#078, In Practice, July/Aug 2001

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT

IN PRACTICE

Providing the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy JULY / AUGUST 2001 NUMBER 78

in this Issue

Making a Difference

by Ann Adams

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ommunity involvement can be many things to many people. For my father it meant being involved in the local neighborhood clean up day and writing letters to local and federal politicians and newspapers. For my mother it meant active involvement in her church and its ministry. For both of them it meant giving to organizations to which they felt allegiance. The message I received in watching their efforts was that part of a fulfilling life was figuring out how your skills and interests could best serve the community and becoming actively involved in making the world a better place.

As a parent, one of my main contributions to my community has been my involvement in my son’s education and in AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization). For those of you not familiar with the AYSO phenomena, it is the organization that runs the recreational soccer program all over the U.S. and keeps parents hopping every Saturday.

AYSO is structured to ensure that parents volunteer in some capacity such as coaching, refereeing, or fundraising. While some parents are avid supporters who attend each game and even watch practices, many parents drop the kids off, relieved to know they are in a “safe” place for a couple of hours. At the end of the season they express their gratitude to the coaches for putting all that time and effort toward their kids.

As one of those coaches, I am always rather surprised at being thanked for doing something I have enjoyed so much. In coaching the team, I get to play with my son and his friends and help them improve as soccer players and as team members. But when those parents say thank you to me in that relieved sort of manner, I suspect that for them coaching soccer is comparable to listening to nails scratched across a chalkboard.

From my point of view, I am exceedingly grateful that through soccer I have this avenue to be involved in one aspect of my local community and one of my son’s extracurricular activities. To engage with others’ children is an added bonus. I like to think that these 13- and 14-year-old boys might view the world a little differently after being on a team with a female soccer coach than

if they hadn’t had that experience. I know I have certainly been affected by coaching these boys and gained a greater appreciation for their ability to be open, adapt, and grow.

A Life Well-Lived When I think of volunteering, membership, or community involvement, I think about a line from a Kate Wolf song: “Find what you really care about, then live a life that shows it.” Like Holistic Management, that song reminds me that it is important to determine what gives our life meaning because once we do so we can move mountains, and even have fun in the process.

I think our holistic goal helps us define what we find enjoyable and important in our lives.

With that knowledge we have greater clarity about what we can bring to our work, our family, and/or our community, as well as knowing what skills we need to acquire ourselves or through collaboration to succeed. Working with this understanding is one of the reasons Ernesto Sirolli’s Enterprise Facilitation (see “Growing Community Power” on page 5) has had such success in rural economic development.

And as Dennis Wobeser points out in his interview (see “From Feedyard to Grassfarming” on page 4), jobs are performed better and people enjoy their work more when people know what they are good at and have the opportunity to do it. This might not be news to some readers, but look at the number of people not doing what they are good at or perhaps doing things they do not enjoy for any number of reasons.

In contrast to such demoralizing circumstances, the McNeil family (see “Doing the RiGHT Thing” on page 7) has achieved incredible results not only for themselves, but for their community. By making a difference in how they have lived their lives and run their business, they have been better able to expand their success into their community. Such community involvement is an outgrowth of a life well-lived.

For me, such a story suggests the incredible possibilities if each of us were to have the same success at what we felt assionate about. I hope these stories inspire you toward that end.

How are you involved in your community? As many holistic managers have found out, community involvement is often necessary to move you toward your holistic goal. The McNeil family is a prime example of such involvement and what they have been able to accomplish with Holistic Management.

See their story on page 7.

From Factory Farming to National Prosperity Allan Savory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

From Feedyard to Grass Farming Peter Donovan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Growing Community Power Peter Donovan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Doing the RiGHT Thing Rio de la Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

LAND & LIVESTOCK—A special section of IN PRACTICE The Nonbrittle Pampas of Argentina: A Pastoral Paradise Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 On the Slick Rock Ranch: Big Dreams and Stark Reality Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Savory Center Bulletin Board . . . . . . .16 Development Corner Marketplace

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management Ad definitum finem

The ALLAN SAVORY CENTER FOR HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The center works to restore the vitality of communities and the natural resources on which they depend by advancing the practice of Holistic Management and coordinating its development worldwide.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lois Trevino, Chair Rio de la Vista, Vice Chair Ann Adams, Secretary Manuel Casas, Treasurer Gary Rodgers Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM Ron Brandes, New York, NY Sam Brown, Austin, TX Leslie Christian, Portland, OR Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX York Schueller, Santa Barbara, CA Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK Richard Smith, Houston, TX

STAFF Shannon Horst, Executive Director; Kate Bradshaw, Associate Director; Allan Savory, Founding Director; Jody Butterfield, Co-Founder and Research and Educational Materials Coordinator ; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Andy Braman, Development Director; Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Membership Support Coordinator Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe tel: (263) (11) 213529; email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre; Elias Ncube, Hwange Project Manager/Training Coordinator

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: savorycenter@holisticmanagement. org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2001.

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From Factory Farming to National Prosperity

by Allan Savory Editor’s Note: This editorial discusses the far-reaching results that can occur when people cooperate at a community level to achieve the quality of life they want.

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hile many agricultural producers know that current agribusiness is not a pretty picture, most of them don’t know how to do things differently, given their economic constraints. For the most part, producers want to earn a profit while consumers need food they can afford. Few think beyond this simplicity to the bigger picture or longer term.

The current agricultural system can offer short-term profit, but at what cost? We have only to look at monocropping and factory farming to know the price is too high.

Currently high numbers of livestock (fish, shellfish, pigs, poultry and cattle) are produced in factory settings by good people making good money. Profits are in large measure due to economies of scale and many hidden subsidies that favor such factory-style production. We need to relook at such policies for a couple of reasons.

Conventional economists, who have masterminded today’s agriculture, do not account for costs commonly called “externalities.” These are costs that do not arise immediately, or close to the operation, and are thus hard to calculate. However, the fact that flooding has become our leading weatherrelated cause of deaths, and that eroding soil outweighs all our exports from all sources combined annually, carries a cost of enormous consequence. Economies of scale for corporate America are, in fact, dis- economies of scale for Americans who eventually have to pay the bill.

Liabilities to Assets There are immediate concerns with factory style animal production (apart from such emotional issues as humane treatment). First, high numbers of animals are desperately needed on the land where dung, urine and trampling are priceless assets if we are to reduce forest fires and biomass burning, as well as to reverse land degradation (desertification) and store carbon once more

in the soil, in order to combat global climate change. In contrast, dung and urine, are costly polluting liabilities in animal factories.

Water, our urban/industrial Achilles heel, is required in vast amounts to produce a pound of feedlot beef, while little is required to produce that same beef off the land. Further, those animals, on the land, could be reducing floods while more than doubling the soil’s capacity to hold water for later use. The amounts of water that can be held, and gradually released, from soils over our vast water catchments makes the water stored in dams look ridiculously miniscule. And water held in the soil does not cause the environmental and social damage attributable to dams. With cities running out of water this factor alone would dictate the need to get the animals out of feedlots and back on the land.

Those of you raising grassfed livestock need to fully market all you are doing to heal the land. Many of you already promote the healthful qualities of your product as these animals are less susceptible to the diseases that plague factory-raised livestock. The current mad cow (BSE) and foot and mouth disease outbreaks in Europe as well as high antibiotic usage are, I believe, unquestionably linked to factory farming and/or animals too static on land. Last year in the U.S. over 20 million pounds of antibiotics were used on animals, mostly for growth promotion. And in a recent study, 74–100 percent of wild fish near fish farms had residues of the antibiotics used in those fish factories.

As sustainable producers you are also the leaders of a new agriculture. Your success will encourage those who are still involved in feedlots and animal factories. Surely no one wants to pass on the pollution, and potential health problems to their children or their neighbors’ children. Nor do these producers willfully want to contribute to the land deterioration (desertification) and social problems associated with it. Yet many continue to choose that option as if there were no other choices, whether out of habit, desperation, or misinformation. Your success will change that not only for the producer but for the consumer.

To be able to market the environmental benefits of grassfed beef you do, however, need also to understand that the labels “grassfed” or “organic” are not sufficient.

Throughout history by far the greatest beef production has been, and much continues to be, grassfed and organic. However, the manner in which graziers handle the animals has led to the development of the world’s major deserts and is now contributing globally and in the U.S., more than any other factor, to floods, increasing droughts and desertification. Such grassfed organic production is also not socially sound simply because degraded land always leads to poverty, social breakdown, violence, and more.

Graziers can offer increased quality of life opportunities for themselves, their families, their employees, and the consumer because not only can they offer a higher quality, healthier product but they are also capable of using their livestock to regenerate the land and water resources of the nation as many who are managing holistically are doing.

As consumers become more environmentally conscious, the demand for land restoration and more socially, environmentally and economically sound policies will grow—whether related to noxious weed infestations, choked and increasingly fire-prone National Forests, desertification of America’s grasslands and savannas, loss of wildlife habitat, or sustaining urban water supplies. However, most consumers still do not see the connection between what graziers can do to produce healthy food and to address environmental problems that also concern them. In other words, they do not yet understand that livestock are the greatest tools for land restoration we have available.

Consumers, however, cannot be blamed for ignorance of such facts when many livestock producers are equally ignorant. Or if they are aware, they do little to change how they run their livestock on the land—be it private or public. Those of us who want healthy land and abundant wildlife and water must educate the livestock industry, agricultural leadership, and consumers until it is common knowledge that graziers can produce healthy food and healthy land. Graziers face two choices of concern to all Americans: Run their animals so they continue the destruction of land, water, wildlife and rural economies while polluting and producing an unhealthy product, or Run their animals in such a manner that they become the most powerful tool for the

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restoration of land, water, wildlife and rural economies while producing a healthy clean product.

their community. But we need to move beyond that to a regional, national, and international level.

Catching the Wave

Regional Cooperatives

People and corporations currently heavily committed to feedlot production, and its associated meat packaging and marketing, will maintain that they cannot change as so much is invested. While acknowledging this problem, I feel those who are wise should heed the warnings of impending massive change as many corporate leaders are doing.

Over the next few decades entire industrial sectors and many corporations will disappear and whole new industries will appear, simply because the sleeping giant of public opinion, concerning social and environmental issues, is awakening.

If we look at the short-term urgent problem graziers face, it is clear the principle area of difficulty is distribution and marketing rather than production. Any grazier can learn to manage holistically. But, what can the ordinary person do about shifting a national subsidized marketing system?

Most farmers and ranchers simply do not like marketing, and with most beef marketing in the hands of a few mega companies, graziers feel helpless. A few have done well individually or in small groups niche marketing their clean, grassfed beef. But we need massive marketing transformation to realistically tackle America’s, let alone the world’s, problems of environmental degradation.

While I don’t know how that change will ultimately happen, I suspect that an early step would be well-led, large-scale marketing collaboration between producers. Organic dairy farmers, such as those involved in Organic Valley, offer one approach. This company now markets more than dairy products for members from many states and is increasingly getting their products into mainstream retail stores even outside of Wisconsin.

As more of the grazier industry is able to create similar alliances and corporations so that they can meet consumer demands in the shortterm while educating consumers and policymakers for the long-term, their success will affect government policy, consumption, and supply. As feedlot owners see the writing on the wall, they will change their production methods proactively or be forced to do so by consumer demand, subsidy changes, and energy costs.

As individual graziers you can do something to change the current agricultural system that leads to environmental degradation and unhealthy food. By keeping the goal of healthy food and land in mind we can find the means to change this system to benefit everyone. It will take a level of moral courage to move beyond the status quo and make the extra effort of informing yourself, your consumers, your fellow producers, and the leaders of your agricultural organizations. I believe many of you who work closely with the land and animals you love possess the fortitude to create that change from which personal and national prosperity will arise.

Consumers . . . do not yet understand that livestock are the greatest tools for land restoration w e have available.

People and corporations heavily invested in animal factory production have a choice to change early, proactively and profitably, or to do so later in crisis with great loss. While changing production, handling, and marketing may warrant national financial help, it will take years to gain the level of national understanding required for such dramatic policy shifts. So what can graziers do in the meantime?

Individually they can do a great deal by simply producing cleaner, more environmentally beneficial products. I know many graziers are concerned about how they will survive in the short-term as they make this shift, given USDA policies that favor diseconomies of scale, feedlot production, and marketing in the hands of virtual monopolies.

But remember, there are graziers who are not only surviving but also thriving in this current unfair situation. Using the Holistic Management™ model and other tools such as humane livestock handling, continually improving temporary fencing technology, and their own human creativity in marketing, they have been able to make changes on an individual and local level for themselves and

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2001 3

Meet Dennis Wobeser—

From Feedyard to Grass Farming

by Peter Donovan

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n 1999, Dennis and Jean Wobeser, of HiGain Ranching, in Lloydminster, Alberta, won the Emerald Award in the smallbusiness category. This is a major Canadian environmental award, and this is the first time it has been won by an agricultural operation. In the words of the press release that accompanied the award: “Dennis and Jean Wobeser have been in the cattle business since 1963. For over 20 years they ran a custom feeding and feedlot company that, at its peak, handled 7,000 head of cattle. In the late 1980s, the Wobesers, along with daughter Kelly, son Brady, and four employees, decided to transform their hightechnical/high-input commercial feeding operation to a low-input, nature-based grazing operation. Hi-Gain Ranching now manages 4,500 acres (1,822 hectares) with most of that land dedicated to seeded pasture and maintenance of natural areas, supporting 600 cows and 600 to 800 yearlings.

“The Wobesers’ approach has resulted in healthier and higher-volume grass, increased organic matter in the soil, more diversity in plant species, and an increase in beneficial insect species. Bare ground has decreased and healthier land has increased due to disallowing pesticides and chemicals. The effects of floods and drought have been reduced due to a layer of thatch (dead and decaying plants) on the surface of the ground, which increases the water holding capacity of the soil and reduces erosion and runoff. Hi-Gain Ranching is truly a demonstration of a healthy and vibrant ecosystem.”

The following is from a too-brief interview with Dennis Wobeser. Thanks much to Brady Wobeser for his comments and contributions.

Dennis: I graduated from university in 1961. There’s never been a faster explosion in technology in agriculture than there was in the twenty years after 1960. Now we’re finding out that not only do you go broke buying things to help you, but you’ve destroyed the soil, the base. That’s the turnaround.

All my life I’ve wanted to be a cattleman.

When I got into Holistic Management I

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realized that collecting solar energy through growth on the land was more important than the animals, and the animals were only tools.

Begrudgingly, I had to drop my sacred cows from number one to number two, and put growth ahead of it. We’ve got friends just south of us, Larry and Toby Bell, who told us that we weren’t looking deep enough yet. They convinced us that all our future and everything is dependent on the health of our soil. If you have healthy land, you’ll have healthy plants, which you can then harvest by livestock if that’s the way you choose. Now the cows are the third priority: put the soil first, then the growth, then the animals.

the financial planning stuff, and I can still stumble around and go to a market or two and do the marketing, so we’ve got a pretty good team.

The key to the whole thing is the people aspect. If you can just get the people thinking right, there’s no stopping you. There’s so much potential out here right now.

In our club (the Devon management club meets monthly), we’re weak on the people, goal aspect [quality of life], particularly the men. They’re so prone to jump out and go recreational fencing or farming—it’s the hardest by far to get people into the people aspect.

But once you get involved in this aspect, it flows. For our management club, the biggest thing has been the involvement of the entire family [in management]. To get more involvement [in that] by everyone has been key.

The feedlot was right for the times, but then we realized we had to do something totally different, or get a lot bigger. When we looked at the financial aspect of the inefficiencies of growing and feeding grain to confinement livestock, we didn’t like it. Now we’re exceptionally glad we made the change [to a nature-based Dennis Wobeser outside what used to be his operation]. Now everybody’s yowling 7,000-head feedlot before he shifted to a grass-based about the price of diesel fuel and gas, operation. and we don’t need very much around here, and that helps a lot.

Working with nature instead of People said, what did you learn from against nature looked exciting. And the Holistic Management? I said, I finally learned economics—we were going through vast that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, amounts of money here and hanging on to and no, it isn’t just another freight train. That’s very little of it. Neither Kelly nor Brady when the quality of life thing started to come. wanted to carry on with the feedlot. And Allan Nation (editor of The Stockman it was a rat race.

Grass Farmer ) keeps saying, when you’re 50, Brady Wobeser: The grass management you’re running out of steam, so you have to beats slogging around the mud in the feedlot use your expertise and the young people’s by a long ways. With the feedlot, we didn’t energy to put it together. Ernesto Sirolli (see have time to do anything. next article, “Growing Community Power”) Dennis: Everything—labor, money, effort, says that the three things that are key are land—everything was geared to supporting production, finance, and marketing. We’re this feedlot. It devoured everything. We very fortunate here. Our son, Brady, has got said, there’s something wrong here. Let’s get the energy and can do the production. Our back to managing the land. If there’s some daughter, Kelly, is just really good and likes aspect to the feedlot where it can fit into

that, we would still do it. Otherwise, no, we won’t do it.

We wanted to move the feedlot outdoors.

We wanted the cattle to work to find their feed, and we wanted them to spread the nutrients back on the land in the form of manure.

We’ve always bought a lot of the feed.

The biggest breakthrough was when we found out a cow can lick snow instead of having to have water. That allowed us to move the herds away from home, to where they’re doing some good on the land.

We grew up with the European philosophy, that all the cows were tied in the barn. I often wondered why that was. That’s the way my dad was; you tied everything up in the barn.

We have a lot of opportunity here, and we’re just starting to scratch the surface. If the consumer keeps demanding more healthy food, then we’re really on the right track. But we’ll always have cycles and so forth. We’ve got to try and not pattern our operations after price, we’ve got to pattern them after cost. Do the best you can with

what you have, where you are. We keep uncovering more adaptability and flexibility in these cattle.

We’re a long ways away from the grass-fed thing in North America because we still have political manipulation trying to encourage the production of grain. As long as we have that, we’ll have cheap grain that we have to dispose of through livestock. The bottom line still comes back to cheap production on grass.

We’ve also now realized that the cow can survive strictly on byproduct during the winter feeding period. Our cows are wintering on bales of straw, with the chaff put back in the straw, and supplemented with a pea/lentil screening pellet.

We’ve got some neighbors growing milling oats. The oats have to be hulled. The oat hull, ground up, is producing an extremely good cow feed. We’re got a lot of cows in this district—by and large people who are involved in Holistic Management—existing 100 percent through the winter on byproduct feed.

So we’ve more than doubled our

Growing Community Power Editor’s Note: Enterprise Facilitation is a rural development process developed by Ernesto Sirolli that focuses on creating locally developed enterprises to increase the economic health of a rural community. For more inf ormation about Enterprise Facilitation see the book review ofRipples from the Zambezi in IN PRACTICE #76.

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ere in northeast Oregon’s Wallowa County, our local economy has depended on the export of commodities—lumber, cattle, and grain. People feel powerless, as if their future is being dictated by outside markets and money, urban environmentalists, and federal regulations.

When you are powerless, you can’t hide the fact from the younger generation. They leave.

By nature they want a chance to play, on the “A” team perhaps, and to swim with the current instead of against it.

When you are powerless, you depend on others for your money. An eroding tax base increases your dependence on grantwriting. You become adept at depicting the distress of your community, rather than its strengths (except when it comes to selling real estate). Absentee

production, and the soil has started to come alive again.

What we just finished doing with the feedlot wasn’t necessarily wrong. It might have been right at the time. But the whole key is that the most difficult thing for society to accept is change. We have to learn to accept change. Nature cycles, everything is trying to do that to us. And we get in real trouble if we start to ignore that.

I’ve enjoyed [educating others]. The feedlot started that. It was a custom lot. It was a people place, so we learned to work with people. We’ve enjoyed helping people.

Brady: When we quit custom feeding it was like a ghost town around here, because people weren’t coming in. Now it’s just about as many people coming in—related to renting grass, etc. Our neighbors don’t think we’re crazy anymore.

This excerpted article first appeared in Patterns of Choice. You can learn more about this journal at www.managingwholes.com or by calling Peter at 541/426-6490.

by Peter Donovan

ownership of real property increases.

When you are powerless, you are guaranteed to be in conflict. Here the word development has tended to bring out suspicion, fantasy, avarice, hopelessness, or active resistance, depending on who you talk to.

People disagree on what development is, where it comes from, why it occurs, and whether it is a good thing. The phrase sustainable dev elopment doesn’t help, because people have radically different notions of what sustains what. For some, agriculture sustains civilization. According to others, civilization should sustain agriculture.

Good Intentions Over the years, there have been many efforts in Wallowa County to do something about high unemployment, social problems, degraded riparian conditions, weeds, fiscal problems, and more. All too often, these efforts have been characterized by a top-down approach, focused on the problems or symptoms, rather than on the powerlessness itself.

The participants in these efforts are typically capable and well-intentioned people,

a subtly designated elite, who by virtue of their professional backgrounds and civic commitment “know” what is best for others.

They develop plans and strategies to remedy the deficiencies, write for grants, and hire executive directors and program officers. The perceptions, knowledge, skills, and techniques to create change in any other way did not exist in our community.

However, two things occurred. We gained skills, experience, and success in envisioning and running programs, which helped us gain and even share power. We also began to experience some dissatisfaction with the results, and with the way we were looking at the problems.

The Holistic Management™ decision-making framework was a crucial turning point for me.

But when a community sees itself as controlled by outside forces, as lacking power, setting a holistic goal appears to be an abstract exercise, like a two-dimensional drawing of an “impossible” three-dimensional geometric shape. Most could not see how to get “there” from “here.” continued on page 6

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2001 5

Growing Community Power continued from page 5 Ripples from the Zambezi One of the notable failures of our linear, needs-based, top-down approach was in economic development, where our county failed to recruit or retain major employers after much effort and expense. In November 1998, after learning about Ernesto Sirolli’s Enterprise Facilitation method from Washington State University’s Don Nelson, I was intrigued enough to go to Hastings, Minnesota to visit a project. I spent time with the facilitator there, Ron Toppin, meeting clients and learning about how Enterprise Facilitation worked.

I read Ripples from the Zambezi at one long sitting in a coffee shop.

Here was a path we could follow in Wallowa County that would create new economic activity quickly and cheaply. Here was a practical and proven social technology for allowing passionate individual entrepreneurs, rather than speculators and planners, to chart the future. By encouraging development from within, by building on our strengths of creativity, resourcefulness, intelligence, skill, and commitment, by helping serious people build a foundation of sound management under their ideas (rather than using incentives to create often-rickety superstructures), we would grow power locally, and begin to resolve some of our conflicts about development.

In February 1999, Sirolli came to Enterprise.

He outlined his background, philosophy, and method to 25 people in the basement of the town library. I made 30 audiotape copies of a speech Sirolli had given in Spokane. Liberals and conservatives were galvanized by his message.

A self-selected core group of about a dozen people met monthly, with a good deal of additional interested participation. We used the consensus circle, asking ourselves, “What is the situation with regard to economic development here?”

“What are the worst possible outcomes of change?”

“What are the best possible outcomes?”

“What are the beliefs, behaviors, strategies, and actions needed to foster the best possible outcomes?”

This was a simple way of testing whether the Sirolli Institute’s community package would move us in the direction of our best outcomes.

We decided that it would, although we had some issues around the expense and the

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meaning of engaging an outside consultant to that the people in your community are not help us move in that direction. Again, this was creative or resourceful, that they must be told about power. Would engaging an outside what to do, and that development comes from consultant really change things for us and our somewhere else. Or, that private enterprise will community? Would this be a series of seminars always seek to damage natural and social capital or strategy sessions, interesting perhaps, but in order to prosper, and that “sustainability” is only resulting in plans and documents that sat therefore achieved through control. on a shelf? Did we need to do it What helped us go on our own, to “reinvent the forward is our local sense wheel?” of the “entrepreneurial Some people called board revolution”—the members and facilitators of aforementioned creativity, projects in the Midwest. We built resourcefulness, and confidence that the Enterprise commitment, the sense that Facilitation strategy would work people across the social for us, and Sirolli came again to and political spectrum are Wallowa County in November increasingly committed to 1999 and spoke to more people, right livelihoods. enlarging our circle. We began to Like many areas in the fundraise the $170,000 that would rural West, Wallowa County is Peter Donovan make possible a two-year trial. at a pivot point about power.

We concluded that in making the For twenty years we have radical shift from top-down to a implemented programs from bottom-up approach, we could lessen our risk the top down. These have helped build the by engaging an outside authority who had necessary skills, knowledge, and commitment. developed through experience a proven and Now we are able to try something different, in cost-effective method. The “packaging”—the a conscious manner, while taking advantage of community operations manuals and the training what we have learned. provided to board and facilitator by Sirolli—has Finally, the implementation of Enterprise helped to protect our effort against the Facilitation requires champions or leaders who tendency to seek control, to suppress diversity, see the possibilities and can help others see and to implement projects from the top down. them, who understand that the primary barriers The interest and cooperation of positional are beliefs that are disguised as fact and leadership has been crucial. Certainly Sirolli’s experience. Who these people turn out to be passionate advocacy of an empowerment may surprise you, as will the motivated people approach to development threatens some with ideas who will come forward. traditionalist economic development In changing beliefs, an effective technology professionals. However, Lisa Lang, our local helps. Galileo’s telescope played an important economic development director, was an active role in the collapse of the belief that the proponent from the start, and raised much of sun revolved around the earth. Enterprise the money needed for our project from state Facilitation, by making competent management and federal government grants. coaching available to the grassroots, is showing Four months after Myron Kirkpatrick, our itself to be an effective technology for full-time facilitator, hit the ground here, we have empowering people who have dreams for a several startups and expansions in the wings. better life, and for helping people see each (Baker County to the south also began an other’s assets.

Enterprise Facilitation project after Sirolli’s visit to them in February 1999, and preceded us Peter Donovan, who lives in Enterprise, in fundraising and implementing it. Their Oregon, edits and publishes Patterns of Choice: facilitator, Ruth Townsend, has helped with A journal of people, land, and money that 13 startup enterprises so far.) We are trying to reports on what people are learning from shift our funding base to include more local conscious attempts at managing wholes rather and private-sector dollars in order to take than parts. The Patterns of Choice w ebsite responsibility more fully and to grow power. contains many articles based on firsthand, on-site reporting, including several on The Power of Beliefs Enterprise Facilitation projects The primary barriers to the practice of in the Midwest and Canada: Enterprise Facilitation are beliefs—for example, www.managingwholes.com

Doing the RiGHT Thing—The McNeil Ranch

by Rio de la Vista

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more and more of the hay fields, cycling them in and out of hay production. They also reduced the amount of hay they cut and returned to an old-time practice of simply cutting the hay into windrows and piling it with a dump rake rather than putting up bales. In this way, they could use portable electric fence to dole the hay out to the cattle. However, the McNeils plan their grazing to allow sufficient regrowth so the cattle can go through the pastures and find adequate standing forage in most seasons.

The McNeils have also changed their calving season to a June/July calving so that their 800 mother cows can be dry and pregnant through the cold months and be on fresh green growth and warmer temperatures during calving, Waking Up From Tradition lactating and rebreeding. This change has also greatly enhanced the McNeils’ quality of life.

The McNeil family originally As Mike likes to relate, “I moved to Colorado from Virginia used to say that I wished I lived in 1890. Today, the ranch is run by somewhere where we didn’t have the fourth and fifth generations to put up hay all summer and of McNeils: Mike, with his wife, calve in January. Then I finally Cathy, their 13-year-old daughter, realized, I live in that place!”

Kelly, and nephew, Michael, along To further enhance their with two long time employees. quality of life, the McNeils have They run 800 mother cows on decided to take “non-use” on their 3,033 acres (1,228 hectares), with Forest Service grazing permit approximately 1,200 of those acres (which they have used to irrigated. In the past, they have summer graze 600 yearlings in also run their cattle on an the past) and run the entire herd approximately 30,000-acre (12,146on their own land. With their hectare) summer grazing permit Sandhill cranes rising from the waters of the Monte Vista National many years of experience and in the nearby National Forest.

Wildlife Refuge. The McNeils have worked with this refuge over the past very careful Holistic As a young boy, Mike spent five years to help protect the water rights in the area as part of their Management™ grazing planning, summers irrigating hay fields, conservation ef forts. they are confident the land can driving tractors to harvest 3,000 carry this increased number of tons of hay or riding the herd in animals and sustain the health of the grasses Rather than try to make immediate changes the high country range. He spent the cold and biodiversity at the same time. in their livestock operations, they realized that winters of his youth feeding that same hay to the real “logjam” at the time was in their family. the herd and, in the tradition of the area, calving A Better Quality of Land and Life So their first “new idea” was to address family in the deep freeze of January. He also studied issues and begin to heal some of the schisms All of these management changes have led to agriculture briefly at Colorado State University that existed. Difficult and challenging as it was, very measurable improvements in the McNeil’s until the bottom fell out of the cattle market, over time and through honest communication lives and land. From a production standpoint, and he returned home. their enhanced planning has allowed them to When Mike’s father, Bill, passed away in 1983, and family meetings, many old issues were resolved and this led to a more creative and sustainably increase the carrying capacity of their the family had to deal with the challenges of relaxed environment. land by approximately 30 percent—perhaps even inter-generational land transfer issues, especially more. The earlier panic of how to feed their the looming estate taxes. They were able to take Greater Sustainability livestock is long gone and their independence financial planning steps to protect the family from public lands gives them a real sense of From there, the McNeils began to make and the ranch, albeit through some extreme and security given the political and social pressures gradual changes in the actual operation of the very expensive measures. ranch itself. Over the years, they began to graze Then, in the drought of 1989, the Forest continued on page 8 hat underlies a successful, holistically managed ranching operation? How does a family in a high altitude, 6- to 8-inch (15- to 21-cm) rainfall valley in southern Colorado win national awards for their progressive management?

If there is one common denominator in these questions, it seems to be the willingness and ability to change with the times and respond effectively to the demands of the day while looking into the future. And that’s how the McNeil family have protected a heritage of 100 plus years of ranching on the Rock Creek Drainage on the southwestern slope of the San Luis Valley (SLV) in South Central Colorado.

Service told them they had to remove half their herd from their grazing allotment. Such an unexpected situation could well have been disastrous, but some summer rains saved them at the last minute. This “wake up” call made them realize that “business as usual” was getting more and more risky, if not downright untenable.

So Mike and Cathy began to explore other options and new ways to manage their ranch.

Having heard about “HRM” (Holistic Resource Management) and thinking it was “a way to double their stocking rate,” they decided to learn more about it. They began to study various alternative approaches, with their training in Holistic Management providing a framework for integrating these new ideas and practices into their operation.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2001 7

Doing the RiGHT Thing—The McNeil Ranch

Making A Difference

In 2001, the McNeils also received national recognition for their community contributions and good stewardship when they were named American Farmland Trust’s “2001 Steward of the Land.” The McNeils were selected from more than 75 farmers and ranchers from 35 states because of their efforts “to stop the loss of productive farmland and promote farming practices that lead to a healthy environment.”

The McNeils were also honored by the Environmental Law Institute for their contribution to wetlands protection, restoration, and education and were named winners of the 2001 National Wetlands Award in the Land Stewardship and Development category.

Such awards demonstrate how many lives the McNeils have touched as they have actively shared information about their management practices and sponsored Holistic Management training for other ranchers and agency employees over many years. In the past year alone, three classes have been held for Rock Creek landowners, conservation organization, and government agency personnel and others.

These workshops have included everything from basic Holistic Management to riparian restoration using cattle as a tool.

The McNeils are doing their best to manage their own land with innovative and sustainable practices (often against the tide of public opinion and “tradition”). But just as importantly, they are actively sharing creative approaches to resolving local and community-wide problems and creating a viable future for agriculture as they pour their hearts, minds, time, and money into conservation efforts they support.

By first attending to business at home and within their own family, the McNeils have created a foundation for contributing to their community and are helping to restore the land and provide new management and marketing options for land owners throughout the San Luis Valley. In doing so they have created opportunities for many others to participate in agricultural life, conservation, and enjoyment of the land while creating and protecting habitat for the animal and plant life that shares it.

Undoubtedly their enthusiasm, creativity, and generosity have touched many people in their community and beyond and will indeed provide a heritage long beyond their years.

The McNeils’ work on the land and in their community has not been ignored. In 1999 they received statewide recognition for the health of their land when they were named “Conservationist of the Year for Ranching” by the Colorado Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

Rio de la Vista is a Holistic Management™ Certified Educator and Vice-Chair of the Center’s Board of Directors. She is also American Farmland Trust’s coordinator for the Rock Creek Heritage Project and can be reached at riodelavista@hotmail.com

continued from page 7 on public lands grazing in the U.S. From a financial standpoint, they have stabilized their operation, kept the entire ranch intact, and remained debt free, (even when Mike’s mother passed away and they had to deal with a massive inheritance tax). They have cut their annual operating expenses by about 20 percent since 1991, operating the same ranch with more cattle for about $60,000 less per year while paying their help the best wages of anyone in the area. All of their employees continue to receive training in Holistic Management and other progressive management ideas and are involved in the financial, grazing and infrastructure planning, and biological monitoring.

Changes in the Community While their own land base and operation became more stable, profitable, and increasingly healthy, the McNeils could not ignore the forces of change going on around them. They watched the intensifying second-home growth and development pressures that are resulting in tremendous loss of agricultural lands and water throughout the state of Colorado.

The impacts came very close to home as the McNeils realized that the Rock Creek Drainage was one of very few undeveloped stream corridors remaining in the entire 8,000-squaremile (3,239- square-hectare) basin. With upstream neighbors threatening to sell out to developers for subdivisions, they conceived a project that could include all the landowners in the drainage in a collective conservation effort through a combination of donations and sales of development rights. The Rock Creek Heritage Project has now been underway for three years and is working to protect approximately 15,000 acres (6,073 hectares) and associated water rights adjacent to the 14,000-acre (5,668-hectare) Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge over the next three to five years.

The startup of this landowner initiative was originally supported by The Nature Conservancy and the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Trust Fund through a capacity building grant which funded landowner education and initial negotiations for donation and purchase of conservation easements with participating ranchers. Because of the outstanding opportunity to protect a significant block of agricultural land and water rights, as well as exceptional wildlife habitat, American Farmland

8 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #78

Trust is now backing the effort through support of a local project coordinator and direct land protection efforts.

The list of partnering organizations now also include: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ducks Unlimited, the Trust for Public Land, Colorado Wetlands Partnership and the SLV Wetlands Focus Area Committee, Colorado Division of Wildlife, the SLV GIS/GPS Authority, Colorado Cattlemens Agricultural Land Trust, the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust, and many more.

“I used to say that I wished I lived somewhere where we didn’t have to put up hay all summer and calve in January. Then I finally realized, I live in that place! ”

At the same time the Rock Creek Heritage Project was developing, it became clear to the McNeils and their colleagues that they also needed a local land trust to work throughout the San Luis Valley for protection of agricultural land and water. As the founding President of the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT), (See IN PRACTICE #70) Cathy McNeil has brought her rigorous thinking, contagious enthusiasm and the family’s good community standing as long-term land owners and successful ranchers to the effort. In partnership with the many national and regional conservation organizations that are also working to conserve the tremendous ecological and agricultural resources of the Valley, RiGHT also offers educational and management help (including Holistic Management training).

LAND&LIVESTOCK A Special Section of

IN PRACTICE JULY / AUGUST 2001

#78

The Nonbrittle Pampas of Argentina—

A Pastoral Paradise

An Argentine gaucho. “Ranch personnel on all the places we visited are deeply involved in strategic as well as dayto-day decision making.”

by Jim Howell

F

or those who get their kicks out of grass, cows, horses, and gorging on beef, the Argentine Pampas are hard to beat. In March of this year, my wife, Daniela, and I led a group of American beef producers on an intensive, technical grazing tour of this incredibly productive region, one of the world’s great natural grasslands. We visited dairy, beef finishing, cow/calf, and organic cropping operations. Some outfits were specialists in one or two enterprises, while one place integrated all of the above.

Holistic Management hasn’t found its way to Argentina yet, at least not on a notable scale, but holistic thinking is alive and well, even if nobody calls it that. Each farm and ranch on our itinerary, without exception, consistently emphasized its focus on the long term ecological health of its resource base. Each place was likewise equally focused on generating a healthy profit, with ranch personnel deeply involved in strategic as well as day-to-day decision making. With the addition of some of the key insights offered by the Holistic Management decision making framework, these producers could emerge as leaders in the Holistic Management movement.

Beef from Grass The heart of the Pampas comprises one of the earth’s truly blessed environments. With precipitation ranging from 700 to 1300 mm (28 to 52 inches) per year, and evenly spread over all 12 months, warm humid summers, early springs, late falls, mild winters, deep fertile soils, and flat topography, this is grass-growing heaven. On our 2500-mile journey, we were seldom out of sight of several herds of 100 or more head of cattle.

Altogether, the Argentine beef herd totals about 40 million head.

Alfredo Villegas Oromi, our local guide who works with most of the farmers we visited on our tour, told us during his pre-trip orientation that “We Argentines are beef eaters. We consume 80% of our production and export only 20%.” The average Argentine puts away about 140 pounds (65 kg) of beef per year, over twice the consumption

of the average American (they’re a lot thinner than the average American, too).

Nonetheless, it was difficult to imagine that this country of 36 million mouths could keep up with that many bovines. But they do, and 90% of that beef comes straight off the rich grass of the Pampas, with only 10% produced in now-failing feedlots. Two years ago, feedlots were the new fad. They just don’t work in Argentina, but that’s another story.

This story is about grass.

The humid temperate core of the Pampas stays just cool enough through the summer to allow cool-season perennial grasses to thrive, and just warm and humid enough to permit subtropical warm-season perennials to likewise succeed. It’s also the perfect environment for alfalfa. There aren’t very many places in the world where perennial ryegrass, orchard grass, tall fescue, white clover, alfalfa, paspalum, and bermuda grass (not to mention a broad assortment of native cool- and warm-season grasses and legumes) can blossom within the same square meter. On our trip in early March (the northern hemisphere equivalent of early September), we saw pasture after pasture with each of these species in a beautiful vegetative condition.

This pastoral paradise is of course a big reason the Argentines are famous for their grass-finished beef. It’s like having the best of both Minnesota and Mississippi, but without the seasonal extremes of either.

North Americans who are dubious of the practicality of developing a grass-finished beef industry in their country might cite this Argentine advantage as “the reason they don’t need feedlots and we do.”

I would argue that with partnerships between northern and southern graziers, we have the potential to produce grass-finished beef nearly as efficiently as the Argentines. But to do so, we’ll need to become much more sophisticated in our grazing management.

On that note, let’s examine a couple of these operations and continued on page 10

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9

A Pastoral Paradise

Focus on Profit

continued from page 9

How is this possible? Juan Goldaracena, the ranch manager, quickly pointed out to our group that the overriding aim of this operation is profitability per hectare, and to maximize profit per hectare requires a high stocking rate. Instead of stocking according to seasonal lulls in pasture production, San Ricardo maintains a stocking rate that nearly matches their spring production peak. In other words, when plant growth rates are peaking from September to February, they don’t have much leftover grass. That’s San Ricardo’s first principle of profitability.

More on that in a minute.

see what we can learn.

Estancia San Ricardo Estancia San Ricardo, owned by Pedro Landa near the town of General Villegas, covers 690 ha (1700 acres) of flat grassland in an 800-mm (32-inch) precipitation zone. This little patch of the Pampas supports 300 mother cows and 1400 steers, year round. It lies on the edge of the northern subtropical zone, so Brahman-cross cattle do just as well as or better than straight British breeds. Pedro prefers to stock San Ricardo with eared cattle, partly due to their adaptability, but mainly because he can typically find good deals on large bunches of Brahman-cross cattle from the more tropical northern provinces.

The Alfalfa-Grass Challenge

The second principle deserves a more detailed agronomic explanation. The San Ricardo pasture base includes a diversity of species closely resembling that described above. Some 30 to 40 percent of that forage mix is composed of alfalfa, and it is the alfalfa that, according to Juan, makes everything else possible. It is the best producer in terms of total dry matter production, it is the most valuable in terms of quality, and it builds soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. The hitch is that an alfalfa/grass-based pasture requires a very sophisticated level of management.

Over the course of a year, each pasture on the ranch is typically grazed a total of eight times, and usually for 1-day grazing periods. Recovery periods range from 21 days in spring, to 40 days in summer and fall, to 120 days in winter.

During the spring and much of the summer, growth rates are so fast that grazing periods longer than one day can lead to overgrazing. We stopped and looked at one pasture that The “cabeza” herd on San Ricardo after a half day in a paddock of alfalfa, coolhad been grazed two days prior, and the cool season grasses and warm-season perennial grasses, and annual warm-season grasses and forbs. already had about an inch (2 cm) of regrowth. Juan pointed At the end of the day they’ll move to the next paddock. out, however, that the alfalfa hadn’t started to recover yet.

He explained that Argentines tend to be so focused on alfalfa that they tend to ignore the health of the grasses.

Alfalfa won’t start to recover until a week following a grazing, so most Argentine managers assume they can get by with one-week grazing periods without hurting the alfalfa, and they’re right.

The problem is that the grasses get hammered, because as we could clearly see, if conditions are right, after two days they’re already trying to recover leaf area. If regrazed within a week of the first bite, the grasses get set back significantly, but the alfalfa isn’t hurt at all. After that first week, however, the alfalfa starts to take off, quickly catching up and eventually overtaking the grass. If the grasses have been stunted due to excessively long grazing periods, this The “cuerpo” herd on San Ricardo. Because they get mo ved every day in a lowgrowth rate discrepancy is even more marked. But if grazing stress manner, they’re almost like pets. periods are kept to one day and the grasses are protected from that second bite on tender regrowth, both the alfalfa and the grasses tend to reach a recovered, high quality vegetative state Animals usually arrive as early-weaned calves weighing about 140 at the same time. kg (310 lb.). They tend to spend nine months on the ranch, after which With one-day grazing periods, combined with adequate recovery they’re sent to slaughter at a grass-finished weight of about 360 kg (790 periods, much more sunlight is trapped, resulting in greater overall lb.). That’s an average daily gain of 1.8 pounds (.8 kg) over 270 days, or forage production, which translates into higher stocking rates. Since a total gain of nearly 450 pounds (200 kg). Not bad, especially at a all forage species are kept in a more vegetative condition, animal stocking rate of 4 steers per hectare (1.6 per acre), and considering the performance benefits as well. With week-long grazing periods, the alfalfa fact that San Ricardo is managed organically, with no chemical fertilizers, recovers before the grasses.

If grazed at that point (when the alfalfa has herbicides, or insecticides.

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IN PRACTICE #78

recovered), the grasses will be overgrazed once again. If the recovery period is extended to allow for full recovery of the grasses—a more common practice on most finishing operations—the alfalfa loses much of its quality.

Topping the Alfalfa

Two years ago, feedlots

San Ricardo goes one were the new fad. They step further to maintain equal rates of recovery just don’t work in and high quality pasture.

Argentina, but that’s During the spring and summer seasons, most another story. This story pastures are mowed within is about grass. two days of grazing. The purpose of the mowing is to clip off the tops of the alfalfa stems (the top 4-5 inches of a 10-inch residual stem) that remain post grazing. If this isn’t done, much of the regrowth on the alfalfa sprouts from growth points along the stem. If that stem is clipped, however, all of the regrowth comes from the crown. This new material coming from the crown is not only higher in quality than the stem regrowth, but much greater in total dry matter production as well. So again, timely clipping is another way that total forage production and quality, and hence high stocking rates, are maintained.

The key is in the timing. The clipping has to be done before any regowth of grasses or alfalfa starts to take place. Juan admitted that pasture clipping is only viable if done by on-farm labor.

Contractors frequently aren’t able to get the job done at the critical time, plus the rates they charge question the practice’s economic viability. The local government research station (INTA) has done trials showing that timely alfalfa stem clipping ends up costing one cent for each additional kg of dry matter produced. If 1 kg of forage can produce .1 kg of beef (assuming a 10:1 feed conversion ratio), and each kg of beef is worth 80 U.S. cents (or 36 cents a pound—the price at the time of our visit), each kg of forage is worth 8 cents, or a net of 7 cents. That’s a 700 percent return. It’s hard to argue with that.

grazes the corn, the rationale being to get them to a finished condition and off the farm prior to winter. By June (beginning of winter), each herd gets nightly access to the corn.

Here’s the interesting part. Juan and his employees have figured out how much of each cornfield they need to ration out per nightly feeding to result in an intake of 3 kg/head (6.6 lb.) per night of actual corn. This rationing is done with portable electric polywire. If they were feeding this 3 kg as whole shelled corn, they would also have to feed round bales to balance out roughage intake, but since the cattle have access to the whole corn plant (as well as lots of volunteer grasses and weeds growing amongst the corn—remember, they’re organic), there’s no need to put out round bales. More significantly, the tedious steps of harvesting, storing, and then hauling the corn back out to the cattle are all bypassed, as is the cost of baling and feeding out round bales. Juan says they end up wasting about 5%, which is the same they would waste if they did all that handling. The result of all this careful management is a net annual profit per hectare of $250.

The Problem of Alfalfa Persistence The San Ricardo model does have one black spot: at this point, Pedro and Juan can’t figure out how to get around the necessity of replanting the perennial pastures every six years. The reason for the replanting is due to alfalfa die out. On the whole, the pastures are still healthy and productive after six years, but the alfalfa declines to the point that beef production per hectare drops below economically acceptable levels.

Renovating pastures is one of their biggest expenses, not only due to the

Stocking Rate is Key Hereford steers close to finishing weight right after moving into a fresh paddock.

Now that we know a few details of just how this Notice how full they are and that they’re not desperately hungry—a key to preventing productive alfalfa/grass sward is managed, let’s take bloat on alfalfa-based pastures. Estancia Santa Elena, Buenos Aires Province another look at San Ricardo’s first principle of profitability mentioned above—that of matching stocking rate to the peak of the pasture growth curve. Obviously, direct costs of establishing the pasture, but because it requires nearly if nearly every leaf of forage is being consumed during the spring and 20% of their land area to be out of production at any one time. summer growth peak, there won’t be much dry matter left over to Additionally, replanting causes a setback to humus buildup in the soil, conserve as hay or silage to make up for forage deficits during the slow harms earthworm activity, etc. growth period. Here in General Villegas slow growth starts in March I asked if growing alfalfa was really that necessary. “Couldn’t you have and continues through August. The San Ricardo model makes up for a ryegrass/white clover based pasture, like the New Zealanders, who this forage deficit by the direct grazing of mature corn, grown on about never have to replant?” The answer was no, white clover doesn’t produce 100 of the 690 total hectares. Starting in late summer/early fall (midlike alfalfa, especially during their fairly hot summers. Even with 20% of March), cattle are put into the cornfields at night, and then moved back the ranch out of production at any one time, Juan claimed the total onto pasture during the day. The 1400 steers on the ranch are divided production with an alfalfa base would be more than with the whole into three herds, referred to as the cabeza, cuerpo, and cola (head, body, ranch in permanent white clover/perennial ryegrass pasture. and tail). The cabeza herd is closest to finishing and the cola herd contains the lightest, youngest animals. In March, only the cabeza herd continued on page 12

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11

A Pastoral Paradise continued from page 11 After leaving the ranch, I had an idea. Because of their high stocking rates and their clipping program, the pastures are in a perpetual vegetative condition. They never have the chance to head out and produce a The hitch is that an new bank of mature seed. I alfalfa/grass-based wondered if it would be possible to skip a couple of pasture requires a grazings in the late spring very sophisticated level early summer, say once every other year or so, to of management. allow this new seed source to accumulate. That might be all that’s needed to help the alfalfa persist. If that would work, it would certainly result in a lot less time “out of production.”

This question was partly answered on our visit to Estancia La Invernada, owned by Rodolfo Zechner, in the center of the province of Santa Fe. Rodolfo farms 1700 ha (4200 acres) of country similar to

amendments tend to be minimal. The excess growth looks a little unsightly for a few weeks in the summer, but as growth rates slow down and the pastures get regrazed at high densities for 1- to 2-day grazing periods, this extra organic matter gets laid down on the soil surface, forming an outstanding mulch. On our visit, it was rapidly decaying into the soil profile. Allowing the grass to grow tall and rank also shades out developing warm season weeds, and of course it results in the production of a new seed bank.

Rodolfo admitted that they still find it necessary to interseed alfalfa every six years or so, but unlike San Ricardo, this seed is direct drilled into the existing sward at far less cost. In my view, it was a more ecologically sound approach, but I don’t want to take anything away from San Ricardo.

Both operations are models of sustainable, if not regenerative, production.

Even with their pasture renewal program, the soil organic matter percentages on San Ricardo have increased from 2.6% to 3.6% since 1992.

What about Bloat?

One final point: most Americans I know are terrified of grazing alfalfa due to the risk of bloat. Make no mistake, Argentine cattle are just as bloat-prone as their northern relatives, and it’s definitely something Argentine graziers have to be aware of. The difference is that it doesn’t scare them. First of all, they claim that bloat is mainly a problem in the spring when the alfalfa is just starting to become an important component of forage intake. The rumens aren’t yet adjusted to the alfalfa, so they have to be careful.

This problem is partly prevented by only letting alfalfa comprise a maximum of 40% of the sward. Also, by planning short grazing periods at high densities, animals graze a greater percentage of plants than they would under more lax management. This helps ensure daily intake is balanced with a high proportion of grasses.

Finally, cattle are always kept full. They never move onto a new break of pasture hungry and empty. This is done by leaving high post-grazing pasture residuals. On San Ricardo, the aim is for animals to enter a pasture with a cover of 2200–2600 kg dry matter/ha (this translates to roughly the same quantity in lb/acre), Our group discussing pasture establishment after cropping on Alfredo and removing them with a residual of 1200 kg dry matter/ha. On Oromi’s ranch in the province of La Pampa. The plan in this paddock was our trip we looked at several dozen herds of intensively managed to let succession, combined with good grazing planning and high stock cattle—i.e., big herds at high stock density being moved daily to density, dictate which species would establish, rather than seeding. every three days. Not once were we met by a bawling mob of bovines waiting to be moved.

The good managers know what these pasture masses look like out San Ricardo’s. In addition to finishing 1800 yearlings, running 400 brood on the ground, so these estimates are made with quick visual assessments. cows on his bottom land, and growing organic wheat, soybeans, corn, For those of you who want to do this on your own non-brittle pasture, sorghum, and sunflower, he also milks 500 grass-fed Holstein cows twice you’ll initially have to clip and weigh forage samples, or measure pastures a day. All production is certified organic, and the milk is all processed with an electronic pasture probe (much easier) to get an idea of what into several types of organic cheese in the local cheese plant—but back different sward heights equate to in dry matter per acre or hectare. After to this alfalfa persistence question. doing a few of these measurements at different heights in different We walked out into one of Rodolfo’s pastures, which was currently seasons, you’ll quickly develop an eye for estimating pasture mass. being used to finish heifers, and the diversity of plants—cool and warm Argentina is still a “developing” country with plenty of problems, but season, native and introduced grasses, forbs, and legumes, plus a healthy sometimes such challenges stimulate a level of creative adaptivity that dose of alfalfa—was amazing. It was a true salad bar. The really exciting is slow to occur where things come easier. Make no mistake, there are thing is that many of Rodolfo’s pastures are going on 30 years without plenty of Argentine producers who are managing unsustainably, and the being turned over and replanted. ranches on our tour were definitely among the country’s best. Overall, Rodolfo’s management is similar to San Ricardo’s, but with one major though, with their focus on forage finishing instead of feedlot finishing, difference. He intentionally lets his pastures get away in late spring/early the Argentines are sure ahead of their North American neighbors when summer. He can do this because, believe it or not, he isn’t stocked to the it comes to the efficient, ecologically sustainable, and profitable absolute maximum. Rodolfo claims this chance to “get away” is critical production of beef. to maintaining soil fertility on an organically managed farm, where soil

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On the Slick Rock Ranch—

Big Dreams and Stark Reality

by Jim Howell

I’

ve had the opportunity to personally visit a broad range of grazing operations around the world, and on nearly every outfit, from the tropics to the alpine tundra, people on the land complain about the hardships they have to overcome in their particular environment. The only exception was a grass finishing operation I visited while on a field trip in college, somewhere on the North Island of New Zealand. That particular spot was so productive and climatically benign that the manager was at a loss to find something to bellyache about. Of course, everything is relative.

Most places do have their share of challenges, and without a doubt, some have more than others.

Last February I spent the day with Dave James on his public lands winter grazing allotment in the canyon lands that surround the one-building town of Slick Rock in western Colorado. Some places have poorer feed than Dave’s place and some have rougher terrain (but not much rougher). Some have a more erratic precipitation pattern and more bare ground, brush encroachment, and biodiversity loss. Some places get hotter in the summer and colder in the winter.

Some are administered by less reasonable bureaucrats than Dave gets to work with, and some are even a little farther from civilization. But when all of those potential challenges are weighed, considered, and combined on the Slick Rock Ranch, I’m not sure I’ve ever been on a tougher place.

From Dreams to Reality I first met Dave James and his family Like most new holistic at the Center’s annual gathering in enthusiasts, Dave was Albuquerque in 1995. keen to get straight to At that time my wife, Daniela, and I were work concentrating his managing the High cattle, planning the grazing, Lonesome Ranch in southwestern New and watching the land Mexico, which was spring back to life. another pretty tough place. We found out that Dave and his wife, Kay, were friends of the previous owner of the High Lonesome, and they’d visited the ranch, so that gave us something to talk about. We also learned that Dave and Kay had been ranching for 35 years in the lush, irrigated Animas Valley near Durango, Colorado. Dave said that

Dave James on the Slick Rock

after learning about Holistic Management and hearing all this talk about transforming brittle environments into Gardens of Eden with cows, he was hankering to expand beyond the Animas Valley to give it a try. “I really want to find a brittle ranch to try some of this stuff on,” I remember Dave telling me.

Now, six years later, his dream has come true on the Slick Rock.

But like many of us who found our way to arid, brittle environments, Dave has realized this kind of country is nearly overwhelming in its challenges. But while it may be challenging, Dave hasn’t been deterred from his goal of creating a holistically sound cow outfit in the brittle West. At 62 years young, he acts, talks, works, and continues to dream as if he were 30. I’m 32, and I could barely keep up with him.

The Slick Rock allotment comprises 40,000 acres (16,200 ha) and ranges in elevation from 5,500 to 7,100 feet (1,670 to 2,150 meters).

Precipitation varies from 12 inches (300 mm) at the low end to 17 inches (430 mm) on the top. The ranch lies in a transition zone between a mild steppe and a cold steppe environment. Unlike a mild steppe, where adequate winter moisture can result in green forage in the winter months, it stays too cold through the winter to grow any new grass on the Slick Rock. Unlike a truly cold steppe, light snows received through the winter tend to melt rather than accumulate as standing frozen moisture, so the spring green-up isn’t as reliable.

Summer rain can bring excellent growing conditions, but those exceptional growing seasons tend to be few and far between due to the erratic summer rainfall pattern. This all equates to a high level of brittleness, with very little biological decay taking place at any time of the year. Ungrazed plants stagnate and oxidize, eventually dying from overrest. continued on page 14

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Big Dreams and Stark Reality

A Sagebrush Dilemma

As we gained elevation on our way to one of these high plateaus, I noticed the low growing snakeweed and other lower elevation shrubby species gradually giving way to sagebrush and greater Reality Bites concentrations of pinyon and juniper trees. Once on top, the low growing shrub canopy was completely dominated by sagebrush, with Like most new holistic enthusiasts, Dave was keen to get straight to very little grass growing between the sagebrush plants, and lots of work concentrating his cattle, planning the grazing, and watching the bare ground. Dave pointed out the deeper and more fertile soil, and land spring back to life. But after a winter of trying to keep big claimed the sagebrush was the only thing holding back an explosion bunches of cattle concentrated on rough rocky ledges, and watching of grass. He reasons the sagebrush has come to dominate the his fat red bovines slip down to body condition scores of three and landscape due to a total suppression of fire over much of the past four, Dave realized he had to back off and take a different approach. century, although he does recognize that if grazing is planned to He realized that cattle have to be able to select from a broad range of minimize overgrazing and improve animal impact, grasses should plants to meet their needs in this type of country. With mainly dominate the landscape instead of sagebrush. dormant low quality grasses like galleta, three awn, and cheat grass, I wasn’t convinced on the fire suppression theory. The mixed in with higher quality, but much less abundant, blue grama and Dominguez-Escalante expedition explored this region of Colorado in Indian rice grass, cattle need to be able to browse on the randomly 1776, and they repeatedly described “long sagebrush stretches” with spaced salt bush, winter fat, shad scale, and rabbit brush scattered “very little pasturage for horses,” a description remarkably similar to across the range to meet their protein needs. The tighter cattle are much of this area today. My theory is that once the big herds of concentrated in this country, the tougher that becomes, and original megafauna were eradicated from this area of the West by the performance starts to suffer. first American immigrants 10,000 or so years ago, and replaced by scattered bands of desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, pronghorn, and elk, the shift to brush was inevitable. The lack of periodic animal impact and heavy grazing would have led to an overrested soil surface and a shift to nearly 100% woody shrubs, especially on those hard-to-get-to mesas that are far from natural water.

No matter the reason, a near monoculture of sagebrush doesn’t fit Dave’s future landscape description. Moreover, he has identified energy conversion to be his weak link in the financial chain of production, which means he needs to grow more grass and less sagebrush if he is to produce more pounds of beef. In addition, Dave sees the need to plan for longer recovery periods than one year, which has been the practice to date, to help improve energy flow. With at least two growing seasons between grazings, plants will have the chance to accumulate material to One of the hard-to-get-to benches without water. Cattle were concentrated not only feed the cattle, but to provide a source of soil-covering here at high density three years prior and water hauled in at great expense. litter as well.

Grasses have fully recovered and probably should have been grazed the In this arid, brittle environment, bare soil is the most critical previous year because old material is starting to accumulate. It will, impediment to improving the water cycle, and hence all the however, provide litter once the animals get there to trample it down. other ecosystem processes, including energy flow. By grazing most areas of the ranch every year, even for relatively short periods during the dormant season, this litter source never has the So Dave has relaxed his stock density. And his two riders, Al and chance to accumulate. If these sagebrush-dominated areas had more Jerry Heaton, who run 100–125 of their own cows on the allotment, grass, longer recovery periods would become more feasible. loose-herd the 500 head (according to a grazing plan devised prior to continued from page 13

the winter grazing season) up and down the various canyons, benches, and plateaus comprising the ranch. The side canyons usually have live water, and the ranch’s main canyon (containing the Dolores River) always has open water, even during cold snaps in mid-winter. The narrow benches traversing the canyon walls have been developed with dozens of stock ponds. The high mesas between the canyons are also well supplied with water, but those areas of the ranch are tough to utilize until late winter/early spring, after the ice melts off the ponds.

For parts of most winters, the cattle are also able to meet their water needs by licking snow, which tends to hold in shady spots and on northern exposures

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IN PRACTICE #78

Cause and Effect If fire suppression were the cause of the sagebrush, controlled burning would pass the cause and effect test. If overrest were the reason, high doses of animal impact, preferably in the form of herd effect, would pass. Both treatments have practical difficulties. Burns are hard to pull off due to weather conditions needing to be just right, and because of the bureaucratic maze that needs to be negotiated to get the okay to burn, mainly due to the archeological primitive sites prevalent in this area. When there is little to no grass for the cattle to graze, thousands of difficult-to-access acres needing treatment,

relatively few cattle, very limited labor resources, and a narrow elected to take on this kind of challenge at this stage in life. window of opportunity due to a short season of use, applying the Amazingly, this is only half the story. Before buying the Slick Rock tool of animal impact starts to look pretty far-fetched, too.

Ranch, the James Ranch cowherd was wintered on the Durango To deal with these practical challenges, Dave has elected to take a property by feeding hay on their snow-covered meadows. With the little aspirin in the form of technology through a one-time herbicidal Slick Rock addition, the cowherd has only been spending the green spraying Tebuthiuron (called spiking), and so far has treated 1,000 summer months in Durango. But after years of careful, well-planned acres. Spiking kills about 90% of the sagebrush and is done in a grazing on these productive irrigated pastures, Dave has created a mosaic pattern, leaving patches of sagebrush intact for wildlife cover. grass sward that will put five pounds a day on a yearling steer. For Dave realizes spiking doesn’t directly treat the cause of the sagebrush the past several years, he has realized that this forage is too valuable being there in the first place, but sometimes it makes sense to treat a to put through a mother cow. symptom if that makes it easier and more practical to deal with the As luck would have it, a U.S. Forest Service summer range cause. More on that below. allotment 20 miles down the highway from the Slick Rock Ranch was These 1,000 acres were up for sale. Dave saw an treated in 1999, and the opportunity to keep his BLM (Bureau of Land cows on the range all year, Management—the public lands freeing up the irrigated agency that administers this grass in Durango for more land) has insisted that this value-adding enterprises. area be deferred from grazing The plan is to expand their for two years. After two years production of grassof recovery, the quantity of finished, direct-marketed grass on the treated area is at “Valley Sweet Beef” by least five times that of the grazing yearling steers untreated area (even though produced on the range both areas had been deferred outfit, and to start a grassfrom grazing). That still isn’t based dairy, concentrating much, however. We estimated on the production and there were about 7 ADA marketing of fine cheeses, (animal days per acre) of The Slick Rock’s main canyon always has water—the Dolores River, bottom right. which son, Dan, and forage on the treated area. daughter-in-law, Becca, This treatment costs Dave will operate. $7.50/acre. The total cost is actually $15/acre, but the BLM picks up True to form, Dave made the deal of a lifetime and bought this half the bill. If an animal unit month (AUM) of forage is worth $15 beautiful 40,000-acre (16,200-ha) summer range, in addition to 10,000 (the standard rate in this area), and 28 animal days comprise one more acres (4,050 ha) of winter range that lie at its base. The summer AUM, that additional 7 ADA of forage is worth $3.75. Since it takes range is permitted for 900 cows for 6 months, and its highest point two years to grow that much forage, it’s actually a value of $1.88/year. tops out at 8,100 feet (2,500 meters). Most of the range is on a broad So including the two years of mandatory rest after the treatment, it flat mesa covered with a mosaic of aspen forests and grassy mountain takes six years to recover the initial investment of $7.50/acre. meadows. Dave plans to run a base herd of about 600 head between Now, back to addressing the cause. Dave recognizes that he will the entire 90,000 acres he now controls, and to stock up with have to get tighter control of his cattle if he expects the newly yearlings during the summer to fill out his summer allotment. This released grasses in these treated areas to thrive. They’ll need to be summer will be the first year running in the high country, and Dave managed to minimize overgrazing, especially in the early spring when is looking forward to it with the enthusiasm of a young man just the ice melts off the ponds, the grass is starting to green up, and these starting out on his career. mesas can begin being utilized. He’ll have to create high enough Dave and his riders, Jerry and Al, are also in the process of density to achieve at least some degree of animal impact, and he’ll developing a rustic ranch vacation business—horseback all day, wall have to give long recovery periods (probably two years) to allow tent accommodation, simple, hearty grub. Adventure-seeking groups for these newly released plants to increase in vigor and produce who know how to ride and are keen to work should definitely get sufficient leaf and stem to both feed the cattle and begin covering their fill. Dave sees the main draw being their vast tracts of rugged, the soil with litter. diverse, incredibly scenic terrain.

Without spiking the sagebrush and releasing the stunted grasses, To restore the biodiversity of the arid brittle West in an economically this is pretty near impossible. But now that there is a reasonable sound manner, we need tough but idealistic people who love the land amount of forage, it’s realistic to bring cattle to those areas, and to and aren’t afraid to dream big. The West is full of tough, practical people. manage them in a way that will do some good. Again, if management It’s the idealistic and visionary qualities that are rare. Dave James is a doesn’t change, the sagebrush will probably come back. modern western rancher who combines all of these traits. He is a genuine leader in the new rangeland industry. I’m glad I drove down for a visit.

A Year-Round Range Outfit

You may be thinking that Dave is a little off his rocker to have

Dave James can be reached at james_ranch@frontier.net.

IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2001 LAND & LIVESTOCK

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Savory Center Bulletin Board

Wiebke Volkmann at 264-61-22-4325 or wiebke@iafrica.com.na

In Memoriam New Africa Training Program Management conferences yet. The conference attracted folks from various parts of New Zealand, a large contingent of Australians, a handful of North Americans and several farmers from southern Africa, among others.

The conference theme—The Future Resource Base: Continuing the Challenge for Change—was highlighted Left to right: Chris Jost, Ben Roman, Moses Nyapokoto, again and again by an inspiring array Colin Nott, Douglas Uuandara, Colleen Todd. of speakers: New Zealand’s parliamentary Commissioner of Environment; the manager of Banrock Station winery and its wetlands program; a he 2001 class of the Africa Certified British actress turned community activist; a Educator Training Program just completed variety of farmers/ranchers from New Zealand their first two-week training session at the and Australia; a practical research botanist; a Africa Centre for Holistic Management Training Center near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. specialist in managing water’s natural energy levels; and from the U.S., Enterprise Facilitation The session, taught by Director of Educational creator Ernesto Sirolli, and from the Savory Services, Kelly Pasztor, and Allan Savory, Center, Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield. proved to be a great learning experience for That such a conference took place in everyone.

Those attending the session included: New Zealand is a credit to Certified Educator Bruce Ward (and his wife Suzie) who has Christine Jost is Assistant Professor in been running training programs over the last the International Programs/Center for three years in New Zealand. There are enough Conservation Medicine at Tufts University. She practitioners now that the desire to get is interested in bringing Holistic Management into the curriculum at Tufts. together and exchange ideas was considerable and there was no lack of determination in Colin Nott and Bernard Roman work for making it happen. The excitement this Integrated Rural Development and Nature conference generated will subside at some Conservation (IRDNC) in Windhoek, Namibia. point, but there were lessons learned to last Moses Nyapokoto works for the Zimbabwe permaculture organization Fambidzanai and a lifetime.

Congratulations, Kiwis! will bring Holistic Management into that organization and its curriculum.

Namibia News Colleen Todd, from northern South Africa, is a botanist who teaches at the University he Namibia Centre for Holistic of Venda where she works with indigenous Management began working on a land students. reform initiative for Namibia after their annual Douglas Uuandara, a communal meeting last year in October. Among those farmer/rancher/herdsman from Namibia, gathered were Certified Educator Wiebke works for the Sustainable Animal and Volkmann, Namibia Centre members, and Rangeland Development Program, a Germanrepresentatives from the Ministry of Land, sponsored project Resettlement and Rehabilitation and the We are excited about these trainees as Ministry of Agriculture. The focus is to help they are a diverse group and are already commercial and communal farmers, among working at the community level. other stakeholders, begin to discuss land issues.

They are in the process of expanding the core Excitement Down Under planning group to include a broader spectrum of organizations and individuals dealing with ver 200 people spent two days in Christchurch, New Zealand in April, these issues.

The 2001 Annual Gathering will be held on learning, discussing, challenging and sharing October 2-3, 2001. For more information contact ideas in one of the most stimulating Holistic

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16 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #78

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he Savory Center staff were saddened to learn of the death of long-time member, Les Davis, 81.

Les was the third generation to run the sprawling CS Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico Les Davis which he led for more than 35 years. Novelist Max Evans, who wrote books set in the CS Ranch area, says, “[Les was] an institution in northeastern New Mexico, and his family were pioneers in many different dimensions all over that part of the country.” And so they were and still are. For 18-plus years they have worked to practice Holistic Management and shared what they could with their community.

Les leaves behind his wife, Linda, their six children, and eight grandchildren—all of whom remain closely involved, as the fourth and fifth generations on the CS Ranch.

Software Upgrade Available

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he long awaited Office 2000 version of the Savory Center’s Holistic Management™ Financial Planning Software is now available.

If you use Microsoft Office 2000 (Excel 2000), you can now use our financial planning software! Also included in this new version is a small-stock worksheet that works like the livestock production worksheet. So if you also run small stock, you’re going to find this makes the planning a breeze. See the back page for ordering information.

Holistic Gathering Registration Open

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he Colorado Branch is still accepting registrations for the Holistic Management Celebration, “Whole Land: Healthy People,” being held at the Chico Basin Ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 27-29, 2001.

This gathering promises to bring inspiring Holistic Management practitioners and educators from around the world to share their experiences. Allan Savory will be present throughout the gathering and will lead several workshops. Camping on the ranch is available.

Registration is limited to 300 people, so please get your registrations in early. Those interested in receiving more information should contact Cindy Dvergsten at 970/882-4222 or cindydv@reanet.net.

Development Corner Hewlett Increases Support

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he Savory Center is pleased to announce the receipt of a two-year grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for $250,000. This general support grant will help with overall operation of the Savory Center and our programs in 2001 and 2002.

The Hewlett Foundation, through their Environment Program and Program Officer Michael L. Fischer, has been a major supporter of the Savory Center’s mission and our programs since 1994.

Flora Family Grant e are also pleased to announce that we received a two-year grant from the Flora Family Foundation for $80,000 for our work on the National Learning Site in the Lost Rivers Valley in Idaho.

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Africa Donations

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e would like to thank the following members for their recent donations to the Africa Centre and to the Village Banking initiative as part of the Matetsi Project. We will provide an update on this effort in the next issue of IN PRACTICE. Sam J. Brown, Austin, TX Harriett Faudree Dublin, Midland, TX Stephen, Betty, and Jack Greenhalgh, Salt Lake City, UT Doug McDaniel & Gail Hammack, Lostine, OR Jane Reed, New Castle, CO Dean William Rudo y, Cedar Crest, NM

In-Kind Donations Support Savory Center We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those donors who have offered inkind donations of goods and services. If you have a product or service that you think would benefit the Savory Center and our work, please contact Andy Braman at 505/842-5252 or andyb@holisticmanagement.org to discuss your donation. This year’s contributors include: Christina Allday-Bondy, Austin, TX Ellen Ashbrook, Tajique, NM Kitty Bennett, Sonoita, AZ Julie Bohannon, Altadena, CA Sam Brown, Austin, TX Mary Child, Mo yers, WV Ken Dickinson, CGI USA, Houston, TX Mark Gardner, Dubbo, NSW, Australia Gifts in Kind International, Merrifield, V A Guy Glosson, Snyder, TX Ken Jacobson, Albuquerque, NM

by Andy Braman

Robert Pasztor, Albuquerque, NM Colleen Reeves and The Red Corral Ranch, Austin, TX Steve Saunders, Dallas, TX Lois Trevino, Nespelem, WA Vicky Turpen, Albuquerque, NM Bill and Paula Woodward, Buf falo, WY

Annual Campaign Underway

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he Savory Center has launched a new fund drive called the Savory Center Annual Campaign. Our Annual Campaign is very similar to a university or college Annual Fund Drive or a church’s Every Member Canvas. The intent of this campaign is not to take the place of the Center’s end of the year Annual Appeal but to supplement it. The plan is to contact about 200 of the Center’s past donors and donor prospects by mid-summer for their support. The Center’s Development Office with the help of the Advisory Board will be working diligently over the six weeks making these contacts.

Here are some answers to some questions asked about the new Campaign:

Q. Can we make a pledge of our gift?

A. Pledges are great! A number of Savory Center contributors have made pledges, some for the year, a few for two or three years and one for five years. Pledges really help with financial planning and forecasting of income.

We would hope that pledges made for the fiscal year of 2001 would be paid by the first week of January 2002.

Q. What is the minimum amount a month I can pledge?

A. Any gift of any size is always appreciated and will be invested wisely in the Center’s work. If you wish to pay your pledge monthly we will mail you a reminder monthly. To help in the cost of reminders, stationary, printing and postage we would ask that you pledge $25 or more a month.

Q. How much does the Savory Center need to raise though contributions this year?

A. The Center has a goal of $250,000 to raise this year through individual and corporate donations.

We hope you can give again this year, and maybe even a little more than last time. Your gift to the Center is an investment in Holistic Management and its continued growth. We’re grateful for your support.

Corrections In the Memoriam for Laurence (Rummy) Goodyear in IN PRACTICE #77, we should have reported that Rummy left behind five, rather than four, children, as well as his wife, Lorraine Gallard.

We would also like to correct the listing of one of our Savory Center Supporters. We wish to thank the Charles & Betti Saunders Foundation from Houston, Texas for their contributions.

Readers forum As always, I read IN PRACTICE with a mixture of appreciation and awe. So many environmentalists have no appreciation of the interrelationship of animals, domestic or wild, with their habitat. As advocates for rare breeds of livestock, we must constantly point out that most livestock are grazers or browsers that evolved over millennia to forage on living plants, not grain and processed feed. If we are to have healthy ecosystems, animals must be integrated.

Since we must feed an ever-increasing human population, food-producing animals must have an integrated role in these ecosystems.

Allan Savory’s article on the “New Agriculture” in Issue #75 is brilliant and articulates many of the same issues the

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy espouses for the conservation of genetic diversity in livestock. I hope that his use of the term “large herbivores” also includes sheep and goats. Other cultures might include llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs, and rabbits. Geese are well utilized in Eastern Europe as herbivores, and other monogastrics, such as pigs and other poultry can contribute to mixed species production on grassland, forest, and in rotation with crops.

I was pleased to see the article about Karl North and his sheep dairy—another role for sheep to play in North America—and appreciated all the articles by Jim Howell.

Don Bixby American Livestock Breeds Conservancy Pittsboro, North Carolina, www.albc-usa.org

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