#212 IN PRACTICE November/December 2023

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

®

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2023

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

NUMBER 212

W W W. H O L I S T I C M A N A G E M E N T. O R G

Annual Report Letter Dear HMI Community, 2022 was a year of energy, implementation and strategic introspection at HMI. We had a very successful year in program delivery hosting more Workshops, Open Gate Field Days, webinars and online training than in 2021. With the help of the global network of Certified Educators (CEs), HMI provided in-depth training for 3,947 individuals and presentations and/or webinars for another 10,524 for a total of 14,471 served in 2022 with 17,249,522 acres impacted. Of the 158 scholarships awarded, 90 supported historically underserved communities (e.g., low income, females, persons of color, and veterans). The REGENERATE Conference had 582 participants from 40 states and 8 countries connect either in person or online. Over 38,000 persons follow HMI on social media and the circulation of HMI’s IN PRACTICE journal is 5,600.

The success of our in-person events is powered by the caliber of the exceptional holistic managers who host these events.

Thanks to all who hosted, spoke at, collaborated on, and contributed to HMI’s learning and practice in 2022. Thanks to all who participated in a learning event and took steps to advance Holistic Management and regenerative agriculture. Finally, to our donors, grant makers, and scholarship providers, thank you for making these learning experiences rich and rewarding for everyone who participates.

On a strategic level our board and staff have spent time refining our Holistic Goal with particular attention to HMI’s Statement of Purpose. This has been a learning experience for staff and board alike. While this work continued in 2023, we are feeling empowered by the focus and clarity it provides. HMI’s Statement of Purpose is to advance the knowledge and practice of Holistic Management globally. The prospect of raising our eyes to the global need for Holistic Management is particularly appealing and we are well placed to explore realistic opportunities given our enthusiastic, energetic and capable international board members. Thank you to all our board members for your passion, energy and valuable time!

In 2022 we have been working to mentor Certified Educator trainees and newly qualified Certified Educators—to expose, facilitate and support their ability to engage customers, present and facilitate learning. We look to do much more of this work on an ongoing basis. Adding the mentorship component to our already robust Educator Training Program is already paying off handsomely in better prepared educators to serve the Holistic Management community.

Healthy Land, While our internal financial management is going well, thanks to our use of the Holistic Financial Planning process, our investment portfolio reflects the performance Food, & Lives of the market. Our endowments suffered significant losses through exposure to the stock markets. Our banking stock holding also reflects the challenges faced by HMI 2022 ANNUAL REPORT regional banks due to changes in banking regulations. We are already proactively HMI is excited to share our results from adjusting our 2023 operational financial management with the knowledge that our 2022 programming. Learn more about what we investment portfolio is not something we depend upon in the immediate future. accomplished in the letter from our Executive Director and Board Chair. Thanks to all for your With our 40th year anniversary coming up in 2024, we look forward to amplifying support and help! our message, our relevance and our impact. We look forward to connecting with you in 2024.

With gratitude,

Wayne Knight

Wayne ExectiveKnight Director Executive Director

Walter Lynn Bree Owens Board Chair

Board Chair

HMI 2022 Audited Financial Statement 2022 Financials SUMMARIZED STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES REVENUES

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

®

In Practice a publication of Hollistic Management International

HMI’s mission is to envision and realize healthy, resilient lands and thriving communities by serving people in the practice of Holistic Decision Making & Management.

STAFF

Wayne Knight. . . . . . . . . . . . . Executive Director Ann Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Education Director Carrie Stearns . . . . . . . . . . . . Director of Communications

& Outreach Dana Bonham. . . . . . . . . . . . . Program & Grants Director Marie Von Ancken . . . . . . . . . Program Manager Adelene McClenny. . . . . . . . . Instructional Designer & Office Manager Sarah Robertson . . . . . . . . . . Program Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bre Owens, Chair Seth Wilner, Vice-Chair Delane Atcitty Alejandro Carrillo Jozua Lambrechts Jim Shelton Kelly Sidoryk Brian Wehlburg

$ 225,385 12,741 66,725 377,591 60,612 (629,485) 10,579 (385,397) 2,865 270,028 69,829 31,280 600 113,353

$ 111,519

625,891 254,113 54,303 934,307 (820,954) 5,406,777 $ 4,585,823

492,159 201,815 46,289 740,263 444,286 4,962,491 $ 5,406,777

CURRENT ASSETS Cash and Cash Equivalents

$ 1, 008,076

Investments - Mutual Funds

2,863,502

3,353,333

Program Receivables

350

11,725

Prepaid Expenses

7,949

5,728

Inventory

4,782

4,782

3,884,659

4,190,483

75,738 75,738

75,738 75,738

PROPERTY & EQUIPMENT Property & Equipment Less: Accumulated Depreciation Net Property & Equipment

(ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by: Holistic Management International 2425 San Pedro Dr. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87110

814,915

-

365,657 2,022,236

751,055 2,022,236

Less: Accumulated Depletion

1,617,677

1,516,565

Net Mineral Interests Total Other Assets Total Assets

404,559 770,216 $ 4,654,875

505,671 1,256,726 $ 5,447,209

38,133 27,832

9,292 28,340

3,087

2,800

69,052

40,432

NET ASSETS Without Donor Restrictions

4,474,785

5,224,908

With Donor Restrictions Total Net Assets

111,038 4,585,823

181,869 5,406,777

$ 4,654,875

$ 5,447,209

Total Current Liabilities

Copyright © 2023

$

-

Deferred Revenue

Holistic Management® is a registered trademark of Holistic Management International

13,701 226,027 69,795 125,629 136,974 (5,860) 68,178 361,100 55,307 22,179 1,184,549

Other Assets Stock in closely held companies Mineral interests

CURRENT LIABILITIES Accounts Payable Accrued Benefits & Tax Liability

505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org

2021

Educational Programs Publications Partnership & Trust Mineral Interests Investment Income Unrealized gain(loss) on Investments Realized Gain (loss) on Investments Unrealized gain(loss) on closely held stock Miscellaneous Income Grants Contributions In-kind Consulting Total Revenues EXPENSES Program General & Administration Fundraising Total Expenses CHANGE IN NET ASSETS Net Assets at Beginning of Year Net Assets at End of Year

Total Current Assets

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT® IN PRACTICE

2022

Total Liabilities & Net Assets

FEATURE STORIES

LAND & LIVESTOCK

NEWS & NETWORK

2022 HMI Financial Statement........................................... 2

The Cottonwood Ranch— Experimenting with Holistic Management Collaboratively

Program Round Up................................................... 16

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS......................................................... 9

Certified Educators................................................... 20

CJ Ranching— Transitioning Successfully to Full-time Ranching

Market Place............................................................. 21

2022 Grants, Sponsorships, & Donations...................... 3 Farm One Forty— Holistic Management on a Small Farm

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS......................................................... 5

Levalley Ranch— Increasing Ranch, Wildlife, & Community Resilience

ANN ADAMS ..............................................................................14

CHRISTINE MARTIN.................................................................... 6

2 IN PRACTICE

h November / December 2023

Grapevine................................................................. 19

HMI 2022 Impact at a Glance................................... 24

2022 GRANTS, SPONSORSHIPS, & DONATIONS

HMI would like to thank all of our donors whose generous contributions help make our work possible.

Stewards ($50,000+) Wallace Research Foundation Dixon Water Foundation The Community Foundation of San Benito County Guardians ($10,000+) Anonymous Thornburg Foundation Martha Records & Rich Rainaldi Regenerative Ag Foundation L & L Nippert Charitable Foundation Grasslans Charitable Foundation Farm Aid Inc Protectors ($5,000+) Clif Bar Family Foundation Joy Law Leigh & Charlie Merinoff Lydia B. Stokes Foundation Patrons ($1,000+) Armando J. Flocchini Benjamin Bartlett Betsy & Reeves Brown Bobby & Linda Meuth Bybee Foundation Clint Josey Genny Duncan Jessie Kileen Melinda Sims Nancy Ranney Pono Von Holt Ron Chapman Roy and Charlotte Ekland Semrod Family Private Foundation Spring Branch Ranch Tom and Deborah McDaniel TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation Walter Lynn Sustainers ($250+) Ann Adams Ann Beeghly Cameron Duncan

Charles & Jennifer Sands Chris Grotegut Corey Stephens CS Cattle Company Dana Bonham Deborah Clark Drausin Wulsin Ellen Heath Erik Tucker George Rodes Jack & Zera Varian Jack & Teresa Southworth James & Geraldine Matthews James & Carol Parker Jim Shelton Kent Reid Larry Lempka Laura & Regan Velasquez Linda Meuth Louis Hagener Lowell & Mary Forman Mary Etta Johnston Mary N. Adams McKinley and Rachel Smoot Paul Ackley Peter & Helen Schulze Richard Teague Rob Rutherford Sterling Grogan Susan Bunnell Susie Hagemeister Tracy Litle Wayne & Roxanne Eatinger Wayne Knight Friends (<$250) Anonymous Art & Sally Roane Arthur Young Barbara & William Scaife Ben Berlinger Bre Owens Carl Warrick Carrie Stearns

2022 Income Sources

Charles Schmidt Cliff Schuette Clifford Hawbaker Dana McDaniel Bonham Dave & Karen Baker Dave Dorrance Dave James Dennis Pufpaf Derek & Kirrily Blomfield Diana Kay Speer Don and Randee Halladay Donald Whitten Doreen Murphy Edward Shobe Emil & Maryann Casciano Emma Brown-Shaklee Greg Edelen Hamilton Brown Jackie Thompson James & Carol Faulstich Jason Bradley Jason Klinge Jean Larson Jennifer Peotter Jennine Nash Jimmy Garner Joe and Peggy Maddox Joe Glode Joe Morris John C & Rosalyn G Phillips John Wernette Jonathan Cobb Joseph Ranney Judith McGeary Keith & Dorothy Mack Ken Gallard Kevin Fulton Larry Johnson Lila McNeil Linus Meyer Lowry McAllen Lynn Rakin Mark Kiser Michelle Stephenson Myra McPherson Network for Good Oris Salazar Penelope Powell Peter Donovan Rick Kaesebier Rick Robbins Rita Talbot Roland and Brenda Kroos Shipwheel Cattle Feeders Ltd. Stephen Williams Sterling Grogan Steve Dorrance Tracine Bevans Thomas Mann US Charitable Gift Trust

A special thanks to the following organizations and individuals who have graciously supported our programs.

11th Hour Foundation 3R Ranch Abby Boyd Agricultura Network AgRisk Advisors AIRE Allen Williams American Grassfed Association Ariel Greenwood Arriola Sunshine Farm Audubon Conservation Ranching Audubon Tx Audubon NM Audubon Rockies Badger Creek Ranch Ben Berlinger Bernalillo County Extension NMSU Bernalillo County Open Space Bill Harvey Biological Capital Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Birdwell & Clark Ranch Boudro Enterprises Boulder County Open Space Brad Schmidt Brett Gray Ranch Brett Riley Bureau of Land Management New Mexico Bytable Cactus Feeders Carol M. Petrie Foundation Casey Wade Casper Farms Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Central Colorado Conservancy Cindy Dvergsten Chico Basin Ranch Chispas Farm Coldharbour Institute Coldharbour Regenerative Network Colin Nott Colorado Carbon Fund Colorado Cattlemens Agriculture Land Trust Colorado Cattlemens Association Colorado Coalition to Enhance Working Lands Colorado Collaborative for Healthy Soils Colorado Conservation Tax Credit Transfer Colorado Conservation Tillage Association Colorado Department of Agriculture CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Donors & Supporters Colorado Department of Agriculture Conservation Services Colorado Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association Colorado Land Link Colorado Open Lands Colorado Section of the Society for Range Management Colorado State Forest Service Colorado State Land Board Colorado State University Extension Colorado Water Center Colorado Water Conservation Board Community Consensus Institute Corey Stephens Christine Martin CrossRoads Ranch Consulting Cruces Creatives CS Cattle Company Cuidad Soil and Water Conservation District Cynthia James Stewart Dan Ginter Daniel Oppenheimer David James David Phillips Deborah Clark Del Cielo Farm Dixon Water Foundation Don Campbell Dry Creek Livestock Ducks Unlimited EcoAgriculture Partners Elizabeth Marks Eubanks Ranch Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance Farm Credit of NM Farm to Table NM Flower Hill Insitute Flying Diamond Ranch Frank Davis Gabe Brown Gerardo Bezanilla Globetrotter Foundation Grandin Livestock Systems GrassRoots Carbon Graze the Prairie Greg Judy Green Spark Ventures Ground Up Consulting Grow the Growers Program Guidestone Colorado Gunnison Climate Working Group Gunther Ott Hand for the Land Hill Country Alliance Hill Country Conservancy Indian Nations Conservation Alliance Inside-Outside Management Institute for Applied Ecology Interbasin Compact Committee 4 IN PRACTICE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

ISA TanTec James Ranch James Ranch Grill & Market James Ranch Homestead School Jenn and Joe Wheeling Jeremiah and Maggie Eubank Hearth, Sol, Wind Ranch Jozua Lambrechts Julie James Ott Kara Kroger Kelly Sidoryk Kinsey Ag Services Kirk Gadzia L&L Nippert Foundation Larry Dyer Laura Velasquez Lauri and Dave Celella Levi Kokes Lewis Family Farm LLC Linda Pechin-Long Log Cabin Livestock Farm Louis Martin Mad Agriculture Mantere Farm Markegard Family Grass fed Martha Records & Rich Rainaldi Mat Moten May Ranch Merrill Lynch Michael “Storm” Casper Mirr Ranch Group National Bison Association National Capitalism Solutions National Center for Appropriate Technology National Young Farmers Coalition Natural Resources Conservation Service/Grazing Lands Coalition Initiative New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts New Mexico Coalition to Enhance Working Lands New Mexico Department of Agriculture New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association New Mexico First New Mexico Forest & Watershed Restoration Institute New Mexico Game & Fish New Mexico Healthy Soils Working Group New Mexico House of Representatives New Mexico Land Conservancy New Mexico Land Trust New Mexico State Land Office New Mexico State University Extension NMSU Institute for Sustainable Agricultural Research

h November / December 2023

2022 Funding Expenditures

Noble Research Institute No Regrets Initiative North Central Texas College Northern Water Not Forgotten Outreach No-Till Texas Ollin Farms Ogalalla Commons Paicines Ranch Partners for Fish and Wildlife Pasture Map Phil Metzger Phillip Boyd Poetry Dorpers Polks Folly Farm Preston Sullivan Pueblo of Santa Ana Pueblo of Santa Ana Department of Natural Resources Pure Pastures Ralph Tate Ranchlands Chico Basin Ranch Ranney Ranch Regen Ag Lab Resource Management Services Rio Grande Agricultural Land Trust Rio Grande Joint Venture Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Rough Stone Ranch Round River Resource Management Ryan Gould San Juan Ranch San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition San Luis Valley Soil Health Group Savory Institute Seth Wilner Silver Sustainability Strategies Silverleaf Farm Soil for Water Soil Health Services Southwest Energy Institute Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance Stockman Grassfarmer

Storm Casper Succession Sul Ross State University Sustainable Growth Texas Sweet Grass Coop Taos Land Trust Tecovas Foundation Tesuque Pueblo Farm Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Texas Land Conservancy Texas Parks & Wildlife Texas Wildlife Association The Brett Gray Ranch The Citizen Science Soil Health Project The Grants Collective The Nature Conservancy The Quivira Coalition The Regen Ranch Thomas Schroeder Thornburg Foundation Three Sisters Kitchen Tierra Sagrada Farm Tom Sidwell Tomkat Ranch Educational Foundation Trainor Cattle Company Tuda Libby Crews Twin Mountain Fence University of Colorado Boulder University of New Mexico Sustainability Studies Program United States Department of Agriculture USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service United States Forest Service Upper Arkansas Conservation District Utah State University Vermejo Park Ranch West Texas A&M Western Landowners Alliance Whole New Concepts William Burnidge Will Harris Zia Queen Bees

Farm One Forty—

Holistic Management on a Small Farm

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

A

rlie LaRoche and her husband, Brett, started their Farm One Forty near Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, where they focus on Holistic Management and regenerative agriculture.

“I grew up on a cattle and grain farm near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border and always helped out on the farm. I grew up with a love of farm life, and after graduating from high school I studied water resources engineering. I worked in the environmental consulting field for about 10 years. At that time my husband and I wanted to get back on a farm, since he grew up on a farm as well,” Arlie says.

“We moved to an acreage near the city where we were working, and started raising our own livestock, growing a garden and creating our own food. At first it was just a hobby. Then we had kids, and the livestock side of things kept growing because we started growing extra for friends and family members.

“It just kept growing and became a little harder to manage with both of us working in the city. Then in 2013 I did a threeday intensive workshop with Joel Salatin and this was the push I needed, to take the leap and do the farm fulltime. That’s when we started making it into more of a real business. Joel Salatin has been a big help, and I also had some permaculture teachers including Rob and Michelle Avis who own Verge Permaculture in Calgary.

“They introduced us to Holistic Management.

They are the ones who led us that direction.

Brett and I did a Holistic Management course in 2018. Many of the things we were doing were already in line with Holistic Management.

I was aware of Allan Savory and his work and had seen him speak. We’d done a tour at Gabe Brown’s farm in North Dakota and Allan was speaking there. He’d been a key teacher for us, even though I’d never met him. I’d listened to lots of podcasts and read about him.”

At that time, Arlie and Brett were raising cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens and had a big vegetable garden. “We are still doing all of that.

There are also honeybees on the property that someone else takes care of. We introduced

planned grazing and have been doing this for a number of years,” says Arlie.

Just having the holistic context was the biggest thing that made a difference for Arlie and Brett. “It gave us a big-picture idea of what we wanted our lives and our farm to be like. Using that as a tool to help decide whether to take opportunities as they arose was also crucial,” says Arlie.

“There’s no end to what you could do on a small farm to provide something for consumers.

One of the biggest struggles we had, early on, was actually reining in all the things we wanted to try, and to limit our efforts to a handful of things that we enjoy and fit with our land, and with what our customers would want. The holistic context helped us let go of certain opportunities and realize that they were not a good fit for us.

The LaRoche family enjoying some quiet time.

“It also helped us to create interactions between our different enterprises and how they could fit together—like grazing our cattle and sheep together. It’s very handy to just have one group, that one bit of labor, and use all the same infrastructure for both. They are also benefitting each other. It’s those kinds of things that have been helpful and I don’t know if I would have come up with those ideas on my own. There is definitely a holistic way of thinking.”

Farm to Table

In 2015 Arlie and Brett took a trip to Hawaii and visited a farm there that offered a tour and a lunch. “We found that experience to be so enjoyable and memorable and we were happy to have been able to do that. I thought we should try to replicate this at our place because it was such a neat idea, so that fall was when we did our first farm-to-table dinner,” Arlie says.

At that time, Arlie was supplying a few restaurants in Saskatoon with pork, beef and lamb. “I had some good contacts in the

restaurant industry and I told one of the chefs that I work with about my idea and he was excited about it. He went along with my crazy plan. I wasn’t really set up to do it, so I had to rent everything—the party tents, tables and chairs, tableware, etc. We pulled it off and it was really fun and all of the customers really loved it, so we started doing that once a year and did it for several years.”

It was a lot of work, however, and very inefficient to be setting up all of that temporary infrastructure for just one night. “That was when I decided to build a permanent event site,” says Arlie. “I built a facility with covered seating, and my own tables and chairs, etc. We started ramping up the agri-tourism aspect of our business.”

In 2019 they took it to another level and opened a restaurant in Saskatoon, in partnership with two other people.

“We own it together; the general manager and the head chef are partners with us. We supply the restaurant with our products—the meat and vegetables that we grow here, and the honey,” she says.

“We also host many dinners out here on the farm, in partnership with the restaurant.

The staff comes here to do all the cooking and it’s a high-end beautiful meal, on the farm. It’s a nice setting; the rustic farm and the gourmet chef-prepared meal.”

Brett has been working in the city most of the time, but he also loves the farm. “He is more interested in the grain farming side than the livestock, and does a lot of regenerative farming practices like no-till and poly-cropping and cover crops,” says Arlie. “He would like to ramp up that side of our business a bit but we are still in a transitioning period as he works more toward being fulltime on the farm.”

All of the management decisions for the farm are made with animal welfare and the environment as the top priority. “We figure that if we take care of those things first the other things will fall into place,” says Arlie. They’ve already seen soil improvement on the crop and pasture land and how the quality of the grass-fed meat is different than grain-fed meat. Another plus is that their customers appreciate where their food comes from, and the fact that they can know the farmer personally. They can also take part in the on-farm events.

Arlie and Brett have two children, Emmett, age 11, and Maizie, age 13. “One of the things CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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Farm One Forty

have a schedule on whose chicken day it is.

They get the money for the eggs, and that works pretty well. we’ve found with the holistic concept is that we “The other thing they get involved with is can be able to let some opportunities go by,” lambing in the spring. We usually end up with says Arlie. “One of those was the chickens. At a few bottle lambs, and this is one of the things one time we had a good-sized flock, with about they took on, from a young age. They love to 200 laying hens. It was not a good fit for me; it bottle-feed those babies. It’s their lamb, so if was a lot of work and not very profitable and I their lamb goes hungry, it’s on them. Those lambs are their responsibility and they get the money for them. It’s great to see how responsible they are about it, and I am very impressed.”

Arlie hopes they develop a love for the farm lifestyle like she did. “Usually, when you are a kid, you don’t realize what it all means,” Arlie working in her garden. says Arlie. “When did not enjoy it. I let it go and didn’t do it for a I graduated from high school, I didn’t think I couple years. Then about two years ago our would ever farm. I would have told you that you kids came to me and said they wanted their were crazy if you’d said I would. But then you own flock of layers. I told them that yes, that leave and grow up and realize that farm life would be great, and they could have their own was pretty good. I hope that can happen with chickens. They are doing a good job of it; they our kids, too. A person can get pretty spoiled, are pretty responsible and take turns. They knowing where all your food comes from, and CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Levalley Ranch—

Increasing Ranch, Wildlife, & Community Resilience

BY CHRISTINE MARTIN

T

he Levalley Ranch is cow-calf operation in western Colorado run by the Levalley Family, with Mark & Robbie Levalley’s sons being the fifth generation to ranch the lands. Their implementation in the mid-1990s of Holistic Management principles and practices in managing their land and business operation has led to holistic grazing management, conservation and monitoring practices that has been recognized with the prestigious Colorado Leopold Conservation Award for 2023.

Additionally, a long-standing partnership with several local ranches to increase resiliency and redundancy in everyone’s business operation has led to an in-house processing facility and 6 IN PRACTICE

retail store that provides custom processing and local meat for the local community.

Adaptive Grazing Improves Wildlife Habitat

eating the high-quality food that you just can’t get anywhere else.

“I hope they take an interest in it. I am trying to walk that fine line between getting them to help enough that they learn the skills, but not so much that they come to resent or hate it. We just do our best and hope that it turns out well.

“That’s why I got into this type of farming, versus the type of farm I grew up on. I am not going to put the kids out on a combine for hours or have them help me process 100 head of cattle. If we are just doing planned grazing with 25 cows that are easy to move, it’s all pretty quiet and very easy to just move a wire. It’s not dangerous. And the sheep are totally safe animals for the kids to be around.

This is one of the reasons I love my sheep so much. The sheep are great for kids to handle, and the chickens are a perfect little project for them, too.”

The main thing in the plans for the future is the transition with Brett moving into fulltime farming. “I will welcome this, because right now I am about maxed out, just maintaining what we currently have,” says Arlie. “It will help to have more of a team and a little more help on the day-to-day farm activities. Then I would love to focus more on the agri-tourism side of it. I really enjoy that part, and we could do so much more.

At this point I just don’t have time. With those sorts of things, you need to have a certain mind set and the energy to do those events.” community for the ranchers. The Levalleys and several of the neighboring ranchers attended classes with Allan Savory in the mid-1990s, and brought in Certified Educators afterwards to follow up as they implemented Holistic Management practices on their ranches. As first

Delta County, Colorado where the Levalley Ranch is located, was awarded a grant in the mid-1990s by the then Center for Holistic Management (HMI) to learn and implement Holistic Management practices within their administration.

With the county administration on board, the range staff and conservationists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service together with the Bureau of (Left to right) Hank LeValley, Mark LeValley, and Ross LeValley on their Land Management horses discussing their strategy to round up the cattle. provided a supportive

h November / December 2023

endangered wildlife, the Levalleys recognized grazing management, during this most recent the need to lease land from neighboring public drought (which has been significant) we were agencies: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) not asked by BLM or FWS to make any cuts in and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). animal numbers. We did cut numbers, but we Robbie shares, “We have springs on our private weren't asked to make any cuts. So, we've got ground and we've installed over 20 miles of that resiliency with that root mass built in.” pipeline and water tanks to the Bureau of Managing For Endangered Land Management land as well as throughout Species our private land so that we can use water to Together with the Levalley family, BLM and manage the large landscape as well, FWS are part of the management team that coordinates the grazing plan to address the and to use that as part of the rotation, management of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse which is listed as a threatened species. Robbie and supply water shares, “Our population is called the Crawford to numerous bird satellite population of the Gunnison Sagespecies and big Grouse. Their habitat is on our private land and game. All that our BLM allotment. We have five pastures on installation and the BLM land. We plan for deferred rotation to maintenance of that is done by the build not only the root mass and the plant vigor, but the cover for the grouses. We've been able ranch, even on to show that with the 22 months of rest we can the BLM land. We provide the cover requirements that the grass continue to try to needs. And then last year we all actually agreed put in additional to the same grazing plan we had used the year water capacity before so that they can do additional research every year to on where the main leks (breeding areas) were. expand that “This year we're actually experimenting existing water line. with the virtual fencing with the collars to see “We’ve installed Old barn on ranch with high desert view of star filled sky. how we can avoid the main lekking areas but solar panels shares, “We have significantly less density, to power large than certainly some areas that practice pumps that pump more intensive grazing, but that's because the water from the we are dealing with wildlife habitat and the spring throughout requirements for a threatened species. “Much the water system of the private and federal land the Levalleys and storage tanks graze is home to the Gunnison Sage-Grouse, as there's a lot of a ground-dwelling bird that is protected as lift throughout the an endangered species. Grazing has helped extensive system. the Sage-Grouse thrive and meet recovery On our home land, goals set by the Endangered Species Act. We we do irrigate and have compiled the data and it tells us that the we've been able number of forb species—what Sage-Grouse to partner with the depend on for nutrition—has increased NRCS and put significantly because of the ranch’s efforts. Our in center pivots grass and shrub species provide habitat for and side roles to Sage-Grouse and other wildlife. improve production “We have almost 22 months of rest in a efficiency. We take lot of areas on the grazing lands we manage. advantage of that This longer recovery period has helped with improved irrigation Managing cattle density at high altitude desert together with the habitat for the higher altitude cold desert country that efficiency and use it the endangered Gunnison Sage-Grouse, and 22 months of recovery has we manage with predominantly cool season for a combination of improved grass diversity, root mass and wildlife habitat. grasses. Supplemental feeding is needed for pasture and haying. still utilize it with grazing as an experiment in about three months in the winter.”

“We're all about building that insurance policy. partnership with the BLM and FWS and the Whether it be the root mass or the harvested Expanding Water Infrastructure forage, we've got to have that insurance policy local Sage-Grouse Working Groups and the to Improve Production Black Canyon Audubon Society. “Unfortunately, and that redundancy and resiliency!

With a herd of between 400 and 500 head, the drought has had a real significant impact “We've been working with the grazing plan CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 22 months of recovery, and managing for since 1995 and as a result of the intensive implementers of Holistic Management practices in a high desert with colder temperatures, monitoring was critical in adjusting common practices that had been used in lower deserts with warmer temperatures. Constant observation and frequent monitoring throughout the early years was essential in adjusting the practices to suit their environment, primarily the recovery period and herd density. Robbie

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Levalley Ranch

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

on the population of the Sage-Grouse. The population rebalances slightly and then we get another dry period, so it does appear that drought is having a significant impact, in addition to predation.

“We also manage for the mule deer and the elk. Those three are the primary ones that we partner with all of our federal and state agencies to provide that habitat.”

monitor the birds they hear as well as the Sage Grouse.”

and as replacement heifers to an established customer base.”

Meat Processing Ranching Cooperative

The Next Generation

Mark and Robbie’s sons, together with the children of the partnering ranches, are taking a keen interest in continuing the management of the ranches and enterprises. “I just see so many young people that are really taking an interest in managing the ranch,” says Robbie.

“It just makes my heart warm and gives me hope for them. We've got a good core group of the next young producers in our area that are Monitoring Data Supports taking over the reins of leadership and it's just Management Practices so encouraging!

Robbie spends five to ten days every year “The original core group in the nineties that monitoring specific sites on their private land, started with Holistic Management in this area thus creating an extensive portfolio of the have provided the inspiration on the ground. results of their management. This portfolio We have the support system that I don't see of evidence has been extremely helpful in in some other areas. We've been able to, for supporting the Levalleys the most part, transfer management when that body of knowledge discussing plans with the as well as that thinking ever-changing staffing to our children who will within the Federal and be the next core group.

State agencies. Robbie They are taking the reins shares, “We haven't been and while they may not able to say that we've got be discussing everything everybody at the same at the same level that table year after year after we're discussing, I can year, because the faces see their wheels always change, but we can show turning. So that's what our management and gives me hope. what we're doing and “We have offered we've been able to provide internships through that information so that Colorado State University, there's a level of comfort but have found that it's whenever a new individual not logistically easy for does come to the table. students to benefit from “We do a lot of it. We are six hours away. photographs and we We’ve started looking monitor the grass height into offering an internship prior to turning on and with Quivira Coalition The addition of a retail store allows for resiliency and redundancy in the partnering then mid-season, and then but it’s been so dry the ranches' operations, and provides the local community with locally produced meat. at the end of the growing last few years, it’s taken season. And at the end of all of us, almost 24/7, to County, Colorado. In December of 2020, the the growing season, obviously the cows have keep the operations in good health. We haven't partnering ranches purchased an adjoining been off for quite a while. We also monitor for been in a place where we thought we could plant to expand their processing capacity and grass species. Then every five years, each offer something. added a retail store. Together with the partner’s pasture has its own line intercept transact that “So that may be something we look at in own cattle processing, the processing plants that we will look at. In addition to the to the the future so that we can share our experience also custom process for other local ranches. photographs we have the weather data. In in managing a high desert with low Robbie shares, “As with our land management, the last three years, we've started using the temperature landscape to improve ecosystem we want to build in resiliency and redundancy Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) for the function while managing for endangered in our marketing program, so the partnering longer term and third-party verification. wildlife to the next generation of land stewards ranches diversify their marketing channels and “On the BLM and the FWS land, their and leaders. We’re fortunate that the next only a quarter of their calf crop is processed agencies conduct the monitoring and most generation of our local ranches are taking an for local direct to consumer sales. The rest of the time, I can be with them. We’ve also interest in continuing our management for of their sellable herd are sold at weaning been working with Audubon to come out and redundancy and resilience!”

8 IN PRACTICE

After taking Allan Savory’s courses with neighboring ranches in the mid 1990s, the Levalleys and several of their neighboring operations brought in Doc and Connie Hatfield of Country Natural Beef in Oregon to advise on how to create a cooperative of ranchers that processed and retailed their own meat. The LeValley’s’ and five partnering ranches starting taking their cattle to a local USDA processing plant and selling direct to consumer. When the owners of the processing plant wanted to retire, the six partnering ranches elected to purchase the plant. They quickly outgrew that processing plant and sold it to purchase another larger processing plant in Delta

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The Cottonwood Ranch—

Experimenting with Holistic Management Collaboratively

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

T

he Cottonwood Ranch in Elko County, Nevada has been an experiment in range improvement for several decades and multiple generations. It has been an amazing success story through the years as the family has been able to build successful collaborations with other ranchers and with government agencies to manage both public and private lands effectively to increase land health, particularly in riparian areas.

Pioneer Days

Agee Smith grew up on the Cottonwood Ranch and now his daughter and son-in-law are also involved in running it. In the 1920s his greatgrandfather, Horace Agee, bought the Cottonwood ranch and several other ranches from the O’Neil family, who were some of the first settlers in the O’Neil Basin. Then a severe winter in the late 1890s wiped out many ranches; thousands of cattle died. The O’Neils lost the majority of their herd and never really recovered from that. They decided to sell out, and moved back to California.

Agee’s great-grandfather had been sheep ranching to the south of the O’Neils, so he and several partners bought out their holdings.

The Cottonwood ranch at that time was just a cow camp attached to the O’Neil’s home place where they’d set up headquarters. “When my great-grandfather died, Dad and his brother inherited this Cottonwood ranch. Dad had been in the Korean War and when he got out of the Navy and came back to the ranch, he and my mom moved onto this place,” says Agee. “Mom told me her first impression of it. When they drove down the hill into the place there was just a four-room log cabin and a little barn and corral and some round corrals. She had to kick out the cat that occupied the cabin. She and Dad came here and had no cattle—and that’s what got us started in the hunting business.”

The ranch was great place for mule deer hunting, so they started a guiding business at the beginning, which gave them an income to start ranching. They ran cattle for other people for a while and then were able to buy their own. “They worked up from nothing to building a nice ranch and raised five kids. My siblings and I had a great upbringing,” Agee says.

“When they first started, all the haying was done with horses and teams. Mom talks about when she was pregnant, she and Dad had a unique communication system when he was out in the fields. If she needed help, she’d put a blanket over a line, and if Dad saw that when

he was out in the field, he’d come back to the house. This was how she could tell him that it was time to go to the hospital to have the baby.

“Dad was a Hereford man and built his herd up to about 500 head.

My folks were successful enough to raise five kids, and I certainly don’t remember wanting for anything when I was young.

“We were in an isolated place, a long ways from any major roads.

The only cattle movement was when cows got sold off and left; there were no new cattle coming in. When my folks took cattle to market, they were still driving yearlings over the mountains to put on the train. Then trucks came in, and cattle were trucked to market. Then the neighboring ranches started selling out--to absentee owners--and with trucking, cattle movement became easier.” A lot of cattle started coming in and out, and new bulls were brought in, and they brought diseases the resident herd had never experienced before.

The biosecurity was broken. “In the early days the only thing we vaccinated for was Blackleg. With more cattle movement there were venereal diseases coming in, and the calf crop went from something in the 90s down to about 40%. It took Dad a couple years to figure out what to

McKenzie and Jason Molsbee with their sons.

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do to resolve this. In that time, he had to borrow money to keep going, and interest rates were high.” This created financial difficulty on the ranch.

Range Improvement Collaborative

Running cattle season-long in the same pastures was also having an impact on the land. Riparian areas were under scrutiny by then, and ranchers had come under the microscope. “We were in a constant battle with the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and the Forest Service (USFS),” says Agee. “We weren’t sure what to do. In that kind of situation, you don’t know what you don’t know. We had one really good range con who was different from the others, and he was trying to show us things that were going on. He pointed out what the riparian areas looked like, and what they could be. I was beginning to think that maybe we were in a business that damages the environment, and debated whether I should keep ranching or not.”

This is the Cottonwood Ranch riparian area in 1998 after over 10 years of Holistic Management. Notice increased riparian function with clearer water and more cover for water to reduce water temperature for microand macro-fauna in the water.

Then Allan Savory came to the Elko Cowboy Poetry gathering as the keynote speaker in 1993. “Several of the ranchers that heard him speak realized that what he was saying really rang a bell and they wanted to know more. The Wright family of the Mary’s River Ranch brought Holistic Resource Management [Holistic Management] classes to Elko, and my dad went to the first one. When he came back, he told us there might be something to this and said I should go to the next class—and I did. All of a sudden. I could see some possibilities,” Agee says.

“We were all a bit skeptical and wanted to see if it would really work up here, in our kind of country. Our back was against the wall, financially, and we were trying to get along with the land management agencies. So, we said we’d be willing to put our ranch up as an experiment, to see if this could work.”

Tommie Martin was part of Allan Savory’s team as a Holistic Management educator. “She and Steve Rich became our facilitators,” says Agee. “Elko County Commissioners and others were also a part of this.

We invited anyone who was interested in helping us manage this piece of land to come join us, and 50 people showed up. This was the beginning of our collaborative team which still meets three times a year. I would never go back to the old way of doing business. There are two other ranches that joined in this Holistic Management process and we now call ourselves 10

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Cottonwood Ranch in 1973, pre-Holistic Management. Lots of overgrazing and poor riparian area function. the Shoe-sole Resource Management Team. The Shoe-sole was the original brand that John Sparks brought from Texas, and all three of us have ranches and range that were all part of John Sparks’ territory.”

Their formation of this team effort was just after the Sagebrush Rebellion and there was a lot of animosity, and everyone was looking for answers. “Our County Commissioners paid for Tommie and Steve to facilitate this process on our ranch for three years,” says Agee. “We met with all the agencies. Various range people within the agencies had gone to this class, too, which helped. It was fortuitous that all of us were able to come together at that time.”

The BLM’s Helen Hankins was very willing to expand their horizons and try something new. “The Forest Service had Wave Stager--another lady just like Helen, so we started meeting,” says Agee. “One of the things Tommie said was that before we start doing anything, the BLM and USFS needed to give us total flexibility. We needed to have the ability to move cattle whenever they needed to be moved, and we also needed a lot more numbers, to have the proper impact on the land—probably triple the numbers we were running at that time.”

The BLM and USFS did a joint Environmental Assessment and in less than six months the ranch had the green light to go for it. “That was amazing; you could never get that accomplished today. This also taught me that where there is a will, there’s a way, and there was definitely a willingness on the part of the agencies to find answers. This was in 1995, so in 1996 we started on this experiment,” Agee says.

The riparian area in 2015 with continued increase in plant diversity and improved wildlife habitat.

potential. You need to get down on your hands and knees and look at “By that time, we had sold all our own cattle because of financial the ground and realize there is a whole multitude of ‘livestock’ under that issues, and were running cattle for other people. We talked to all the ground that we knew nothing about. I started going to various workshops, people we were running cattle for and they agreed to go along with this. and continued to learn more.”

We were actually able to go onto the Forest with other people’s cattle, Agee went to Dick Divens’ low-cost livestock classes and came away which has always been prohibited. We agreed to have a rider out there from that with new ideas. “We’d been calving late February-early March to try to keep the cattle where we wanted them, and have more control and in this country that’s still winter,” says Agee. “We’d been having over the grazing. In earlier years, before there were any fences, the cattle trouble with coyotes killing young calves, and one of the things scattered out and Dick promoted was working with Nature and calving later. I moved riders went out our calving all the way out until June, then realized that was a little there to move them too late for us. But calving in spring rather than winter solved our through the range.” predator problem.

But after “The last time we calved in March, we lost 11 out of the first 20 everyone had their calves to coyotes. After we changed to later calving, we haven’t lost own allotment any calves to coyotes.” and fences, no Agee also attended Ranching for Profit school and learned a one worried about lot about the financial end of things. “We are still struggling with the cattle totally that, but are much better off now than we were at that time. We leaving the country, eventually got our own cattle herd, and now my daughter and sonand most people in-law, Jason, own most of the cattle on the place,” he says. weren’t riding out “The latest thing we’ve been doing is learning more about soils. there very much We knew soil was important, but didn’t fully realize the extent of anymore. “After that it. We’ve been hard winter, people working with started putting Nicole Masters, a up hay to feed in soil scientist from winter,” says Agee.

New Zealand. It’s “Ranchers would been amazing brand the calves Nicole Masters with Agee Smith. to see what we and turn the cattle can do with soils, out in the spring and push them toward the high country and forget and grazing, and about them, while they spent two months haying. In the fall you’d go how it all ties pick up the yearlings to sell, and a bit later you’d gather everything together. Before to bring in for winter. There wasn’t much management going on, and this experiment cattle—being originally from Europe and a different climate—often happened, I was stayed down in the riparian areas where there was shade. Even ready to throw my though we are not a desert here, it can be hot; it’s high elevation and hands in the air and in the summertime the sun is intense. It was natural for the cattle to give up.” hang around those riparian areas and just hammer them.

“Tommie told us it would take us at least three years to have a clue The Next about what we were trying to do. I was thinking it wouldn’t take us that Generation long, because we’d been in the cattle business for many years. We Agee’s daughter, committed to having a rider out there to manage the grazing, and sure McKenzie, grew enough, it took us three years!” One of the challenges was training the Tools such as virtual fencing has allowed the Smith up on the ranch, cattle to use the uplands and stay out of the riparian areas, especially family to create more paddocks and control grazing. then she and when running cattle for other people. With new cattle each year, there her husband, Jason Molsbee, started ranching with her dad. “When we was no benefit from the previous year’s training! transitioned to Holistic Management it was almost a forced act at the time,” “Finding someone who was interested in doing the riding and being she says. a stockman, to herd the cattle and train them to use the uplands, was “It was my grandpa who went to the first Holistic Management class we difficult,” says Agee. “We had some good young cowboys who worked for were involved with, realizing we needed to do something different. That us, but they ended up mainly just riding the creeks to keep the cattle out. was about 24 years ago. Allan Savory came to Elko, so that’s where my They did push them into the far corners, however, and we did get a better dad and grandpa went, and after that they attended several other classes. utilization of the range. Just that alone helped a lot.

“Growing up, I was around this all the time, and attended several “One of the lightbulb moments in going to those classes was learning classes during those years. My dad and grandpa decided to put the ranch that cattle are definitely users of the land. They can be abusers of the into an experimental status to try to change some things. It was a leap land, but they can also enable us to rehabilitate the land and improve it, of faith, with the Forest Service and BLM, but everyone signed off on it, with proper grazing. This was a new concept for me. It started me down to put the ranch in experimental status with Holistic Management. Our this path. permitted numbers had been cut and cut and cut over the years, and this “I thought I knew this place; I’d been raised on it and knew where CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 everything is, on it. But I began to realize how little I knew it, or it’s N um ber 2 12

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was a way to improve management and increase our numbers again, with intensive grazing—moving them faster, with more numbers on the land to get the herd impact on the ground.

“We’d been cut down to about 300 head, and with this change we were able to jump it up to 800 head. We’ve developed our grazing plan that way, since then. We’ve had a lot more flexibility, and our BLM people here are fantastic to work with; we have a good group of people.

“We all get around the table and talk about issues. If anyone has concerns about the wildlife, we have wildlife biologists. They all help us make our grazing plan for the year and then we have a year-end meeting to go over what went bad and what went well. That’s how we develop our initial grazing plan.”

Virtual Fencing

Jason has also been involved in this planning process, working to match the ranch’s cattle management with the needs of the other stakeholders. “We set up our grazing plans and go to this team in the spring with our side of it—planning things around our time of use on various allotments and how much rest they’ve had, etc.,” says Jason.

“It also has to match our cattle management. For instance, if we’ll be branding, we want the cattle fairly close to the branding corrals that time of year. We go to the team with our plan for the year and everyone has some input. We can make changes if we need to, and go forward.

“We’ve used a lot of electric fences and there are miles of it on the BLM as well as our private ground. Historically we’ve had four different BLM allotments and now we have about 10 pastures. We can move the cattle frequently on our rangeland, to different pastures, and that’s how we became interested in using virtual fence.”

In the past few years, the cattle management and grazing has been augmented with use of virtual fences, to divide some of the large range pastures into smaller sections. Jason and McKenzie were part of an experiment using this type of invisible fence. “We heard about this technology about seven years ago, in one of our Holistic Management classes, and thought this might be a possibility someday,” Jason says.

Then Paul Meiman, Extension Specialist, Rangeland Livestock/Wildlife

Cottonwood Ranch runs their cattle in the winter with animals finding their feed through the snow while still maintaining good condition.

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Interactions, University of Nevada-Reno, led a research project on virtual fencing for a couple of ranches in Nevada. “He contacted us and asked if we were willing to give it a try,” says Jason. “It fits right in with the way the livestock are managed on this ranch. We have also subdivided a lot of our BLM pastures, making smaller pastures, to decrease the length of time the cattle are in any one piece.

“We were using electric fences and those can be a challenge to keep up with, so we decided to use virtual fence and GPS collars on the cows.

We put the collars on in June that first year—on some of our heifers and a few older cows with calves that we were running here at home on the meadows. We thought if we could develop the ability to manage them in an intensive grazing situation with high stock density, it would be even easier in larger outside pastures.”

The virtual fence utilizes transmitter towers. This technology includes a collar on the animal, containing a GPS chip, so you know exactly where that animal is. The collars are programmed to tell the animal where the “fence” line is that they are not supposed to cross. The towers provide communications to and from the collars on the cows and the internet.

Using GPS on the collars, the animals’ location can be verified and then controlled relative to the fence boundary—with a web-based application which enables the rancher to manage the system from a computer or phone.

The first year of their experiment, the Cottonwood Ranch also used virtual fence in one area of their BLM allotment, to test it in a riparian area that contained willows and sagebrush along a creek. “We were able to make our partitions with virtual fence, and move the cattle through that small BLM allotment,” says McKenzie. “We didn’t collar all our cattle, but we did the ones that were in the groups for these trials. Our BLM and Forest Service allotments are very large, with no permanent internal fences, and some of it is really rough country, so we planned to try some virtual fencing out there.”

The way virtual fence works is that the cattle hear a beep from the collar when they approach it, and if they don’t stop and turn away, they get a shock from the collar if they come closer to the virtual fence line.

The cattle learned quickly to respond to the collars. When the ranch was grazing cattle on their home pastures in earlier years with just a single poly wire electric fence, they respected that fence. The cattle already knew about electric fence, and quickly learned to associate the beep from the collar when they approached the virtual fence.

To train the cattle, the virtual fence was first placed a short distance out from a real fence. “They soon made the association between the beep and the real fence, and we just slowly moved the virtual fence farther away,” Jason says. Cattle don’t like to be shocked, and they respect any kind of electric fence if they are trained to it.

To use the virtual fence towers on the BLM and Forest Service allotments required special permits. This was a learning curve for the land agencies as well. It may take numerous towers in extensive rugged country. “When we did it here on our private ground it only took one tower,” says Jason. “Our meadows aren’t huge, but that one tower covered about 4,000 acres. The areas we were using on our home pastures and that one part of the BLM were all very easy to see from that one tower on our private ground, even though it wasn’t a great vantage point.

“If you could be choosy on putting towers up on certain points, they have a really long range. The cattle have to be in view of the towers, for that to work. It may not be practical in certain landscapes to have that many towers. To not see a certain cow for a day or two is not that big a deal in our world, however.”

In terms of planned grazing and moving from paddock to paddock,

once this is programmed into the collars (where the cattle are supposed to be, and the time they will be in a certain paddock), the cattle don’t need to be in sight of the tower anymore. “It’s only to get an update or a change in the virtual fence line. This all works off a satellite. If cows go down into the bottom of a big drainage in the mountains where they can’t see a tower, they are still within where the boundaries.”

When the virtual fence line is changed—to enable the cattle to move into the next area for grazing, this can all be done from a computer or smart phone. “You get it set up and dialed in, regarding the area you want them,” says Jason. “Whenever we put cattle into that riparian pasture in the past, we were always fighting them to try to minimize their use of the streambanks. With the virtual fence we created five different areas where they could go into the creek for water, and it changed weekly.

“The cattle moved around that pasture. We had those water gaps set up, and we could preprogram the next one. It was easy to just bump the cows across the old virtual fence line or just go over there with a truck and throw a salt block out, and they’d go right into the new area.”

It’s easy to do targeted grazing, to keep a lot of cows in one area to eat down some weeds or tall grass, or keep them out of a larkspur patch or riparian area. “We fight larkspur all the time, and have lost cattle in the past, so this will be a nice tool to keep them out of some of those areas,” Jason says.

Being able to divide large range pastures into smaller pieces can improve the pastures. Some of these allotments have multiple water sources. “We can set up more little pastures that all have water. “Instead of having eight paddocks on the BLM portion of the ranch, we can maybe have more, for better grazing control,” Jason says.

“On the Forest permit there are no fences and when the cattle get up there, they can go anywhere. Our time of use up there has always started in July, and that’s about when we turn bulls out. We’ve always struggled with that situation because when cows go into that Forest permit, they can’t wait to race to the top of the mountain.” They get spread out a long ways and it’s harder to get them all bred in a timely manner with the cows spread out.

“It would be different if they were short on water and had to stay in smaller areas near water, but there are springs all over that country,” says Jason. “We’d like to be able to keep them in smaller areas while they are being bred. We tried the virtual fence on a group of heifers out there and they were responsive to it. It takes a bit of training but they learn that when they hit that invisible boundary they have to turn around.”

In the beginning, some folks thought that it might not be necessary to collar the entire herd, but if some are not collared, or if some lose their collars, they go through the boundary, and the rest see them over there eating in a new pasture, and they all want to go through it.

Fall is a busy time with multiple ranch activities, and trying to gather cattle. “Having collars on cows up there on the range, to know where they are when we are trying to gather and bring them home, has been helpful.

Being able to pull up that data in the morning and know where they are, so we can go up in there with a crew of people to those locations, saves a lot of time. We were able to come out of there with our cattle as cleanly and quickly as we ever have, in terms of gathering off the Forest; it saved a lot of time,” Jason says.

“My wife went up there one year to find some yearlings. The collars were telling us where they were, and she was looking for them. She went up there and rode around and couldn’t find them, and then went back again one more time. She got off her horse and walked over to a high spot and looked down.

Those yearlings had gone down into a draw looking for water, and hadn’t come out. They were gaunt and looking like hell, and she had to go down in there and push them out. It really helps to know where to look,” he says.

Enterprises & Quality of Life

The ranch has been diversified for a long time as a guest ranch, with a recreation business for more than 60 years—hosting weddings, reunions, retreats, workshops, etc. People staying at the guest lodge have opportunity to fish, hike, mountain bike, bird watch, etc.

The Smith family have used a variety of techniques to move the cattle out of the riparian areas to utilize uplands and allow riparian areas to recover.

“We also have people staying here for hunting. In recent years we’ve slowed down on summer guests and leaned more toward just hosting events and schools instead of having people coming here all the time and wanting to go riding, etc.,” says Jason. “That took more of our time. Hunting has been a big part of the ranch business since Agee’s dad started it in 1952, with deer hunts. Agee did that part of it for many years, and I’ve been doing it for about 22 years.

“We watched the shift from hunting mule deer--when I started--to more interest in elk hunting. We spend a lot of time up there now helping people hunt elk. Everyone is busy in the fall, and I am usually slammed with the hunting from August to December.”

Making these shifts in the enterprise mix has meant that the management team at the Cottonwood Ranch can focus a little more on quality of life, reducing the number of individual customers and building a steady base of group and school events that take less time. Agee and the next generation have learned to change management practices and embrace new technology that reduces labor and stress for both humans and animals. This shift was the result of a courageous leap of faith in developing a management collaborative for their ranch that continues to this day, defying the age old assumption that agencies and other ranchers are unwilling to cooperate to meet larger goals. Having a Holistic Management foundation was critical to developing and maintaining that collaborative as well as working on the succession of the Cottonwood Ranch.

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to bear the burden of making all the business decisions alone. “To have your partner in life to be all in with the business is amazing. I’m a fortunate person,” says John.

There were lots of changes that happened after the Holistic Management training course. For one thing, the Chuikos stopped overgrazing. “When we started Holistic Planned Grazing, we decided to

BY ANN ADAMS move every day,” says John. “It was surprising how quick the animals got trained and onto the system. Moving cows is a fun thing for us and part of ohn & Deanne Chuiko own and operate CJ Ranching, a our quality of life which mentions having fun with animals every day.

4,200-acre (1,680-ha) cow/calf and long yearling operation “We started with a 90-day recovery and we saw all these new species near St. Walburg, Saskatchewan. In 2013 John was working that we never planted, because they got the opportunity to thrive. We as a welder for the oil and gas industry and they were living in refined our grazing and got more experience. We change the stock town. They had a small herd of cattle and some land, but it wasn’t until density depending on if we want brush control with 1 million pounds/ the oilpatch work slowed down in 2015 when they decided to take the acre (1.1 million kg/ha) or some other result. 200 years ago, this land was plunge and see if they could live off their ranching income instead. all forest and we have a lot of bush. We might move as little as once a John had been reading HMI Certified Educator Don Campbell’s week, or move up to five times/day on open ground. Luckily, all the land articles about Holistic Management in the Canadian Cattlemen’s is contiguous, but we have a highway splitting the property. With tame magazine. What Don wrote about spoke to John and when they pastures we might do something like 100,000 pounds/acre (113,398 kg/ha). were faced with the big decision to ranch fulltime, he thought that “Last year we had a lot of grass, but we chose not to do higher stock maybe Holistic Management would help them. They went to a Holistic density and went down to 40,000 pounds/acre (45,360 kg/ha). We are Management club meeting and really enjoyed talking to the other using these animals as tools to make the ecosystem better, so we adapt producers there who were such like-minded and positive people. John what we are doing. We use technology to help us as well like the Batt-latch, and Deanne then decided to go to the annual Holistic Management the PensAgro Solar Automatic Polywire Lifter, and Gallagher Turbowire. We Conference in Russell, Manitoba in 2013. use lots of dugouts for watering and have a lot of solar water systems. As On the 10-hour our herd got bigger, drive back from water became more Russell to their home, expensive and less John and Deanne reliable. We pump talked about what water into a bale tarp they had learned and held on a wood frame decided to take a and can store 65,000 Holistic Management liters (17,000 gallons), course from HMI costing us four cents/ Certified Educator liter or approximately Ralph Corcoran.

16 cents/gallon. We In that course they then use a gravity learned how to create feed system to get it a financial plan, which to other places on the they took to their ranch. We use lots banker who was very of alleyways to get to The Chuiko Family (from left to right): Matt, Deanne, John and Rylee. impressed by the our water and then Photo Credit: CJ Ranching detail and clarity. He we strip graze and asked them how much they wanted and they got the loan they needed the cows can go back to water. We make the alleys as narrow as possible to transition from off-farm income to full-time ranching with the purchase because they are sacrifice areas. of 200 cows. From there their net worth has continued to grow at a rate “Our recovery periods have lengthened some. We are always trying they are content with. to observe what happens with our management. If we want to stockpile forage, we need a 95-day recovery. By that time the alfalfa has gone to Increasing Forage 20% seed, and we notice that when cows are starting to calve in a stockpiled Another reason that the Chuikos have been able to transition to area the calves don’t get sick, so we want places with stockpile. We also full-time ranching is because Deanne is a full partner in the business. want our forestry lease (the bushy area), which is our drought insurance Before Holistic Management training, Deanne felt more like a helper. even if we can’t graze intensively there.

“I grew up in town, liked horses, fell in love with the farm boy and lived “We get 10–16 inches (250–400 mm) of rain and snow. With longer in our small community and commuted to work,” says Deanne. “But we recovery time we are able to cut back on our bare ground, but we still have had young children, Matt and Rylee, that I was taking care of. We’d take some challenge areas. We find that bale grazing really helps with those a camper trailer to get out on the land. But when we took the course, it areas as it kickstarts the biology. We can still see the results 10 years after gave me confidence in how to make these decisions and seeing how bale grazing if we manage it correctly. We have more grazing days than our decisions affected our land and I got excited. There is nothing better we’ve ever had, and we have confidence we are on the right track. We than moving cattle. I’m not scared to try to do things by myself now.” have 20% more grazing days now than we had in 2016, and we are leaving This shift has been important for John as well who doesn’t have a lot of extra forage (105,000 AD plus the additional stockpile).

CJ Ranching—

Transitioning Successfully to Full-time Ranching

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do buy some yearlings in, but we can’t put them into the EU market. We sell them in the sale barn or as bred heifers.

“When we first started Holistic Grazing Planning, we weren’t sure how much we would be able to expand the cow herd, but we keep having more forage. We’ve done custom grazing to help us get more animals until we could do the long yearlings which is more profitable. But, custom grazing rates are going up so we might need to look at that decision again. We Profit Not Production made our long yearling decision five years ago. But, when you get custom The Holistic Management principle of focusing on profit not production animals, it’s got to be the perfect partnership. We want less herds because hit home with the Chuikos during their training. While they have increased that means less work. We also want to have the same breeding times so forage production, they have also taken steps to maximize the value of we can run the bulls together. We purchase about 100-150 yearlings/year their cattle through various certifications. CJ Ranching is VBP+ Certified depending on the grass we have. We have well over 1,000 animals to (Verified Beef Program Plus), manage during the summer. and they market their yearlings “We run a yearling herd and through the European Union (EU) cow/calf herd separately, but when in both their Natural and Grassfed it was dry, we were able to run programs. The VBP+ program them all together as one herd. aligns with the stewardship Given our water system we had practices of the Canadian Food some challenges with watering.

Inspection Agency and seemed a Our reservoir got us through, but natural way for the Chuikos to gain we had to get to the water by 10 more value for their animals. am to make sure everything was “We started in that program in working. We saw that the yearling 2018 when the auditor came out,” weights were lower because of the says John. “The program wasn’t competition for water. a big jump for us because of our “We market the yearlings production practices. We had to around the end of September and have better medical treatment into October. We really see the records and keeping track of gains into October after the first The Chuiko family allow Nature to select their cow herd by seeing which shipping, but the management frost when the grass dries out and ones perform well in their environment. Photo Credit: CJ Ranching hasn’t been a big thing. It is good before the snows fly. We start in to learn about these things and get better at keeping records. The EU is the spring with our marketing calls to make our marketing plans of selling quite stringent and our RFID technology has to be right. The yearlings we 800-pound (363-kg) steers by mid-October.” sell to the EU program definitely get a premium.

The Chuikos continue to refine the financial plan they developed in 2015 “The VBP+ also had some funding for infrastructure investment. that enabled them to borrow the money they needed to get their business Working with this program felt like we were looking at the future as we to the next level. “Holistic Management has given us peace of mind,” says could see more people getting on the bandwagon. We thought this John. “Because we track our actuals, we can look back and see how our program might possibly become mandatory, so we thought we would net worth is growing. It allowed us to consider decisions like borrowing get into it now since it’s so easy, and easy money right now as well. We $300,000 for purchasing yearlings without having a panic attack.” figured we would look at the writing on the wall and be an early adopter-get used to it and get comfortable with it. We haven’t used it for marketing Focusing on Quality of Life The ability for the Chuikos to take their business to the next level was in any other way. We also found a buyer for a natural wholesaler for some higher end sales in eastern Canada and we do some grassfed retail sales not only the grazing and financial planning, but their ability to work through some of the people stuff that can shut down businesses more quickly than on our own. a negative bank account or a drought. Having a holistic goal to help them “Right now, we are running 150–200 yearlings. If we have to treat any with that piece was key. “The holistic goal helped with communication with antibiotics they fall out of the program and we sell them at the sale and patience,” says John. “You are talking to a guy from the oil patch who barn or sell heifers. We have grass genetics so our animals are a niche thinks you are not supposed to talk about your feelings. It was foreign to product requiring very low input. People are definitely interested in these me at first. I originally was interested in Holistic Management because of heifers. We let Nature tell us which heifers work the best, so all heifers the grazing. But, then we started to use it and I saw the value. When I get are exposed to the bull for 30 days. If they can work in that program, we stressed, I go back to our holistic goal and remember what is important to keep them and everything else is sold (usually 30%–40%). us and it helps us make decisions.”

“We don’t want them all pregnant. We want the most fertile animals “I struggled with it as well,” says Deanne. “The exercises they had us because that will help us later on. The vet saw the 70% open when he do during the training helped us. It also helped when we had Kelly Sidoryk came and felt bad for us, but we want the cream of crop. If you have a (HMI Certified Educator) facilitating our conversation. We talked about 50–60% conception rate, you are feeding too much. Feed was cheap in what we wanted our lives to look like in five years. Our communication is the past, but not now. Typically, we have a black Angus cow with some definitely better. We have two very different processes when we take on a Simental that weighs about 1,200 pounds (544 kg). We are looking for task, whether it is moving cows or something else. Holistic Management cows with short legs and lots of middle like Johan Bosma talks about.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 Right now, the cow herd size is 370 mother cows plus the yearlings. We

“We’re also just starting a trial on using virtual fencing on our forestry lease, to see if we can manage the cattle without a fence. We get a certain number of AUMs for that lease which goes from May 15th to October 15th.

We are partnering with the Saskatchewan government and the Stock Growers on a two-year trial. We will put the collars on 200 cows and see if we can manage them.”

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CJ Ranching

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helped us by having the joint holistic goal to help us work through our disagreements, because we know what our end goal is. We can acknowledge and recognize those values in each other. It helps us with getting through those periods of conflict, and we can verbalize what we were thinking and get past it.”

This joint focus on the desired outcomes for the Chuiko family as well as the viability of CJ Ranching means that John and Deanne can make decisions together on anything from how much John might work off-farm (with Deanne clear about what she can handle and what she needs help with) to whether to invest in more permanent fencing (currently they have

PROGRAM ROUND UP Grassfed Ranching in the American West Workshop in Colorado

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n June 2023 George Whitten and Julie Sullivan hosted a two-day HMI workshop at their remarkable San Juan Ranch in Southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley. Along with their former apprentices, now partners in business, Sam and Noelle, the team shared their story of discovering Holistic Management’s unique insights into working with nature. George explained how the history of water access has shaped the community, the landscape and the current water use practices.

George and Julie are combining what others would interpret as extreme challenges, and using those traits; dry alpine, arid, irrigated, saline, low yielding forage, and turning those attributes into a profitable operation.

Their business success has come from trial and error. But it has also come from observation and interpretation George Whitten discussing San Juan Ranch of how nature practices with workshop participants. functions.

Holistic Management helped George discover and perfect his unique operation’s approach. Their story is a combination of grit, ingenuity, adaptability and a deep connection and commitment to their community.

The San Juan Ranch team’s production strategy stands out because of their use of stored hay in stacked piles that cure and retain its feed quality in the winter. It is the ranch’s high elevation and dry environment that allows them to successfully cure hay in this low-cost way—by cutting hay, then dumping it in low, mini stacks to cure.

All summer, the cows graze BLM allotments, returning to the ranch in winter to use the flood irrigated meadows that have been

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put in over nine miles/14.5 km) so they can reduce the amount of labor on fence moving.

“We used to move fence five times a day with our 800 + temporary paddocks,” says John. “We are trying to cut down on labor. We know it is faster on the quad, but part of our quality of life is that we want to do things with horses. So, we may put up temporary fencing for three or four paddocks with the quad and then when those are done, we tear them down with the horses. That’s the quality of life piece. We need to delve more into the tool of human creativity and not just go with the easiest or cheapest way to do something. We also try to think about the complexity of Nature.

Like we never hit a paddock the same time of year, or we change up the stock density on that paddock. Human creativity is a muscle you have to exercise and adapt to change.” inexpensively hayed. They allocate each hay stack to the cows using electric fencing. By observing then utilizing the unique features of their high-altitude environment, San Juan Ranch runs a super effective, lowcost hay model that enables them to provide high quality forage to the cow herd at low cost, with minimal effort. They keep the mineral cycle very rapid. Their model is labor efficient, and a high return on time, while keeping the forage accessible, low waste and at high quality.

Wayne Knight, HMI Certified Educator and Executive Director, used stories from his ranching days in South Africa to explain the importance of managing for what we want, instead of approaching problem solving from a perspective of symptom treatment. He used the Financial Weak Link decision testing question to show how investing where the chain of production is weakest strengthens overall business strength and channels investments to where they will have the best/biggest impact.

Participants then practiced forage assessment in the field using the STAC method to estimate available forage. Wayne went through a case study of determining “whole property available forage”, then walked participants through the process of determining forage yield relative to animal requirements over a prudent time allocation. Destocking plans relative to a conservative arrival of new growth in the growing season were discussed. The case study showed how to match available forage to herd needs, thus illuminating the risk and stress of a mismatch and the high costs of hay feeding if the rancher still had too many animals at the end of the growing season.

Julie and George are connected to the regenerative ag community through their hosting and mentorship of interns in their operation.

This deep commitment to the land and community means they are empowering and nurturing the next generation of land stewards. The group engaged in open and vulnerable discussions woven throughout the day about their perspectives and experiences of bringing younger generations into the ranching fold, particularly where the owner/ operators’ children have not been involved in the business. Winwin scenarios and sufficient security for all parties, as the younger generation gain skills, accept risk and make mistakes/learn in an everadapting environment were discussed. Julie shared their commitment to learning and practicing the communication skills necessary to create realistic expectations for all parties involved while using the Holistic Goal to help guide these conversations.

It was an inspirational two days with a group of 24 attendees from Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas.

Thank you to our funders Martha Records & Richard Rainaldi for making this workshop possible!

NCAT/SSARE Collaboration in Arkansas and Mississippi

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n the heartland of America, a diverse group of farmers, ranchers, and professionals are part of Holistic Management International's Regenerative Agriculture Mentoring Program (RAMP) group. Led by an HMI Certified Educator, this program represents a collaboration between multiple organizations, in multiple states made possible through the support of a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) grant, with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) playing a pivotal role.

The program's key learning outcomes are shaping participants' perspectives on Kristen Efurd and Nene Hammer agriculture and Safe to Fail Trial in Arkansas. land management.

Creating a Holistic Goal is a fundamental pillar of the journey, and participants appreciate creating clear goals, identifying their values, and making value-based decisions. The Dr. Lela Rios Reyes (Mississippi State holistic decisionUniversity), Felicia Bell (NCAT), and Fulton making approach McField Jr with a creative Safe to Fail Trial with embraces goats in Arkansas. complexity and sustainability, enabling participants to prioritize long-term environmental, social, and economic health.

In order to aid farmers in the regeneration of their land, a Safe to Fail trial area has been implemented. This area utilizes grazing practices that emulate the historical density and behavior of buffalo herds.

Through careful monitoring and maintenance of the land, it is ensured that productivity is sustained for the benefit of future generations.

It's truly amazing how the program's success can be attributed in part to the valuable contributions of peer mentorship and collaborative efforts. When diverse participants from varying backgrounds come together, they share their unique experiences and knowledge, which ultimately fosters a deep sense of community and mutual support.

It's so inspiring to see how these individuals rise above geographical barriers and organizational affiliations to become exceptional stewards of the land.

As the program progresses, participants will explore Holistic Financial Planning. Understanding the financial aspects of regenerative

agriculture is essential to ensuring its long-term sustainability.

Participants aim to balance financial viability and ecological health, ensuring profitability without compromising their commitment to holistic principles and quality of life.

The program includes enterprise analysis to optimize the productivity and impact of farming and ranching ventures. Identifying weak links allows for addressing potential inefficiencies and areas for improvement.

Participants share results and brainstorm solutions with peers.

16 participants from the program manage 1,750 acres, but influence over 30 million acres. 82% increased their knowledge of Holistic Management and 100% said they would recommend this course to others.

Thanks to the USDA Southern SARE and NCAT for their support and collaboration in this program.

Greenacres Farm Collaboration in Ohio

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n June 30th Greenacres Foundation and HMI collaborated to present a workshop on “Making Money Using Holistic Management.” 24 people from 6 states met at the Greenacres Art Center outside Cincinnati, Ohio on a beautiful summer morning. Participants manage or influence a total of 113,587 acres of land.

Presenting were Michael Cox, Greenacres Education Director, Larry Dyer HMI Certified Educator, and Wayne Knight Certified Educator Michael Cox sharing about Greenacres Farm and Executive grazing strategy.

Director of HMI. The morning discussions focused on pasture production, making the most out of forage by giving adequate, but not too little or too much recovery time for plants and the challenges of balancing quality of forage versus forage quality, and how the midsummer slump in the tall fescue belt requires a plan to cope with the variability in growth and animal nutrition requirements.

Michael explained how Greenacres uses a “pasture wedge“ to monitor growth rate and animal forage utilization. Wayne gave a brief overview of how a Holistic Grazing Plan can help determine when the planned grazing moves deviate from the actual grazing moves and, how the plan can lead managers to adjusting the plan to accommodate the variations, but not lose track of the 3 parallel goals of maximizing forage quality for animal performance while managing forage proactively to avoid overstocking and overgrazing.

Michael discussed how Greenacres manages the mid-summer forage slump, and his recommendation of allocating about 15% of the property for native warm-season bunch grasses to make up for the production slump when the dominant cool season grasses lose their edge during the hot, dry summer months.

Wayne pointed out that the Tri-State ecosystem had evolved with huge numbers of grazing ungulates, more numerous than the CONTINUED ON ON PAGE PAGE 18 18 CONTINUED

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Program Round Up

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modern mind can imagine, and that is the dynamic under which these environments evolved. This inter-relationship between ungulates, their predators, and soil microbes interacted to keep ecosystem function functioning at a high level.

Any management of animals and native grasses should keep these interactions in mind and mimic these natural cycles and interactions as closely as possible. Most cool season management strategies conclude that 15 to 20-day recovery periods between grazing events is ideal. However, these short recoveries would lead to the annihilation of most warm season bunch grasses. Since we operate our business in complex, dynamic ecosystems, our management should clearly define the outcomes we want and adapt and alter management to achieve the desired outcomes using depth of graze (the proportion of available forage utilized in a single pass by grazers, the animal density (lbs/ acre) and the trajectory of ecosystem health (water cycle, mineral cycle, energy capture and overall diversity of plants, insects and animals).

Larry spoke of the need to trial management practices in a “safe-tofail way.

Before lunch participants were introduced to forage assessment on a stock days per acre basis and encouraged to work through a case study on using the STAC method to determine a hypothetical ranch’s total forage yield. The case study then steps the attendees through working out animal nutritional needs over a dormant season and how to match animal numbers with available forage over a timeline appropriate to dry or dormant periods. In this way attendees were able to use the STAC method to determine forage and walk through the steps to determine how many animals would need to be sold or bought to make use of available forage over a seasonal planning horizon specific to their region.

After lunch Larry introduced the group to Holistic Decision-making using a case study. With all significant management decisions guided toward a Holistic Context or Goal, the manager is encouraged to determine which of a set of actions is most appropriate to the issues, challenges, or desired outcomes being considered. Larry did a great job of introducing and challenging participants to consider the desired outcome and the options available to the case study.

100% of participants rated the workshop good or excellent. Everyone would recommend the workshop to other participants. Participants particularly enjoyed the concepts of planning on monitoring to ensure outcomes are being achieved. Many appreciated the ability to reduce costs by matching animal numbers with available forage using STAC. Also mentioned was the importance of managing utilization of forage and balancing that against animal performance, not just grazing for a targeted percentage of forage utilization.

Thank you to the L&L Nippert Foundation for their support of this program and to the Greenacres Foundation for this opportunity to collaborate on the workshop!

NM Grazethon At El Sueno Ranch

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n July 22, 2023 11 participants joined in a Grazing Planning Field Day on the El Sueno Ranch near Clines Corner, New Mexico. The event was co-sponsored by the NM State Land Office, Seeding Regenerative Agriculture (SRA) Project, the

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NM Healthy Soil Working Group, and Holistic Management International.

The 10,00-acre El Sueno Ranch is owned by Albert Lowry and managed by Chuck Kuchta and is comprised of deeded land and state land lease. The focus of the day was to provide participants with a reallife example of how Holistic Grazing Planning is done at the El Sueno Ranch on both their deeded and leased lands as well as discussions of infrastructure build out that has assisted the ability to manage cattle to address production needs and conservation goals.

Additionally, HMI Certified Educator Ann Adams led participants in experiential activities using the simple STAC method of forage assessment as well as HMI’s bunchgrass monitoring protocol as a simple way to track trends like plant spacing, litter cover, and health of perennial grasses as key indicators of rangeland health. Participants were excited about these techniques to better read ecosystem function and available forage for livestock and wildlife.

Ranch manager Chuck Kuchta led a ranch tour on parts of the property to explain some of the various soil health efforts that had been made like a Keyline design experiment with Gorden Tooley and placement of rolling HMI Certified Educator Ann Adams explaining dips on ranch the distinction between different forage roads. He also assessment readings using the STAC method. explained how he Photo Credit: Isabelle Jenniches had originally been against using high tensile electric fence but after using it he couldn’t go back to barbed wire fencing because of the ease of putting up electric fence and the lower cost of materials (as much as a 30% decrease in material costs). He likes how it is super easy to repair if the elk take it down and how friendly it is for game, like antelope to get through.

In the afternoon, a discussion on how to integrate the information about the ranch the participants had learned could be used to develop a simple grazing plan. Chuck showed his Holistic Grazing Plan Chart and explained how he used it for planning and to record actual forage grazed and grazing management of the herd as well as rainfall received and other critical information like where antelope give birth on the ranch or nesting areas so he can manage the cattle to avoid these spots at certain times of the year.

Ann then spent some time using the forage assessment figures from different pastures on the El Sueno Ranch pasture map helped Chuck and Albert to focus on the areas of the ranch that would provide the greatest return on investment from increased fencing and water points to improve stock density and grazing utilization as well as increase recovery periods.

Isabelle Jenniches from the NM Healthy Soil Working Group talked about potential grants that the NM Department of Agriculture has for experimenting with soil health practices and Megan Boatright from the NM State Land Office talked about some of the requirements that are part of a State Land lease.

Thanks to the host, all the collaborators, and participants for making CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 this event so successful.

GRAPEVINE The

Tribe). He was also a founding member of the New Mexico Riparian Council; a past member of the Users Advisory Board to the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture; and a member of the National Commission on Wildfire. Sid earned an M.S. in Range Science and a B. S. in Animal Science from Texas A & M University.

Sid was awarded the 2022 NM Leopold Conservation Award for his stewardship work as well as the 1999 New Mexico Watershed Steward of the Year.

Sid wrote in an article for HMI’s publication: “My relationship with Holistic Management started after I had spent 10 years on a small abused ranch that I hadn’t begun to pay off. Perhaps if I had understood Holistic Management things might have been different, but in the 50’s and 60’s cattle prices and weather were anything but favorable… I returned to Carrizo Valley Ranch in 1969 and immediately began to divide paddocks, not using the cell approach, but by topography and water availability. I used suspension fences patterned after the ones I had seen in Rhodesia, and in a few months’ time, had at least a start on this revolutionary grazing method… My primary production goal was to grow as much grass as the rain would allow and control erosion. This led to the realization that there were too many invading trees that were not only suppressing grass growth, but causing sheet and gulley erosion. It has taken 50 years to achieve that objective or goal and now we are able to keep much of the rain that falls on the ranch—on the ranch!... Our future resource base description describes us as being good land stewards, and over the years I have found that it requires at least five principles: 1. Know the history and climax condition of your ecosystems 2. Manage {those ecosystems} in a holistic manner—taking into consideration all parts as you plan for a profitable enterprise ( in our case, livestock, wildlife, aesthetics and recreation) 3. Move animals—Short Duration Grazing, Savory Grazing Method, Planned Grazing—whatever you do—avoid continuous grazing 4. Monitor your land use and be flexible enough to change direction and re-plan 5. Share your experience with others (workshops & tours)” Sid followed those five principles and continued to share his knowledge and experience generously throughout his life.

HMI offers are our condolences to Cheryl and the rest of the Goodloe family and are grateful for Sid and his passion for land stewardship and conservation ranching.

people programs projects

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HMI’s Newest Certified Educator

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MI is excited to announce our newest Certified Educator, Glenn Boyd, who works in both Ireland and Saudi Arabia.

Glenn joined HMI’s Certified Educator Training Program in 2019 after completing HMI’s 1-on-1 Distance Learning Program.

Glenn has practical knowledge and experience as a farmer working in a wide range of Glenn Boyd environmental conditions from Ireland, France and Australia to the extreme deserts of Saudi Arabia and MENA. In Saudi Arabia he worked on four dairy farms including managing an embryo transfer project, with one such farm milking 24,000 cows, with 19,500 young stock and staff of 690. Due to the large number of staff from many different countries, Glenn had to make sure there was good communication channels and to develop a sense of community. He encouraged individuals to take on greater responsibilities, instilling in them the confidence to learn more and make decisions for themselves, whilst bringing their team members along with them.

Glenn’s experience as a Holistic Management® consultant includes communal settings in Africa, small diversified farms in Ireland, commercial farms focused on develop ing permaculture approaches on pivots in Saudi Arabia and the development of pilot farm projects in Iraq and Ghana.

Congratulations, Glenn!

HMI is Hiring!

HMI is looking for a Program and Outreach Manager to support our growing suite of programs. You can learn more about the position and how to apply at: https://https://holisticmanagement.org/featured-blog-posts/ were-hiring/.

In Memoriam It is with great sadness that HMI learned about the passing of Sid Goodloe on August 1, 2023. Sid and his wife, Cheryl, have been owneroperators of the 3,500-acre Carrizo Valley Ranch near Capitan, New Mexico and were some of the first Holistic Management practitioners in the state. They also founded the Sid Goodloe Southern Rockies Agricultural Land Trust. Sid was a Board member of the Quivira Coalition and of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and served as an international livestock consultant in numerous areas (Australia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Madagascar, Iran, and Dominican Republic as well as the Ute

Birdwell-Clark Ranch in Texas Now Hiring!

The award-winning Birdwell & Clark Ranch in Henrietta, Texas is looking towards the future and hiring a long-term Assistant Ranch Manager—to develop a new generation of talent willing to learn, adopt and further implement regenerative ranching principles and practices. The Assistant Ranch Manager will work directly with the ranch owners with an open mind towards new methods in cattle handling, grazing management, soil and forage resiliency, profitability and production, and the worth of individual contribution and well-being. Experience working with stocker cattle, managing personnel, and executing high density grazing plans are highly valued attributes of applicants. Position is immediately available.

Visit HMI’s Blog for more details about the position and how to apply.

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Certified

Educators

NEBRASKA

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.

Joshua Dukart

Ralph Tate

Randal Holmquist

Hastings 402/463-8507 • 402/705-1241 (c) pswanson3@unl.edu Papillion 402/250-8981 (c) tateralph74@gmail.com NEW HAMPSHIRE

Seth Wilner

Newport 603-543-7169 (w) • seth.wilner@unh.edu

U N I T E D S TAT E S

NEW MEXICO

Ann Adams ARIZONA

Tim McGaffic

Christine C. Jost

Silver Springs 773/706-2705 christinejost42@gmail.com

Cave Creek 808/936-5749 tim@timmcgaffic.com

Lee Altier

MARYLAND

CALIFORNIA

College of Agriculture, CSU Chico 530/636-2525 • laltier@csuchico.edu

Owen Hablutzel

MICHIGAN

Larry Dyer

Petoskey 231/881-2784 (c) dyer3913@gmail.com MISSISSIPPI

Preston Sullivan

Los Angeles 310/567-6862 go2owen@gmail.com

Meadville 601/384-5310 (h) preston.sullivan@hughes.net

Richard King

Petaluma 707/217-2308 (c) rking1675@gmail.com

MONTANA

Roland Kroos (retired)

Doniga Markegard

Half Moon Bay 650/670-7984 doniga@markegardfamily.com

Kelly Mulville

Paicines 707/431-8060 kmulville@gmail.com

Bozeman 406/581-3038 (c) kroosing@msn.com

Cliff Montagne

Montana State University Bozeman 406/599-7755 (c) montagne@montana.edu

Don Nelson

Red Bluff 208/301-5066 nelson-don1@hotmail.com

Rob Rutherford

San Luis Obispo 805/550-4858 (c) robtrutherford@gmail.com COLORADO

Joel Benson

Buena Vista 719/221-1547 joel@paratuinstitute.com

Coolatai, NSW 61-409-151-969 judi_earl@bigpond.com

Graeme Hand

Mt Coolum, QLD 61-4-1853-2130 graemehand9@gmail.com

Mt. Pleasant, SA 61-4-2906-9001 dick@naturesequity.com.au

Dolores 808/936-5749 tim@timmcgaffic.com IDAHO

Angela Boudro

Bonners Ferry 541/890-4014 kregandangie@hotmail.com KANSAS

Winfield 316/322-0536 linda@gtpresourcemanagement.com

20 IN PRACTICE

AUSTRALIA

Dick Richardson

Tim McGaffic

Linda Pechin-Long

Judi Earl

Warwick, QLD 61-4-1878-5285 hello@decisiondesignhub.com.au

Dolores 970/739-2445 cadwnc@gmail.com

Holistic Management International Albuquerque 505/842-5252 ext 5 anna@holisticmanagement.org

Kirk Gadzia

Bernalillo 505/263-8677 (c) • kirk@rmsgadzia.com

Jeff Goebel

Belen • 541/610-7084 goebel@aboutlistening.com NEW YORK

Erica Frenay

Hazen 701/870-1184 • joshua_dukart@yahoo.com SOUTH DAKOTA

Mitchell 605/730-0550 • randy@heartlandtanks.com

Deborah Clark

TEXAS

Henrietta 940/328-5542 deborah@birdwellandclarkranch.com

Kathy Frisch

214/417-6583 • kathytx@pm.me

Guy Glosson

Snyder 806/470-6857 • glosson@caprock-spur.com

Wayne Knight

Holistic Management International Van Alstyne 940/626-9820 waynek@holisticmanagement.org

Tracy Litle

Orange Grove 361/537-3417 (c) • tjlitle@hotmail.com

Brooktondale 607/342-3771 info@shelterbeltfarm.com

Peggy Maddox

Craig Leggett

Christine Martin

Chester 518/275-5484 • craigrleggett@gmail.com

Elizabeth Marks

Chatham 518/567-9476 (c) elizabeth_marks@hotmail.com

Phillip Metzger

Norwich 607/316-4182 pmetzger17@gmail.com

Hermleigh 325/226-3042 (c) • peggy@kidsontheland.org Oakwood 936/245-9505 • christine@theregenranch.com VERMONT

John Thurgood

Stowe (1/2 year in Oneonta NY) 802/760-7799 • thurgood246@gmail.com WISCONSIN

Laura Paine

Columbus 608/338-9039 (c) • lkpaine@gmail.com

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Helen Lewis

Cindy Dvergsten

NORTH DAKOTA

Paul Swanson

Ralph Corcoran

Langbank, SK 306/434-9772 rlcorcoran@sasktel.net

Blain Hjertaas

Redvers, SK 306/452-7723 • bhjer@sasktel.net

Noel McNaughton

John King

Ponoka, AB 403/783-6518 • lucends@cciwireless.ca Edmonton, AB 780/432-5492 • noel@mcnaughton.ca

Tony McQuail

Lucknow, ON 519/440-2511 • tonymcquail@gmail.com

Brian Wehlburg

Tuomas Mattila

CANADA

Don Campbell

Meadow Lake, SK 306/236-6088 • doncampbell@sasktel.net

h November / December 2023

Wiebke Volkmann Windhoek 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@afol.com.na

Kelly Sidoryk

Mid North Coast, NSW 61-0408-704-431 brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au

Windhoek 264-812840426 kandjiiu@gmail.com

Brian Luce

Jason Virtue

Cooran QLD 61-4-27 199 766 jason@spiderweb.com.au

NAMIBIA

Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii

Blackroot, AB 780/872-2585 (c) • kelly.sidoryk@gmail.com FINLAND

Pusula 358-407432412 tuomas.j.mattila@gmail.com

Philipp Mayer

Pirkanmaa 358-409306406 mayer_philipp@gmx.at

NEW ZEALAND

Christchurch 64-276-737-885 john@succession.co.nz SAUDIA ARABIA/IRELAND

Glenn Boyd

00966509801925 00353877922649 glennwboyd@gmail.com SOUTH AFRICA

Jozua Lambrechts

Somerset West, Western Cape +27-83-310-1940 jozua@websurf.co.za

Ian Mitchell-Innes

Ladysmith, Kwa-Zulu Natal +27-83-262-9030 ian@mitchell-innes.co.za

Training Events Scholarship funding support for HMI programs comes from the L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation.

HMI’s Online Courses

Live, Interactive Learning from Anywhere in the World

Holistic Financial Planning - Oct 17 - Nov 21, 2023 Holistic Management® Foundation - Jan 10 - Feb 21, 2024 Holistic Grazing Planning - Jan 23 - Mar 5, 2024 Holistic Cropping Planning - Coming Soon in 2024 More details at www.holisticmanagement.org/training-programs.

Ranching to Improve Land Resiliency and Increase Profits: 2-Day Workshop

October 17-18, 2023 at Brett Gray Ranch – Rush, Colorado Learn from one of Colorado’s most successful ranchers, Louis Martin, who has achieved on the Brett Gray Ranch: • 12 additional desired grass species that help mitigate drought risk • 70% bare ground to 70% covered ground on state trust land • improved stocking rate from 400 AU’s to 800 AU’s (in only 2 years) More details at www.holisticmanagement.org/brettgray2day.

Ranching for Resilience

Linking Management Practices to Soil and Rangeland Health October 21, 2023 at Dixon Water Foundation’s Josey Pavilion at the Leo Ranch, Decatur, Texas Join us at the award-winning Leo Ranch and observe first-hand the differences between set stocking grazing versus Holistic planned grazing on the land and participate in hands-on practical activities to help your ranchland and business become more resilient!

More details at www.holisticmanagement.org/dixon23/.

REGENERATE Conference Microbes * Markets * Climate

November 1-3, 2023 at the Santa Fe Convention Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico Holistic Management International, Quivira Coalition, and the American Grassfed Association invite you to explore regenerative agriculture at every scale - from microbial soil communities, to social relationships and markets, to our changing climate, and everything in between.

Join us for the conference, workshops, and special events!

More details at www.regenerateconference.com.

Num ber 2 12

h IN PRACTICE 21

THE MARKETPLACE

Larry Larry Dyer Dyer

Ecological

Ecological Agriculture Agriculture Consulting Consulting

Graeme Hand

Helping Helpingfarms farmsand andcommunities communities through the holistic lens of through the holistic an ecologist

Certified Educator

lens of an ecologist

• We make sure you can adopt Holistic Management by focusing on your barriers to adoption • Enterprise re-design to lower risks and expenses while reducing your workload • Systematic process to determine recovery and animal impact on your land • Clear, unambiguous, proven definition of perennial grass recovery that increases ecosystem function • Early warning indicators of animal & land performance • Including Multi Species/ Cocktail Cover Cropping in your grazing plan • Our training uses the latest research on reducing barriers to adoption (www.CBSM.com) to increase your success

• Educational Programs • • Educational Group ProcessPrograms Facilitation • • Group Group and Individual Consultation Process Facilitation

• Group and Individual Consultation Specializing in:

• Organic vegetable production in: • Specializing Season extension vegetable production • • Organic Passive solar greenhouse management extension • • Season Local food systems • • Passive Whole Farm with Holistic solarPlanning greenhouse management ® Management • Local food systems • Whole Farm Planning with Holistic

1113 Klondike Ave. ® Management

Petoskey, MI 49770

Mobile: +61418532130 Email: graemehand9@gmail.com www.handfortheland.com Mt Coolum, QLD

Resource Management Services, LLC

1113 Klondike Ave., Petoskey, MI 49770 231-347-7162 • 231-881-2784 231-347-7162 • 231-881-2784 (cell) (cell) ldyer3913@gmail.com ldyer3913@gmail.com

CORRAL DESIGNS

Kirk L. Gadzia, Certified Educator PO Box 1100 Bernalillo, NM 87004 505-263-8677 kirk@rmsgadzia.com www.rmsgadzia.com

How can Kirk help you?

On-Site Consulting:

All aspects of holistic management, including financial, ecological and human resources.

Ongoing Support:

Follow-up training sessions and access to continued learning opportunities and developments.

Property Assessment:

Land health and productivity assessment with recommended solutions.

Pasture Scene Investigation

22 IN PRACTICE

Cindy Dvergsten

HMI Certified Educator Customized training in all aspects of Holistic Management  Farm & Ranch Management  Holistic Financial Planning  Soil Health / Biological Monitoring  Business Planning and Marketing

By World Famous Dr. Grandin Originator of Curved Ranch Corrals The wide curved Lane makes filling the crowding tub easy.

Includes detailed drawings for loading ramp, V chute, round crowd pen, dip vat, gates and hinges. Plus cell center layouts and layouts compatible with electronic sorting systems. Articles on cattle behavior. 27 corral layouts. $55.

Low Stress Cattle Handling Video $59.

Send checks/money order to:

GRANDIN LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS

2918 Silver Plume Dr., Unit C-3 Fort Collins, CO 80526

970/229-0703 • www.grandin.com

h November / December 2023

 Holistic Grazing Planning & Mgt.

I work over the phone & internet as well as in person. My clients include family farms & ranches, small businesses, non-profits and government agencies.

Contact me to discover how you may benefit from my life-long farming experiences, 25 years as a Holistic Management Educator and professional work in natural resources & small business.

Whole New Concepts llc Training & Development for Todays World

970-739-2445 cadwnc@gmail.com WWW.wholenewconcepts.com

THE MARKETPLACE

Dick Richardson GRAZING MAMAGEMENT SPECIALIST

LEARN ONLINE WITH ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING EDUCATOR’S IN GRAZING MANAGENENT WHAT WILL YOU GET ?

MORE GRASS & BIODIVERSITY BETTER QUALITY GRASS & PASTURES RUN MORE LIVESTOCK AND MUCH MORE….

The results I have seen from Dick’s teachings are astounding.

Tim Whelan, Bumbleginny Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia

DO WHAT MANY HAVE ALREADY DONE WITH HUGE SUCESS Website: naturesequity.com.au Email: info@naturesequity.com.au

ral KINSEY Agricultu

Services, Inc.

e Worlders th d n u ro A y it il ert grow Increasing Soil F ars of field experience. Working with ing e world, balanc ore than 40 ye countries around th Benefit from our m 75 an th e or m d an es and pasture. in all 50 U.S. Stat obtain quality crop to il so e th ng ni ai and maint

For consulting or educational services contact:

Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc. Charleston, Missouri 63834

Ph: 573/683-3880, Fax: 573/683-6227 www.kinseyag.com • info@kinseyag.com

Advanced I Soil Fertility Workshop for Farmers and Growers December 12-14, 2023 — Berlin, Ohio Sponsored by Green Field Farms 100 soil samples from actual farms, orchards, greenhouses and truck farms will be used to explain and demonstrate soil needs and the proper materials to use.

Day #1 The ideal soil and why so. Considering good, bad and problem soils. Using manure and compost most effectively. Soil nitrogen, humus and sulfur use.

Day #2 Phosphate, potassium and sodium needs for soils and crops. Determining soil needs and correct materials for boron, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, molybdenum and cobalt.

Day #3 Soil pH, Liming needs, calcium and magnesium values, evaluating liming materials, and dealing with excessive levels of sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium in soils.

Location: Berlin Grande Hotel 4787 Township Rd 366 Berlin, Ohio 44610 Registration Fee (1 Day) $350 – 2 meals included with admission.

Registration Fee (3 Day) $980 – 6 meals included with admission.

4% Credit Card Processing Fee if paid by card Lodging: Berlin Grand Hotel (330-403-3050) – Ask for Green Field Farms™ Group Rate To register or for information: Contact Green Field Farms Office: (330) 263-0246 or info@gffarms.com

Num ber 2 12

h IN PRACTICE 23

Nonprofit U.S POSTAGE

PAID Jefferson City, MO PERMIT 210

Healthy Land. Healthy Food. Healthy Lives.

®

a publication of Holistic Management International 2425 San Pedro Dr. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87110 USA

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

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

HMI 2022 Impact At a Glance In 2022 HMI and our Certified Educators helped the regenerative agriculture community by achieving the following:

3,947

Persons Trained with an additional 5,591 persons impacted

99% of participants recommend HMI training with 93% reporting increased knowledge gain

16,804,303 Acres Impacted

$25,450 in Scholarships Awarded— 57% to historically underserved communities

144 Collaborations

Printed On Recycled Paper

OVERSET TEXT from Pg 19

OVERSET TEXT from Pg 15

25

Land & Livestock

h November / December 2023