healthy land. sustainable future.
January / February / APRIL 2008 2006 MARCH
Number NUMBER105 118
www.holisticmanagement.org WWW.HOLISTICMANAGEMENT.ORG
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Providing Leadership & Structure—
FINANCIAL PLANNING
Conducting a Successful Management Club by Roland Kroos
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or 20 plus years, Holistic Management instructors have been encouraging people who attend Holistic Management courses or seminars to join or create a management club. Despite this encouragement, most management clubs in the United States have experienced very short lives. Why is this? I believe people recognized the need for support and mentorship that these management clubs offered. People who practice Holistic Management face many challenges. Probably the biggest challenge is breaking old paradigms, letting go of the old and trying something new. In the preface of the Holistic Management Handbook you can find the statement, “the old way always beats the first of the new.” Without support and encouragement, many people eventually revert to the old methods due to peer pressure and less than perfect attempts at practicing Holistic Management. So, despite this important need, management clubs continue to fail. Why? I believe we failed to provide people the Leadership and Structure within the support groups or management clubs to be successful.
No Limits I want to use the following analogy to help make my point. Assume I train a group of musicians to play various instruments. I believe they have the passion and talent to carry on so I simply encourage them to periodically get together and play with no leadership. What odds would you give this group of musicians still being together and playing to their true potential one year later? In September of last year while attending a conference in Denver, I had the unique opportunity to watch a DVD titled The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander. This
inspirational video shed light on why management clubs have struggled and what role I can play in making them successful. Going back to my music analogy, “What music does the conductor of an orchestra or symphony make?” Not a note! So, what purpose does a conductor serve? In the video, Zander identified the follow attributes of a good conductor. • Operates with a belief that has no limits • Identifies and calls on the passion within the group • Enrolls every voice in the passion— it can’t be commanded. • Looks for shining eyes • Helps people see and find possibilities • Stops downward spiral thinking • Sees everyone as a blank piece of paper, everyone gets an “A” • Leads by making others powerful and successful Zander also showed in this video how these attributes can be used to manage Fortune 500 companies or other small groups. He uses the following definition for leadership which comes from Colin Powell: “Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible” How might the attributes of being a good conductor help a management club? Many people have problems or self-imposed limits that they cannot see beyond when they initially begin to practice Holistic Management. They cannot see beyond today’s problems; such as large debts of an operation, problem weeds, a very limited land base, or no labor force to accomplish what needs to be done. The conductor needs to help each individual see CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Financial Planning can be a challenge for those who haven’t had a positive or conscious relationship with money. Andrea Malmberg shares her own challenges with financial planning as well as what she has learned to address those challenges—including understanding her core strengths such as appreciation of beauty and excellence. To read her article, turn to page four.
FEATURE STORIES Land Chi—Working with Nature JULIE SULLIVAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Beyond Financial Planning— Is Your Life Energy Profitable? ANDREA MALMBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
A Dancing Holisticgoal WIEBKE VOLKMANN
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Systems Thinking and Holistic Management DAVID IRVINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
LAND and LIVESTOCK Creating Open Water Wildlife Habitat— Using Multi-Species Grazing for Bulrush Management CRAIG MADSEN AND MICHAEL CROWDER . . .11
Beyond the Row Crop— Ultra High Density Grazing TONY MALMBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
NEWS and NETWORK HMI Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Reader’s Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 From the Board Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 HMI Conference Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
healthy land. sustainable future.
Holistic Management International works to reverse the degradation of private and communal land used for agriculture and conservation, restore its health and productivity, and help create sustainable and viable livelihoods for the people who depend on it. FOUNDERS Allan Savory
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Jody Butterfield
STAFF Peter Holter, Executive Director Shannon Horst, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Kelly Bee, Director of Finance & Accounting Jutta von Gontard, Director of Development Craig Leggett, Director of Learning Sites Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Director of Educational Products and Outreach Maryann West, Manager of Administration and Executive Support Donna Torrez, Customer Service Manager Marisa Mancini, Development Assistant
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ben Bartlett, Chair Ron Chapman, Past Chair Roby Wallace, Vice-Chair Gail Hammack, Secretary Christopher Peck, Treasurer Ivan Aguirre Jody Butterfield Sallie Calhoun Mark Gardner Daniela Howell Andrea Malmberg Jim McMullan Ian Mitchell Innes Jim Parker Christopher Peck Sue Probart Jim Shelton Roby Wallace Dennis Wobeser
ADVISORY COUNCIL Robert Anderson, Corrales, NM Michael Bowman,Wray, CO Sam Brown, Austin, TX Lee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZ Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Cynthia Harris, Albuquerque, NM Edward Jackson, San Carlos, CA Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico Soren Peters, Santa Fe, NM York Schueller, Ventura, CA Africa Centre for Holistic Management Tel: (263) (11) 404 979 • hmatanga@mweb.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director The David West Station for Holistic Management Tel: 325/392-2292 • Cel: 325/226-3042 westgift@hughes.net Joe & Peggy Maddox, Ranch Managers HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by Holistic Management International, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2008
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beyond the constraints of today and help them clearly visualize this future, then allow this future to be clearly expressed in that person’s holisticgoal. The conductor within a management club must identify and listen to the passions of the individuals within the group. He or she recognizes this passion must come from within each individual and that it cannot be commanded by the group or the conductor. You can tell when a person has found their passion and believes they have the ability to attain it through their shining eyes. At the end of the HMI conference in November, I had a gentleman tell me at the end of the conference that he was a millionaire. He went on to explain that he wasn’t talking about his material wealth, but the intellectual wealth and empowerment he felt following this conference. You could see this confidence from the sparkle in his eyes. In conducting management club meetings, it is imperative that you stop downward spiral thinking—thoughts such as: “It isn’t possible.” “There aren’t enough resources.” “We lack the skills to do the things that we want to do.” Downward spiral thinking is contagious and will quickly spread from one person to another. You need to help each person step into a universe of possibility, where resources are The conductor needs to help each likely to come to you in greater individual see beyond the constraints abundance when you are generous, inclusive and engage of today and help them clearly people in your passion for life. Give everyone an A. You visualize this future, then allow this might ask what does grades or scoring have to do with a future to be clearly expressed in management club. However, that person’s holisticgoal. I find people often comparing themselves and their accomplishments to others in the group. As a conductor you must help the participants focus on the outcomes they desire. Zander recommends that everyone start with a blank piece of paper. On this paper you describe the outcomes you hope to accomplish so that you attain the A you are striving for. Encourage them to become a team for accomplishing the extraordinary. Unfortunately, through our education system we taught people that to accomplish an A, you must be better than others in the group. Lead by making others powerful and successful. Just as the conductor doesn’t play a note during a symphony, this management club is not about you. It is about “we.” Have the group tell the “we” story – the story of the unseen threads that connect us all, the story of possibility. Allow the group to define, what do we want to have happen here? Also allow the group to define the next step. Within the video, Zander also identifies Leadership Rule # 6. Whether you are a conductor of a symphony, leader of a Fortune 500 company, or leading a management club in Nebraska, you need to follow this rule. Leadership Rule # 6: Don’t take yourself so seriously. What are the other rules of leadership? There are no other rules. The Art of Possibility by Rosamond Stone Zander and Bejamin Zander is also available in book form. In the next issue of IN PRACTICE I will talk about a unique structure that I created for a Businesses Council involving five ranch businesses, which I call Holistic Management in Motion. It is a structure that helped me put these leadership principles into practice to create management clubs that work for the long haul. Roland Kroos is a Certified Educator in Bozeman, Montana. He can be reached at: 406/522-3862 or kroosing@msn.com.
Land Chi— Working with Nature by Julie Sullivan
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hrough time and across cultures people have believed in a life force or energy, which permeates all things and fuels all processes. Called qi or chi by the Chinese, this life force flows within and between everything in the universe in a multitude of forms and cycles. The last several decades of research in physics have confirmed that life is not only solid substance or things; everything is also energy and this energy takes forms that we recognize as things. It’s hard to wrap ourselves around this reality. We are very good at experiencing the form and substance of our life—that is a chair, a solid thing made of wood or plastic. I am me, not a vibrating jumble of electromagnetic energy. In reality, I am both the solid substance of bone and blood and flesh, and electromagnetic energy. We do experience life energy or chi, even if we haven’t thought of it as such. A stream running fast and free from clogging debris is obviously full of flowing energy, and a dammed stream demonstrates blocked energy flow. Cattle moving smoothly into a corral are moving with chi—with the inherent momentum of the herd. Excessive or unnecessary talking and movement or odd shadows inhibit this flow—cattle chi is blocked. Chi is also energy that flows within and between entities, within and between systems. We’ve all experienced this as well. A bad mood will infect our interactions with beloved family and friends, turning simple conversations into arguments. If we are agitated or anxious when we go out to work cattle, the animals spook, bolt, or head for the neighbor’s field. A positive mood and love feelings alters an interaction. If we approach a conversation about a difficult subject with feelings of love for our spouse, the conversation will likely go much better, even if we still disagree—because that love was palpable as part of the interaction. We can’t measure love or bad moods, but we definitely experience the results of these things. Chi, like love, cannot be quantified, yet the results of flowing chi or blocked chi can be seen and measured.
George follows in the 1946 Case tractor, pulling an ancient dump rake. The rake, a long comb of curved tines, scrapes up the windrows. When the accumulated tumbling grass begins to slide under the tines, the rake lifts and the grass falls to the meadow in two miniature hay stacks. Rows of hay piles are left behind, dotting the meadow. While we often fret about our high, dry valley’s climate, brittleness is our ally when it comes to hay piles. We make piles in late summer, after seed heads have set and ground-nesting birds have fledged their families, so the viable seeds fall where they would without our intervention. In winter, the mother herd is given a daily ration of piles to strip graze. Their urine and dung mixes with the uneaten grass, leaving behind a mat-like mulch of grass, vetch, and forbs. Come spring this melts into the meadow. Plant matter, nourished by rumens, is returned to earth within three feet of its origin; viable seeds are planted by hoof into soil reinvigorated by dung and urine. The result, after twenty-five years, is a thick veldt visible in infrared satellite photos as being more alive and productive than the neighboring fields and the nearby wildlife refuges. We love our hay piles. They are beautiful when new, a bleaching golden green. We love them in winter when snow turns them to gold and white ripples. They are beautiful as evidence of our effort to work with nature’s processes—the cycling of biological life and meltdown of matter into its chemical components, which return to the generous soil. It is easy to see the four ecosystem processes, as defined by Holistic Management, at play in the piling and strip grazing of hay meadows There is beauty of an invisible sort here as well, beyond the known cycles of biology and chemistry, which feeds our souls’ desire to feel a part of nature, rather than apart from it. Could chi be what binds us to our world, motivating us to act in concert with these cycles?
Within A Larger System We aren’t the first to long for harmony with nature, or to try to create it. Too often the story told is one of vicious competition for resources and survival, posing humans and nature as adversaries, pitched in an endless battle against one another. And I have to say, moving electric fence today in the 14 below zero Fahrenheit (-26 Celcius) morning and deep snow drifts, I wasn’t feeling all too loving about nature myself. As part of our search for land chi, we’ve looked more deeply into agrarian practices that strive to work with nature’s energy, rhythms and systems. Be it the familiar centuries-old practice of planting by the seasons of the moon, biodynamic farming, permaculture, or the ancient Chinese practice of Feng Shui, these practices (like Holistic Management) see the world as a collection of entities as well as a network of relationships created by life energy flowing in and amongst entities. Each practice strives to work with these interrelationships and energy flow, rather than impose a largely artificial agricultural enterprise on the land. To many, these alternative agricultures seem like nature-winkie woowoo, or wishful thinking. Little of it can be proved in the way that science likes to prove things, and much evidence is anecdotal. Whether these energyfocused agricultural systems seem valid or not, they all respect and work with the ecological processes of nature. Wherever we look, interrelationship pops up as the fundamental principle of life. From Eastern spiritual and philosophical traditions to the modern disciplines of ecology and systems theory, our study of life leads us to the profound realization that nothing exists in isolation. Individual things—planets, people, animals, watersheds, etc. are themselves systems that are not sustainable separate from the larger systems CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
The Whittens’ high, dry valley’s climate can be a challenge, but the land’s brittleness is their ally when it comes to hay piles which remain preserved on the ground with little harvesting effort.
Chi Cycling We’re making hay piles. George’s dad runs the 1976 International tractor, and pulls the windrower. The tractor-windrower scoots along the meadow, its long blade-like scythes cutting the grass, then tossing it into a ribbon behind it. Number 118
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Land Chi—Working with Nature in which they exist. In other words, every single thing in the universe is itself a network of relationships embedded in larger relationships. A key property of systems is their capacity to self-regulate—when our bodies heat up due to exercise, we sweat—that is a self-regulation mechanism. Continual exchange of energy keeps every element of the system in communication with the rest of the system, so if something goes amiss, corrective action can be taken. Might chi be one of the ways an organism, ecosystem, or family self-regulates?
Chi Flowing We set up drift fences on the range this summer, creating sub-pastures to confine the herd to particular areas of the range for specified time periods. At first these smaller pastures work well; the cattle like the area we call the Basin, and don’t challenge the configuration we’ve imposed upon their movement up and down draws. Later on, when the herd is out at Devil’s Knob, we start having trouble. It’s rocky, steep terrain, with lots of under-utilized draws. The cattle don’t like the shale-scree hillsides, but they do like the feed. Daily, a small bunch challenges the drift fence and goes around it to the large round tank out on the Mesa, about a mile away. Daily we round them up and herd them back over two ridges, one low and one steep, to Devil’s Knob. Every day, for several days. We could keep doing this. Or we can ask, “What are the cattle telling us?” Obviously, we’ve done something contrary to the way the cattle want to use the land; we aren’t working with cow chi, whatever that might be. It could be the subsection of draws pulls the cattle in ways we hadn’t foreseen. Maybe they have sore feet or are satiated on the forage selection. Or, it could be that this just doesn’t work, for some reason we cannot quite comprehend. We move the fence—not the fence they
continued from page three challenge, but another fence a ridge away, near the alternate water point. The move is slight, but it does the trick. The cattle stop heading to the Mesa. These wise sisters either stay at Devil’s Knob now or head to the dusty ground and pinon-dotted cup of a valley at Onion Springs. Could be water, we think. Or feed. Or shade. Or something else. We talk about herd culture and chi, and believe the problem and its resolution cannot be explained by the obvious factors of food and water. We blocked flow of some sort, and when we released the block, all was well. If chi flows within and between all life, it flows within the herd and in the way the herd moves on the land. Might low-stress animal handling be one way we become conscious of chi—flowing or blocked--and learn to work with it?
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Holistic decision-making awakens mental chi—the ability to question a standing practice, consider a wild new idea without immediately dismissing it, and enter into the testing process open to whatever the outcome.
The Personality of Place Holistic Managment is a process, and like chi, it is at its best when fluid, changing and evolving. The decision made today may not be the right one tomorrow, because circumstances change. When faced with an unfamiliar situation, we tend to freeze up. We replay old ideas, stick with known formulas and methods, even if these are unsuited to the situation at hand. Habitual thinking keeps us from looking fully at what is happening right now, and we may well miss an unforeseen option or new idea much better suited to the situation. Right now, George and I are discussing what to do with the farm, 80 acres with good water but weary soil after years of being leased to a conventional alfalfa farmer. We want to believe that our usual tools of grazing, animal impact, and feeding the hay that we grow on site is enough to jumpstart the soil, but it seems more is needed, and we find ourselves reflexively reluctant to buy mineral soil amendments. Is our reluctance valid or is it evidence of stagnant thinking, i.e. blocked chi? Holistic decision-making awakens mental
Cattle are able to access the forage stockpiled on place, helping to keep the mineral cycle effective.
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chi—the ability to question a standing practice, consider a wild new idea without immediately dismissing it, and enter into the testing process open to whatever the outcome. A dynamic tension exists between our human efforts to make nature work for us, and nature’s
March / April 2008
intention to care for itself. We live with nature in large part by changing it—growing food crops, bringing in non-native plant and animal species, building permanent structures to shelter us from the elements. We have to alter nature in order to survive, let alone thrive. But when do we know to stop? How can we tell when we’ve gone too far, when we’ve adversely impacted the natural systems that support us? This question comes up for us when we discuss changing land to increase biodiversity. Biodiversity is a benchmark of ecological health. Therefore an increase in biodiversity is always good—right? George and I have an on-going debate on this point. Twenty five years of Holistic Management training leads him to believe that increasing diversity is always good. My training in ecology leads me to question increasing diversity on a particular patch of land if this results in reduced global biodiversity, as adaptable species spread and biomes and habitats become less differentiated from one another. We tend to go to our ‘corners’ on this one: George pulls out the point that bare ground is always detrimental, so any plant that creates ground cover provides a benefit. I don’t debate the bare ground argument. My default debating point is the sewage outfall pipe off San Diego—sure, the biodiversity has increased dramatically since the sewage pipe was built, but there has been a concurrent decline in sensitive species, and the increase in diversity is due to an artificial input source that isn’t natural or ultimately sustainable. Given the questions about the impact of increased diversity, how do we determine when increased biodiversity leads to health, and when it creates harmful overload?
Each place, like each person, is different; each has intrinsic gifts, limits, and challenges. This doesn’t mean a child fearful of heights can’t become a construction worker, or a child with claustrophobia can’t become an astronaut. It does mean that thoughtful, skilled support and lots of effort is needed to overcome such limitations so that no lasting or crippling damage is done. The same is true of land. Each piece of land has potential based on the specifics of its ‘personality’—the limits created by geography, climate, and other factors. If we tune into the personality of a piece of land and work with its land chi, it is more likely that the alterations we make won’t violate the innate personality of the land and lead to unsustainable landscapes and lifestyles.
Seeing Chi We’ve decided to keep living this question of land chi. George wants to add a chi column to our monitoring sheet, and start laying on the ground for 15 minutes, in silence, every time we go out to study what’s happening on the land or with the herd. If we listen hard enough, perhaps we’ll find the guidance we seek. Questions are meant to shake things up, and the questioning mind is a potent force for creative and critical thinking, much more so than the certain mind. Certainty closes the door to new ideas and contradictory information, and deadens the heart and mind to unforeseen possibilities.
“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. . . . Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far into the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” —RAINER MARIA RILKE To catapult ourselves from the comfort of certainty, we like to use the Holistic Management monitoring prompt: “Assume you’re wrong,” not only when considering biological questions, but in all aspects of our work. This keeps ideas and practices from becoming dogma—certain to the point where they are unchallenged and stagnant. And as any Holistic Management practitioner knows, a stagnant grass plant or pasture is not healthy. Nor is a stagnant mind. Minds and ideas, like land, can benefit from disturbance. We have disturbed our minds and our ranching operation with the question of land chi. We haven’t answers, but like Rilke, we believe in the virtue of living the question until answers arise. An active practice of Holistic Management cultivates what Taoism calls mushin mugame—open heart open mind, “a quality of compassionate non-judgmental frankness, of open dealing, flexibility and the search for consensus rather than conflict.” This openness gives us the capacity to embrace the paradox we live in: meeting our valid human needs while enhancing the ecological integrity of our planet. George and I both believe that the world is more than the tangible, physical manifestations we easily perceive with our five senses. While our lives are shaped by the immediacy of the work we do on land with large animals, our selves are shaped by the intangibles of love, duty, honor, justice, and living in harmony with the rest of nature. Seeking chi, the inclusive all-pervasive energy of life, is one way to widen our circle of concern beyond our immediate family, land, and community, and embrace holism and the indisputable fact of interrelationship. “We are indeed one with Nature,” as Jan Smuts said, and our lives are most fulfilling and successful when we act in alignment with this truth.
Beyond Financial Planning— Is Your Life Energy Profitable? by Andrea Malmberg
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hether I’m gardening, designing a living space, throwing a party or crafting goat cheese, it means making decisions about ingredients, materials, process and people that positively serve future generations. It means taking the time to listen to the stories of our elders and savoring our bounty. When buying products it means choosing heirloomquality housewares, so that they are passed from generation to generation. It means supporting artisans in their timehonored crafts. It means giving new life to antiques or using responsibly harvested materials when buying new ones. It means seeking out the freshest, locally-grown foods. It means being aware of my effect on the earth and others. It means enjoying everything more. It also can mean increased costs. And this fact alone used to mean getting in fights with my husband, Tony, who, just as long he has a good cow horse, hat and boots can easily do without. I, on the other hand, would rather find a way to make more money in order to produce or buy the products that express my values. I used to not be able to express my values through my expenditures, and subsequently did not plan for them. I would just quietly feel guilty about my attraction to the finer things in life and would avoid monitoring, controlling and replanning. Tony’s challenge has been his poverty mentality and the notion that he actually deserves to be paid for his labors. Both of us are guilty of using work as a distraction. Don’t you know that if you just work harder the financial problems will go away? So what’s the big deal holding onto these paradigms? A few disagreements were tolerable. But being in denial of logjams and failing to be fiscally responsible were not. Tony and I spent years creating financial plans that we simply would fail to monitor, control and replan because of the hang-ups we had about money and our inability to really see our values in action. Now that we have been teaching the Holistic Management® financial-planning process, we are noticing that others appear to have similar issues.
Money & Life Energy So we have integrated three additional resources into the Holistic Management® financial-planning process to help people address those issues. The Values In Action Signature Strength questionnaire has helped us more clearly identify our values and see them in action through our financial plan. Money Drunk, Money Sober by Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan exposed our hang-ups regarding money that were keeping us in denial. But, Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin was my first exposure to financial management.
Julie Sullivan and George Whitten own and operate the San Juan Ranch near Saguache, Colorado. They can be reached at: moovcows@amigo.net.
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one to weed out what they value in action, simply taking the test sheds insight on what we really want out of life. It makes creating a holisticgoal so much easier. We now test decisions effortlessly and create financial plans that reflect our values. Looking at each other’s strengths kind of made us fall in love all over again. Notice that we share three out of five strengths, and those that we don’t share can really build on each other. For instance, if I want to put into action my strength of equity and justice I can really
SIGNATURE STRENGTHS ANDREA • Creativity, ingenuity and originality • Appreciation of beauty and excellence • Judgment, critical thinking and open-mindedness • Perspective • Equity and Justice
Holistic Management® Financial Planning gave Tony and Andrea a common language from which they could make decisions on how to generate the profit necessary to create the life they valued at Twin Creek Ranch. Unbelievably, I was in my mid-twenties with a Master’s Degree before I was forced to learn about money. I had been taught to balance my checkbook, but didn’t know anything about what I was going to do with the debt I had accumulated putting myself through college. Though I went to good schools, I was completely ignorant about money. And, if it wasn’t for all of those credit card offers I took in college, I probably would have remained that way. As many of you know, Your Money helps people create a “new financial map” that is based on financial integrity, intelligence, and independence. The life energy concept is a way to identify our dependencies and look at money for what it is—our life energy. For those of you that have a good relationship with money and respect the value of your labors, this information will most likely not prove helpful. For you, the Holistic Financial Planning information-gathering stage where you begin to formulate a general strategy based on your analysis of your situation and your holisticgoal will most likely suffice. If you are one of the lucky ones that was taught to have or somehow naturally have a balance in life energy, the holisticgoal and testing questions are enough to help you keep a perspective on when to use money as the yardstick, when not to, and how to decide priorities. Holistic Management® Financial Planning, my second exposure of dealing with money, was more inspiring than Your Money or Your Life because it spoke to my belief in a world of 6
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abundance. The idea that when you plan a profit and then test all the activities you engage in to achieve it, you are more likely to earn substantially higher profits and less likely to cause social or environmental harm, rocked my world. Holistic Management® Financial Planning gave Tony and me a common language. Our life experiences around money were so different, and at least now we could communicate well enough to get the plan down on paper. Still, there remained psychological hang-ups that inhibited us from creating a plan that truly reflected our holisticgoal.
What Do You Want? Part of the problem was that we had a hard time expressing our values. Tony particularly had a hard time with admitting that he needed a life of quality, and I had difficulty assessing whether or not certain decisions actually led me toward our holisticgoal. One of my clients doing a financial plan for the first time found herself going back and forth between her financial plan and holisticgoal—changing the holisticgoal more than the plan. Then I became aware of the Values in Action Signature Strengths Questionnaire that measures 24 character strengths. Unlike any other tool, this has helped us to really be clear about what we want now and in the future and clarified how we are actually going to create this reality happily. You can take the test at: www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu. I have found that not only do the results help
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TONY • Appreciation of beauty and excellence • Citizenship, teamwork and loyalty • Honesty, authenticity and genuineness • Creativity, ingenuity and originality • Perspective
benefit from Tony’s strength of citizenship, teamwork and loyalty. Judgment, critical thinking and open-mindedness are enriched with honesty, authenticity and genuineness. Notice in table above that understanding our values in action helped us create a holisticgoal that worked for us and helped us see our values in our financial plan. I have found that not only do the results help one to weed out what they value in action, simply taking the test sheds insight on what we really want out of life. It makes creating a holisticgoal so much easier. We now test decisions effortlessly and create financial plans that reflect our values.
A Healthy Relationship The next hurdle we had to address was why others and we were not consistently monitoring, controlling and replanning the financial plan. It wasn’t laziness, procrastination or thoughtlessness. Rather fear, shame, guilt and denial surfaced. We came to the conclusion that we needed to address the real roots of our relationship with money. We had to figure out how to dismantle negative family and societal programming and undo the destructive patterns that sabotage our financial success. Money Drunk, Money Sober by Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan is a good resource
that helps shed light on the role money can play in your life. According to Cameron and Bryan, money drunks expect money to do much more than just pay their bills. Simply put, problems with our money come from the problems in our lives. How most of us deal with finances is influenced by how we feel about ourselves. This book allowed us to become aware of our behaviors and attitudes about money. It helped us understand our observations (both internal and external) of mysterious mood swings and realized we were either vague, euphoric, or depressive when it came to talking about money. It also helped us to explore the deeply imbedded misconceptions that help to make money so addictive: money as love, as success, as sex appeal, as security, as power, and finally, as God. So, do you know any money drunks? From the list in the sidebar I could very much identify having my moods drastically changed by money, and I certainly come from a family of money drunks. Tony and I frequently argued about money, and we were pretty much constantly worrying about it (probably because we were not monitoring our financial plan and failed to identify logjams). Since I can admit I have had hang-ups with money, it is much easier for me to approach the subject with clients prior to creating a financial plan. I think it is helpful for people to realize that they are not alone when it comes to money problems by sharing personal stories of struggle and success. These stories also help to break the myth that being “good with money” is a talent that you either have or have not rather than a skill that can be developed. There are steps of self-discovery that I have adapted from Your Money or Your Life and Money Drunk, Money Sober that I have found helpful prior to creating a Holistic Management® Financial Plan.
Peace with The Past The first step is to make peace with the past. The purpose of this exercise is to increase your awareness. It serves to locate you in time and space by reviewing your earning and spending activity in the past. Here you find out how much you have earned in your life—the sum total of your gross income, from the first cent you ever earned to your most recent paycheck. If you are from the United States you do this by: 1. Going to the Social Security Administration and requesting your “Statement of Earnings.” 2. Getting copies of Federal or State Tax Returns. 3. Looking at your paycheck stubs or
When Andrea and Tony Malmberg built a lodge as part of their ecotourism enterprise, it was important to them to choose heirloom-quality housewares and grow or buy the freshest, locally-grown foods. employers’ records. By doing this exercise you get a clear picture of how powerful you are at bringing money into your life. It eliminates vagueness or self-delusion in this arena and instills confidence, and facilitates goal setting. If you live outside the United States, are a business owner that hasn’t paid yourself and/or a member of a family business, it may be difficult or not possible to get past history of your earnings. If this information is not available, then I suggest you list all your previous jobs you can remember and estimate what you think you earned each year after tax.
Profitable Results? The next step is to determine what you have to show for it. Find out your net worth by creating a personal balance sheet of assets and liabilities—everything you own and everything you owe. You do this by: 1. Listing and giving a current market value to everything you own. 2. Listing everything you owe. 3. Deducting your liabilities from your assets to get your net worth. Creating a balance sheet is an important, very basic, fundamental practice for any business—and you are a business. It is important to remember, no shame, no blame. In creating your balance sheet, many feelings associated with your material universe may arise: sadness, grief, nostalgia, hope, guilt, shame, embarrassment, pride, anger, exuberance. A dispassionate yet compassionate attitude can go a long way toward making peace with your past. For me, I was able to lighten the
physical and emotional loads that were dragging me down for years.
Being In The Present One consistently true statement we can make about money that will allow us to be clear, masterful and powerful in our relationship with it is: “Money is something for which we choose to trade our life energy.” How much is your life energy worth in its daily trade? Establish the actual cost in time and money required to maintain your job, and compute your real hourly wage by: • Deducting from your weekly income the costs of getting to and from work; the cost of the clothes you buy to wear at work; the extra cost of at-work meals; the amount spent to relax and wind down after the stress of a work day; jobrelated illness; and all other expenses associated with maintaining you on the job. • Adding to your work week the hours spent in preparing yourself for work, travel to and from work, the time taken to wind down at home after work, recreation needs after work as a means of winding down, shopping to make you feel better since your job feels lousy, and all other hours linked with maintaining your job. • Dividing the new, reduced weekly dollar figure by the new, increased weekly hour figure; this is your real hourly wage. • Individuals with variable incomes can get creative—take monthly averages, a typical week, whatever works for you. Why is it important to find out the value of your life energy? • This is a very basic, fundamental practice CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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Beyond Financial Planning
Money Drunks
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oney Drunks can relate to one or more of the following actions:
1. Have their moods drastically changed by money. 2. “Act out” in other addictive ways because of success or failure with money. 3. Frequently argue about money. 4. Buy things and hide them. 5. Find it difficult to discuss their true financial status. 6. Frequently worry about money. 7. Buy things they cannot afford. 8. Lie about how much money they make. 9. Frequently borrow ahead on their paycheck. 10. Contract for new services they don’t have the money to pay for. 11. Find it difficult to request payment for their work. 12. Choose (or reject) a lover because of his or her financial status. 13. Often face the final notices and threat of loss or actual loss of basic services such as lights, gas, food, insurance, shelter (eviction). 14. Are often rich and still worry about money. 15. Manipulate their creditors. 16. Avoid people to whom they owe money. 17. Avoid balancing their checkbooks and fail to monitor, control and replan their financial plan. 18. Stuff their bills into drawers or throw them away. 19. Lead a restricted life because of their financial problems or their obsession with material gain. 20. Get sad or angry when discussing money. 21. Expect special treatment when unable to meet their financial obligations. 22. Come from families with money troubles or have at least one sibling with money troubles.
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for any business—and you are a business. • You are in the business of selling the most precious resource in existence—your life energy. You had better know how much you are selling it for. • The number that results from this step—your real hourly wage—will become a vital ingredient in making decisions related to your financial plan. For example, the effect of work related expenses on an ordinary 40 hour / $440 week ($11/hr) can turn it into a 70 hour job, reducing your wage to $4/hour. This exercise was fundamental in my decision to quit my town job that required an enormous amount of travel and create on ranch enterprises.
Keeping Track The next step is to become aware of our spending habits and income generation in very specific detail in order to help us learn where money currently comes from and where it goes. To create a financial plan based on reality, we have to know what elements we are dealing with. Though the financial planning process has us plan income, plan profit, and plan expenses, I often think these numbers are based on delusion. Numbers that are so out of whack with current habits results in failing to do the necessary monitoring and controlling. We just can’t deal with the shame and guilt. So I ask, “Do you really know where the money is coming from and where it is going?” I sure didn’t. I now record all of our transactions (yes, even cash) into Quickbooks. At the end of each month, we sit down with the income and expenditure list and put a positive or a negative next to each one indicating whether or not the transaction led us toward our holisticgoal. Next, we total up the income and expenditures by category and convert ‘dollars’ spent in each category to ‘hours of life energy,’ using our real hourly wage as computed earlier. Then, similar to a food diary, we explore how it felt when making the transactions. Was I in control? Was there an emotional reason for that expenditure? Did I feel good about making that money? Does the source of that money make us feel proud? One’s commitment to having a good relationship with money is really tested here. In most of us there is a penchant for giving ourselves leeway and latitude. One of the keys to successfully creating, monitoring, controlling, and replanning the financial plan is a shift in attitude from one of laxity and leeway to one of accuracy, precision, and impeccability. I have found this exercise to be illuminating. Obviously, this knowledge is imperative in creating a financial plan. More than that it clarifies and integrates our earning, our spending, our values, our
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continued from page seven purpose, our sense of fulfillment and our integrity. You will certainly become clearer on what transactions are leading towards your holisticgoal. These exercises cause both relief and distress because they expose our denial yet give us the freedom of truth. Needless to say, if you give a client these exercises—even simply recording transactions for four weeks—and they have not completed the work, they most likely will not monitor and control their financial plan.
Planning for Happiness After we have become aware, we need to accept the situation and begin to take responsibility for our continued solvency. Of course, practicing the whole Holistic Management® financial planning process helps us do this. It also helped me to go back to my resource base description and ask, specifically related to finances: What inner resources do I possess to move me forward? Whom can I count on for support and guidance? I answered the first question by going back to my five strengths. I realized that my top strength of creativity, ingenuity, and originality was going to help me find ways to make the income I desire and discover ways to cut mundane expenses so that I can support that which I value—even if it costs more. As my mother-in-law says, we got to get quality out of our quantity. My second strength of appreciation of beauty and excellence helped me to see that I actually value quality over quantity and that I desire to excel financially. These realizations in one fell swoop, transformed my compulsive spender tendencies. The second answer was equally inspiring. Not only did I come up with a long list of people I see as financially successful, yet generous and kind, I continue to be constantly exposed to new resources. Before, my money drunk tendencies made me jealous. I felt morally superior to people with money because I had to make myself feel better some how. This paradigm inhibited me from experiencing the excellence I now find all around me. Once we have become aware and accepted our situation, then we can plan for the future and plan for holistic profit. We came to realize that living up to our financial plan is living our holisticgoal. We know the quality of life we desire, how we are going to get there, and are assured that our choices produce the future we desire. Though the road might be longer for some, requiring more soul searching, more recovery, the Holistic Management® Financial Planning process returns us to a life of choice, sanity, and personal dignity. Andrea Malmberg can be reached at: Andrea@LifeEnergy.us or 307/349-1144.
A Dancing Holisticgoal by Wiebke Volkmann
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ast year I had the wonderful opportunity to work with the international leadership of the King Williamstown Dominican Sisters. Jozua Lamprecht, a colleague from our Community Dynamics network in Southern Africa had given them an overview of Holistic Management, and they quickly realized the framework could help to bring together their desire for sound governance, contemplating various options to rejuvenate their congregation (80 percent of sisters are over the age of 60) and for moving into action their already keen environmental awareness. Jozua had also sent each participating leader (representing South American, European, British, and Southern African communities) a questionnaire that prepared them for the setting of a holisticgoal for the congregation. And still—on the second day of our time together, I felt this unclarity about how to facilitate the formulation and use of a holisticgoal. The reasons were personal: I had not used my own holisticgoal for a while, or at least not with asking the testing questions. Emerging freshly from a long illness this year some important points of view had shifted for me. It was not a painful or life threatening illness, and one of the
biggest challenges besides the extreme weakness was my attitude of uncertainty. I found myself with no desire to “get better,” never mind getting better soon. With the help of a mentor, I allowed myself to accept that my will was really secondary in this journey. When considering choices of treatment and where to spend this unintended “sabbatical,” all I was really drawn to was the poetic quality of my holisticgoal. Despite what I had experienced with my parents (when my father had a heart attack) and in other “crisis” situations in my own life as I managed holistically, this time around, the structured decision making was not appropriate. In fact, I mistrusted it as I felt that my own will could stand in the way of greater wisdom. A holisticgoal for me is describing what we know already, what we can put into words based on our past experience or on our imagination as it is put into words, which again are based on what we know already. How can really new insights and fresh attitudes come about if we are guided by the limited statements of what has already been lived or imagined?
So here I was with the Sisters, conscious of the fact that I was working with people who value guidance from contemplation of divine will above all else. What role could a holisticgoal play in that process? I would not have accepted the task if I didn’t have some inkling that it can, but how? As we rode to the seminar venue that morning, I noticed the symmetrical arches made by the budding branches of old oaks over the road. The curving shape reminded me of the tai chi posture where we imagine and describe with our arm movement a lying figure 8 (or the infinity sign). Suddenly my conundrum with the structured decision-making moved into a dance between CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Systems Thinking And Holistic Management by David Irvine
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hen I was five, I decided that when I grew up I would help people. My first training in family counseling was when I attempted to mediate the arguments between my parents. Twenty years later, in 1981, I was mentored by my mother, Joyce, and was taking university training to become a psychotherapist. It was then that I met and worked with the world-renowned family therapist, Virginia Satir, who taught me about what was, at that time, a revolutionary approach to therapy called “systems thinking.” In my residency program in graduate school, where we took classroom theory into the real world, I worked in a residential program for troubled youth. Kids were brought into the center with a variety of problems, from theft and break and entry charges, drug addiction, public mischief, and prostitution. With systems thinking, you look at these presenting problems as symptoms of larger problems within the environments where the kids live
and were raised. Rather than separating and attempting to “fix” these kids, Virginia taught me to work with the whole family to build a new environment that would create new ways to build self-worth, communicate with each other, and establish new rules for living together. The approach of systems thinking is fundamentally different from the traditional forms of individual analysis and intervention. Traditional therapy focuses “fixing” the individual, separated from their environment. In fact, the word "analysis" actually comes from the root meaning "to break into constituent parts." By contrast, systems thinking focuses on how the person being focused on interacts with the other constituents of the system of which the individual is a part. Instead of isolating into smaller and smaller parts, systems thinking works by expanding its view to take into account larger and larger numbers of interactions. This results in strikingly different conclusions and approaches than those generated by traditional forms of intervention. Applied to family therapy, systems thinking would say, “Before you attempt CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
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A Dancing Holisticgoal continued from page nine self-determination and “greater wisdom.” Visualizing the one part of the figure 8 as my holisticgoal, I am moved by my current understanding to a point where I am beckoned beyond into the unknown and into divine wisdom. The willing experience of that unknown, of the not yet described or explained, leads me back in an ongoing movement to the point where I re-enter self-responsibility. For me, this imagined dance created a new understanding of co-creation and to new freedom and joy in my practice and sharing of Holistic Management. Colin Nott, my colleague in Namibia, often reminds us that when we want to meet people where they are, we must accept that the momentum of constructive change usually is a combination of being pushed by a desire to leave what is now and of being pulled towards a fresh and clear direction. Practicing tai chi themselves, the Sisters could easily relate to my story and together we let our arms describe the ebb and flow of ocean waves as they roll onto the shore of our consciousness. The holisticgoal and exploration of the decision making and planning procedures that followed so much inspired the leadership they requested that every Sister in their congregation would have the
“Today the earth has become our responsibility” reads this fiber art wall hanging created by the Dominican Sisters. The holisticgoal setting experience they had with Wiebke has helped them make more informed decisions.
opportunity to be introduced to holistic decision making and formulate her personal holisticgoal. We will start in South Africa, in preparation for making informed choices when the Sisters elect and review their leadership for the next period of governance. They are ready for it. Instead of “levels” of understanding or decision-making power, the Sisters use the term “fields.” Fields refer to a worldview where relationship and relationship patterns are the focus, rather than the constituting “parts,” individual people, or units of
Systems Thinking And Holistic Management continued from page nine to intervene and “fix” a presenting problem, ask first, “Why is this behavior there? What purpose is this behavior serving in the system as a whole?” As I worked with the families and communities of these youth, blame was transformed into understanding. As the system began changing, new behaviors emerged, and as new choices materialized, the system, in turn, changed. It all started with a change of thinking. In my early years as a budding family therapist, Virginia taught me a very powerful lesson, exemplified in a quote by Albert Einstein: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.” While practicing as a family therapist in Lethbridge, using this systemic approach, my good friend Blake Holtman took me to my first Holistic Management conference in 1986. One of the presenters there was Bill McKay, an early pioneer of Holistic Management in Montana. He was giving a talk about knapweed, and how to think about it from a holistic perspective. “Before you start eradicating any noxious weed,” he said, “always ask yourself, ‘Why is it there?’” Within minutes, I knew that I was among like-minded friends who thought the way I thought, who were aligned with my values, and who brought this thing called “systems thinking” down to its most fundamental approach for living and working. I met Allan Savory at that first conference and have practiced Holistic Management in my family and business ever 10
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management. Fully embracing the concept of evolution in all fields and forms of existence, and focusing on what works, these women seem to belie their age. They take their motto seriously—“Contemplation—a long loving look at reality.” And, they are a powerful example of transforming institutionalized initiatives and ancient tradition into alive, functional, and effective action. Wiebke Volkmann can be reached at: wiebke@mweb.com.na.
since. By hanging around Holistic Management practitioners, I have learned to broaden my thinking beyond family relationships to financial, social, and environment realities. What Holistic Management has given me is a simple and practical approach to decision-making and leadership in my home and in my business. After that first course over twenty years ago, our family developed a working quality of life goal (holisticgoal) together that has evolved over many years. By practicing the principles of Holistic Management, we continue to get clearer about how much production we need in our business to support that holisticgoal, and to live our life in alignment with our core values. Rather than my work running our life, our family business has become a tool for creating what matters most to all of us. Since leaving behind my family therapy practice in 1989 and moving into the field of organizational and leadership development, I have been teaching principles of systems thinking to organizations and family businesses across North America. My friends in Holistic Management continue to remind me how to bring these systems thinking principles down to grass-roots application. David Irvine is sought after internationally as a speaker, author, and mentor. His work has contributed to the building of accountable, vital, and engaged organizations across North America. He is the co-founder of the Newport Institute for Authentic Living whose focus is to build authentic organizational cultures that attract and retain great people. He can be reached at david@davidirvine.com.
& Creating Open Water Wildlife Habitat—
Bulrush in June 2004 before goat treatment. The area is thick and six to eight feet (2-2 1⁄2 meters) tall.
Using Multi-Species Grazing for Bulrush Management by Cragi Madsen and Michael Crowder
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n 2004 we received a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Grant (SARE) to conduct a multi-species grazing program on the Barker Ranch in West Richland, Washington. The main focus of the research grant was to evaluate the effectiveness of herbicides, goats and cattle on the control of Russian olive. Michael Crowder, manager of the Barker Ranch and trained waterfowl biologist, was interested in the prospect of using goats and sheep to control bulrush in areas too wet or thick for mechanical treatment. The main reason for treating the bulrush stands was to create more open water habitat for waterfowl. Since Craig Madsen of Healing Hooves had more goats than were needed for the Russian olive study, we decided to test their effectiveness in controlling hard-stem bulrush. He provided the goats and the animal management for the two projects. Through that experiment we showed that goats, sheep and cattle can be used as a tool to create open water areas in thick stands of bulrush.
Controlling Water The first site was selected because flooding of the site could be controlled. The bulrush in this area was thick and 6-8 feet tall. The area had been heavily grazed with cattle during the summer for several years to try to knock back the bulrush, with little success. Cattle grazed on the edges of the bulrush stands and had made a few trails into the thick stands, but did not graze the tall bulrush. The pasture is 158 acres and was grazed with 300 head of cattle for 7-10 days. The size of the pasture allowed the cattle to disperse widely resulting in limited impact on the bulrush stand. But once we increased the level of management, and used a combination of tools, we got outstanding results in controlling bulrushes. It took a combination of grazing with cows, sheep and goats along with mowing the stubble with a tractor mower to get the desired results. In 2004 we put a mixture of 100 goats and St. Croix hair sheep on the bulrush in mid-June when most of the standing water was off the site. The animals were fenced onto areas about 1/2 acre (.2 ha) in size with electric netting. We moved the herd of goats and sheep around the shallow lake as they ate the bulrush. The goats and sheep would go into shallow water to feed on the bulrush, doing a good job of reducing the height of the bulrush on the plots from 6-8 feet (2-2.5 m) to 2-3 feet (.75-1 m).
The herd at work.
The herd had the most impact on the bulrush in areas where there was no standing water. It was also easier to fence the area into smaller paddocks when there was no standing water. The smaller paddocks resulted in higher stock density, which resulted in a greater impact on the bulrush. The smaller paddocks also resulted in more frequent moves, which helped keep the animals’ nutritional plane at a higher level. After the goats and sheep were done, we moved the cattle back through the pasture, and they grazed on the shortened bulrush stems. At that point, there was basically only stubble of the rushes left, and if it was dry enough, a tractor mower was used to mow the bulrush to the ground. Mowing wasn’t possible in previous years due to the sheer volume of material the mower had to cut; the tractor just couldn’t spin the blades in rushes that thick. Also, the site was dry enough to allow a tractor over it, probably due to more sunlight being able to reach the ground with the reduced canopy cover.
Combine Tools During the first treatment from mid June through mid July, the goats and sheep grazed the bulrush quite well. The goats and sheep ate a combination of bulrush and other vegetation within the paddock. They did CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
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Open Water Wildlife Habitat continued from page eleven not select one plant over another but ate a mixed diet. When the goats returned to the Barker Ranch in late August and early September, the top of the bulrush that had not been previously grazed was turning brown. The animals would not eat the bulrush at this stage, which made using the animals as a means of clearing the bulrush ineffective. In the areas that had been previously grazed, the regrowth of the bulrush was green and was still palatable to the goats and sheep. The year following the goat and sheep, cow and mowing treatment, we had cattle graze that area in the traditional manner. Since the bulrush was all new growth two to three feet tall (2/3 to 1 meter), the cattle readily grazed the bulrush areas. In this way, the normal grazing rotation was very successful in keeping the bulrushes shorter which resulted in more open water
habitat, the desired outcome. Since the initial treatment three years ago, cattle grazing alone has been used to keep the bulrush at the desired height with no mechanical treatment needed since the initial treatment in 2004. This method of multi-species grazing will not kill the bulrush, but will keep them at a height that is more attractive to a variety of wildlife species.
Nutritional Challenges Another factor we looked at when we used the animals on the bulrush was the nutritional quality of the diet. When the size of the paddocks was kept small with more frequent moves, the animals were able to maintain body condition. In areas where the water was deeper and the size of the paddock had to be increased, the length of time in the paddock also had to increase to have the same impact on the bulrush. The longer the animals stayed in the paddock, the more the nutritional quality of the forage declined. In that situation some of the does with twins showed a slight decline in body condition.
This is the before goat treatment in center of photo We had Tom Platt, WSU Livestock Extension Agent in Davenport, Washington, examine the nutritional value of bulrush in protein and mineral content. The high level of fiber (ADF and NDF) limits digestibility and intake, so we had to monitor lactating does for loss of body condition. If they can’t eat (and digest) enough calories to maintain their body condition, then they also will
Beyond the Row Crop—
Ultra High Density Grazing by Tony Malmberg
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had Peterson hated farming. As a kid, he didn’t live on the family ranch but he worked for row crop farmers. Despite his dislike, he loyally studied agriculture economics at college and muddled toward his farming destiny until a trip to Mongolia in 1994 changed his view of agriculture and his future. The people in this high elevation, low rainfall, tough climate, operated with no infrastructure, no machinery and no inputs—defying all odds. Chad particularly appreciated their ability to relax and play chess in the shade during the heat of the day. Only a junior in college, Chad was amazed how they succeeded in this low stress, less work atmosphere and resulting state of happiness. This observation worked on him until a vision of agriculture “beyond the row crop” materialized. Inspired from that experience, Chad has created a grass and animal based existence on his family’s ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills prairie.
New Ideas
Chad uses a temporary poly wire electric fence, with one wire at 30 inches (76 cm) to get one million pounds per acre stock density. This is equivalent to about 900 pairs per acre (2,223 pairs per ha). It takes 20 minutes to one hour to move the fence, water, and cattle. Cattle are moved every two to three hours.
With a small line of credit, Chad leased the 9,200-acre (3,723-ha) family ranch from his grandmother in 1997. Today, his wife Jenny, and their three children (Luke-6, Jesse-3, and Claire-1) continue to ranch where his maternal family homesteaded in 1883 and the paternal Petersons, arrived in 1904. Chad is the 5th generation on both sides of the family. The Peterson ranch has several artesian wells flowing up to 100 gallons (378 liters) per minute. The water table is only three feet (1 meter) from the surface on the highly productive sub-irrigated meadows, and there are two lakes on the ranch. They get 22 inches (56 cm) of precipitation per year and horrendous spring blizzards on occasion.
Chad has developed a web of complimentary enterprises. In addition to bison and goats, Chad also markets bison meat, order buys bison, runs yearling cattle, and has a custom grazing enterprise. The experience in Mongolia started his wheels turning, but two other experiences shaped his thinking, planning, and ranching experience along the way. Chad’s base began from lessons at home with a strong Christian faith, personal responsibility, neighborliness, a strong work ethic, frugality and a “stick-to-it-iv-ness” attitude. These are not much different than kids in many agriculture communities. Even his college degree didn’t separate him from
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nutritional requirements of the animals are being met, there are several other factors to consider when using sheep, goats and/or cattle to manage bulrush. In 2005, the second year of the study, another bulrush area was treated with the goats and sheep. At this site the water level was difficult to control. The goats did not like
Nutritional analysis of bulrush summer 2005
This it the same area after goat treatment. The netting fence in the photo is 35 inches (one meter) tall.
Dry Matter. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.1 Crude Protein. . . . . . . . . . 11.8 Digestible Protein. . . . . . . . 7.4
be short on other nutrients. If they can maintain their body condition, they should be okay. If the does lose too much condition, and you need to keep them on the bulrush, then you will probably have to wean the kids, which will greatly reduce the does’ nutrient requirements. In addition to making sure that the
Acid Detergent Fiber. . . . . 36.5 Neutral Detergent Fiber. . 57.6 TDN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59.6
going into the water deeper than six to eight inches (150-200 mm) and in some areas the water was over 12 inches (300 mm) deep. The goats and sheep did become more willing to graze into the shallow water, but given a choice they grazed the dry areas first. On this site where the water depth was greater than six inches, the goats and sheep were not effective at suppressing the bulrush. In areas with deeper water, it may
be possible to concentrate cattle on the bulrush sites to get the desired effect. Moreover, the wet conditions of the bulrush site can lead to foot root. During the first treatment, the animals were grazed on bulrush for about a month. During that time, three goats were observed limping and had to be treated for foot rot. In order to prevent this problem the goats’ hooves should be well trimmed prior to grazing in a wet site for prolonged periods. While goats, sheep and cattle can be used as a tool to create open water areas in thick stands of bulrush, water control is critical to the successful use of goats and cattle on the bulrush and to be able to fence the bulrush into smaller paddocks. We also showed the smaller the paddock, the greater the stock density, the better able we were able to create the open habitat the supports more diverse wildlife species. Craig Madsen lives in Edwall, Washington and is a Certified Educator. He can be reached at: madsen2fir@gotsky.com or 509/236-2451.
the pack, but the trip to Mongolia rang his bell. The next “clang” was a Ranching for Profit seminar in 1997. A recent college graduate, Chad says it honed his focus in a way no “econ” class ever did. Specifically, the gross profit analysis, opportunity cost/rent, and allocation of overheads, which all revealed things about his business that he had been missing. Chad’s take home message from Ranching for Profit was, “Stay out of the iron business,” meaning, don’t own a lot of depreciable machinery. Three years later an extension agent and Holistic Management® Certified Educator, Terry Gompert, persuaded Chad to attend a Holistic Management seminar. He remembers chatting with Allan Savory in the bathroom before the seminar began and being shocked when he found out who he was because he was so down to earth and real. During Allan’s talk, Chad remembers thinking to himself, “This must be done.” The one concept that came through loud and clear for Chad was that if the animals are bunched tight enough that they only graze plants once per year, you can’t screw up. He took that home to begin his practice of Holistic Management.
Pushing Back the Water His first step was to string up a temporary electric fence in an old dry swamp. He went right after major intensity from the get go. Practically before his eyes the swamp changed from old dead bull rushes to lush, green grass. In subsequent years he added permanent fencing to “strip” his subirrigated meadows. It is his strong opinion to do a little bit right rather than a lot half way. He notes that clover comes in on the first year, followed by Big Bluestem increasing in density until a thick stand abounds in four to five years. In three to four years the swamp dries up and there is a nice perennial grass community where there were only bull rushes. This doesn’t happen where water stands, but he can reclaim the ground where the water has receded. Chad thinks the swamps resulted from years of season-long-grazing and a non-functional water cycle in the Sandhills. As planned grazing improves the water cycle, standing water in the swamps recedes.
Chad Peterson, talking here at an ultra-high density field day, believes that with his holisticgoal is the glue that holds his complex businesses together— including raising bison, goats, and yearling cattle.
The increased production pays for the fencing and water as he builds. He now has 1,500 acres (607 ha) set up to graze intensively.
Profitable Grazing The last year Chad hayed the sub-irrigated meadows was 1998, and he got about 3/4 of a ton/acre (1.68 metric tons/ha) on one specific meadow. In 2005, he grazed that meadow lightly in May and then put up 3 tons/acre (6.7 metric tons/ha) of hay. Chad estimates this translates to 55 ADA to 220 ADA, (136 ADH to 543 ADH) or an increase of more than 400 percent in seven years! A gross profit analysis stomped the haying enterprise into the Sand Hills swampland, and a flourishing grazing enterprise rose out of the mud. Seeing haying as an enterprise rather than a job revealed that putting up hay cost $30/ton ($27/metric ton). At 3/4 of a ton/acre (1.6 metric tons/ha), the $50 CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
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price/ton ($45/metric ton) of hay leaves a gross revenue of only $37.50/acre ($92/ha), or a net of $15/acre ($37/ha), which isn’t much marginal reaction. Formula: ($50 per ton of hay X 3/4 of a ton per acre = $37.50 per acre $30 per ton cost X 3/4 tons per acre = $22.50 cost per acre = $15 per acre net return) Granted, some of their meadows produced up to a ton per acre, but grazing reaps $198/acre ($489/ha) and requires the use of a lot less iron. Chad figures their gross profit for grazing is 17 times better than haying. A gross profit analysis meant he didn’t have to “shoot from the hip” anymore.
Better Management Practices As Chad developed his holistic grazing practice, other Holistic Management concepts began to absorb. One of those was the concept of “assuming you are wrong when making decisions about biological factors.” Chad says this was really, really big because it takes risk and defensiveness out of making cutting edge decisions. Where one might avoid change for fear of failure, we are encouraged to act because we are admitting up front that we might be wrong. With that serenity, we can watch for early warning indicators and scrap our plan if it becomes obvious that we are wrong. At the other end of the scale, we’re not so inclined to deny that we were wrong out of stubbornness. By assuming we are wrong we can overcome insecurity to take action and overcome stubbornness to acknowledge we were wrong. Removing fear and defensiveness takes our level of management to an exponentially higher plane. The Holistic Management concept of “Planning for Profit” was also a real eye opener, as he was now allowed to have a profit. Yes… it allowed him to have a profit. This Holistic Management principle took him beyond “shooting for the breakeven,” and set the bar higher. Chad allocates overheads monthly, even if they are only a year end expense so he is forced to keep them in sight. He explains that if we don’t keep our thumb on overheads constantly, they keep creeping up on us. This practice of beginning with the end in mind and planning for profit to achieve their holisticgoal meant he could not only stop shooting from the hip, but he could draw a fine bead on a higher target. Finally, the brittle/non-brittle concept internalized an important meaning for bunching cattle to recycle nutrients. It just made immediate sense to him, and that’s why he didn’t have to ease into high stock densities. He knew from the get go that the animals must be bunched to manage “time” and achieve the animal impact needed to get the job done. These different key insights stacked and webbed his enterprises toward today’s complexity.
Fencing for Profit Chad’s family started a bison herd in 1937 and today their herd of 300 head is the oldest private herd in the United States. Chad utilized student loans to buy a few from his grandmother when he was in college and added more over the years. They have given Chad an edge in wintering, especially the infamous Sandhill blizzards. In the blizzard of 1949, the ranch lost 160 head of cattle. That blizzard started on New Year’s Eve and it was tough clear through to green grass. They didn’t find the buffalo until May and they were all okay. In 2005, they had another “50-year” blizzard in the Sand Hills, and Chad lost 35 head of cattle. Once again the buffalo survived on their own. Some claim you must feed bison like cattle if you want them to produce like cattle. Chad disagrees. He says in 2005 they had a great year and the 14
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Chad is using his grazing to turn old swamp land into lush, sub-irrigated pastures. He finds that clover comes in on the first year, followed by Big Bluestem increasing in density until a thick stand abounds in four to five years. bison had standing grass in front of them at all times. They capped off the year with a 100 percent calf crop in 2006. In 2007 it was drier and even though they had enough grass there was less abundance. Chad says it’s hard to explain but buffalo seem to know when they need to conserve. In 2008 the buffalo had a 73 percent calf crop. The benefit of bison for Chad is in “not having” to feed them hay and baby-sit calving. He’s convinced they know how to take care of themselves on grass, with very few inputs. However, bison are hard to concentrate in high stock densities without significant infrastructure. It requires a high-tensile fence of at least two wires. Chad spaces his permanent high-tensile fences for buffalo at 48-24 inches (122- 61 cm), with the top wire as ground and the bottom wire charged. Buffalo can jump very well and a key to containment is a top wire of 48 inches. Not only does this configuration work better by turning the smaller animals, but having the top wire as the ground allows it to serve as a lightening rod too. Temporary poly wire fences will not contain bison in high stock density situations. To achieve high stock densities Chad relies on the custom grazing enterprise, which grazes 1,000 head (pairs). In addition to enabling high stock densities, the custom grazing provides flexibility for stocking rates to move up and down and adapt to changing production. He uses a temporary poly wire electric fence, with one wire at 30 inches (76 cm). Chad has perfected temporary electric fencing and cattle handling to get one million pounds per acre stock density. This is equivalent to about 900 pairs per acre (2,223 pairs per ha). They can move the fence, portable water, and cattle in 20 minutes to an hour. Depending on production, they move the cattle every two to three hours and have made moves as quickly as every 20 minutes. Chad says some claim that cattle can travel two to three miles (three to five km) to water, but having portable water is key to his stock density success. Chad wants to avoid unnecessary trailing because a slight rift in the fragile Sand Hills soil surface will allow Nebraska’s incessant wind to tear and rip a huge sand blowout. (See our next issue for more on this portable water system.) To prevent additional labor needs, they don’t have the custom-grazing cattle during calving time.
Profit After Replacement The yearling enterprise keeps him busy during the winter and generates cash flow for the ranch’s operating budget. He turns his inventory over three
Swapping Mouths
To achieve high stock densities Chad relies on the custom grazing enterprise, which grazes 1,000 head. In addition to enabling high stock densities, the custom grazing provides flexibility for stocking rates to move up and down and adapt to changing production. to four times per year utilizing the Bud Williams marketing technique to maintain his yearling inventory. Bud Williams marketing teaches that we must maintain an inventory of animals to harvest and add value to our feed base. It reverses the idea that we make a profit by selling an animal for more than we paid plus costs. The reversal comes with the realization that we cannot calculate our profit until we have replaced the animal we sold with another to continue harvesting our feed. Our profit comes when we have money remaining after we buy the replacement. Chad doesn’t have any yearlings from July through September. To insure his ability to replace inventory at a profit, he uses the futures market to manage his risk during that gap when he doesn’t own yearlings. He uses this enterprise to fertilize his fields and build organic matter. He does this by feeding purchased hay on his fields. They have no record of what the organic matter may have been before they started practicing holistic grazing planning and feeding outside hay, but the fields range from 4.9 - 9.6 percent organic matter today.
Weeds for Free Chad leases 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) from a power company in exchange for restoring the ecological health of this land on the Platte River flood plain. He uses 500 head of his custom grazing cows and 1,200 Boer goats toward this “free” task. In reality this is not a free task—it takes time and effort beyond the ordinary to achieve what must be achieved. When he took this project on, there was leafy spurge, Tamarisk, musk thistle, Phragmites, and cedar trees to control. But the big challenge is thinning cottonwood trees to open the canopy for Sandhill and whooping crane habitat. The river has forested recently, probably due to an interstate highway being built several decades ago, which cut off livestock grazing from the river. Their grazing practice has nearly eliminated all but the musk thistle, which has been reduced greatly, but seems more resilient. The Boer goat enterprise demonstrates yet another creative example of simplicity. Chad owns the goats with two partners in equal thirds. Rather than complicate the ownership by allocating costs, the partners share in time. Each partner takes care of the goats for 1/3 of the year and they split the revenues three ways.
The herd of buffalo gave Chad his first big financial break back in 1998-1999. Even though he had not yet attended a Bud Williams school, his logic in selling expensive bison and buying inexpensive cows was similar to the Bud Williams marketing technique. The technique includes a section to help keep our money earning ability together when we change class of livestock. It was this ability that gave Chad his break when bison got really expensive and he traded bison for cattle in the ratio of one horse trailer load of “bison harvesting mouths” (12 to 15 head) for two semi-truck pot loads (100 head) of “bred cow harvesting mouths.” Like a Las Vegas card shark, he made this slight of hand trade (one trailer load of bison for two pot loads of cattle) five times through the fall and winter of ’98-’99. Yet, another enterprise of order buying bison gave Chad plenty of access to buyers and a good knowledge of the market to make this sale and replace his inventory with plenty of mouths to harvest his feed. Chad is bullish on buffalo and thinks it’s time to grow his herd again. They have developed an enterprise selling bison meat and contract with a chain of eight grocery stores. This market effectively eliminates depreciation on his bison cows. He sells approximately two head per month of 8 to 9 year old culls.
3-D Business Chad sees labor, or the absence of labor, as one of the big challenges in the future of his operation and North American agriculture in general. Our economics and culture don’t support the laid back, nomadic, Mongolian existence. He used to have good help back in the old days. Five years ago he could only find bad help, and today he has no help. The absence of labor challenges Chad’s attempts to emulate the animal/grass based existence he witnessed years ago. Our livestock industry’s standard response to less labor has been to mechanize, centralize, and corporatize our business. Chad has used the tool of human creativity to keep family-based agriculture at a family scale, minimizing labor needs through his unique ownership of the goats, his seasonal custom grazing, and matching an animal with the climate that he lives, i.e. buffalo. They winter easily and calve themselves. Chad may not play chess in the shade every day, but he has quality family time that some intense agri-business farms have lost. A student of chess, Chad parallels the future of agriculture to playing three-dimensional chess. In conventional chess, the queen has 56 possible moves. This level of chess is comparable to managing a cattle ranch. When we add species and multiple enterprises to our ranch, it’s like playing 3-D chess, and the queen has 1056 potential moves. It would be impossible to manage this kind of complexity without a decision-making framework. This complexity didn’t happen overnight. Bits of heritage, knowledge, experience, challenge, and opportunity wove into complexity over time. Terry Gompert says Chad is a man that takes immediate action as soon as he sees what must be done. I asked Terry where he thought that came from. He said Chad comes from a line of independent thinkers and contrarians. Terry said Holistic Management gives Chad an edge to quickly test decisions so his “plunging” nature takes aim toward his holisticgoal. Chad remains humble and says we can’t set out to design a complex business. We must realize we are not going to top every market, every time. If we get into the trap of thinking that way, our obsession becomes the goal and we will lose sight of our quality of life. As long as our enterprises are bound together with the glue of a common holisticgoal, we can’t screw up. Chad Peterson can be reached at: petersonbuffaloranch@huntel.net. Number 118
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the early support and encouragement of Don. When Don retired from the SCS, he continued for the next few years doing volunteer work with us, coordinating government and university training. In 1989 he retired fully to enjoy his remaining time with his family. We will miss him greatly. news from holistic management international
h people, programs & projects
Africa Certified Educator Training Program
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n November 2007 participants in HMI’s Kenya Certified Educator Program met for their final program intensive. They will be meeting for graduation in June 2008. The lead instructors for this program are Craig Leggett and Constance Neely. Program participants represent some of the key non-governmental organizations in Africa including World Vision and Heifer International. We are excited about this growth in the capacity of the Africa Holistic Management network.
Australia Landcare Awards
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ine wool and beef producers, Tim and Karen Wright, are finalists in the New South Wales Landcare Awards. Tim and Karen own and operate ‘Lana,’ within the Gwydir River Catchment. In selecting the Wrights to progress to the State awards, the regional judges considered how the Wrights: 1) Maintain and improve productivity and environmental condition of their property; 2) Developed a comprehensive property management plan, and worked with their local Landcare group to make plans for their sub-catchment; 3) Through Holistic Management, have merged their Landcare and natural resource management practices with their commercial grazing enterprises; 4) Manage the whole farm with biodiversity and conservation in mind; and 5) Cooperated with and encouraged involvement by others in Landcare practices. The challenge for the Wrights on “Lana” in the early days, was that they barely broke even, despite some five years of paddock “improvement.” The Wrights now acknowledge they even went backwards instead of forwards. The Wright’s experimented with cell grazing between 1991-1993, and then moved to planned grazing in 1995. The planned grazing is based on Holistic Management guidelines involving intensive grazing with a high stock density for short graze periods followed by long rest periods. Congratulations, Tim and Karen!
Staff Promotion 2008 Kenya Certified Educator Training Program:Front Row (left to right): Joseph Pasipamire Manzonzo, John Nyilika, Gracian Mkodzongi, Denford Chimboza, Richard Tankille, Bho Mudyahoto, Allan Savory’ Second Row: Craig Leggett, Richard Hatfield, Leonard Maposa, Harrison Ndungu, Jozua Lambrechts, George Oguna; Back Row: Constance Neely, Emmanuel Sapur, Amanda Atwood, Gilbert Mushangari, Sunny Moyo, Belinda Low. Not in picture: Usiel Kandjii, Sammy Oleku
In Memoriam
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e regret to report the passing of Don Sylvester in January 2008. Don is survived by his wife Dora. Because Don retired from the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (SCS) some years ago, few today remember the vital role he played in the formation of Holistic Management International, for which we owe him a great deal for his vision, wisdom, strength, and courage. In the early days of Holistic Management may government agencies in the U.S., South Africa, and what was then Rhodesia, as well as other entities, were not open to and actively opposed our work. But, Don asked if Allan Savory would provide training for the SCS similar to what he was providing for private ranchers. Don proceeded to enlist the help of Darrell Harrison of the U.S. Forest Service. Together they found the funds and established an Interagency Committee to work with Allan. Once the Center for Holistic Resource Management (now HMI) was formed, Allan and Don worked to train as many SCS employees as possible, many for free in order to spread the knowledge. Our more recent success with training Cooperative Extension educators, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other government employees could not have happened without 16
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e are pleased to announce the promotion of Maryann West from Executive Assistant to Manager of Administration and Executive Support. Maryann has been with HMI for 3 years, supporting the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, and HMI as a whole. Maryann spent 24 years in the education arena and has taken great pleasure in transfering her organizational skills to HMI. This promotion aligns her role and responsibilities.
HMI TV Documentary e are thrilled to announce that a long-held dream of ours is becoming a reality. With two most generous lead gifts from Dr. Cynthia O. and Leo O. Harris and the Peters Family Foundation, we have begun production of a PBS documentary that will be providing the missing link to the global climate change debate: how healthy land—as found on many of our practitioner sites— helps mitigate the effects of global warming across the globe. With a dynamite production team in place, we expect to go "on the air" in the U.S. within the year. Stay tuned for further updates!
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Awesome Recognition
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ong-time friend and donor, Jerry Peters from Santa Fe, celebrated his 60th birthday with a bang! Among other celebratory happenings, Jerry distributed bookmarker-sized cards on each of the over 300 place settings at the closing banquet with the following text: “I’m honored to have so many of my friends here. Sixty has always seemed like a turning point; the Greeks called it the turning of the track. It’s a time one starts to question where to place one’s focus. It seems to me now that there is only one overriding issue: the carbonloading of the environment. Whatever you think of global warming, we, the human race, are impacting the planet with carbon emissions at an accelerating rate, with some already visible consequences but with mostly unknown future results. Three people whose thinking has great global impact are: Murray Gell-Mann, of the Santa Fe Institute, who has always been an environmental visionary, and whose specific work with complexity theory is leading to new ways to think about exceedingly difficult problems; Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, who has always been an energy conservation visionary; and Allan Savory, of Holistic Management International, whose concept of planned grazing could sequester more carbon than almost any other act. I trust you will excuse my extreme oversimplification of these descriptions. My real present to my friends is a gift in your names to these three institutions and these three extraordinary people.” –Jerry Peters, December 2007 This awesome recognition came with a most generous gift of $50,000 to be used at the discretion of the individuals mentioned above. Allan has allocated the gift to what he thinks is the most impactful HMI initiative in 2008: the production of a PBS documentary that makes the connection of healthy land to global climate change. We will report more on that as the project gets underway. Thank you, Jerry!
From the Board Chair by Ben Bartlett
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reetings and my heartfelt wishes that the new year is treating you well. I know the new year is an arbitrary change of dates, but there is something special about starting a new year. It feels like a fresh chance or another opportunity to get “things right.” One of the things I want to make sure we are getting “right” is the relationship of Holistic Management International (HMI) with the Holistic Management network. Some people have asked me, “What is the role of HMI?” While HMI has a statement of purpose which is “to advance the practice and coordinate the worldwide development of Holistic Management,” there has been some discussion of what is the best way for HMI to fulfill that statement of purpose. I have had people share with me that they have “read the book” or are “practicing Holistic Management,” but they aren’t necessarily engaged or see the
Readers’ Forum
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our “Lite Planned Grazing” article was well received by our club Tuesday night—in fact one member had already done his 2008 plan using the template you had sent with some adjustments for his operation. Thanks again for providing us with this useful tool, and I will pass on any suggestions after everyone has a chance to look at it in detail. — Doug Turnbull, Binscarth, Manitoba Canada
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reckon “Surviving or Thriving in Drought” in the last IN PRACTICE was one of my favorites so far. Tony’s line about “whipping and spurring” stocking rates made me smile. And, the “simple” ideas bit was great. — Tony Lovell, Tallebudgera Valley, Australia
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urviving and Thriving in Drought” was a great article. I really appreciated the candor about the realities of Holistic Management, the humor and walking us through the thought process. I’ve run into others who got a lot of out it too. Even though I am not in production, I may well be in the next few years, and currently use the articles to help producers I know. — Roby Wallace, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Send your comments to anna@holisticmanagement.org
value of being more involved with HMI. As Board Chair, I want to see the Holistic Management network all moving in the same direction, using all the resources available to help fulfill HMI’s statement of purpose, and meeting the individual needs of practitioners and educators. When I think about the role of HMI, I think about the services that governments or communities provide for their citizens or residents—things that people can’t do by themselves. People band together and cooperatively support services like roads or fire protection for example. I think the analogy fits HMI. We are all interested in “advancing the practice and coordinating the worldwide development of Holistic Management,” but individually our impacts will be limited. Even the best Holistic Management® Certified Educators are limited in how many people they can advise, how many grants they can administer, and how many countries they can visit. How can we combine your best idea and other’s great suggestions to make Holistic Management grow and advance if there is no
clearing house to share the changes? We have people who are great practitioners and real life examples that the world needs to see; we have people who are great educators/communicators, and we need to keep them front and center. We have people who want to offer their financial support and want their investment to be well spent. This can only happen with a strong, effective, and transparent organization. I believe Holistic Management International is not only the paid staff, but also the world wide network of Certified Educators, the thousands of practitioners who demonstrate the power of Holistic Management every day. It’s the power of the generosity of the many contributors, the talent and experience of my fellow volunteer board members, and each one of you reading this article. HMI is not them; it’s us. The role of HMI is for each of us to fulfill our role in support of Holistic Management to the best of our ability: be it healing the land, sharing our knowledge, or writing a check. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
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UNITED STATES
Certified Educators
NEBRASKA
To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help others learn to practice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assistance when necessary. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management and to maintain a high standard of ethical conduct in their work. For more information about or application forms for the HMI’s Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Ann Adams or visit our website at: www.holisticmanagement.org. EDUCATORS PROVIDE HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTION * THESE ON BEHALF OF THE INSTITUTIONS THEY REPRESENT.
Terry Gompert P.O. Box 45 Center, NE 68724-0045 402/288-5611 (w) tgompert1@unl.edu NEW HAMPSHIRE * Seth Wilner 24 Main Street Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) 603/863-9200 (w) seth.wilner@unh.edu NEW MEXICO
UNITED STATES CALIFORNIA
GEORGIA
Bill Burrows 12250 Colyear Springs Road Red Bluff, CA 96080 530/529-1535 • 530/200-2419 (c) sunflowercrmp@msn.com Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd. Petaluma, CA 94954 707/769-1490 707/794-8692(w) richard.king@ca.usda.gov Kelly Mulville 319 Sunnyvale Drive Hearldsburg, CA 95448 707/431-8060 jackofallterrains@hotmail.com * Rob Rutherford CA Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 805/756-1475 rrutherf@calpoly.edu COLORADO Joel Benson P.O. Box 4924 Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-6119 joel@outburstllc.com Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23 Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 hminfo@wholenewconcepts.com Daniela and Jim Howell P.O. Box 67 Cimarron, CO 81220-0067 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net Craig Leggett 2078 County Rd. 234 Durango, CO 81301 970/946-1771 crleggett@holisticmanagement.org Byron Shelton 33900 Surrey Lane Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-8157 landmark@my.amigo.net Tom Walther P.O. Box 1158 Longmont, CO 80502-1158 510/499-7479 tagjag@aol.com
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Constance Neely 1160 Twelve Oaks Circle Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678 cneely@holisticmanagement.org 39-348-210-6214 (Italy) IOWA * Margaret Smith Iowa State University, CES Sustainable Agriculture 972 110th St., Hampton, IA 50441-7578 515/294-0887 • mrgsmith@iastate.edu LOUISIANA Tina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535 phone: 337/580-0068 tina@tinapilione.com MAINE Vivianne Holmes 239 E. Buckfield Rd. Buckfield, ME 04220-4209 207/336-2484 vholmes@umext.maine.edu Tobey Williamson 52 Center St., Portland, ME 04101 207/774-2458 x115 tobey@bartongingold.com MICHIGAN Ben Bartlett N4632 ET Road, Traunik, MI 49891 906/439-5210 (h) • 906/439-5880 (w) bartle18@msu.edu MONTANA Wayne Burleson 322 N. Stillwater Rd., Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808 rutbuster@montana.net Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 kroosing@msn.com * Cliff Montagne P.O. Box 173120 Montana State University Department of Land Resources & Environmental Science Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079 • montagne@montana.edu
March / April 2008
* Ann Adams Holistic Management International 1010 Tijeras NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685 (f) 505/867-9952 kgadzia@msn.com NEW YORK John Thurgood 17 Spruce St. Oneonta, NY 13820 607-643-2804 jthurgood@stny.rr.com OHIO Larry Dyer Olney Friends School 61830 Sandy Ridge Road Barnesville, OH 47313 740/425-3655 (w) 740/425-2775 (h) larry@olneyfriends.org PENNSYLVANIA Jim Weaver 428 Copp Hollow Rd. Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976 570/724-7788 jaweaver@epix.net TEXAS
WASHINGTON Craig Madsen P.O. Box 107 Edwall, WA 99008 509/236-2451 Madsen2fir@gotsky.com Sandra Matheson 228 E. Smith Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226 360/398-7866 mathesonsm@verizon.net Doug Warnock 1880 SE Larch Ave. College Place, WA 99324 509/525-3389 (w) 509/525-3295 (h) 509/856-7101 (c) dwarnock@charter.net WEST VIRGINIA Fred Hays P.O. Box 241, Elkview, WV 25071 304/548-7117 sustainableresources@hotmail.com WISCONSIN Andy Hager W. 3597 Pine Ave., Stetsonville, WI 54480-9559 715/678-2465 ahager@tds.net * Laura Paine Wisconsin DATCP N893 Kranz Rd. Columbus, WI 53925 608/224-5120 (w) 920/623-4407 (h) laura.paine@datcp.state.wi.us WYOMING Andrea & Tony Malmberg 768 Twin Creek Road, Lander, WY 82520 307/335-7485 (w) 307/332-5073 (h) 307/349-1144 (c) Andrea@LifeEnergy.us Tony@LifeEnergy.us
INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA
Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr. Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019 tododia@sbcglobal.net
Judi Earl 73 Harding E. Guyra, NSW 2365 61-2-6779-2286 judi@holisticmanagement.org.au
Peggy Maddox P.O. Box 694 Ozona, TX 76943-0694 325/392-2292 westgift@hughes.net
Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6884-4401 mark.gardner@vbs.net.au
R. H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Section of Integrative Biology School of Biological Sciences Austin, TX 78712 512/471-4128
Paul Griffiths P.O. Box 3045, North Turramura, NSW 2074, Sydney, NSW 61-2-9144-3975 pgpres@geko.net.au
INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA George Gundry Willeroo, Tarago, NSW 2580 61-2-4844-6223 ggundry@bigpond.net.au Graeme Hand 150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 (h) • 61-4-0996-4466 (c) graemeh1@bordernet.com.au Helen Lewis P.O. Box 1263, Warwick, QLD 4370 61-7-46617393 • 61-7-46670835 helen@insideoutsidemgt.com.au Brian Marshall P.O. Box 300, Guyra NSW 2365 61-2-6779-1927 • fax: 61-2-6779-1947 bkmrshl@bigpond.com Jason Virtue Mary River Park 1588 Bruce Highway South, Gympie, QLD 4570 61-7-5483-5155 jason@spiderweb.com.au Bruce Ward P.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 1565 61-2-9929-5568 fax: 61-2-9929-5569 blward@the-farm-business-gym.com
AUSTRALIA Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injune, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187 brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au
MEXICO
SOUTH AFRICA Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52 Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747 blanerne@mweb.co.za
Arturo Mora Benitez San Juan Bosco 169 Fracc., La Misión Celaya, Guanajuato 38016 52-461-615-7632 jams@prodigy.net.mx
Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1853, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-082-934-6139 Dickson@wam.co.za
CANADA NAMIBIA
Don Campbell Box 817 Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1Y6 306/236-6088 doncampbell@sasktel.net Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 JLPigott@sasktel.net Kelly Sidoryk P.O. Box 374, Lloydminster, AB S9V 0Y4 780/875-9806 (h) • 780/875-4418 (c) kjsidoryk@yahoo.ca
Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@mweb.com.na
SPAIN
NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 12011, Beckenham, Christchurch 8242 64-3-338-5506 succession@clear.net.nz
Jozua Lambrechts P.O. Box 5070, Helderberg, Somerset West, Western Cape 7135 27-21-851-5669; 27-21-851-2430 (w) jozua@websurf.co.za
Christine C. Jost International Livestock Research Institute Box 30709, Nairobi 00100 254-20-422-3000 254-736-715-417 (c) christine.jost@tufts.edu
UNITED KINGDOM
SOUTH AFRICA
KENYA
Aspen Edge Apartado de Correos 19, 18420 Lanjaron, Granada (0034)-958-347-053 aspen@holisticdecisions.com
Philip Bubb 32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496295 philipbubb@onetel.com ZIMBABWE Amanda Atwood 27 Rowland Square, Milton Park, Harare 263-23-233-760 amandlazw@gmail.com
T H E M A R K E T P LAC E From the Ground Up: Practical Solutions to Complex Problems
Keynote DVDs
2007 HMI Conference Recordings Discount! Save as much as 25%! For a complete list of Conference CDs go to our online store at www.holisticmanagement.org. Name ___________________________________________ Address__________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Phone __________________________________________ Email ___________________________________________ Order online today at www.holisticmanagement.org or make check payable to HMI and send to: HMI 1010 Tijeras Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 Phone: 505/842-5252 • Fax: 505/843-7900
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Joel Salatin, “Building a Local Food System that Works”. . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 Thom Hartmann, “Human Relationship to the Environment” . . . . . . . . . $20 Temple Grandin, “If You Eat, You Are a Change Agent”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 Allan Savory, “Healing the Land” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20
Audio CDs of Concurrent Sessions ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Neil Kinsey, Animal & Soil Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12 Terry Gompert, Integrating Livestock & Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16 Ian Mitchell-Innes, Complex Grazing Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16 Fred Provenza, Animal Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16 Betsy Ross & David Trew, Small Farm Management Options . . . . . . . . . $16 Joel Salatin, Farming that Pays a White Collar Wage, Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . $16 Joel Salatin, Farming that Pays a White Collar Wage, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . $16 Dale Lasater & Ridge Shinn, Sustainable Genetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16 Greg Judy, Management Intensive Grazing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16 Jon Frank, Brix & Healthy Rumen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16 Judi Earl & Carter Randolph, The Benefits of Multi-Species Grazing . . . $16 Tony Malmberg, George Whitten, & Julie Sullivan, Land Chi: Reading the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12 Kirk Gadzia, The 10 Principles of Holistic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12 Pat Richardson, A Living Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12 Peggy Sechrist, Holistic Management & Non-Violent Communication. . $12 Christopher Peck, Value-based Finances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12
____
Complete Set of DVD & CDs
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An electric fence delivers electrical energy with a pulsing electrical charge through one or more wires throughout your fence system. These pulses, or shocks, are harmless to the animal, but are unpleasant enough to deter animal pressure on your fence. Electric fences are mental barriers, not a physical barrier as conventional fencing.
Aside from controlling livestock better than barbwire or other types of fencing, electric fencing is more affordable, easier to install, and requires less maintenance. Additionally, livestock can be injured by barbwire and they can bend barb or woven-wire fences by leaning on the fence. To keep from getting shocked the livestock will avoid contact with an electric fence, so it will last longer than other types of fence. High tensile electric fences can have double the life expectancy of conventional fencing.
Benefits:
- Lower construction and material costs. - Simple fence design options to suit the type of animals being contained. - Portable temporary fence options as well as permanent fences.
- Very efficient pasture and grazing tool to improve production and feed utilization. - Low cost upgrading of existing non-electric fences. - Long life and low maintenance.
NATIONWIDE DISTRIBUTION San Angelo, Texas
Proudly serving Holistic Management Practitioners since 1978! En Mexico: Tele y fax: 1-800-640-3156 20
IN PRACTICE
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March / April 2008
0308
800 527-0990
www.twinmountainfence.com
T H E M A R K E T P LAC E
HANDS-ON AGRONOMY BASIC SOIL FERTILITY GUIDELINES Now Available on DVD
BUY THE DVD TODAY! Runs 80 minutes and covers the following topics:
$30
• Feeding and Balancing the Soil • The Albrecht System • Soil Testing • Considering Soil Test Results • Sulfur • Calcium, pH, and Liming • Potassium and Sodium • Nitrogen • Manures, Green Manures
(postpaid to US addresses)
For consulting or educational services contact:
Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc. $30
297 County Highway 357, Charleston, Missouri 63834 Phone: 573/683-3880; Fax: 573/683-6227, neal@kinseyag.com
(plus shipping) (PAL orders add $5)
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The 2007 Ultra High Stock Density
Event Recordings
Available NOW!
—— F E A T U R I N G ——
To order your high quality, high value DVD or CD-R: indicate on the line how many and which format. (Price includes sales tax.) Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. DVD
CD-R
Chad Peterson
____ @ $30
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Neil Dennis
____ @ $30
____ @ $30
Allan Savory
____ @ $30
____ @ $30
Set of all Three
____ @ $75
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NAME _____________________________________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
ALLAN SAVORY, founder of Holistic Management and first to verbalize stock density and animal impact
CHAD PETERSON, Nebraska’s ultra high stock density grazier
NEIL DENNIS, Canada’s ultra high stock density grazier
Learn the ‘hows and whys’ of High Stock Density from true world experts of the subject. If you have an interest in ultra high stock density grazing, you won’t want to miss these recordings.
PHONE ____________________________________________________________ EMAIL _____________________________________________________________
Make check payable to NEREC/MOB and send to: University of Nebraska NEREC Lifelong Learning Center 601 E. Benjamin Ave, Ste. 104 Norfolk NE 68701-0812 Phone: 402/370-4000 • Fax” 402/370-4010
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T H E M A R K E T P LAC E CORRAL DESIGNS
HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT TRAINING & CONSULTING
Kirk Gadzia Certified Educator
By World Famous Dr. Grandin Originator of Curved Ranch Corrals The wide curved Lane makes filling the crowding tub easy. Includes detailed drawings for loading ramp, V chute, round crowd pen, dip vat, gates and hinges. Plus cell center layouts and layouts compatible with electronic sorting systems. Articles on cattle behavior. 27 corral layouts. $55. Low Stress Cattle Handling Video $59. Send checks/money order to:
GRANDIN LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS 2918 Silver Plume Dr., Unit C-3 Fort Collins, CO 80526
970/229-0703 www.grandin.com
Kirk Gadzia has over 15 years experience conducting Holistic Management training sessions worldwide and assisting people on the land in solving real problems. With his hands-on, results-oriented approach, Kirk is uniquely qualified to help your organization achieve its goals. Contact: Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100 Bernalillo, NM 87004 kgadzia@msn.com www.resourcemanagementservices.com Ph: 505/867-4685 Fax: 505/867-9952
Start Using Holistic Management Today! Join Our Distance Learning Program Stay At Home – All You Need Is A Phone
Apply What You Learn As You Learn With Our Hands On Approach, Step by Step Workbook And Personalized Mentoring. Enjoy Flexible Scheduling. Choose to Work Independently or In Small Groups. Get Started Now.
Realize Immediate Benefits Find More Details On The Web at www.wholenewconcepts.com By Phone at 970-882-4222 or e-mail us at requests@wholenewconcepts.com
FREE CHOICE ENTERPRISES, LTD A Nutritional Consulting Firm
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Offered By Whole New Concepts, LLC
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P.O. Box 218 Lewis CO 81327 USA
—— C O N T A C T ——
Cindy Dvergsten, a Holistic Management® Certified Educator, has 12 years experience in personal practice, training & facilitation of Holistic Management, and 25 years experience in resource management & agriculture. She offers customized solutions to family farms & ranches, communities and organizations worldwide.
MARK BADER, Free Choice Enterprises, LTD
IN PRACTICE
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March / April 2008
10055 County K Lancaster, WI 53813
608/723-7977 fce@chorus.net
PHONE: EMAIL:
freechoiceminerals.com
T H E M A R K E T P LAC E Tony & Andrea Malmberg
Holistic Management® Certified Educators
COME JOIN US FOR OUR 21ST ANNUAL
STEWARDSHIP DAY Burrows Ranch • Red Bluff, Calif.
LIFE
The practice of Holistic Management has improved our relationships, enabled us to run profitable enterprises, enhanced the health of the land, animals and people that have enriched our lives, and given us peace of mind when faced with troubled times. We look forward to sharing what we have learned with you and building your capacity to create the life you desire. ®
Tony & Andrea Malmberg
For custom-designed coaching based on real-life experience contact:
768 Twin Creek Road • Lander, WY 82520 U.S.A. • 307.332.5073 Tony@LifeEnergy.us • Andrea@LifeEnergy.us • www.LifeEnergy.us
SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2008 FREE ADMISSION! PROGRAM INCLUDES PRESENTATIONS AND PARTICIPATION IN: • Ocular behavior of herbivore • Using herbivore for developing and maintaining fire safe communities • Conservation easements • Agri/nature-tourism to develop profit • Synergism working with your community • And much more! Lunch: Barbeque Lamb ($10 per person) Please RSVP by April 25, 2008 • sunflowercrmp@msn.com • Bill & Kay at 530/529-1535
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