HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

Russ Wischover— Rehabilitating a Farm in Iowa

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

When he retired from his career at the University of Illinois (as herdsman on a swine research farm, taking care of the breeding herd), Russ Wischover purchased a 120-acre farm in southwest Iowa near Bedford, right on the Missouri line in 2011. The farm was to be his retirement career as he focused on taking on a played out farm and bringing it to life with Holistic Management.

Bringing Life to the Soil

“I became interested in Holistic Management after reading the Stockman Grass Farmer; that’s where I first heard about it. I started reading books about this, including Allan Savory’s book Holistic Management. Then I stumbled onto some classes that were being taught at Hastings, Nebraska so I drove over there for the formal training,” he says.

All of his farm is now in permanent pasture. When he bought it, about half of the land was crop ground and the other half was in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and it had nothing done with it for a long time. “The CRP contract expired just as I bought this place so I started grazing the whole farm,” says Russ.

He planted the crop ground with a standard pasture mix that included cool season grasses and legumes. “I’ve been rotational grazing the whole farm and trying to implement Holistic Management principles to the best of my ability, and it’s going well. Much of this ground was very ‘dead’ and had not had any animal impact for at least 25 years. It had been in CRP for that long, and before that it was crop ground—otherwise it wouldn’t have been eligible for CRP,” he says.

“This is what sold me on Holistic Management. I came out here, walking around on this place to look at it, and found that it was mostly bare dirt. It hadn’t been touched in 25 years and wasn’t growing much at all. I got the local NRCS agent out here and he looked around and shook his head and said, ‘I don’t know what to tell you’. I got Allan Savory’s book that winter and read it, and when I got to the part where he talks about overrested ground, that was a perfect description of my farm! He could have been standing here looking at this piece of ground when he wrote that chapter. I realized this was exactly what was going on here,” says Russ.

This last summer when Russ had a botanist to his farm she identified more than 50 native prairie plants.

Growing Diversity

The next summer Russ started moving cows through that “dead” pasture and now it’s coming back nicely. “It didn’t come back as quickly as I’d hoped, but there’s steady improvement. The first couple of years were frustrating, however, and just about the time I was ready to give up—the third summer—switchgrass started coming up all over the place,” he says.

“The native warm season grasses are kind of special to me. When I saw the switchgrass coming back I realized something good was happening. The environment had been changed for the better, to allow the native plants to start coming back.”

This past summer he had a botanist come out to the farm. “She specializes in prairie plants and in two days’ time, looking at just a couple very small areas on the farm, she identified more than 50 native prairie plants. That was exciting and I am really tickled about that,” he says.

“Everyone talks about restoring prairie and saving prairie, but I feel like we need to be able to put a value on it; you have to justify saving it, in today’s world. I am grazing my cattle and sheep on it and the plants are doing well. The tonnage isn’t as much as you could get from ‘improved’ pastures but I am seeing a lot of other benefits. My animals have stopped eating mineral since they’ve been on the prairie pasture,” he says. The pasture itself seems to be meeting their needs now.

“I tell everyone that the two people running this farm are Allan Savory and Dr. Fred Provenza. They have been the biggest influences in what I do, and I try to follow the principles I’ve learned from them. I asked Dr. Provenza if he thought that was why my cows quit eating mineral and he said it seemed to be the only possible explanation. I am very excited about what’s happening here,” says Russ.

Russ was pleased enough with his progress that he agreed to host a field day at his farm in August 2017 and that’s when the botanist was checking on the native plants in parts of the pasture. “I showed everyone from PFI (Practical Farmers of Iowa) what I was doing here and we had a good turnout, with 50 people. These pastures are not where I want them to be yet, but they are definitely going in the right direction.”

Part of Russ’s strategy is bringing nutrients onto the farm with the hay he buys, rather than removing soil nutrients with harvested crops or hay. “I don’t make any hay here because I don’t have enough acreage to do that. I buy hay and feed it on the pasture; the hay is the only soil amendment or fertilizer that I add,” he says. The hay and livestock add the organic matter and fertilizer needed for improving the soil.

“I haven’t been very good about taking soil tests or documenting the improvement but a person can walk around and look at the pastures and see that there’s a lot more life out there now. There’s less bare ground

Russ Wischover raises Murray Grey cattle, St. Croix sheep, and Haflinger ponies in an effort to use multi-species grazing to improve the land health and productivity on his Iowa farm.

every year, and the plants are vigorously growing,” he says.

The NRCS agent who came out to look at it when Russ bought the place was also at the field day last August and he could see a big difference. “To facilitate the grazing, I used an EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) grant from NRCS to build a pond and install a pump station, and put in a water line that goes to all corners of the farm,” says Russ. He also uses portable fencing with poly wire.

Russ can also tap into the water line to utilize portable water tanks for his grazing management. “I buried about a mile of water line from my pump station, and I can move a portable plastic tank with the animals every day. I have frost-free hydrants on that water line, spaced around the farm, but it’s very low-tech. I simply use a garden hose from the hydrant, with a float on the end of it in the plastic tank.” This works well during his grazing season because he’s not moving cattle through those pastures during the middle of winter.

“In the winter I pick an area where I’m going to feed hay, and set up a 300-gallon tank for the cows, fill it with the garden hose once a day and then shut the hydrant off and drain the hose. It’s low-tech, high labor, with very little monetary investment, but it works every day. One winter we had really cold weather (polar vortex) for so long, all my neighbors with their fancy frost-free waterers were all froze up. Mine was the only water system still working. I spent a lot of time breaking ice every day, but that was something I’d already intended to do. I am retired, so my 120-acre farm is my full-time occupation. If it takes me two hours to break ice for the cows one day, it’s not like I have to go to work or be doing something else,” explains Russ. “I haven’t pushed my grazing season too much; I’m not grazing very early in the spring or late into the fall. Last year I turned the livestock out on pasture the last week in April and grazed until mid-November. Some people here graze year-round, and that would be a wonderful goal for me at some point, but I’d have to cut back on my livestock numbers to do that. I’d have to do the math and push some figures to see if I would make more money with less animals and not have to buy any feed,” he says.

“I am still giving the grass quite a bit of time in the spring to get a good start, and leaving more residue over winter than I need to. I like bringing the hay in and putting it out in the bad spots where the pasture needs more fertility,” he says.

“I am overstocked for grazing this farm year round, so I feed hay in the winter and the hay provides more fertility for the soil. I can justify buying the hay this way; I don’t need fertilizer. It’s obvious to me that the ground improves faster after you put the hay on it, with some serious animal impact over the winter.” The hay residue and manure/urine from the livestock really helps the soil.

Multi-Species Grazing

Russ brought some cattle with him from Illinois when he moved to the farm at Bedford and purchased some sheep. The cattle he brought with him are Murray Grey, and he’s trying to build up that herd. “A cow herd builds slowly, however, compared with the sheep. The Murray Grey tend to be very efficient grass cattle and mine are doing quite well, but like every breed you have to select for what you want. I look for the smaller-framed, thickset cattle that are grass type and I’ve been very happy with their performance,” says Russ.

The sheep are proving to be very profitable, compared with the cattle. He bought 20 ewe lambs (St. Croix sheep) four years ago and will have 100 lambs this year. He is considering eliminating the cattle and just raising sheep. “It would be easier to graze year round with the sheep and make the same amount of money. The income difference between the cattle and the sheep is incredible, with more profit per acre with the sheep. There are studies that show one animal unit of sheep will produce five times the income of one animal unit of cows. On a small acreage it makes a lot of sense to raise sheep instead of cows,” he says.

He markets the lambs through a local sale barn. “The purebred St. Croix (a hair sheep) are not really suited for direct marketing in a mainstream American market. If there was an ethnic population nearby I could probably sell the smaller hair breed lambs into that, but in our area there is no direct market for them. I make enough money with them at sale barn prices, however, so it works for me. Direct marketing is a big job and I’m not into that aspect,” he says.

“I tell everyone that the two people running this farm are Allan Savory and Dr. Fred Provenza. They have been the biggest influences in what I do, and I try to follow the principles I’ve learned from them.”

For breeding stock, however, he’s had a pretty good market for the registered animals. “The past three years I’ve been keeping all my ewe lambs but I have people lined up on a list for ewe lambs, and I’ve sold a lot of rams. Almost half of my lambs are going for breeding stock,” he says. His calves the past two years have been sold directly to a grass finisher. “I don’t do any finishing myself because then I’d have to market them. Some years I’ve just taken the calves to the sale barn and have done all right with them there, too. I mainly market my animals the easy way.”

The sheep and cattle currently run together in the grazing system, along with some draft ponies. “Draft ponies are my hobby and I have several of them. The mares and foals go out in the pasture with the cows and sheep. I am trying to have multi-species grazing. I had goats for a while but they didn’t cooperate! They were impossible to contain and wouldn’t stay in the pasture segments with the other livestock. Essentially I told those goats that this was all about controlled grazing and if I can’t control you, you have to go! So I got rid of the goats.”

The ponies have been a hobby for many years. “I bought a Haflinger mare in 2001 and now I have 20 ponies,” he says. Many of his ponies are crossbred. “I got hooked up with a guy who raised Belgian ponies, starting them from a cross using Shetland ponies and Belgian draft horses. I have a lot of his bloodlines now in my pony herd, mixed with my Haflingers. The draft ponies and the Haflingers are actually very similar and the mix works very well,” says Russ.

The ponies have been useful on Russ’s farm. “I don’t have a tractor or very much equipment of any sort, so the first couple years before I put the water system in, I hauled water to the livestock in the pastures with the ponies. I put them to work, figuring they should earn their keep somehow!”

At this point in time Russ’s venture into Holistic Management mainly entails the changes he’s made with his grazing systems and pasture improvements. It’s still a work in progress. “There is no question that the holistic principles influence all of my decisions. If you study this system, it gives you some great tools to work with; you don’t look at the whole world the same way again,” says Russ.

PROGRAM ROUNDUP

REGENERATE 2018 Conference

We were so pleased with the turnout at this year’s conference, REGENERATE 2018, that we were lucky enough to co-host with the Quivira Coalition and American Grassfed Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 31–November 2, 2018. We had a sold-out, 600+ crowd buzzing with energy and eagerness joining together on this mission to regenerate land by changing farming and ranching practices. opportunities. This session did earn the title of Most Rowdy as there was lots of engagement, participation, learning to do by doing.

In addition, our Regenerative Grazing Workshop was sold out and highlighted the work of the folks at Green Fields Farm as well as Louis Martin of Round River Resource Management and a host of Certified Betsy Ross Educators including Ben Bartlett, Cindy Dvergsten, Kirk Gadzia, Wayne Knight, Roland Kroos, Guy Glosson, and Brian Luce.

Thank you to all the attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, donors, speakers, volunteers, and the staff at Hotel Albuquerque for making it such an amazing experience!

If you weren’t able to make it, you can view videos of the REGENERATE conference at the Quivira Coalition Youtube channel.

2018 Conference

Of particular interest to the Holistic Management crowd were talks by Holistic Management producers and educators Will Harris from White Oak Pastures, Georgia; Jonathan Cobb from Green Fields Farm, Texas; and Deborah Clark from the Birdwell-Clark Ranch, Texas. The Sisters of the Soil panel

included Nicole Masters, Betsy Ross, and Christine Su who kept the crowd entertained as they explained how soil functioned and the need for

good grazing management to keep soil health active after using soil amendments and inoculants.

HMI’s Effective Facilitation breakout session was a great collaboration with tons of learning, networking, and energizing

Will Harris

Deborah Clark Jonathan Cobb

NM Regenerative Ag Farm Tour 2018

On September 23rd six South Valley farms opened their doors to the public for the first HMI Regenerative Agriculture Farm Tour. 90 participants explored Speakeasy Gardens, Chispas Farm, Valle Encantado, Ironwood Farm, Whole Heart Farm and the Gutierrez Hubbell House Farm. 100% of participants reported learning something new about regenerative agriculture from the farm owners and managers they met.

Valle Encantado, owned and operated by Joseph Alfaro, is one of the original Agri-Cultura Network farms in the South Valley. Joseph is a cofounding member of the network which provides local families with produce through their community supported agriculture (CSA) program called La Cosecha (the harvest). Sixtyfive percent of families receiving weekly food shares do so at subsidized rates.

Berenika Byszewski runs

SpeakEasy

Gardens, a one-acre farm Casey Holland (left) greeting visitorslocated in the at Chispas Farm.historic don Telesfor de Armijo property which was part of the Atrisco land grant. They grow vegetables, herbs and flowers for the local community and are committed to organic, sustainable and Holistic Management practices for cultivating high-quality, year-round crops.Tour visitors were shown Berenika’s current projects where she is increasing ground cover and creating wildlife habitat. They were also encouraged to pick their own bouquet of marigolds and sunflowers.

Ironwood Farms is a 20-acre farm just a few hundred yards from

the Rio Grande River. They grow chemical free food going beyond typical organic practices to ecological methods and permaculture concepts that build soil health, integrate livestock and support native wildlife. Their off-grid strawbale farmhouse is energy efficient and they also have a solar-powered pump and a “John Dear” tractor that runs on fryer grease biodiesel, and a wood-burning steam engine.

Whole Heart Farm is an urban farm/market garden in the heart of Albuquerque. The property had been used as a small CSA farm for 8 years and changed management in January of 2018. High rotation beds with high value crops is a goal, along with building systems to be more efficient and profitable while focusing on soil health. Joshua Shelburne is the owner and manager of Whole Heart Farm and has been farming for five years working with the Agri-Cultura Network. Originally he thought he would be a “part time” farmer but he is excited to be living on the farm property and has made it a full-time endeavor.

The Gutierrez-Hubbell House (GHH) is a cultural and historical museum surrounded by public open space and farmland. The Grow the Growers Program (GTG) is a comprehensive farm training and business acceleration initiative designed to attract new and emerging farmers into professional food production. The Program participants manage the farm at the Gutierrez-Hubbell House and explore and test different regenerative agricultural techniques. The GTG grows food that is distributed to 350 local families through La Cosecha. Proceeds are returned to the Grow the Growers program to support future cohorts of interns.

Chispas Farms is located in the heart of Albuquerque and on the edge of the South Valley along the Bosque. The farm has been in production since 2001. Certified organic in 2006, Casey Holland and Ian Colburn began farming at Chispas in 2017. They specialize in growing over 120 varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables and use regenerative practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, integrated pest management, seed saving, and lots more.

We created a small evaluation so attendees could give us feedback on the event. The feedback we heard the most was “do this again, loved meeting the farmers and seeing how they work with the land!”. When you know your farmer, you can feel good that your dollars are supporting local small business. These farms carry local support even further by sourcing their supplies as close to home as possible, helping to create community and working together to regenerate the land they farm. Thanks to Leigh and Charlie Merinoff for funding this event and to all our collaborators: edible Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, UNM Sustainability Studies Program, Quivira Coalition, City of Albuquerque Open Space, One Albuquerque Parks & Recreation, Open Space Alliance, National Young Farmers Coalition, Zendo Coffee, Street Food Institute, Desert Oasis Teaching Gardens, Pop Fizz, and Humble Coffee.

Colorado Open Gate Update

Over 20 people from Colorado and New Mexico enjoyed a sunny fall day at HMI’s Open Gate learning day near Cortez, Colorado. Attendees gleaned insights as they learned about the long-term and short-term benefits of Holistic Management in small scale livestock operations. Arriola Sunshine Farm has been practicing Holistic Management for over 20 years whereas Cedar Mesa Ranch just started implementing Holistic Management in 2017.

The day began at Arriola Sunshine Farm owned by Cindy Dvergsten, an HMI Certified Educator, and Mike Rich, a retired NRCS conservationist. Cindy provided an overview of Holistic Management and Mike provided an overview of the farm and how they have managed their land to increase soil health and productivity. They have had several enterprises over the years including a market garden, laying hens and beef, but now are focused on conserving NavajoChurro Sheep, an endangered breed. Their focus is on quality breeding stock, grass finished lamb and raw wool for specialty markets. As they toured, participants learned about how Cindy and Mike use holistic grazing planning and decision making to reduce labor and increase productivity.

Using primarily the tools of grazing and animal impact they have steadily increased health and productivity in their irrigated pastures over the past 25 years. The land has not been plowed for over 40 years. Soil organic matter increased from 1.7% in the mid-1990s and now is 4–6%. Recent Haney soil analysis on their best paddocks indicate very high respiration rate and overall soil health with a nutrient value of $173 per acre. In comparison, on recently acquired pastures with less than 5 years of Holistic Management, the soil health was average and total nutrient value was $82 per acre. Carrying capacity has increased from 13 to 45 sheep days per acre on five acres with a six-month growing season. Production has increased from less than two tons to as high as 4.5 tons per acre.

Today they use 10 major pasture divisions and implement temporary electric fence to subdivide based on needs of the grass plants, animals and available labor. They graze three to five days per move and allow

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

In Memoriam

It is with great sadness that HMI learned of the passing of Neil Dennis of Redvers, Saskatchewan on November 4, 2018 at the age of 69.

Neil was a well-known Holistic Management practitioner and consultant and spoke all over the world about his onfarm research and pushing the boundaries of high-stock density grazing. His creativity, sense of humor, and passion for the land were contagious. He readily admits it was his wife, Barbara, that encouraged him to go to his first Holistic Management course. He was convinced it wouldn’t work and set about proving that when he returned to Sunnybrae Acres. To his surprise and delight, he found that Holistic Planned Grazing was the key to turning around his farm.

Neil’s efforts to improve land health and create systems that ease the management of large herds were captured in Peter Byck’s film Carbon Cowboys.

Neil is survived by his wife Barbara Dennis and his children Brad, Boyd and Neila. Our condolences to the Dennis family. He will be missed!

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

45–60 days recovery. Cindy explained how planned grazing favors a diverse pasture that has two major grasses, two types of legumes and a several forbs. “Weeds are not a problem when you turn them into meat worth $14.00 a pound,” she said.

Manure is spread each fall. Hay is fed in the winter on the pasture to enhance animal impact. Mike demonstrated how he clips and weighs to determine available forage in each paddock and to monitor utilization. He leaves adequate residue to feed soil life and protect soil. One participant shared “I am really excited about the increase in soil organic matter. I am keeping in mind that soil testing is important for monitoring and reporting, right from the start of any grazing plan or soil management project.”

This year the farm experienced a D4 – Exceptional Drought, receiving less than half of the average rainfall. Irrigation water was cut off seven weeks early and the farm still has ample forage to graze the full season and into winter. Realizing early in the year the implications of severe drought, they stockpiled hay while prices were still low. Unlike many who are destocking, Mike and Cindy feel confident about their ability to make it through the winter and at least half of next season without destocking should the drought continue.

Challenges at this point for Mike and Cindy are around labor. To make handling sheep more feasible, decisions to invest in a turn table for hoof trimming and a shearing stand passed their decision testing. Previously they hauled manure out to the field by hand. Now with increased stock numbers and less physical stamina, they invested in a four-wheeler and manure spreader. Walkways and facilities are planned for efficiency. They also invested in additional handset pipe which significantly reduced irrigation labor. They made their pens predator proof, so they can leave their sheep penned for short breaks away from the farm.

Lunch time provided participants with an opportunity to network. One participant shared “I was impressed with the minimal infrastructure required for the scale of the operation. I am also very impressed at the minimal import of feed in your setup and what that aspect of grazing does to the finance and sustainability part of a business.”

In the afternoon, the group toured Cedar Mesa Ranch operated by Kendra and Andrew Schafer. Both have degrees in agriculture and have seen first-hand conventional agriculture practices in action. Kendra’s family has run sheep and cattle in the Mancos Valley for generations, although she has never been actively involved in the family ranch. Andrew is a first-generation farmer/rancher.

The couple was introduced to Holistic Management in a 2017 course taught by Cindy in Mancos, Colorado. Since taking the course they have furthered their self-taught education on sustainable farming practices and staying as in tune to nature as possible. Andrew and Kendra raise Navajo-Churro sheep, Angus cattle, and pasture raised laying hens. Genetics is important to them, they select for animals that do well in the arid Southwest climate, animals that adapt well to their environment, and thrive well on their own with little human interference. They market their grass-fed and finished meats directly to consumers as well as sell meat and wool products at local farmers markets.

The afternoon tour took place on 120 acres of leased ground that has been under Andrew’s management for eight years. In previous years, the land was used for conventional hay production. Andrew grew tired of making so many trips across the field to make hay. He knew there had to be a better way of feeding livestock. After some research they decided they were ready to ‘kick the hay habit’ and focus on grazing livestock year-round. In the spring of 2018 they liquidated all the hay equipment. In the winter months, they will still feed hay but for the past few years have been working towards reducing the number of days they feed hay. The end goal is to stockpile enough feed to allow the livestock to graze year-round and not depend on machinery to do the harvesting.

In the growing season, they move animals daily using electric net for the sheep and single poly wire for the cattle. Both shared with the group, “We have seen such amazing results, even in just the first full season of using Holistic Management. When you use a combination of high animal impact- hoof action, droppings, and urine, in a short duration, 24 hours or less, with a good recovery period, the regrowth is astounding. Being in the meat business, it is very important to us to have our animals eating the most diverse and nutritious grass throughout the entire growing season.” Daily moves also help with parasite control. Andrew gets asked a lot what they do to manage weeds. His answer is always the same, “We try not to look at a weed as a weed, it is a gift from nature, generally germinating in a place nothing else will grow.” They let the plant initiate soil life, then try to plant something else there to outcompete it. Kendra noted “We also use the tool of animal impact to disrupt the lifecycle of the plant rather than spraying chemicals or plowing. We know all these plants add to the overall diversity of plant offerings for the animals, and in many cases, it is volunteer green feed that comes up on its own. Holistic Management has really helped us in our business decisions, both in the field and in the office.”

A special thank you to the Ballentine Family Fund for making this event possible, and to our hosts, collaborators, and outreach partners: Arriola Sunshine Farm and Cedar Mesa Ranch.

Colorado Whole Farm/Ranch Land Management Program

In September and October, HMI partnered with the Sunfire Ranch near Carbondale, Colorado to host an HMI Whole Farm/Ranch Land Management course. Attendees included owners and managers from diversified farms and ranches located in the local area, the front range of Colorado, California, and Oklahoma. All shared a desire to improve their ability to be adaptive, manage resources wisely, and implement regenerative agricultural practices. The number of acres they manage totals 8,732. Topics covered included Holistic

Decision Making, Grazing Planning, Early Warning Biological Monitoring and Land Planning.

Cindy Dvergsten, an HMI Certified Educator was the instructor. Mike

Rich, retired NRCS conservationist and long-time Holistic Management practitioner assisted. The course featured a guest presentation on sage grouse habitat management by Terri Schultz of The Nature

Conservancy and Retta Bruegger from Colorado State University.

Jason and Alex Sewell, sixth-generation owners at Sunfire Ranch, are the remaining descendants of the Thompson family that settled in

Crystal River Valley. Jason was introduced to Holistic Management in 2015 when he attended a Whole Farm Business Course sponsored by

HMI and taught by Cindy Dvergsten in Montrose. Through implementing

never fully understood how to use the Holistic Grazing Planning Chart. Now he sees great value in how the chart organizes a large amount of data on one page and serves as a monitoring tool.

Other attendees included Meadow Barn Ranch at Snowmass, the Mountain Primal Meat Company near Basalt, Erin Kiley from PastureMap, and The Farm Collaborative, a non-profit educational farm near Aspen. Participants appreciated the resources provided as well as the opportunity to network and form relationships—all important ingredients to success.

Thank you to the generous support of Martha Records and Rich Rainaldi in making this day possible. Thanks also to the Grasslans Charitable Foundation for their support and to our collaborators: Sunfire Ranch, The Nature Conservancy, Resiliency Lands, and Colorado State University Extension—Livestock and Range.

Whole Farm/Ranch Land Management Program participants learned how to observe biological monitoring indicators as well as learn forage inventory assessment techniques.

Holistic Management, Jason’s business model aims to show how young farmers and historic lands can be paired to create innovative resilient food systems for the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond.

The ranch hosts Wild Mountain Seeds managed by Casey Piscura whose passion is to develop vegetables that perform in the cold mountain valleys of Colorado. He also produces a wide range of vegetables that sell through the Basalt Farmers Market, and to local grocers and restaurants. Casey and his partner benefited from setting their holistic goal and then using it to guide decisions about prioritizing how they will grow their operation. Sunfire Ranch also raises water buffalo which are milked to produce cheese. Jason is working with Connor Coleman, a land management consultant, to create a conservation easement for the ranch and strategies to reclaim long rested and previously overgrazed uplands.

Two other participants, Lance and Brett Wheeler from Rafter W Ranch near Simla, Colorado who raise beef cattle, poultry, eggs and lamb, found that learning to test decisions towards a holistic goal helps them to stay objective. They also forged a relationship with nearby Johnathan Tuller, manager at the Flying B Bar Ranch, who also attended the workshop. Johnathan had been introduced to Holistic Management when he worked on the Chico Basin Ranch in the early 2000s. Although he is very skilled in cattle management and grazing, he

Key Outcomes

Intend to complete or modify a written whole farm/ ranch plan as a result of this course. More confident in your ability to make complex decisions on your farm/ranch as a result of today’s class. Intend to conduct biological monitoring on your farm/ranch as a result of this course.

% of Participants

91%

100%

91%

Overall satisfaction of the event. 100%

New York Beginning Farmer Program

On May 16, 2018, 11 participants from varied backgrounds and experience levels completed their Holistic Management Beginning Farmer/Rancher training in New York. Seven of the participants were “Pro Farmers” from the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, the organization that co-sponsored this training. The diversity brought by other students in the class made for fruitful discussions and learning, including

sheep enterprises, grazing public lands, identifying best use of newly purchased lands, and identifying property to buy.

The first seven sessions were held at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub for the classroom portion of the training. There students created a Whole Farm Inventory and a Holistic Goal to guide their future decisions. They studied time management and decision testing while creating a Time Management Plan to ensure all the tasks for every enterprise could happen without crowding or overlap. They created a Holistic Financial plan and learned how to plan for profit. The last classroom session focused on marketing and business planning where students learned about different marketing strategies while

Beginning Farmer Program participants spent three sessions on farm learning through peer to peer and experiential learning.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

Student Profile

“The Beginning Farmer/Rancher course with HMI was transformative for me. I’m blessed with visions for the world around me, but had no previous training in creating goals and processes to realize those visions. The holistic goal and the decision making processes are tools that have changed how I work. I especially enjoyed learning alongside peers who were likewise empowered to bring their visions to life. Many fond memories from the field days!

I have applied my training to manage a community farm in Albany, New York. The farm is a steward of over 80 acres of greenspace situated in an urban environment. There, intensive rotational grazing is utilized to restore plant diversity and soil health. The training has also driven me take the first steps towards my personal goal of privately owning land in Upstate New York for the purposes of farming and land conservation.” —Melissa Parade, BFR Student 2018

Key Outcomes

Overall satisfaction with the course

More confident in your ability to develop a Whole Farm/Ranch Goal

% of Participants

91%

89%

More confident in your ability to identify logjams, adverse, and weak links factors on your farm 73%

creating Business and Marketing plans. The students also learned about communication methods and effective management and leadership behaviors.

The first on-the-land learning day was held at Sapbush Hollow Farm where participants learned how to create landscapes and infrastructure for maximum ease and productivity. They created a Holistic Land Plan and learned how to implement it in conjunction with the financial plan.

The Holistic Grazing session was held at Heather Ridge Farm. Students toured the property and saw first-hand how animals impact the land and explored grazing implementation as well as learned how to create a Holistic Grazing Plan.

The final session, on soil health, was held at Clove Valley CSA. Students learned about ecosystem processes and the effect different tools have depending on the climate. They were taught to read the land and create a Biological Monitoring Plan that will provide information for better decision making.

The course was a great success with productive conversation shared by the diverse group and everyone in the course earned their certificate. Instructors for this program included HMI Certified Educators Phil Metzger, Elizabeth Marks, and Erica Frenay, and HMI Coordinator and Whole Farm Planning Trainer, Sarah Williford. Participants responded to the question about what were some of the most important things they had learned with some of the following comments:

• Developing a written whole farm/ranch goal • Developing a business/strategic plan • Record keeping • Determining profit upfront and capping expenses • Effective communication with farm workers and management team • Determining the number of animals my land can support for grazing • How to improve the ecosystem health of my farm

Thank you to the generous support of our Sponsor, The Hudson Valley Farm Hub, for helping to make this program possible.

New Mexico Grow the Grower Program

HMI has been pleased to partner with the Bernalillo County Open Space and New Mexico State University (NMSU) Extension to provide Holistic Management training for The Grow the Growers Program, a comprehensive farm training and business acceleration initiative designed to attract new and emerging farmers into professional food production. The program participants manage the farm at the Gutierrez-Hubbell House in

Albuquerque’s South Valley. The 2018 group is made up of ten first-year interns and three second-year interns. The first-years work together on one plot of land implementing their newly learned regenerative agriculture techniques, while the second-years farm their own plots for market and La Cosecha, a local CSA program where 65% of families receiving weekly food shares do so at subsidized rates.

Holistic Management International facilitated three 2-day intensive courses for the Grow the Growers Program participants; Introduction to

Holistic Management Whole Farm/Ranch Planning, Holistic Cropping

Planning, and Holistic Marketing and Business Planning.

Kathy Harris, Certified Educator and Programs Director at HMI, taught the introduction module March 7 and 8th, 2018. This course focused on key Holistic Management planning concepts and principles to help participants manage their farm/ranch for the triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial sustainability) and more effectively manage resources. Participants were excited to learn how to improve their ability to observe, understand, and make decisions based on what they can control.

The group was eager to learn more about soil health and how to improve the health of their land. When learning how to create a holistic goal they dug deep into values identification and were able to recognize a number of common values throughout the group. They used these

values to create their holistic goal for the program. The class learned about on-farm decision testing and practiced with a case on getting a new tractor, comparing it with getting a smaller, less expensive and more versatile piece of equipment. Through these new skills participants now have the knowledge and tools to improve their ability to work with nature and to increase productivity.

On September 12th & 13th 2018, HMI Educator Sarah Williford taught the Holistic Cropping Planning Module, helping participants begin to draft a successful holistic crop plan. They began with a review of their Whole Farm Resource Inventory and Holistic Goal and talked about how a holistic crop plan is directly related to and reliant on both of these foundational documents.

Sarah Williford taught the course remotely from her farm in New York while HMI Program Manager Stephanie Von Ancken facilitated the session. The participants in Albuquerque were able to interact with her in real time through video conferencing. When the participants went outside to draw a map of their plots Sarah was able to accompany them and get a virtual tour of the land!

Key learning points and outcomes of the workshop were:

• Key crop planning principles and guidelines • Ecosystem processes & soil facts • Tools for Managing Ecosystem Processes • Farm Ecosystem Strategies • Crop Rotation and Sequencing • How to develop your Holistic Crop Plan in 4 steps • Bio-monitoring techniques and General Monitoring of actions taken

Along with the lecture, there were six activities that the participants completed to help guide them through the first four steps of creating a holistic crop plan.

The final session, on November 7th and 8th, was focused on Holistic Marketing and Business Planning. HMI’s Executive Director and Certified Educator, Ann Adams, was the trainer for this two-day program. The first day was focused on working through the Holistic Financial Planning process and particularly focusing on numerous examples of how to develop a gross profit analysis for a variety of enterprises to determine levels of profitability. Combined with using the Holistic Management decision testing, this process has helped many producers determine the most appropriate enterprise mixes for their farms. Many of the program participants are required to develop proposals for their use of field space in this incubator farm, so this course was timely in helping them develop their proposals. They also discussed how they could set up effective recordkeeping systems.

The second day focused on marketing and business planning principles and practices, building off of the financial information that participants had developed from the previous session. In particular, participants worked through developing an elevator speech for their business as well as determining SMART goals for marketing, infrastructure development, and business systems.

Participants said they found the templates for business, marketing, and financial planning very helpful in getting them prepared to take their business to the next level.

Participants found the HMI program to be necessary to building a strong foundation moving forward and liked that the program was tailored to a farm business with “lots of great templates to use” and “information that applied to all aspects of future farm businesses.”

Participants felt their greatest learning experiences from the training program were:

• The Holistic Management framework and goal setting • Learning more about the business aspect of farming • Identifying what I can do to improve my business, management and marketing skills • Vision analysis • Marketing & Business planning • Building market plans for income and expenses • Balancing tasks and managing my time on the farm • This course has opened me up to a lot of new concepts pertaining to farming. • This training will help a great deal in my quests to become a successful farmer • Thank you for providing this. Great opportunity to increase business proficiency • Thank you for your contribution to our beginning in the farm world

When participants were asked what they would do with what they have learned, they said:

• Move forward into the ag community as a new farmer; making strong plans, keeping good records, and sticking to my goals to be successful • I plan to incorporate many of the topics I have learned in the class • Step by step analysis of developing a well thought out business plan to obtain financial help. Use SMART goal sheets and create a better vision of my farm for the long term. • Practices and incorporate the tools taught • Use the charts given in the business section to decide if certain crops are valuable enough to grow • Continue to study and use these tools as I move forward in my business

Thank you to the Thornburg Foundation for making this program possible, and to the Bernalillo County Open Space and NMSU Extension as well as all the Grow the Growers 2018 interns who are working to create a more regenerative local foodshed.

Key Outcomes from Program % of Participants

Overall satisfaction with all three courses 100% Intent to change management practices as a result of this training 100% More confident in your ability to make complex decision on your farm/ranch 100% Increased ability to create a whole farm goal 100% How to increase your farm’s/ranch’s net worth after the course 100% Increased ability to assess ecosystem health 100%

Increased ability to begin a crop plan 100%

Increased ability to improve soil health 100%

CASE STUDY

Looking to the Future

Flying Diamond Ranch— Earning $50/hour on a Cattle Ranch

BY KEVIN ALEXANDER WATT

The Johnson Family began practicing adaptive planned grazing on their ranch after attending a Holistic Resource Management workshop with Allan Savory in the late 1980s. Their goal was to increase the health of their ranch and animals and lower spending on costly inputs by mimicking the grazing behavior of native migratory herds of buffalo, antelope, and deer.

Implementing Change

The biggest changes they have implemented on their ranch include increasing herd density and adjusting their grazing timing so fields get time to recover. Portable electric fencing and a distributed water system (funded in part through a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helped the Johnsons shrink their average paddock size from 1,500 acres to 300 acres. Each paddock is now grazed no more than 7 days (the regional average is about 180 days) and allowed almost a full year to recover and grow.

The Johnson family has done a lot to make sure that the people on their ranch are thriving too. Though intergenerational transfer is a huge challenge for many agricultural operations, the Johnsons approached this issue with the same practicality and innovative spirit they apply to land and livestock management. They have been eager to grow in new ways in order to provide opportunities for their children and their spouses to find meaningful and rewarding careers on the ranch.

As the 6th generation of Johnsons is born, the ranch business is growing by leaps and bounds—expanding beyond the original 25,000 acres of Flying Diamond Ranch to an additional 25,000 leased acres in Colorado Springs and Castle Rock, Colorado.

This case study is used by permission and first appeared on the TomKat Ranch website at: https://tomkatranch.org/casestudy-flying-diamond-ranch/ . TomKat Ranch is an 1,800 acre grassfed cattle ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area working to inspire the transition of 1 million acres of California rangeland to regenerative management.

The Johnson family.

Highlights

Seeing the Benefits

These changes have led to significant benefits for the ranch, its animals, and the business including a dramatic reduction in bare ground, increased forage production and vegetation diversity, reduced runoff, improved groundwater recharge, and more wildlife. Further, increased forage productivity and improved utilization have increased the stocking capacity of the ranch by approximately 25%.

Working closely with nature and carefully monitoring livestock performance, operational costs, and ecological function has revealed other opportunities as well. While most producers in their area calve in the fall to maximize the time calves can grow before going to auction, this strategy comes with costs that the Johnsons are now eager to avoid.

Fall calving requires ranchers to supplement feed so nursing mother cows can meet the needs of their calves over the winter when forage is typically low in nutritional value. Seeing this, the Johnsons began calving in the spring. The change synchronized the nutritional demands of the mother cows with a plentiful forage season, mild weather, and an abundance of wild prey to reduce calf mortality.

Though this change reduced the size of calves at the auction, the family saw only a small loss in revenue (approximately $20/calf), and the loss was ultimately dwarfed by the combination of feed savings and increased profit from having more live calves to sell.

30 acres per animal unit is the stocking rate the Johnson’s have achieved with high density/ long recovery grazing and better forage utilization. Before practicing adaptive planned grazing they required 40 acres per animal unit. ~0 calves are expected to be lost each year to predation and inclement weather since switching their calving season to the spring. Surprise late-season storms may still cause some mortality, but calf loss from predation or weather is almost nonexistent on the ranch The Johnsons no longer allow coyotes to be shot on their land. 1,200 cow/calf pairs and 800 yearlings now make up the Johnson’s herd. They have grown their business nearly 50% each year for the past 3 years. $25/hour is the minimum rate the cattle business pays to the members of the family that own/operate it. This can go as high as $100/hour during particularly successful years and usually averages around $50/hour.

Since 1907, the Johnson family has stewarded the Flying Diamond Ranch in Kit Carson, Colorado. Their success over the past 100 years has grown out of a tradition of holistically caring for the productivity and long-term resilience of their family, animals, and land. In the early 1990s Scott and Jean Johnson began practicing adaptive planned cattle grazing on the ranch and have since expanded their business, improved the health of their land, grown the size of their herd, and created rewarding opportunities for their children to join in and take ownership of the business.

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.

UNITED STATES

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 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 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) 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 NEBRASKA

Paul Swanson

5155 West 12th St., Hastings, NE 68901 402/463-8507 402/705-1241 (c) pswanson3@unl.edu

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

INTERNATIONAL

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 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 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 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

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 FINLAND

Tuomas Mattila

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

Christine C. Jost

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

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 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

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.

These associate educators provide educational services to their communities and peer groups.

NAMIBIA

Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii

P O Box 24102, Windhoek 9000 264-812840426 (c) • 264-61-244028 (h) kandjiiu@gmail.com

Colin Nott

PO Box 11977, Windhoek 9000 264-81-2418778 (c) • 264-61-225085 (h) canott@iafrica.com.na

Wiebke Volkmann

P. O . Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@afol.com.na NEW ZEALAND * John King P. O. Box 12011, Beckenha Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 john@succession.co.nz 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

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives. a publication of Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 USA

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Nonprofit U.S POSTAGE PAID

Jefferson City, MO PERMIT 210

please send address corrections before moving so that we do not incur unnecessary postal fees

DEVELOPMENT CORNER

Windy Oaks Grass-fed Beef—

HEALTHY LAND KEY TO HUMAN SURVIVAL

Kay Allen is a fifth-generation Texas rancher managing Windy Oaks Grass-fed Beef near Canton, Texas. With her daughter now interested in entrepreneurial sustainability, the sixth generation is coming on board as well. “My father joined the

USDA after having served as a Marine in WWll & the Korean Conflict.

He served as a government lender for rural development five days a week through the Farmers’ Home Administration, currently Farm Services

Administration, then worked at the ranch on weekends.” says Kay. “When I was a child, we came back to our family property in Van

Zandt County on weekends, even though we lived in various towns and cities around the state. Upon our parents’ passing in 2011, my sisters and I inherited the ranch, part of which has been in the family since 1839, a land grant from the Republic of Texas. My father knew agriculture before it was dominated by big machinery and synthetic chemicals, received a Master’s degree in it, and was part of the postwar agricultural revolution. He managed, however, to straddle the fence between biological and chemical agriculture.

“My involvement in regenerative agriculture began with The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. I knew I wanted to continue my family’s farming tradition, but was searching for a humane, healthy way to do it. Growing up looking over my dad’s shoulder at the practices of conventional ranch management, Pollan’s descriptions of industrial agriculture and factory farming were familiar, and his book introduced me to another way to produce food.

“The first summer after Dad died I went to a grass-fed beef conference in Texas. John Taggert of Burgundy Beef and Betsy Ross of Sustainable

Growth, Texas, were featured speakers, and they threw open wide the doors to regenerative, humane, healthy food production. Betsy Ross pointed me to HMI’s Beginning Women Farmers & Ranchers Program in Texas. I took the course in 2012, which provided the nuts and bolts I needed to create and fulfill my vision for the farm. It gave me a pragmatic strategy on how to make the farm work for our family. “The most helpful part of the HMI training was how to set up a grazing system which feeds the soil as well as the animals. In the beginning, I was managing 60 angus cow/calf pairs on 125 acres with one center fence, and another 80-acre parcel with no interior fencing. Now, we use electric fencing and move the cattle, roughly, every three days through 20 large paddocks, with up to 5 sub-paddocks each. We’ve also added chickens following the cattle in an egg-mobile, broilers in a chicken tractor, and just acquired our first, trial goats to manage our briars and brambles. “The financial planning portion of the HMI training was critical for me. I started from scratch as a businesswoman. My daughter, with a degree in business management and Queen of the Spreadsheet, is also an HMI alum and is very helpful in this area, as well as marketing and everything else. “I found HMI’s emphasis on setting holistic goals, which encompass all aspects of my life, to be realistic and liberating. It takes the competition out of the different aspects of my world. We all live in several, if not many, roles: spouse, parent, business owner, community member, friend, relative, etc. HMI’s decision making matrix allows me to see at a glance how all the different areas of my life will be affected by my choices, and how my larger life informs my business decisions. “Although we still have much more work to do in creating and fine-tuning all areas of our sustainable, healthy, humane food production business, I’m pleased with the results from our grazing. When I first started grazing 7 years ago, all of our forage samples indicated our soil and Relative Feed Value (RFV) was poor. By the third and fourth years, some of our forage

To continue to improve soil health and was testing fair, and a few samples were good. biodiversity the Allens are adding chickens When we sent in the spring forage sample of to follow the cows for natural pest ryegrass this year we got an RFVs of 169! I was control and fertilization as well as goats to skeptical, so I sent in 2 additional samples naturally address the briars and brambles. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2