus approaches an issue with four questions, which can be tailored to fit any specific issue. While they can be adhered to in a strict order, the gift of these questions lies in their ability to be adapted. As in the case of Morris and the crew, the questions can be taken in pieces, manipulated, and even reordered at times to better serve the specific needs of the group in addressing and resolving the conflict at hand.

Jeff Goebel offers the questions as follows: 1) What is the present situation? How do you feel about it?

This question allows each participant to describe their view of a situation. The question 8 IN PRACTICE

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also engages the full brain, both logical and emotional. In the case of our employee meeting, Morris offered a variation specific to our operation: “How is our work going this year? And how do you feel about it?” Building upon the work done in the meeting prior to this question, the crew’s responses now began to address the roots of conflicts and successes in our work. Allan felt excited about the improving land. I felt frustrated by my voice being often ignored among the crew when we were moving forward with group decisions. Others proposed new projects to re-examine different facets of our work. This first Consensus question brings up what needs to be addressed in the rest of the meeting.

2) What are the worst possible outcomes of confronting the present situation?

Jeff notes that worst possible outcomes are “feared future outcomes, often based on past experiences with a presently experienced emotion and physical reaction. When people believe worst possible outcomes, they affect their perceptions, beliefs, values and strategies.

They tend to be self-fulfilling prophecies when strongly held.” We ask this second question to release fears and become motivated to change, if we determine change is needed.

In our employee meeting, Morris had us examine each issue in the “What could be better?” column. We took a closer look at several responses from the group. In the proposed issue of some co-workers not feeling heard among the group Morris elected to steer our conversation from Goebel’s structure. Here, he could have asked: What are the imagined worst possible outcomes of addressing this?

Instead, we skipped straight to: “What is the worst possible outcome of NOT addressing the situation?” We came up with various responses along the lines of : a good idea might not get tried; the situation might be too complex to solve with one person’s idea; the same people will never be heard; we’ll forget that we each have different life experiences that might be able to help; and, crew morale will suffer. Change seemed needed. We felt the urgency of Morris’ mantra: “Two heads are better than one.” Our responses propelled us into the next Consensus question which is asked to spark visioning of a desired outcome.

3) What are the best possible outcomes of confronting the present situation?

Jeff’s definition of best possible outcomes is: “hoped for future outcomes sometimes not previously experienced, but intensely imagined, with a presently experienced emotion and physical response. When people believe best

November / December 2018

possible outcomes, they affect their perceptions, beliefs, values, and strategies. They tend to be self-fulfilling prophecies when strongly held.”

By thinking on best possible outcomes of addressing a situation, the individual or group can be moved to action.

In the example of the Morris employee meeting, our best possible outcome in making sure we listened to each other in the work setting became more obviously necessary when we gave voice to what this behavioral change would lead to: We would have a better chance to find creative solutions to land management issues; people on the crew would feel like they’re accepted, contributing, and part of the team; and, we could collectively solve problems that would be unsolvable on our own. As always, our responses were recorded exactly as they were spoken. We then moved to the fourth Consensus question to brainstorm how we would actualize the change we deemed necessary.

4) What beliefs, behaviors, strategies, and actions will foster the best possible outcomes?

The fourth and last question of Consensus moves a group to agree on the right way forward in addressing a conflict at hand. Beliefs and behaviors must change before we can see changes in strategies and actions. The work of the Grounding questions, listening, considering other viewpoints, releasing fears, and allowing visioning and creativity is necessary before a group or individual starts to answer this fourth question. Often the answer to this last question requires revisiting and re-answering long after the Consensus meeting.

In the employee meeting, we went around the circle to hear everyone’s response to this question and, made a list of strategies on the poster in front to address the various conflicts.

In the case of crew members not feeling heard, we decided that, as a crew, when it came to a complex situation, we would try to put in practice a new behavior of checking in and respectfully listening to each idea before proceeding.

The way forward would be decided by the entire crew.

Adaptive Learning

The two questions of Adaptive Learning always conclude a Consensus Meeting. These questions invite both reflection and action and are asked as: How do you feel? and What did you learn that will help you be successful?

By addressing feelings, each participant can continue to engage the emotional and creative parts of their mind. By articulating what one

learned, the speaker can turn the experience into the purpose of the meeting. The questions of adaptive learning can be used in earlier parts of the meeting when reflection is needed, or if the group could benefit from slowing down.

The Openings Consensus Provides

We continued listening to each other. We all came up with a way to redesign one ranch’s pastures so that gathers would be easier and trailing, erosion, and overgrazing would be minimized. Morale was higher at work. I could

handle the long construction projects with greater ease because I was given space to voice my ideas and felt part of the team. Greg stopped taking tools out of my hands and Morris gave me a stretch of fence to re-string on my own for further practice and empowerment. We started researching other markets besides our CSA model based out of San Francisco (that project is still underway).

To better our practices on the land, we first needed to work on our relationships and beliefs shared among the people. Consensus was a way in to a deeper conversation that would allow

us to better cooperate in doing the work we all valued. And because Consensus is a practice, not a stopping point, we re-visit it often.

Find out more about Jeff Goebel, his Consensus work, philosophy, and upcoming events and workshops at aboutlistening.com.

Find out more about Joe Morris, his beef, cattle, land management, and philosophy at morrisgrassfed.com.

Note: *Names of the cowboys have been changed.

Reader’s Forum A Conservation Ranching Perspective for Birds and Beef

BY NANCY RANNEY

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and health has been my foremost interest from a childhood on a horse to work in environmental planning to assuming the management of our family ranch in New Mexico in 2002. I was initially intrigued by the Audubon Conservation Ranching Program for its dual potential to inspire Western land managers to adopt healthy grazing management practices and to offer a market-based solution critical to the survival of family ranching operations. The possibility of connecting different communities and interest groups also appealed to me as well as the opportunity to dispel some widely-held misconceptions about ranching in the West, in particular, about the role of livestock in the environment. And, of course, I was interested in expanding our own grassfed beef market; it seemed possible that an Audubon certification might help us in that regard.

It struck me as perceptive that Audubon, in researching the declining numbers of grassland bird species, had recognized that 85% of North American grasslands are held privately, hence their goal of incentivizing private landowners to manage grasslands in a manner beneficial to grassland birds. Audubon recognized that the grazing management techniques we have followed and documented at the Ranney Ranch since 2003, based on rotational/adaptive multi-paddock grazing and informed by Holistic Management practices, had fostered the return of the healthy grasslands they were looking for.

Hence, we were a natural fit for their pilot ranch in New Mexico.

My work with Audubon over the past year (ably assisted by our long-time ranch

manager, Melvin Johnson), in addition to completing certification for the Ranney Ranch, has been twofold: to simplify and streamline the requirements of the rigorous Audubon certification process (currently administered by Food Alliance) so that other ranchers might find it accessible and to test the market for Audubon certified beef.

Both tasks are challenging. It is my hope that Audubon members will recognize that their food dollars have a direct impact on the landscapes and wildlife that they wish to preserve. It should not be surprising that ranchers and environmentalists are working together. Both communities care deeply about the land, its beauty, its ecologic health and its economic productivity. It is increasingly clear that the health of our soil and grasslands which is fundamental to successful rangeland cattle operations is also key to sustainable natural communities of mammals, insects and grassland birds. It is under-recognized that grazing animals, well-managed, are vital to the health of grassland ecosystems; their hooves aerate the soil and increase water infiltration, their manure fertilizes the soil, their grazing stimulates the growth of grasses; methane and soil carbon generated by planned grazing are part of a healthy cycle of bacterial and fungal soil enrichment.

The Quivira Coalition, founded in 1997 to bring ranchers and environmentalists together around their shared commitment to land health, has helped me frame my own approach to land NR Statement for Audubon Conservation Ranching Program February 2018 management and has introduced me to many dedicated land

managers and professionals working to improve our Western landscapes.

My inspiration Nancy Ranney has been the stunning improvement in grassland biodiversity over the fifteen years we have managed our ranch in this manner. As indicator, our native grassland species (without any reseeding) have increased from a count of five in 2003 to over forty-five in 2015. We have also observed increased numbers of species of soil microorganisms, insects, butterflies, bats and grassland birds. It has been a joy to bring students, land managers, native plant enthusiasts and birders to the ranch and to observe their enthusiasm.

My hope is that the Audubon initiative, in addition to improving habitat for grassland birds, will inform the public of the potential for well-managed grazing operations to benefit our health and welfare, including fostering resilient landscapes, mitigating climate change and improving rural economies. And I continue to hope that the Conservation Ranching Program will encourage more widespread adoption of regenerative grazing management techniques by offering the incentive of expanded markets to small and medium scale ranching operations throughout the West.

To learn more about this Audubon initiative visit: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/ ranching.

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The Miller Ranch—

Improving Soils and Pastures with Cattle

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

and ranchers have been able to do to improve soil heath. It was an honor and humbling experience to win the award.”

Learning to Work with Mother Nature

Ken says Holistic Management helped point him in the right direction about 30 years ago. “I went through the training with Allan Savory in the olistic Management has made a huge difference in ranch mid-1980s in Albuquerque. The way we were ranching/farming before that sustainability for Ken and Bonnie Miller on their ranch was not sustainable. Like most producers, we were always told we had in south central North Dakota near Fort Rice. Miller’s to get bigger and bigger and more efficient so I was renting all the land management strategies and soil improvements led to his around us that I could. We were getting bigger and bigger and going broke being nominated for and receiving the 2017 Leopold Conservation faster and faster! Back then we were still tilling, and had a lot of erosion.

Award for North Dakota.

We were farming very fragile soils and I knew there had to be a better The Miller Ranch was way, to manage the land.” nominated by the Morton he says.

County Soil Conservation “Then I had the District, stating: “The Miller opportunity to go to the Ranch truly embodies the five-day extensive Holistic diversity North Dakota Resource Management carries in its agricultural course in Albuquerque. portfolio. From livestock I was very grateful for a to crops, from grazing to scholarship I received from gardening, from dryland to our local soil conservation irrigation, from commodity district and thankful that I marketing to direct went. It totally changed the marketing and from family way I ranch; my thought to agricultural advocacy, process is very different the Millers display and now. The holistic approach share it all confidently, changes how you think,” yet humbly, with a land says Miller. ethic that runs through You realize that and through.” any decision or action “Anyone can be you make affects the nominated for the award,” whole ranch. If you use Ken Miller says Ken. “This award herbicides to spray to kill is being presented now in more and more states to honor the farmers a certain weed, you realize that you are also killing some good plants. and ranchers who do an exceptional job of caring for the land. It strives The same with pouring the livestock with insecticides; you kill many good to build bridges between agriculture, government, environmental insects, too. Whatever action you do, you need to think how that action will organizations and industry. affect everything else. The important thing is to work with Mother Nature “As producers we have to tell our story, about how we are trying instead of trying to fight nature,” he says. to regenerate the land. We need to show people some of the good “Back then, we calved in February and March and at the training things farmers and ranchers are doing and how we are being good course they asked me why we calved during the coldest part of the stewards and role models. This award opened some doors for us—to year. I said, ‘Everybody does.’ That’s the way we did it, partly to get the go to Washington D.C. and visit with our congressmen about the farm calving done before we were busy getting our crops planted. Now we bill, conservation practices that worked on our place, etc. Hopefully this calve in June and it makes life so simple, and the cattle more profitable,” helps enlighten congressmen about what we are doing and what farmers Miller says.

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Holistic Management has also been very helpful in setting goals. “You “The one disadvantage to capturing all that water and not having it run have to know where you are going. You also need to decide how you want off is that it no longer collects as much in our ponds and dugouts. We’ve your soil to look. This was one of the things that made me change. We always used dugouts for stock water and fenced them off to keep them were taught in that class that we should always have a written goal. I had cleaner (using solar panels to pump the water out for the cattle), but last never really put plans on paper. My goals now have probably changed a year two of those dugouts dried up and were just mud holes because of lot since that time; now we want to manage the land in a regenerative way the drought. We were not getting any runoff anymore! In the past, the to make it better than when we took it over. We want to build soil health runoff would fill them. But now they never overflow, even on the years we to make healthier plants, healthier animals, healthier people, and be had more than 100 inches of snow and lots of snow melt, because the profitable while enjoying what we do. Quality of life is part of the equation!” ground soaks it up and not much water is running off,” he says.

Often farmers and ranchers spend most of their time chasing production, The deep ravines that were washed deeper with every run-off episode trying to get bigger and bigger and produce more and more. are now filling in. The water no longer runs down those gullies as much.

“When I was renting all that “The lesser runoff and the herd land I was basically spinning my impact (creating divots where wheels. Being bigger, you have grass starts growing) has healed to hire someone, and it just gets those gullies. You can heal the overwhelming. You are always land a lot quicker with cattle,” putting out fires and never catch he says. up. Now we are trying to make things real again, and work with Improving the Soil Nature,” says Ken. Ken’s goal is to improve “At first we just practiced these the soil, and one of his most methods on the rangeland, using successful practices is bale higher stock density, and saw grazing. “The fields I’m bale some benefits up to a certain point. grazing were originally poor crop Now we are much more intensive land that was seeded back to a and starting to see improvement/ mixture of grasses 35 years ago. changes again. It has made a big The problem when we seeded difference. Last year’s drought them was that the soil lacked gave us the opportunity to test nutrients and there was quite The Miller family won the 2017 Leopold Award for North Dakota for their some of our practices. In the past a bit of bare ground,” he says. efforts to improve soil and land health. when we were still doing seasonBy strategically placing bales, long grazing, a drought like that would have really set us back and we he improves the soil by adding plant matter plus nutrients from the cattle would have had to destock or buy feed, but now we are able to keep manure and urine. going. We had to make a few little changes but we are still running the He takes clippings from some of these pastures to measure same numbers,” he says. production. “When we first started, we had more than three times the There are always challenges, so a person has to be flexible. “You have production right around the bale than in portions of the pasture where we to be able to plan, and re-plan. When you see different things happen, you didn’t bale graze. There’s about a 20-foot circle where you have practically need to be able to adjust. This is how Holistic Management really helps,” no production the first year because the litter is so thick. By fall you have says Ken. some annual weeds coming through that, and then the next year you have “This year, some of our pasture land that is near the river was flooded really good grass. I figure that we are more than doubling the production. so we were unable to use those acres. We usually run about 100 pairs Plus we cut winter feeding costs. The first four winters, I burned less than in that pasture, but this year the lake came up and we had to move the 100 gallons of diesel fuel in my tractor, to feed 100 pairs,” says Miller. cattle out of there. This may actually prove to be a benefit because we are Using bale grazing to improve the soil is a learning process; it’s not running higher stock densities on the irrigated pastures. In the past we ran just simply putting bales out there. “I am actually going to make some about 80 head on those pastures, but this year we added 100 more. We changes now in how we do it. We were at a tour recently where one of did take out some of the heifers, however, so we are running about 150 our neighbors (about 60 miles away) also does bale grazing. One of pair on those small irrigated pastures. This will be another learning curve the speakers there was saying that sometimes we are putting too much but I know it’s going to make a bigger beneficial change with the higher nitrogen in those areas. He said that anywhere between 400 and 500 stock density.” pounds of nitrogen had been applied on that field, at that density—with Coming into this year looked like it would be another extreme drought; bales only 30 feet apart. In some instances we need to spread out that there was no snow, and April and May were very dry. “We had some timely application, maybe unrolling the hay bales so they cover more area and rains in June and July and grew a tremendous amount of grass, but then not so much in one spot,” he says.

August was very dry again. It is amazing how much resilience the range “The issue I have with that strategy is that when I set out all that hay I pastures have when you can let them rest and give them enough recovery don’t want to unroll it all. There might be more spoilage or the wind might time, with cattle spending just a short time in each pasture. It makes a big blow it away before the cattle eat it, because we get tremendous wind in difference on a drought year, and on a normal year it’s amazing how fast our area. I don’t want it all unrolled, but I probably could unroll a week’s it recovers,” he says. You capture every bit of water when you have good supply, once a week. I’d have to spend the money to take a tractor down grass cover—and it’s not just short stubble or bare ground that lets the there once a week and just unroll the hay for that week, to spread the water run off.

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nutrients out farther. I think I will try some of that this winter,” Ken says.

“I didn’t realize there would be that many nutrients in one area and that we could be overloading the system. We were watching where we were bale grazing to make sure we weren’t in a riparian area or runoff zone (to leach nitrogen into the water), but little things like this make you think,” he says.

There might be some areas of poor soil and sparse vegetation where you might need to give it that much nitrogen at first, and then a person could back off and roll the bales out more. “That was our thought at first, to put the bales on the very poorest ground and the hillsides, but this speaker said you should be putting the bales on your best ground because you are getting the most production there,” Ken says. Each pasture is different and may require different strategies.

“For winter feeding I usually put a week’s worth of hay out there— enough bales to last the cattle a week, and then move them to the next bunch of bales. I feed some high quality hay along with some rank, coarse hay,” he says. The cattle eat some of the poorer hay to add fiber to their diet to balance the good hay, and trample and bed on the rest. This puts more organic matter and carbon on the ground.

“Some people think that when it is very cold the calves won’t perform very well, wintered with their mothers on hay, but they do quite well. As we’ve been doing this, our weaning weights keep going up. Our cattle seem to be adjusting to this different type of management. This year, because we went through such a severe drought last summer, we weaned most of the steers in January (and a few of the heifers that we sold) and weaned the rest of the calves in March,” he says.

“When we weaned those calves in January, the steers weighed about 538 pounds when they were sold January 10th. When we first started this program, they probably weighed that in May. Now they are a lot bigger by

While winter conditions can be harsh in North Dakota, Ken has found that calves gain well and cows hold their conditions. With bale grazing, the cattle have good feed, bedding and shelter from the wind, and the soil fertility improves exponentially.

Experimenting with Irrigated Pastures

Ken has one pivot of irrigated pasture that he has continued to experiment with as part of his grazing management. “I custom-graze 110 to 120 cattle and we run about 150 pairs of our own plus some replacement heifers and a few finishing animals. We have one pivot of irrigated ground that we graze; we often hay part of it and graze part of it, alternating those parts—and never hay any piece two years in a row,” says Ken. Every piece that is cut for hay gets some grazing for one or more years in between, to improve soil fertility with animal impact. The pivot has multiple small paddocks that are about seven acres each and Ken grazes about 80 pairs on each piece for one to three days.

Allan Savory came to their ranch last summer on a tour and suggested they could push their stock density higher. “He thought we could do a lot better, but we have to start somewhere! Our grass has improved a lot since we started. Originally we had some 40-acre paddocks and now we’ve split all of those down to 20 acres, so we have higher stock density and more herd effect. The cows graze each paddock for just a short time and then we give it a very long rest/recovery. This makes a tremendous difference,” says Ken.

Saving Winter Feed Costs

One of the highest input costs when raising cattle is winter feeding.

Some ranchers are saving winter feed costs by wintering their summerborn calves with the cows and not weaning calves until spring. Miller has been bale grazing cow-calf pairs through winter for the past nine years.

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May, and they are the same type of cattle. So they are doing better and adjusting,” he explains.

The winter before last (2016–2017) was a challenge, however. “We had three blizzards in a row starting in November. We had 11 weeks’ supply of hay bales set out for the cattle, two miles from the yard, and it got snowed under. We didn’t have any other options for feeding, so I went ahead and moved the cattle down there. It took me about half a day or more to dig a path so they could get down there. I started with the tractor until it couldn’t get around anymore, and then got a snow-blower and a bobcat to finish blowing a path to where the bales were. Then I could blow away the snow around the bales so the cattle could get to the bales.

Some places had four to five feet of snow and the bales were covered.

Amazingly, the cows and calves made it through winter bale grazing in that deep snow,” says Ken. Fortunately it quit snowing in January, but it never melted so there was a tremendous amount of snow all winter. “Then we didn’t get any rain that spring and it was extremely dry that summer,” he says.

Wintering calves with their mothers, even in a bad winter, has worked very well. There is no sickness, compared to weaning calves in the fall. The cattle graze as long as possible and then when the grass gets covered with snow they start bale grazing. “We usually graze through December and into the first part of January,” says Ken. “We used to feed five to five and half months out of the year, and now we are down to about four months of feeding (bale grazing), even in bad winters. A few years ago, with a nice winter, we fed for only 75 days of full feeding.”

This is a low-cost way of wintering cattle. “When I worked full time for the Soil Conservation District (I’m now retired), I set the bales out on weekends so I wouldn’t have to do it in the dark. I had to make ranching easier! I first set things up for bale grazing in four paddocks, and now I’m taking bales to fields two miles away. We only bale graze on fields that have been seeded back to grass; we don’t bale graze on native pastures because that would reduce the native species by changing the soil chemistry with all the extra nutrients,” he says.

“I have a month’s supply of bales set up in the fall and all I have to do is drive down once a week and open another paddock. If we have a really severe winter I can move the cattle home and finish bale grazing on a field closer to the yard, but generally I just move another week’s worth of bales out to the cattle each weekend, to feed on a different area,” he says.

Wintering Calves = More Profit

them longer because they don’t gain as fast,” he explains.

Winters can be harsh in this part of the country. “We put in a winter tank for the pastures two miles from the yard, and a portable windbreak near the water tank so the cattle have shelter. I can move it to where the bales are, but if we have enough bales out there for a week’s feed those bales serve as a windbreak. The cattle lie around the bales, and we also have natural windbreaks—trees and ravines. If a storm is forecast, I haul some extra hay to the shelter area and the cows will stay there and use the extra feed,” he says.

“You can’t winter the calves with their mothers if you are calving really early in the year, like February. But calving in May/June, our cows don’t have to be in top shape through winter. Even if they’ve lost some body condition by the time we wean calves, they fatten up by calving time,” says Ken. Weaning calves at a younger age, in late fall/winter weather, generally results in more sickness.

“I prefer to just leave them on the cows and that way the calves learn from their mothers how to graze through the snow, etc. Calving in May/June limits a person to selling really light calves if you are marketing in November. But if you leave them on the cows and run them on grass the next year, to sell in August or September, they are a good weight and you don’t have much feed investment in that animal,” he says.

Ken likes wintering calves with the cows because the calves learn from their mothers.

The replacement heifers grow up to be very efficient cows. “We’ve cut all inputs; they don’t get any vaccinations, dewormers, etc. We’ve been doing it this way for about 10 years. They are adjusting, building their own immunities, and are a lot healthier. We used to give preweaning shots, etc. but we’ve eliminated all that. We do use a mineral program in the winter for a couple months, but that’s 190% Forage Increase The bale grazing studies that Ken has participated in shows that there is about the only supplementing,” with Bale Grazing as much as a 400% increase in productivity comparing bale grazing to Ken says.

It’s amazing how pasture conventional grazing.

“We wean the calves in late production increases with bale March. Since we don’t calve until late May/early June, the cows have grazing. “We are currently doing a study with the Extension Grasslands,” adequate time to recover,” he says. When the calves are weaned, he says Ken. “They are doing studies on four different ranches to measure feeds them separate from the cows for about a month, still bale grazing. the effects of bale grazing. They are taking clipping to measure forage He just trails the pairs home, and locks the calves in a large pen for about production, and doing soil tests to track how the soil is improving.” three days, adjacent to the cows through the fence in the next pen, leaving “We marked where each bale was, putting a metal peg underneath several older cows there with the calves as babysitters. so we can locate where they were. The first year of the study was fairly “After the three days I just move the calves to the north side of the wet (the spring of 2016) and there was about 1.9 times (190%) more trees and the cows go back down to the bale-grazing pasture again. It production where we bale grazed than where we didn’t. Last year, in the takes about three to four days and they forget about their calves. There is same area we’d bale grazed the year before, our production was about no stress to the calves, weaning at that age. They are about 10 months half because of the drought, but where we didn’t bale graze there was only old and they don’t miss their mothers at all,” he says. Some have already about 19% of regular production. I could live with 50%, but 19% was really been weaned by the cows. low. That’s what continuous grazing would have looked like. The bale “The calves go out to bale grazing again, on the north side of the grazing definitely makes a difference.” yard. The cows do more bellowing than the calves, but only for a day or The 2018 winter there was very little snow, but some timely rains that so.” He bands the bull calves in late November and eventually puts the spring in May and June. “We haven’t clipped it yet, but the production calves back with the cows again so everything can be run as one herd. where we bale grazed looks phenomenal. The grass is taller than the This saves time and labor. This is the only time the calves are put through 4-wheeler where we bale grazed three years ago. It increases production a chute. by almost double, and cuts inputs significantly—not having to start a Ken often runs them as yearlings to sell in August or September if he tractor every day to feed the cows,” says Ken. has a lot of grass. Some years he’s sold them in June—depending on Doing this study in four different locations has been interesting, and weather and the market. He’s been selecting for smaller-framed animals getting different results in how/where you set the bales. “The researchers that are more efficient and he keeps some until two-year-olds, to finish are concerned about how much nutrients might leave the field, so you on grass. “We finish a few for our family and relatives. It’s a healthy meat need to pay attention to where you bale graze. You don’t want the bales product with a much better flavor than grain-fed, but you have to keep CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 Num ber 182

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near a ravine or watershed, because you don’t want runoff. So how you manage the bale grazing is also important,” he explains.

“It’s an extensive study. They are doing clipping at zero, five, 10 and 15 feet away from the bale center (four corners for each bale—16 samples for each bale site) and the same way where the control area is, and also doing soil tests. This is the third year and we are seeing good results.

The first year the bale-grazed areas had almost twice the production of the control areas, the second year (drought) it was only half of what it had been the year before, but still pretty decent production, and is looking good for this third year,” he says.

The County Extension Agent is involved, and the North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition provided some of the funding. This is certainly proving to be a good way to improve land that has been over-grazed or over-cropped with nothing put back into the soil. Bale grazing adds the missing nutrients.

“People always say we are lacking in moisture, but we are also lacking nutrients,” Ken says. “With good moisture this year the control area when compared to the grazed area the production was four times greater where we baled grazed.”

bentonite soils off the cut-banks. We’ve already healed it a lot,” says Miller.

This soil varies from pure sand to clay sand to a heavy gumbo clay type soil.

“Another stop was to look at our irrigated pasture where we have very high stock density grazing, and then we looked at another pivot where we did irrigated cover crops. I used an alfalfa grass mix as the base, and have had it in for about five years. Then when I take the hay out, we plant a cover crop mix that season, and another full season of cover crops, and the following year seed it back to grass/alfalfa again. We hayed it the first part of July and I wanted to show the regrowth. It’s not the best site, but it shows how Mother Nature filled in with weeds that can be utilized by the livestock before they go to seed. It didn’t come back like I thought it would after we watered it. We didn’t get the diverse mix that we’d planted,” he says.

This continual experimentation is what keeps Ken learning and improving his land and business management. With a changed paradigm, Ken is more solidly than ever working with Nature and reaping the benefits.

Ranch Tour

The North Dakota Leopold Conservation Award and North Dakota Grazing Land Coalition held a Summer Tour on August 15th, 2018 on Miller’s ranch. “First we stopped at a site that is now native pasture--where we first planted cover crops on some of the poorest lands, right off the cut-banks.

We did cover crops five years in a row and then seeded it back to a diverse mixture of grasses and legumes. We’ve grazed that twice this year and I wanted to show how this is improving the clay/

Ken has found that wintering pairs means that the calves are healthier when weaned and there is adequate time for the cow to recover before calving.

Practice Areas—

Regenerating Grasslands

BY GRAEME HAND

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Photo Credit: Graeme Hand

P

ractice areas are crucial in working out which farming practices will regenerate your perennial grasslands which then enable regeneration of your soils and increase biodiversity. To deal with the complexity of agriculture, we need to get high-quality, timely feedback. Relying on advice from agronomists and consultants based on trials that have been carried out on different soil types, in different environments and at different levels of brittleness, fails in the long run.

As discussed in previous newsletters most advice is focused on increasing production rather than increasing your profitability.

Increasing production through increasing stocking rate and area cropped has been shown by Dr. Tim Hutchings to increase risk

Example of a practice area. Same animal impact with double the recovery to the right of dog.

resulting in lower profitability over the next decade. The cause of this reduction in profitability is greater exposure to higher debt, rainfall variability and price volatility.

Photo Credit: Graeme Hand

Before: grass fence high and lots of litter in the base of the perennial grasses.

During: sheep grazed for about 3 hours.

Photo Credit: Graeme Hand

Recently I’ve been studying Dave Snowden from Cognitive Edge1 who states that we need to implement a portfolio of at least five ‘safe to fail’ trials (practice areas).

Safe to fail trials are ones that do not put the business at risk and even if they fail completely, the information and learning was worthwhile. All leading regenerative farmers that I have met or know have annual, safe to fail, trials.

At least 20% of the trials must fail to determine the boundaries of what works for you on your farm. For example, we still maintain trials that have perennial grass recovery that is too short, too long and animal impact that is too low to maintain a highly functioning perennial grass-land. Gabe Brown includes in each presentation the comment that if they are not failing something each year they are not learning.

One of these trials needs to be oblique (trying to fix one problem by concentrating on another) and, if possible, one should be designed by people that do not know or understand agriculture which Dave Snowden describes as naïve. The key to using a portfolio of trials is not to pick the one that is right but to use the information from each of the trials to determine your best course of action. This process allows us to nudge management in the direction of lower risk and higher profit while regenerating perennial grasslands and soils.

Photo Credit: Graeme Hand

Safe to Fail

Planned Grazing Practice Areas

We have been helping people set up small safe to fail practice areas to determine the

After: 100% ground cover. Litter on the soil surface ready to be colonized by soil biota increasing decomposition.

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combination of perennial grass recovery followed by animal impact/grazing that is required to regenerate their grasslands and soils. These trial areas are usually grazed between 5,000 to 10,000 DSE per hectare (approximately 200–400 SAU/ acre) for a couple of hours.

We started using higher stock density (10,000 DSE per hectare/400 SAU per acre) after reading Johann Zietsman’s, book Man, Cattle and Veld.

I did not believe that increasing stock density from 5,000 to 10,000 DSE per hectare (200-400 SAU/acre) would make a large difference even though Gabe Brown, Neil Dennis and others have been recommending for many years.

Making sure I took my own advice of never taking advice, we implemented a few trial areas and quickly realized that a step change in utilization and animal impact occurs between 5,000 and 10,000 DSE per hectare (200-400 SAU/acre).

Barriers to Adoption

Putting this into practice is inconvenient (5-6 shifts per day). We are currently investigating ways of overcoming some of the structural barriers by using narrower laneways and tools like Batt latches.

Animal performance can suffer under this management, and we are selecting for animals that thrive at this stock density. The criteria for selecting such animals seem to be positive fat, lower milk production, moderate to smaller frames (US Angus estimated progeny difference Cow energy value), high appetite and foraging ability, as well as the ability to cope socially competing in a tight herd or flock.

Our best estimate, based on experience and discussion with others is that 90% of CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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Practice Areas

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

heifers or cows born and bred under conventional management will not last more than two years under ultra-high stock density, planned grazing.

The second generation usually last longer as evidenced in research by Dr. Fred Provenza (see his research on local adaption).

Multi-Species Pasture Cropping

Col Seis usually runs a few practice areas each year. Some examples include with and without oats, lower toxicity, desiccant type herbicides to find options that do not kill perennial grasses or people and different varieties of broadleaves and legumes.

16

Multi-Species Cover Cropping

Part of the design aspect of the Stipa Multi-Species cover cropping course is to determine the scale of a safe to fail trial. One of the Tatura participants was happy that we convinced him to reduce his first multispecies cover crop from 400 ha to 100 ha (1,000 acres to 250 acres).

Graeme Hand is a Holistic Management Certified Educator and CEO of Stipa in New South Wales, Australia. He can be reached at: graeme.hand@bigpond.com. This article was first published in the Stipa Newsletter #59, Feb 2018. To learn more about Stipa go to: http://www.stipa.com.au/index.html.

From the Board Chair Call of the Reed Warbler

BY DR. DANNY NUCKOLS

The first Earth Day in 1970 used the first orbiting spacecraft photo of the earth to help highlight its mission—one that remains to this day—to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. This led to a large, historical congregation of earthly inhabitants who began to feel and understand that they have a noble, common obligation to care for their vulnerable home. This was an emerging, across nation convergence of perceived, accepted responsibility, but it was not without internal conflict, both politically and economically, between poor and rich states, and poor and rich countries. The battle over cutting carbon missions is the most obvious example, with relevant rich nations refusing to do so, and poorer nations unable to do so.

Unfortunately, there was an obvious missing component in Earth Day’s actual policy agenda and its corresponding cognizance towards a need for a more global, moral obligation to protect the planet; namely, an on-the-ground operational game plan—one that is honest, yet tactical, practical and successful—to address and rectify damage to the earth. Disciples of Holistic Management have proven that such a rectification exist: integrating ecological systems training with modern management techniques and science—most of which being accomplished without an overt need to enter the political fray.

To that end, enter one of the most important texts in many decades, Australia’s Charles Massy’s 2017 publication, Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth. Paul Hawken calls it “A definitive masterpiece…The single most important book on agriculture today.” Fred Provenza believes it to be, “conceptually rich and filled with examples of diverse innovators…, and the most comprehensive and engaging book I’ve read on regenerative agriculture.”

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Charlie Massy contends humans have morphed from on ‘Organic mind’ into a ‘Mechanical mind,’ which is now evolving into an ‘Emerging mind’—a change in consciousness that embraces selforganizing processes. He shows how the minds of the innovators in his book were opened to three key processes: 1) They began to understand how landscapes function, how ecological systems work, and how they are indivisibly connected.

2) They got out of the way to let nature repair, self-organize, and regenerate these functions.

3) They had the humility to ‘listen to their land,’ change, and continue to learn with that same openness.”

Although this remarkable book has an emphasis on holistic planned grazing, Massy acknowledges that it is not the only form of regenerative agriculture. But he rightly insists that the only path towards global ecological literacy, i.e., the call of “Earth Day,” is to recognize that any form of regenerative agriculture must have five requisite eco-system strategies and processes: “1) the solar-energy function (focused on maximizing the capture of solar energy by fixing as many plant sugars, via photosynthesis, as possible); 2) the water cycle (focused on the maximization of water infiltration, storage and recycling in the soil); 3) the soil-mineral cycle (focused on inculcating biologically alive and healthy soils that contain and recycle a rich lode of diverse minerals and chemicals); 4) dynamic ecosystems (focused on maximum biodiversity and health of integrated ecosystems at all levels); and 5) the human-social aspect (focused on human agency triggering landscape regeneration by working in harmony with natural systems).”

PROGRAM ROUNDUP HMI Works with Colorado Coalition to Enhance Working Lands

Colorado Working Lands Summit organizing committee: Susann Mikkelson, Lesli Allison, Ann Adams, Hallie Mahowald (missing William Burnidge)

In an effort to increase the adoption of regenerative/conservation land management practices in Colorado, HMI has been collaborating with over 40 organizations that support, educate or work with agricultural producers in Colorado. This collaboration began with a Colorado Working Lands Summit held in Aurora, Colorado on April 26, 2018 with over 30 organizations attending. During that summit, this group looked at key challenges to and opportunities for enhancing working lands in Colorado.

Summit objectives were to: • Lay the groundwork for establishing partnerships/collaborations that result in improved on the ground land management and thriving agricultural operations in Colorado.

• Develop working groups to define regional needs and initial solutions/action steps.

• Create a network/alliance moving forward that remains engaged in these activities and outreach to those involved in working lands.

Over the last four months these groups have been working on developing a website, calendar of events, and listserve to assist the development of communication and organization of this coalition.

CO CEWL (Colorado Coalition to Enhance Working Lands) is now a coalition of over 40 organizations working together to address the challenges facing those working to enhance the health and productivity of Colorado working lands.

As stated on the new website (https://www.cocewl.org/), the purpose of CO CEWL is to improve the resilience and productivity of Colorado to create viable agricultural businesses and rural communities, protect open space, and increase the ecosystem service benefits these lands provide to the people of Colorado. CO CEWL’s focus is working with agricultural producers and land managers to increase soil health, biodiversity, and hydrologic function wherever possible.

CO CEWL’s goals are to acknowledge and support the good work being done by land managers and agricultural producers as well as the organizations supporting them, develop funding opportunities, and provide professional development and networking opportunities.

Through these activities we identify the collective problems of land managers and agricultural producers and work within the coalition to solve them or engage in activities that address those needs.

Participants at the summit or in working groups have represented organizations including: Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Guidestone Colorado, CO USDA NRCS, Colorado Open Lands, Badger Creek Ranch, Whole New Concepts, Mad Agriculture, Green Sparks Venture, Colorado Land Link, Coldharbour Regenerative Network, Colorado State Land Board, Rocky

Mountain Farmers Union, Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance, Western Landowners Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers, Flying Diamond Ranch, Colorado State Land Board, Interbasin Compact Committee, May Ranch, Trainor Cattle Company, Audubon Rockies, Round River Resource Management Natural Capitalism Solutions, Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, Lewis Family Farm LLC, Ducks Unlimited, Savory Institute, Quivira Coalition, National Young Farmers Coalition, San Juan Ranch, Guidestone Colorado, North Water Conservation District, Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado State University Extension, Pasture Map, and Mirr Ranch Group Go to https://www.cocewl.org/about-us.html to learn about the organizations involved in this effort. If you would like to be involved in this coalition, please contact us at: ColoradoCEWL@gmail.com. Thanks to all our partners and funders for their help and support of this work.

HMI & TNC Workshop Sixty participants braved the record heat and a long drive down ranch roads to get to the majestic landscape of JE Canyon Ranch for the first workshop jointly presented by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Holistic Management International (HMI). This group of mostly ranchers and some area agricultural resource agents manage or influence the management of more than 1.5 million acres, and they didn’t let triple digit temperatures or the afternoon thunderstorms stop them from coming back for a second day!

JJ Autry, TNC’s Southeast Colorado Project Director and long-time resident of the area, told about the history of the ranch and how his work with The Nature Conservancy has allowed him to work with Beatty Canyon Ranch, which leases the grazing operation at JE Canyon, to tests ideas, try new things, and have the benefit of the research that TNC provides to improve both conservation and ranching outcomes.

Steve Wooten from Beatty Canyon Ranch shared his experiences as JE Canyon grazing lessee and then how he came to be involved in developing sustainability indicators and metrics for the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB), where he serves on the board of directors. He spoke about the relevance he sees the USRSB has for both producers and retailers, and the learning and “give and take” that happened as part of the development of its draft beef Sustainability Framework.

Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, Director of Sustainability for JBS USA and USRSB Board President, then gave a fascinating presentation on the growing global demand for beef and the unique marketing challenges of today with the needs of Millennials to develop trust and their expectation that retailers share their values.

William Burnidge, TNC’s Colorado Director of Sustainable Grazing Lands, shared the “grazing sustainability scorecard” TNC developed to help evaluate how well they are supporting continuous improvement of business, ecological, and social outcomes on the ranches where they are engaged. He also explained how the scorecard related to the USRSB͛s Sustainability Assurance Framework and that TNC hopes the tool could be useful to producers in that context.

Chris Pague, Senior Conservation Ecologist with TNC, shared results from research projects at JE Canyon Ranch on Pinion-Juniper mapping, use of planned/prescribed burns, bighorn sheep studies, CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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and archeological studies before leading a field tour to representative sites that wowed participants with the beauty and expansiveness of the ranch.

Kathy Harris finished the day by sharing how Holistic Management can help ranchers achieve desired business, ecological, and quality of life outcomes with some examples from JE Canyon Ranch and her own experience.

The second day was an HMI Open Gate field day facilitated by HMI Professional Certified Educator, Kirk Gadzia. Most of the morning was spent out in the field on forage assessment and discussion of grazing impact. The afternoon focused on using PastureMap to plan, document, and monitor herd movement and pasture utilization. Kirk also reviewed biological monitoring with an overview of the Bullseye method.

Special guests Louis Martin of Round River Resource Management and Will Johnson from Flying Diamond Ranch each shared the work they have been doing at their respective ranches.

Overall, there was a 97% satisfaction with the workshop. A full 100% of respondents reported that they expanded their network, and 76% want more information about further education or resources.

Thank you to the generous funding from Green Spark Ventures for this event.

California Organic Open Gate A small and engaged group of people met at the Parducci Wine Cellar’s Farm and Winery on July 18th to better understand Holistic Management, healthy food production, and progressive ecosystem management processes. The day began with a short welcome and Holistic Management overview by HMI Certified Educator, Rob Rutherford. Next, Rob, along with Parducci Farm Manager Jess Arnsteen, presented the Parducci Farm’s Holistic Goal.

Because of the extreme heat (108 degrees), the agenda was adjusted so after introductions the group headed out to tour the orchards, vegetable beds and pasturelands of Parducci Farm. After, they continued on to tour the vineyard and water reclamation systems.

During the tour participants learned about the water cycle, managing wetlands, milkweed options, and duckweed filtration to name a few.

After, the group took a wagon ride over to the tasting room and Tim Thornhill, chief operating officer of Parducci Wine Cellars, gave a presentation on their sustainable wine practices.

Drake Bialecki of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) gave a short presentation on the benefits of organic certification while the group enjoyed a delicious catered lunch featuring produce grown on Parducci Farm. Several of the participants were engaged in high school agriculture teaching, so they gained a lot from being able to learn more about organic certification via CCOF. Jess Arnsteen also gave the group a question to test using the holistic decision testing matrix. So, after lunch Rob guided the participants through the decision testing process. Ruthie King of the School of Adaptive Agriculture also presented on equipping the next generation of farmers/ranchers.

Thank you to the generous support of our funders for helping to make this day possible: Simply Organic, The Christiano Family Fund, and Regenerative Agriculture Foundation. Thanks also to our

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collaborators: School of Adaptive Agriculture, California Certified Organic Farmers, and the Mendocino County Farm Bureau.

First HMI Finnish Open Gate On July 28th, 2018 Holistic Management Certified Educator Tuomas Mattila, and his wife Iiris, opened up their farm to the public for a day of Holistic Management training, field activities and networking. The day was arranged as a joint event by Kilpiä Farm, Holistic Management International, World Wildlife Fund and Tyynelä Farm.

A key objective for the day was to introduce people to the Holistic Management framework, which Tuomas and Iiris have found essential at Kilpiä Farm for managing complex farm ecosystems. Another objective was to help people network and connect with like-minded forward thinking people in the agricultural sector of Finland. Forty-four people attended representing over 25,000 acres through their networks.

The day began with a brief introduction to Holistic Management by Tuomas and an opportunity for everyone to get acquainted. The idea of shifting from “constant emergency mode” to managing what we want in the long term got the crowd nodding their heads. We scheduled time for people to discuss and share their understanding and it was usually difficult to get people to stop discussing so we could move on to the next point. It’s one of the best sounds in the world, farmers solving problems together in a positive mindset.

To give the participants a more hands on experience on applying holistic decision making Tuomas presented them with the problem of prioritizing soil health investments on Kilpiä farm. As it’s well known, there is much to improve on farmland, but few can afford to do it all in Tuomas Mattila leading one go…and usually it’s not smart to try discussion on soil health to. But learning how to choose between and Holistic Management big projects like installing new field drains and smaller ones like improving the cover crop plan or retrofitting better tyres is important. Tuomas lead the group through the testing questions in small groups and allowed people to sift through the causes and effects and marginal productivities.

After a delicious lunch of Kilpiä Farm’s own rye porridge, local cucumbers, carrots, freshly baked rye bread from the neighborhood mill and hard boiled eggs, the group headed to the fields. There they learned how to monitor ecosystems through the four windows into ecosystem functioning: energy flow, biodiversity, water cycles and nutrient cycles.

Elina Erkkilä (WWF) taught people to look for signs of effective and ineffective water cycles using a cooking pot with the bottom cut off. She pushed the pan into the soil and filled it with water. The time it takes for a bottomless pan to empty is a good indicator for what happens when the autumn rains finally start.

Juuso Joona (Tyynelä Farm) demonstrated nutrient cycles at a soil pit. The participants learned to appreciate earthworms, roots and surface mulch as effective guardians and cyclers of soil nutrients. It’s easier to understand the dangers of soil compaction and the challenges of plowing when you can observe them from a soil profile, assisted by a farmer/scientists who knows his soils.

Overall the participants learned a lot of valuable information, met new people and left the event satisfied that they can change their farms and their environment by making more holistic decisions!

GRAPEVINE The

people programs projects

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HMI Collaborates on $5 Million Texas Conservation Initiative

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he Hill Country Conservancy (HCC) and 18 of its partners, including a new collaborative group called the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network (the Network), recently received a $5.15 million pledge from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), part of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The award will support the Hill Country Headwaters Conservation Initiative, which will provide funding to private landowners performing land stewardship best practices and ensuring long-term conservation of sensitive agricultural lands across the Blanco, Middle Colorado and Llano River basins in the Hill Country area.

“This award will allow HCC, the Network and our partners to work with private landowners to protect water, enhance habitat for iconic Texas wildlife, and mitigate flooding risks, while supporting agricultural production throughout a region that provides drinking water for millions of Central Texans,” said Frank Davis, Director of Land Conservation for Hill Country Conservancy.

95 percent of Texas is privately owned, making it critical to incentivize private landowners within rapidly-developing regions such as the Hill

Country, to enhance and protect their rural lands. The Hill Country Headwaters Conservation Initiative is set to positively influence more than 4.5 million acres of private land in Texas.

As one of its first major collaborative efforts, the Network crafted the Hill Country Headwaters Conservation Initiative project to channel resources to Hill Country landowners to address these natural resource challenges.

Using the collective power of its members, the proposal was submitted in the fall of 2017 by members of the Network, including: HCC, the Hill Country Alliance, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, Llano River Watershed Alliance, Texas Water Resources Institute, Holistic Management International, The Nature Conservancy of Texas, United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners Program, Texas Agricultural Land Trust, Texas Forest Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program and Department of Inland Fisheries, Texas Wildlife Association, Travis County, Hill Country Land Trust, Texas Land Conservancy, the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department and Texas Tech Llano River Field Station.

“The Natural Resources Conservation Service is pleased to partner with the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network as they have demonstrated an innovative approach and proposed lasting solutions to the state’s conservation and agricultural needs,” said Claude Ross, Natural Resources Specialist of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

HMI is excited to be a part of this Network in order to further support conservation efforts and smart growth, and gain professional diversity that allows the group to meet key economic, social and environmental objectives at a regional scale in Texas.

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Certified

Educators

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.

U N I T E D S TAT E S 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

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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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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 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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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 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

NEW YORK 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

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NORTH DAKOTA Joshua Dukart 2539 Clover Place, Bismarck, ND 58503 701/870-1184 • Joshua_dukart@yahoo.com 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 Lisa Bellows North Central 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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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

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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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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

November / December 2018

Ralph Corcoran Box 36, Langbank, SK S0G 2X0 306/532-4778 rlcorcoran@sasktel.net 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

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

FINLAND Tuomas Mattila Töllintie 27, Pusula, 3850 +358 40 743 2412 tuomas.j.mattila@gmail.com

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 Ian Mitchell-Innes 14 Chevril Road, Ladysmith, 3370 +27-83-262-9030 ian@mitchell-innes.co.za

KENYA Christine C. Jost Box 30677, Nairobi 00100 773/706-2705 (c) • 703/981-1224 (w) cjost@usaid.gov

NEW ZEALAND John King P. O. Box 12011, Beckenha Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 john@succession.co.nz

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855-247-4233 Num ber 182

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DEVELOPMENT CORNER Donor Profile Stewarding the Land— THE COPE FAMILY

G

rady and Anne Cope of Elizabeth, Colorado took the complete Holistic Management course in Albuquerque in 1986 because Anne’s father, Don Stilson, had already begun practicing Holistic Management after reading the book, Holistic Management. During that course they learned a lot about Holistic Planned Grazing, but they also learned about how nature functions, and the management practices that help good grazing (like low-stress livestock handling).

While Grady and Anne had been helping Don on the Mountain Ranch, they weren’t officially part of the ranch. But, in 1989 they became investors in the Mountain Ranch near Nederland. Then in 1991, they purchased the B Bar S Ranch near Elizabeth.

“With the Holistic Management course, we had a strong foundation to understand the daily analysis of how the cows were moved and how decisions were made,” says Anne. “For example we knew we needed to give the grass a minimum of a 90-day recovery if there had been rain. We knew we couldn’t put the animals back on unless there was enough substantial growth to feed the cows growing up through the residual that had been knocked down from the previous year. With the course, we better understood the why behind it and how we could implement these ideas in different situations.”

Anne and Grady both work off the ranch, but they have a passion for the work of stewarding the B Bar S Ranch. “I want to be here the rest of my life,” says Anne. “There’s a connection to the real world here that doesn’t happen anywhere else. It’s my ground. It’s about taking care of the land and keeping it going for my dad who wanted to feed others and take care of the land. Our work is part of his legacy. I also love cows.

I like the way they look and smell, their behavior and community. I like

how when they have calves they are like a Don Stilson and Anne Stilson-Cope little village Mountain Ranch near Nederland, Colorado with a babysitting program.”

“Dad wanted to be a steward of the land. That’s been part of what we’ve done ever since. I think I would let people down if I stopped raising grassfed beef. I do all this work because it is part of a whole cycle that is good for the land, my customers, and my family. It doesn’t do much good to graze land and keep land in good condition unless you are also feeding people in your community. I think these animals are important to our lives and our Earth.”

“Because I care about these animals, slaughter days are hard. But I feel good about the processors we use because it is a small plant and they can take their time to do it right. They also take the time to deliver a quality product—to cut and wrap each piece individually by hand.

When I talk to my customers about what we do, I talk about our land stewardship. They want to know that the cows are happy so I tell them about the fresh water and grass and sunshine they get. A lot of people who buy beef are longtime supporters because of what we do.

“One of the reasons we support HMI is because the educational part is so big—helping other ranchers learn about Holistic Management and good land stewardship. I think we really need this education so we can heal the land. I know that the class we took changed our lives and perspective, particularly for Grady who glommed on to all that information. That course reinforced what my Dad had been doing and helped us implement and work together. That was so important to our family.”

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