#121 In Practice SEP/OCT 2008

healthy land. sustainable future.

SEPTEMBER/ February / OCTOBER 2006 2008 January

NUMBER105 121 Number

WWW.HOLISTICMANAGEMENT.ORG www.holisticmanagement.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

NATURE’S LAWN MOWERS

Blowing in the Wind—NOT!

by Ben Bartlett

A

fter the July Holistic Management International board meeting, my wife and I took advantage of the balloon ride I had purchased at the HMI Gathering auction. It was great to be able to support HMI and get a special experience all at the same time. The ride was super! It was smooth, oh so quiet (except when the burner fired), and totally dependent on the direction and speed of the wind. The pilot could control up and down by adding heat, and where we went was completely up to the wind.

The Board and staff at HMI are working very hard to do a better job of practicing Holistic Management in our every day HMI work.

This experience made me think about the planning we had just done as a Board/staff team.

Among other things during this planning meeting we re-visited our statement of purpose, our holisticgoal, and some of our key issues as an organization and a movement. We didn’t change a lot, but did add some description to our Statement of Purpose to make it easier to test towards it, and we gained clarity as a Board/staff team on how we can better serve our resource base including our practitioners, educators, and supporters.

One of the issues we tackled at our planning session was the West Ranch and its role in achieving the Statement of Purpose of HMI. As a result, we will put emphasis on making some of the needed immediate facility repairs and having a committee develop a clear purpose with some measurable medium term outcomes due at the November meeting.

We are also continuing to develop our outreach efforts to help HMI go public with our one-hour PBS documentary, “Healing the Land: The Untold Story.” We are working hard now to develop a plan that will maximize this type of public exposure and get the word out about all the great work our practitioners are doing.

We are also putting greater emphasis in our committee work at HMI to identify outcomes, timelines and who does what. I know this is all old stuff, but sometimes it is easy to get into a Holistic Management planning vs. other systems thinking—and its really Holistic Management and other good ways to plan more effectively.

Planning holistically is NOT blowing in the wind. The balloon ride was great, but it was more entertainment than it was accomplishment. For HMI or for my sheep operation or for your operation, you need to have a clear holisticgoal/Statement of Purpose and you need to use it regularly. The Board and staff at HMI are working very hard to do a better job of practicing Holistic Management in our every day HMI work. We want our activities to be not just a “someday we may get there,” but an action plan for our organization and our lives.

Ben Bartlett is the Board Chair for HMI. He can be reached at: bartle18@msu.edu.

Want to reduce your carbon footprint?

Consider getting some sheep to mow your lawn. Learn how by reading Cindy Dvergsten’s article on page 3.

FEATURE STORIES Why Plan Your Finances?

DON CAMPBELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Nature’s Lawn Mowers CINDY DVERGSTEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Achieving Your Potential— Holistic Management in Motion ROLAND KROOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Food & Water Security in Zimbabwe— One Year Later JODY BUTTERFIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

LAND and LIVESTOCK Mob Grazing— Thinking It though Holistically JIM HOWELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Selecting for Locally Adapted Livestock FRED PROVENZA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Piling Hay—San Juan Ranch TONY MALMBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

NEWS and NETWORK Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Network News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

healthy land. sustainable future.

Why Plan Your Finances?

by Don Campbell 3. The worse your financial position is the more important it is that you plan.

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

Jody Butterfield

STAFF Peter Holter, Executive Director Shannon Horst, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Tracy Favre, Senior Director/ Contract Services Kelly Bee, Director of Finance & Accounting Jutta von Gontard, Director of Development 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 Valerie Gonzales, Administrative 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 Sue Probart Jim Shelton Dennis Wobeser

ADVISORY COUNCIL Robert Anderson, Corrales, NM Michael Bowman,Wray, CO Sam Brown, Austin, TX Lee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZ Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Dr. Cynthia O. Harris, Albuquerque, NM Leo O. 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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IN PRACTICE

Don Campbell

I

Our human nature can often lead us to make poor decisions. When things are good and stable, it is relatively easy to plan. When things are bad and unpredictable it is more difficult to plan.

The reality is that our human nature and our first response will be wrong. The more uncertain the times and the worse your individual situation is the more important it is to plan. Begin now; don’t delay.

I challenge you to plan for the following reasons: 1. You have the skills and talent.

2. Financial planning works.

3. You have a goal of being profitable.

4. Financial planning will reduce the stress in your life.

5. Financial planning will help you create the future you desire.

am sure we all know & agree that there is a huge potential value in doing a financial plan. Most of you who read this article will have taken a Holistic Management course.

This means that you have the basic knowledge to do a financial plan. Why is it that we know financial planning works, we have the basic knowledge and yet many of us don’t carry through? I Remember, tough times am sure there are many are meant to make us, reasons. Let’s explore a few of the more common ones. not break us.

Myths of financial planning 1. I don’t have the time.

2. The market is too uncertain.

3. My financial position is too shaky.

Realities of financial planning 1. Everyone has the time to do what they feel is most important. Working pays $10 to $20 per hour. Thinking and planning pays $30, $40, $50, $100 or more per hour. You can’t hire someone to think for you. Will your business be more successful if you work for $10 per hour or $50 per hour?

2. The greater the uncertainty, the more important it is to plan. Let me use an example I have heard Allan Savory use. Imagine there is a war. You are the commander in chief. You are talking to one of your generals and you ask him what his plans are. He responds that war is very uncertain, therefore he has no plan. I suggest that you would replace him immediately.

September / October 2008

To make it easier I suggest you: 1. Get help and support from your spouse.

2. Get help and support from a close friend.

3. Get help and support from your management club.

At the conclusion of our last financial refresher course I started to explain some of the benefits our business has received from financial planning. I barely got started when people began to share their stories.

This is a sample of what was shared: 1. My banker was very impressed. It was the first time he had seen such a good financial plan for a complete year.

2. I changed banks. My financial plan made it easy to do.

3. The bank wanted to loan me more than I needed.

The shared personal testimony was much more powerful than mine. Holistic financial planning works. It can work for you. I believe in you. I encourage you to believe in yourself.

Don Campbell is a Certified Educator who lives in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.

He can be reached at 306/236-6088 or doncampbell@sasktel.net.

Nature’s Lawn Mowers

by Cindy Dvergsten Multiple Benefits

H

ave you ever experienced a time when suddenly a light bulb comes on? Such was the case for me while on a tour in 1995 of the Halladay ranch near Rocky Mountain House Alberta Canada.

Randee Halladay was showing us around the house when she noted that their lawn mower had not been used for a Controlled with easy to move number of years. She temporary electric fencing, our sheep explained how she allowed their cattle to do are ideal for working in small nooks the lawn mowing for her, around the home and yard. saving both time and money. Although at the time I did not have grazing animals, the idea of “nature’s lawn mowers” lodged in my mind. Now I am happy to say that our gas powered lawn mower has been idle for several years.

The benefits of using nature’s lawn mowers go beyond saved time and money. The ¼ acre of yard and miscellaneous areas around the house we graze provides approximately 1,500 pounds of grass forage. This is enough forage to produce about 40 pounds of Navajo Churro lamb meat and several pounds of wool with a retail value of $345.00 USD. We get approximately 200 animal days of grazing from our yard area. During this time the sheep deposit about 800 pounds of manure. This amount of manure contains 12 pounds of nitrogen and 10 pounds of phosphate that are readily available for plant growth. This would be similar to the amount of fertilizer recommended for a spring treatment for lawn care.

The lambs are very adept at edging.

Our sheep also enjoy trimming the trees, especially the aspens and weeping willow.

Where The Earth Stores Carbon: Oceans: 38,000 gigatons C (stable, average turnover of a C atom is about 100 years) Soils: 1600 - 2400 gigatons C (average turnover about 35 years) Atmosphere: 800 gigatons C (average turnover 5 years) Biomass: 600 gigatons C (average turnover 10 years) Source: Soil Carbon Coalition. See www.soilcarboncoallition.org for interesting information and discussion about how to increase soil carbon.

And all of the grass is converted into fertilizer pellets.

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Nature’s Lawn Mowers According to Consumer Reports (http://www.consumerreports.org), small, twostroke engines used in conventional lawn-care equipment are big polluters. Mowing a lawn one hour per week for a summer consumes only 10 gallons of gas, but releases an average of 148 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions per year.

Furthermore, one hour on an average riding mower emits roughly the same amount of NO2, one of the key ingredients in smog, as driving a very clean new car for 75,000 miles.

Perhaps the most important function our sheep perform is their role in carbon sequestration. Grass removes carbon from the air through photosynthesis. Grazing animals like sheep convert the grass into manure which is readily broken down into soil organic matter and humus by soil organisms.

Sequestration of soil carbon is extremely important for reducing the amount of green house gasses. According to the Soil Carbon Coalition (http:// www.soilcarbon coalition.org), most of the biosphere’s carbon is in the deep layers of the ocean while the next largest “pool” of carbon is found in the soil. More importantly, once carbon is in the soil it stays there for an average of 35 years.

In 2001, the Soil Science Society of America drafted a position paper that included this statement: “Worldwide, SOC [soil organic carbon] in the top 1 meter of soil comprises about 3/4 of the earth’s terrestrial carbon; nevertheless, there is tremendous potential to sequester additional carbon in soil. For example, many cropland soils of the United States have lost as much as 50% of their original SOC due to the effects of land

continued from page three

In two weeks the lawn is nearly recovered.

clearing and tillage. Such conventional farming practices ‘burn’ SOC just as we burn fossil fuels today. However, in the case of SOC this historical decline can be reversed, which is not the case for fossil fuel reserves.” (See the rest at https://www.soils.org/pdf/pos_paper_carb_seq.pdf.)

Within 10 days the manure in our yard is gone. Nightcrawlers (a type of earthworm) play a huge role in digesting organic matter on

About Lawnmower Usage: • 54 million Americans mow their lawns each weekend.

• 5 percent of the nation’s air pollution comes from

traditional gas-powered lawn mowers.

• 80 pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere

each year by the average gas-powered mower.

• 800 million gallons of gas are consumed each year by

our farm. They both eat and carry the manure 3-4 feet down into their burrows to supply food for their young. With nature’s lawn mowers, everyone wins.

Cindy Dvergsten is a Certified Educator who lives in Dolores, Colorado. She can be reached at: hminfo@wholenewconcepts.com or 970/882-4222.

World Fertilizer Prices Soar World fertilizer prices, especially, rose sharply in 2007 then skyrocketed — off the chart — from January to April 2008 according to a report by the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agriculture. For example, the price of Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) increased by five times over the past 15 months from about US$252 per metric ton in January 2007 to about $1,230 per ton over the past three months by May of 2008. DAP is a common fertilizer containing 18 pounds of nitrogen and 46 pounds of phosphate per 100 pounds of fertilizer product.

gas mowers.

Sources: Environmental Protection Agency and People Powered Machines

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September / October 2008

Source: EurekAlert at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/i-wfp052308.php

One Year Later

animals together. The fourth had to send their cattle to a riverine grazing area 10 miles away, but had enough water to keep their goats in a single herd following a grazing plan.

by Jody Butterfield

Dry Season Grazing Challenges

Food and Water Security in Zimbabwe—

T

here is little good news coming out of Zimbabwe these days, and that’s what makes it so pleasing to report on the progress made, with the help of our Africa Centre for Holistic Management staff and volunteers, in the communities that neighbor our headquarters near the Victoria Falls. Today, four communities have their animals in communal management herds following a grazing plan their herders and grazing committees created. Villagers who treated their cropfields with animal impact last October prior to planting produced bumper crops of maize this year, where other fields produced stunted or no crops at all. Nutrition gardens of vegetables and herbs have been planted by and for HIV/AIDS support groups in each village following training in low-input gardening.

Handfuls of men and women from each community were trained as volunteer villagebased trainers who provide followup coaching to their neighbors, as senior herders who lead the herding teams, and as animal health workers who can diagnose and treat common ailments. Given that most other non-

government organizations (NGOs) had to stop work in rural areas altogether in June and July, we—community members and program staff—feel lucky to have made and sustained this much progress.

Our second U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grant of $329,750 was awarded in September 2007 through USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to address the effects of a severe drought in Zimbabwe. So, in addition to the program’s longer term aim of mitigating the effects of future droughts by improving land health, we’re also addressing more immediate needs—adequate water for livestock combined into single, large herds; enhanced crop production on animal-treated demonstration fields in each community; the nutrition gardens for HIV/AIDS sufferers; training of community animal health workers; a selfsustaining (through sales) veterinary supply store, and a “grass bank” for 300 starvation-threatened village animals, at the Africa Centre’s Dimbangombe Ranch headquarters. In addition, two goats-as-currency village banks will be established in October this year, bringing the total to six.

Politics and Progress

Community volunteer Balbinah Nyoni, flanked by an agricultural extension agent, is sharing information with community members on indigenous treatments for various livestock ailments.

The political situation in the country in the run-up to and aftermath of elections in March, and again in June, caused numerous delays.

Staff and community volunteers were unable to hold training sessions or committee meetings of more than two or three people, or risk recrimination for holding “political” meetings.

So each of the four communities is behind in their training and this has hampered the quality of their implementation efforts.

Just as challenging have been the delays in waterpoint construction due to the lack of drilling rigs to repair old boreholes (wells) or drill new ones. Initially, the drought kept rigs confined to cities where the water situation was desperate, then heavy rains made roads impassable, then the political situation made companies nervous of sending expensive equipment into rural areas. Until we know we have a high-yielding borehole, community and staff have to hold off construction of the reservoir that will ensure adequate water supplies for the amalgamated community herd. Three of the communities had enough water to keep their

The fact that the communities are making an effort to keep their livestock in communal herds — even now in the dry season when the tendency is to scatter them, is a much hoped for achievement.

Another tendency in the dry season is to withhold animals fro m the communal herd so they can graze the livestock owner’s fields before anyone else can do so. The livestock owners have to trust that crop residues on all fields will be shared equally through the grazing plan the communal herd is following. There have been a couple of livestock owners who did hold their animals back to graze their own fields, but that is all. The importance of following the dry season plan can’t be overstated since it is designed to ration out the forage until well into the next rains in case of drought.

That leads to the third challenge we face in the dry season: neighboring communities who see ungrazed forage and bring their animals to it. Where this happened in one community, the offending neighbor asked if they could be part of the program, too. Since we don’t have the capacity to include a new community right now, the headmen allocated a portion of a shared grazing area to each community, and livestock owners agreed to respect the boundaries and the grazing plan. Thus far, the agreement has been honored.

Community Empowerment An important goal in this second USAID grant was to enhance training effectiveness with the use of “training cascades”—an idea used often in public health initiatives. In our case, Africa Centre staff provided basic Holistic Management training to village based trainers (at least two per 20 families) who would then train their neighbors (under supervision of our staff) over the following months. This would help ensure that all households were eventually reached, and because trainers and trainees lived in close proximity, there would be ample opportunity for training reinforcement and follow up coaching.

That’s it in theory, and it does seem to be working in practice, though each community has had to deal with different challenges, especially political ones, that have made the training of trainers uneven and hampered opportunities for the “cascade” to move through the whole community. Where we were able to train village based trainers before elections, the communities have made more progress.

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One Year Later

continued from page five

We attempted to set up another training cascade—senior herders who our staff trained to a fairly high level who were then to train permanent herding teams in each community.

We had several challenges: we weren’t able to do an adequate job of teaching the trainers how to train others, due to the political situation, and we ran into the bigger problem of herders not enjoying the status they deserve. Livestock owners were unwilling to pay (in cash or kind) the herders, which meant few adults could become permanent herders except part-time, and far too often children would be sent in to replace them. We’re tackling this in two ways.

First, by creating a recognition program for the different herding teams (t-shirts for the herding captains; competitive awards for herding competence); and second, by emphasizing the value of the herder in our training programs.

We continue to monitor and will keep at it until we succeed.

Balbinah Nyoni, pictured on previous page, is one of our village based trainers. While typical in her enthusiasm and commitment, she is also remarkable for volunteering not only as a village trainer but also as a community animal health worker, and senior herder. And she has done this while raising 16 orphans, which unfortunately is not atypical in Zimbabwe, which has the world’s highest percentage of orphans. She is also typical of the women who are increasingly being seen as leaders in the four project communities.

They have come a long way from the very shy, silent women many of them once were in public.

She joined one of the goats-as-currency banks in her community in 2005, which is where this program provides gender empowerment training (to both men and women) while providing the

Animal Impacted Cropfields The five animal-treated cropfields in this program have been wonderfully successful. Fields were not plowed, nor fertilized (other than what the animals contributed), meaning oxen didn’t need to be hired and women didn’t need to cart manure (if available) over many days. We held field days so that other community members could see

Sevi Ndlovu, left, is the owner of the field and is ecstatic about “all this food.” Although she and her husband have planted a cover crop of pumpkins and other creeping-vine vegetables, the soil surface is deliberately kept fairly bare to make puff adders (a highly poisonous snake) more visible. The field on the right is typical of the fields throughout this community. Manure either isn’t used by choice, or isn’t available.

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context in which they can practice their skills.

We have been collecting data since 2005 that does show women are now more comfortable speaking up in public and sometimes even disagreeing with men, and also shows that women are being allowed to own and inherit livestock (a legal right, but culturally prohibited in many cases).

This empowerment has made an enormous difference to the success of this program, most notably because it is commonly the women who have the deepest commitment to doing all they can to improve food and water security.

But, we are also appreciative of some of the men who have grown along with the women. In each of the four communities there is a solid nucleus of people who are determined to create a better future for themselves and who will not give up.

the value of treating their fields with the communal herd, which was moved through the field by bringing the herd into a portable, lion-proof enclosure (constructed by the community) each night. The enclosure would move every few days, to avoid pulverizing soil, until the whole field was treated.

Those attending the field days have resolved to have their own fields treated next year and regret not having done so this year. Yields elsewhere are very poor. For most people in this province (Matabeleland North) the harvest this year has been disastrous. Those who didn’t have “traditional” maize seed saved from last year, planted seed saved from hybrid varieties with predictably poor results. Few could afford fertilizers, even when they were available.

The five cropfields treated with livestock are all obviously better (below left) than the untreated fields (below right) around them.

& Mob Grazing—

Thinking It Through Holistically

by Jim Howell

O

ver the past couple years, I’ve noticed some of the more innovative livestock trade publications are starting to get really excited about “mob grazing.” For lots of reasons, I agree that mob grazing can be an incredibly valuable means through which to apply the tools of grazing and animal impact, and I’ll get into that below. But, mob grazing is not a recipe—it still needs to be practiced within a holistically sound context.

As holistic managers, we realize that each “whole under management” is totally unique, and that management must be adaptive, agile, and socially, financially, and ecologically sound simultaneously. “Mob grazing” at “so many pounds of liveweight per acre” and “moving multiple times per day” might be just what the doctor ordered. But, how do we evaluate if mob grazing, or some adaptation of mob grazing, is the right thing for our operation?

These cows are on our most productive irrigated pasture on our leased ranch in western Colorado, at 8,500 feet (2,600 meters). This is the first graze in early June, when we harvest about a quarter to a third of our annual production. This herd of 420 pairs is on a one-day break, and harvested 45 SDA (110 SDH). After an 80-day recovery period, this pasture will accumulate about 120 more SDA (300 SDH), and will again be harvested with a one-day break, but at a density nearly three times greater. With this long growing season recovery period, high pre-grazing pasture mass, and high stock density, lots of things are coming right— productivity is increasing, species diversity is exploding, and the animals are content and thriving.

And, if we decide that it is the right approach to grazing management, are there some guidelines that can help us as we put this tool into practice? This article (part 1 of 2) will attempt to support the fantastic claims made for mob grazing, but will do so within the context of holistic decision making and holistic grazing planning.

Stock Density and Sunshine But first, we better define mob grazing. In general terms, mob grazing refers to the amalgamation of domestic herbivores at very high stock densities, and moving them frequently (up to several times a day), typically with the use of portable electric fence. This isn’t a new concept. New Zealanders have been doing this for decades, and ranchers in southern Africa pioneered a tropical adaptation of ultra-high density grazing back in the early ‘90s.

The current mob grazing movement has added some new twists, but the basic mechanics have been around a long time. These new twists primarily center on managing for much higher pre- and post-grazing pasture masses, and managing under longer recovery periods. After we go through some basics and some holistic analysis, we’ll get back to pasture mass and longer recovery periods.

So, why is mob grazing so potentially valuable? I could write a book on that, but here are the basics. As Allan Savory has been saying for years, the higher we can get our graze/trample to recovery ratios, the more solar energy we’ll be able to capture. In other words, the more time plants have to grow and recover relative to being grazed and trampled, the more sunshine we’ll end up capturing.

For example, imagine that you’re managing for a 60-day recovery period.

If you’re managing with, say, 11 paddocks in a specific grazing cell, each paddock will get grazed for 6 days (the grazing period equals the recovery period divided by the number of paddocks minus 1), and will recover for 60, and it will take you 66 days to get around the entire grazing cell. If you’re managing with multiple per day moves, each patch of land might be exposed to animals for an hour or more, and for the balance of the 60 days and 20+ hours, that patch will be growing. In that case, you can cover the whole farm in 61 days while still honoring the 60-day recovery period, which means you’ve given plants five+ more days within the growing season to grow. If your growing season is 240 days plus or minus, and your average recovery period over that time ends up being 60 days (so about four times around the grazing cell), that means that, over the course of the growing season, plants will have had the chance to grow (unimpeded by grazing muzzles) for 20 more days (four times around at five less days of grazing per round) under the mob grazing (unlimited paddocks) scenario than under the 11 paddock scenario.

Now, that’s not a recipe—it was just a simple example to make the point.

Very short grazing periods at high densities, even under the same recovery period as longer grazing periods at lower densities, result in more time for CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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being a lot more even, with fewer salad bar choices untouched (ungrazed)

Mob Grazing

continued from page seven and fewer totally depleted (severely grazed), but with everybody still happy

plants to grow. But, here’s the other way you grow more grass. In the above example, whether under the 6-day grazing period or the 2-hour grazing period, you’ll be harvesting the same amount of grass (or stock days of forage), assuming stocking rate stays the same (and recovery period stays the same at 60 days). However, the higher we can get stock density, the more even animals tend to graze across the pasture sward. This means more plants are left ungrazed and less plants get severely grazed.

Neither an ungrazed, more mature plant, nor a severely grazed plant, is in the ideal condition to enter a stage of rapid growth post-grazing. The mature plant may have already reached ceiling yield, where new leaves are dying as fast as old leaves, and the severely grazed plant will be left with little residual leaf area to begin recovering. So, at the end of the grazing period at ever higher stock density (but at the same grazing pressure, or stock days of harvest per acre or hectare), the result is a more even, moderately grazed pasture sward, with more leaf area (photosynthetic factory) remaining in the paddock, primed to begin recovering.

and satiated by the end of the meal.

Well, the same thing happens when you open up a salad bar to a big mob of hungry bovines. As long as your forage allocation (area opened up relative to grazing demand) is accurate, the animals won’t be stressed and will continue being able to select their diet, but the dynamics of selection will have changed.

So, these two effects result in more eventual capture of solar energy, which, at the end of the day, will permit higher stocking rates (with no increased overhead) and greater profitability. Other fringe benefits accrue also, such as more even distribution of dung and urine, better incorporation of a dead plant material onto and into the soil, etc. Again, the result, over time, is a more productive land base and greater profitability.

Mob Grazing and the Financial Weak Link

Ecological resilience and evergreater profit are obviously what most of us are shooting for. But let’s talk just a little more about profitability. The benefits from mob grazing strengthen the “resource” link in the financial chain of production. The other two links in Ability to Select is Critical this chain are “product” and When describing this “money.” We turn our raw resources phenomenon (a more even grazing (which include our forage base, pattern at high stock density), most our level of fencing and water folks assume the animals have been infrastructure that enable us to forced to be less selective. It’s true optimize the growth of this forage that grazing behavior does change, base, and our own skill as grazing but if we harvest the same amount managers) into a saleable product of stock days per acre over the On our upland native rangeland, we are managing for up to two-year (meat on the hoof, bales of wool, course of the grazing period recovery periods. This site is on its year off, and won’t be grazed for liquid milk), and then we have to (whether an hour long or a week another year (black shape partially hidden in the grass is my dog). This sell that product into someone else’s long), how has the animal been results in high pre-grazing pasture masses, lots of material to lay on the chain of production. Our product forced to be less selective? It hasn’t, soil surface as litter, and lots of plant diversity. In a given growing season, becomes the raw resource in and we don’t want to limit we’ll graze about 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of this country in about 150another enterprise (which could be selectivity. Every animal has to be acre (60-ha), five-day breaks. Given our topography, labor constraints, another value-added enterprise given the opportunity to select its level of infrastructure development, and financial weak link, that’s within our own business, or more diet according to its daily needs. If about as holistically intense as we can get. commonly, somebody else’s business we limit this ability, we are going to off the farm). hinder animal performance.

At any given point in time, one of the three links will be the weakest.

Imagine it this way. Assume you’re at a salad bar buffet, with lots of Where is your greatest problem—in your raw resources, in your product, or different plants to choose from. The restaurant expects a stocking rate of 100 in your ability to sell that product? If your weak link is “resource,” then customers that day, and has allocated the appropriate quantity of veggies (or transitioning toward mob grazing might make sense. You may be producing forage mass, or stock days), with the appropriate amount of residual (leftovers) all the calves or pounds of gain that you possibly can under your current planned in. Now imagine that these 100 customers come in to graze the salad level of management, and you may be doing a good job of marketing that bar over the course of the entire day (low stock density). They’ll pick and product. In that case, the weak link in your financial chain of production is choose and most likely graze the salad bar somewhat haphazardly and probably “resource,” since forage growth is limiting stocking rate, which is erratically, and the residual at the end of the day will probably not be evenly limiting profitability. You need to capture more sunshine, and greater stock spread across each forage variety. densities and more precise control of time and timing of grazing will address Now imagine all 100 people come in and fill their plates over the course of this bottleneck.

30 minutes (with no problems accessing their choices—that is, adequate But what if you’re understocked—that is, you’re long on grass and short bunk space exists). It’s the same number of people and the same amount of on critters? Or what if the quality of your animals is dismal, or you can’t keep forage, but now there will be a frenzy of grazing activity. It won’t necessarily be them alive? It doesn’t make much sense to grow more grass (i.e. strengthen a stressful frenzy—more like a healthy, competitive frenzy. Remember, enough the resource link) if that’s your situation, because your weak link is “product,” has been allocated for everybody. The grazing “residual” at the end of the 30not “resource.” Before you should invest any time or money in figuring out minute, high density grazing period will look much different—I imagine it how to grow more forage, you need more animals or higher quality animals 8

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(most likely the former) to more closely match stocking rate with your current carrying capacity. That might sound obvious, but this situation is very common, and most ranchers aren’t conscious of where their financial weak link lies.

The other common situation is an apparently fully or over-stocked property that employs little or no grazing management. In this case, “resource” might be the weak link initially, but with just a little herd amalgamation and some rudimentary grazing planning, that situation can be fixed pretty quickly. In other words, once the grazing is being planned within the property’s existing infrastructure, the farm’s forage productivity (or carrying capacity) is likely to increase beyond the current stocking rate. “Resource” is no longer the weak link, and “product” becomes the financial weak link. Most of these places are not ready to plunge into high density mob grazing, and they don’t need to.

Before refinement in grazing planning continues, these places need to get more animals (product) on the place.

I can’t remember seeing this financial weak link issue addressed in any of the mob grazing material I’ve come ac ross, but it’s a critical point. High density mob grazing is a level of grazing management refinement that the vast majority of graziers aren’t ready for, because this level of management does not address their financial w eak link. It would be like putting high octane jet fuel into a dilapidated vehicle. Lots of other steps need to be taken before the fancy gas is going to make any difference.

poisonous plant problems, stockwater restrictions, etc.) are still just as important to honor and manage for/ around as ever.

We need to be constantly aware of how each daily or hourly strip of grass meshes with our ranch or farm as a “whole,” with its unique holisticgoal. If I come onto your place, and you’re mob grazing, but you can’t explain to me why those animals are in that spot at that time and for that long, then you’re just moving animals around and not managing holistically. Remember, holistic grazing planning is geared toward “getting animals to the right place at the right time for the right reasons.” If you’re mob grazing under that context, then I say go for it.

Don’t Worry About Seedheads

Now, as stated at the beginning of this article, there are some twists to the current mob grazing movement that haven’t been emphasized in the past.

The New Zealanders are good at mob grazing, but on perennial cool season pastures in particular, they are obsessed with maintaining forage plants in a vegetative, leafy condition. Most of us have read this over and over, and my year of grazing school in New Zealand definitely drilled this principle into my head. For years, I considered it a sin to let cool season grasses go to seed.

Gradually, I’ve come around to a different way of looking at things.

My first exposure to the acceptance of reproductive tillers as an asset (instead of a liability) was on a tour we led through the pampas of Argentina in March of 2001. This area of the pampas is naturally very More to Life than Grass productive, and includes an amazing and Money mix of both cool and warm season Now, let’s say you’re already a perennial grasses and legumes. The pretty savvy grazier and have been particular farm (where I underwent planning your grazing for a long my Aha! Moment) included time, with good results on the land multiple enterprises, including a and in your finances. “Resource” is grass-based dairy, dairy heifer currently your weak link and development (all on grass), beef you’re ready to continue refining. finishing, and beef cow/calf. We were Transitioning into ever higher on this particular property in late stock density and more frequent summer, and from my moves seems like the right move leafy/vegetative paradigm, things both ecologically and financially, looked pretty messy. There was a lot but if it’s going to be a holistically This is the same pasture as the first photo, but after having nearly completed of leaf in the base of their pastures, sound move, you need to think its recovery period in late August. Given our level of soil fertility and the fact but there were also lots of stems and through the quality of life issues as that we only have about a 70-day frost free period, this is about as much seedheads, and I felt their prewell. How do you feel about daily grazing pasture masses were far too grass as we can grow. Still, with the majority of the growing season to moves, or twice daily moves, or five recover from its June graze, this pasture is full of diversity—grasses, high (based on my New Zealand daily moves? Do you want to be training). Prior to our stop at this legumes, rushes, sedges, leaves, stems, and seedheads. As we continue to locked into a strict daily routine place, a common theme on other increase our degree of mob grazing (higher density and shorter grazing and be as tied down as a dairy seemingly well-managed properties periods), this pasture continues to improve. farmer? How does that line up with had been the problem of pasture the rest of your life? How will it affect vacations, getting to your kids’ football persistence—particularly alfalfa persistence. games and dance practices, etc.? Will you have to hire somebody? Bring on This wasn’t an issue on this guy’s place, and his solution was directly tied interns? Just think about it. If you can sort out how to make it all work, to managing at these higher pasture masses, and actually intentionally letting great—but think about it. most pastures become reproductive and make seed every year. He was And, if you’ve determined that a mob grazing style of management is managing recovery periods that never fell under 60 days, whereas 20-30 day holistically sound for your unique whole, remember that it still needs to be recovery periods were more common elsewhere on the pampas. And he wasn’t planned within the context of holistic grazing planning. Farms and ranches just successfully maintaining his alfalfa, but an amazing variety of several are highly complex and dynamic, and I fear that the routine of constant dozen more species. His animals, at high density, had the most opportunity to daily moving might lead to some of us losing sight of this complexity. We “select” (not only from the great suite of species, but from the variety of plant don’t want to fall into entrenched habits and forget that we’re managing a structures also—that is, stems and seedheads as well as leaf) that I’d ever seen, complex, dynamic, constantly changing whole. All those management and his animal performance was excellent. considerations (calving and branding logistics, wildlife habitat needs, CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 Number 121

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opposed to splattering). Animals are amazingly content. Individual plants have the chance to put down deep root systems and don’t need to be as aggressively irrigated.

Up to this point, we haven’t been properly mob grazing this irrigated Most New Zealand pastures are dominated by perennial ryegrass and ground. We haven’t had a “resource” weak link yet. Each year, as the land white clover (if heavily fertilized), or browntop and other less productive improves and our grazing skill improves, we keep kicking up our stocking species if not fertilized. Diversity is commonly lacking, and protein is typically rate to address our “product” weak link, but we’ve still tended to end up with in excess of energy, leading to sub-optimal animal performance. This is all in more grass than mouths to consume it. But this year we got a little more the name of maintaining pasture “quality,” but I’m afraid their definition of aggressive and increased stocking rate significantly (about 20 percent), and quality is flawed. It looks good, if your definition of good means “golf so far (early July), “resource” has definitely been our weak link. course.” But it’s not good for dairy or beef animals, and it’s definitely not On the irrigated pastures in the past, grazing periods have ranged from good for pasture ecology. Years ago, I remember reading about a New Zealand two to eight days or so. This year, on grazing consultant who made the the first pass through, I was stripping admission that the Kiwis are experts those pastures off in one to three day at “controlled overgrazing.” I breaks. Now the cows have all moved wasn’t sure I agreed with him then, up into higher, non-irrigated but now I do. rangeland (that’s had the two-year So, I’ve gradually accepted the recovery period), and I’ve been idea that I don’t need to be so stringing portable wire all over the stressed out about letting grass place, trying to get our average plants go to seed. I was already on “break” down to about 150 acres for this track on less productive, semia five-day grazing period (with 420 arid rangeland, where I was starting pairs). In years past, when product to realize that long recovery periods was always our weak link, this level of up to two years resulted in much of intensity wasn’t necessary. For our more effective ecosystem processes “whole,” this year, that’s the right relative to more frequent grazing level of intensity, and things are intervals. The longer recovery period working great. Are we mob grazing? allowed the plant to accumulate a This Argentine gaucho is putting out the portable wire for the evening’s We’re getting there, but getting year’s worth of older material, break of forage. These fattening Hereford steers were moving twice daily there holistically. which, when eventually grazed with onto fairly mature forage. Instead of shin-high, 100 percent leaf, this the current year’s growth growing early summer pasture is thigh-high with lots of stem and seeds. These Range Type Matters up through it, ended up adding lots steers were gaining well, their manure stacked up perfectly, and they Now, one last clarification. of litter to the soil surface. In semi- were utterly content.

Essentially everything I’ve read arid, brittle-tending country, this about the mob grazing/high pasture mass model has either referred to nonmulch is critical. Initially, I wasn’t totally sure how animal performance brittle tending, high rainfall environments dominated by cool season would fare, but in our type of high quality country, dominated by native cool perennials (in places like Missouri, Nebraska, Virginia, and New York), or season grasses, animal performance didn’t suffer a lick.

Now, I’m realizing that on more productive cool season pasture (that is high quality, but lower production, cool season native grasslands in places either irrigated, or in more non-brittle/higher rainfall country, particularly at like eastern Montana. These obviously aren’t tropical climes, and there’s a more temperate latitudes), we need to also tend toward managing for these big difference between New York and Zimbabwe.

In the productive brittle tropics, we’re dealing with essentially 100 percent higher pre-grazing pasture masses, which means we need to manage with warm season grasses (because that’s the only time it rains—summertime, longer recovery periods than we’re used to. Again, I don’t want to spew out any recipes, but here’s a little of my own experience. We used to try to get that is), and these types of forages are not like the clover/bluegrass/orchard around our irrigated pastures three times in our short Colorado growing grass/brome pastures of the temperate latitudes. Protein is very seldom in season. Between the first and second grazings, we’d usually plan for 30 days excess of energy, even when leafy and tender. And, because these tropical of recovery, and between the second and third, about 50 days. And, we’d plan pastures can grow so rapidly and prodigiously, long recovery periods in the to harvest about the same number of stock days per acre (SDA) per grazing growing season and high pre-grazing pasture masses aren’t what we need to period (about 35, or 105 SDA, or 260 SDH, total for the season). For the past shoot for. The taller and longer these pastures get, the lower in protein and the five years, we’ve backed off to just two grazings per season, with 80 days of higher in indigestible lignin they become. They become out of balance at this recovery. We graze at about the same intensity the first time around (which is point, at least for a cow. In the tropics, elephants and rhinos are designed to early in the season, with not too much accumulated growth). But, after 80 consume this sort of forage, not cows that evolved on the grasslands of Asia. days, LOTS of forage has grown (lots, that is, for 8,500 feet elevation with The mob grazing approach still works great in the tropics or subtropics, about a 70-day frost-free period), and we’re now harvesting on the order of but tread carefully with pasture mass. Tropical applications deserve a lot more 100 SDA (250 SDH) on the second grazing in the late summer/early fall explanation, but that’ll have to wait till next time. I’ll also tackle mob grazing (135 SDA, or 335 SDH, total). practicalities in tough desert and steppe country in the next article. In all So, we’ve increased production under this approach. And, after those 80 types of country, high density mob grazing has fantastic potential. No matter days of recovery, the resulting pasture sward, as described above, creates more where we are, the concept is sound and the tools are the same, but the details opportunity for selection by the animal, and it is far more balanced in terms of application are a little different. And (one more time), think things of energy and protein. There is A LOT of leaf in the base of the pastures, but through holistically before you do anything. Your animals, grass, bank there are also lots of reproductive tillers. Dung piles stack up perfectly (as account, and family will thank you.

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Selecting for Locally Adapted Livestock

by Fred Provenza oils, plants, animals and the continents they inhabit change constantly. Even within the short span of 20,000 years since the last glaciations, and even more recently with the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age, changes in climate have drastically altered physical environments and the species of plants and animals that inhabit those environs. Nonetheless, we have attempted with massive inputs of fossil fuels to eradicate “invasive” species of plants and animals. What would we have done when the species we now consider “native” were “invading” after the last glaciations?

Likewise, we have attempted at great cost economically and ecologically to change landscapes to suit domestic animals, rather than considering how animals must continually adapt to the ever-changing availability of foods and habitats. With cattle and sheep in particular, we have attempted in vain with massive mechanical and chemical inputs to convert landscapes dominated by shrubs to grass to fit our conception of livestock as grazers, rather than selecting among and within breeds of livestock for individuals that can use the plants that exist on landscapes.

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the potential certainly exists to do so. In arid areas, that means selecting for animals of smaller frame size that better match the seasonal availability and diversity of forage supplies, and selecting for animals able to consume the diverse arrays of secondary compounds found in various species of plants now “invading” landscapes. Smaller frame sizes reduce the amount of food that must be consumed, which enables animals to better mix various plant species thereby allowing them to cope with the chemical and physical defenses abundant in plants that inhabit arid environments. We should also consider selecting animals within herds that have the physiological abilities to ingest foods of poor quality and those high in secondary compounds. The combination of anatomy (small body size) and physiology (ability to cope with challenging plant chemistries) leads to locally adapted animals.

Finally, we should encourage variation within flocks and herds. That variation enables groups of animals to better utilize all of the resources that occur on a landscape. In that sense, the flock or herd becomes a superorganism capable of surviving in variable landscapes in ways that a flock or herd selected for uniformity cannot.

Matching Animals with Environments

Matching Needs with Resources Seasonally

While we often consider cattle to be grass eaters and sheep to be forb eaters, they can thrive under a wide range of conditions, including shrubdominated areas in the arid southwest U.S., provided they have been selected anatomically, physiologically, and behaviorally to survive on their own in the landscapes they inhabit.

We emphasize means and populations in science and management, and we favor uniformity over variability, but variability is the basis for adaptability and for selection in natural and agricultural systems. While people calculate “average” values for representative populations, nature generates only individuals and variation. With regard to wild animals, we value the tremendous diversity of species across landscapes, but we have not fully realized the significance of the variation among individuals within a species for how we can become locally adapted to the environs we inhabit.

We must encourage and take advantage of the variation within breeds to select for individuals able to perform efficiently on poor quality forages and forages high in secondary compounds common in arid environments, as

Matching animal needs to seasonally available forage supplies means mothers have offspring when forage quality is highest in late spring or early summer, rather than when plants are mature and dormant in the middle of winter. Wild ruminants have adapted these reproductive behaviors to ensure they have ample nutrients during late gestation and early lactation, times when their needs are greatest. They must rely only on what nature provides each year, as living on fossil fuels is not an option.

In the case of cattle (and sheep), the advantages of having offspring in synchrony with nature occur because 1) feed and labor costs are reduced by 70 percent, 2) most (90 percent) calves are born in the first 30 days of the calving season, without feeding any hay, and 3) more total pounds of calves are weaned, that are worth more per pound.

This steer has learned how to eat spotted knapweed as part of a balanced, locally adaptive diet.

Three Years Changing management practices takes time. In the book The Last Ranch, Sam Bingham discusses elements of change and adaptation with a livestock producer named George Whitten. George recounts the “Old Sheep Cycle” practiced in the San Luis Valley of Colorado in the early part of the twentieth century. He points out that in 1935 they selected for ewes that produced a 75-pound lamb and they culled ewes with twins. In 1985, his sons were selecting for ewes that produced 90-pound lambs, with a 150 percent lamb crop. In 1935 the ewes were selected to produce on minimal forage inputs and a nomadic way of life, while in 1985 they were selected for production on ever increasing inputs. George remarks that “Our ewes were strong and as well muscled as deer, and yours wouldn’t last a day where ours went.”

George emphasizes the value of local knowledge and adaptation, which once lost is difficult to regain quickly. In the latter part of the twentieth century, people enamored with stories about the “Old Sheep Cycle” hoped to recreate it. But as George points out, “They were crazy. Once the knowledge is gone, you can’t get it back just like that. They didn’t even have a dog that knew anything. When they went through here, you knew they were looking for trouble. And they found it.” The lack of adaptation by all involved, from dogs and sheep to people, ensured they were unable even to move the sheep from the bottom of the San Luis Valley into the surrounding mountains, let CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

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physiologically, and 3) confer survival advantages when the environment of

continued from page eleven rearing matches the environment where a young animal then lives.

In this process, mother is a transgenerational link that provides stability to social systems by familiarizing offspring in utero and early in life with the alone recreate the old cycle. Everybody involved lacked the anatomical, locally available foods and habitats she uses. Offspring become creative forces physiological, and behavioral knowledge to accomplish the task. as they explore the potential value of foods and environments not used by In making such major changes in management, a minimum of three mother. In the process, they create a balance between constancy (mother) years typically are required as soils, plants, herbivores and people adapt to and creative exploration (offspring) that enables ongoing adaptation as the new regimes. Ray Bannister, for instance, needed three years to retrain a cattle herd to “mix the best with the rest” rather than “eat the best and leave environments change from generation to generation.

Given our pre-disposition to consider behaviors as fixed genetically, we the rest” on ranges in eastern Montana, and Bob Budd took three years to have neither been aware of nor appreciated the significance of predictive retrain cattle to use uplands as opposed to riparian areas on Red Canyon adaptive responses in humans or in herbivores. Nonetheless, experiences in Ranch near Lander, Wyoming. utero and early in life have life-long influences on diet, obesity, health and Initial conditions are vital when it comes to acquiring new behaviors. disease in humans. Likewise, experiences with diets and habitats that vary in Young animals begin to experience and learn about social and biophysical quality have life-long influences on performance and health of herbivores. environments at conception, and experiences in utero and early in life markedly influence food and habitat Offspring as a Creative Force selection. As environmental conditions Learning from mother begins early in change, adults too must learn new life as flavors of foods mother eats are behaviors and a manager can play a transferred to her offspring in utero and key role in developing a rearing in her milk. In livestock, the flavor of environment that encourages mothers plants like onions and garlic is to raise and educate their offspring transferred this way, which increases with minimal intervention from the likelihood that young animals will humans. It is imperative that eat onion and garlic when they begin managers think carefully about to forage. matching the timing and location of Young animals learn quickly to eat calving/lambing with appropriate foods mother eats, and they remember foods and habitats so mothers those foods for life. Lambs fed nutritious re-learn and offspring learn foods like wheat with their mothers for as appropriate mothering, foraging and little as one hour per day for five days eat habitat selection behaviors. more wheat than lambs exposed to wheat For cows/ewes and their owners without their mothers. Even three years who have been trained to calve/lamb Sericea is an introduced perennial legume now considered a later, with no additional exposure to under more intensive management noxious weed in some states. For this cow it’s just another part of wheat, intake of wheat is nearly 10 times systems, this may be a difficult her diet that she will teach to her offspring. higher if lambs are exposed to wheat transition. Considering the power of with their mothers than if inexperienced experience to shape behavior, changes in management will be most difficult for mature adults; young replacements, lambs are exposed alone or not exposed at all.

Livestock also eat more of poor-quality foods and plants high in secondary reared in the new system, adapt readily as they know only the new system. compounds when they learn to eat them early in life with their mothers. Goats Most producers indicate major changes in management require three years reared from one to four months of age with their mothers on blackbrushto complete. The first year is the most difficult, as none of the adults dominated land, ate over 2.5 times more blackbrush than did goats naive to (livestock or people) have any experience with the new system. The second blackbrush, a poorly nutritious food high in condensed tannins. Experienced year is better because all those involved have a year of experience with the goats also consumed 30 percent more blackbrush than inexperienced goats new system and the animals that were unable to adjust to the new system have been culled. By the third year, all of the adults have two years of when allowed to choose between blackbrush and alfalfa pellets. experience with the new system and the replacement females born into the Likewise, food intake and animal performance differed markedly during a new system are becoming adult members of the flock. three-year study when cows five years of age were fed straw as a major part of their diet from December to May. Half of the cows ate straw with their Mother as a Stabilizing Force mothers for only two months as calves, whereas the other half had never seen While genes certainly influence the expression of behaviors, it is just as straw. Throughout the three-year study, experienced cows ate more straw, lost true that behaviors influence the expression of genes. In that sense, genes less weight, maintained better body condition, produced more milk, and bred learn from the environment. There would be no need for genes to be back sooner than cows not exposed to straw. Remarkably, with few expressed if biophysical and social landscapes were static, but the everexceptions, these studies are conservative estimates of the degree to which changing nature of nature requires that genes converse with the experience early in life affects performance of adults as exposure and testing environment, and much of this essential discussion occurs during occurred when animals were young and still learning. development in utero and early in life.

Herbivores learn to optimize intake of foods in a manner consistent with An important form of this discourse, termed predictive adaptive responses their previous experiences with the mix of foods offered. When they eat only a (PAR), refers to responses that are: 1) induced by the environment early in small subset of the more “palatable” foods that provide adequate nutrition, life, 2) cause permanent changes neurologically, morphologically, and animals are unlikely to learn about the possible benefits of mixing different 12

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foods, especially those high in secondary compounds. Over time, such selective foraging on pastures and rangelands will change the mix of plants on offer, further reducing opportunities to learn. However, herbivores encouraged to eat all plants are more likely to learn to eat mixtures of foods that mitigate toxicity, assuming appropriate choices are available.

For instance, experience and the availability of nutritious alternatives both influenced food choice when the preferences of lambs with three months’ experience mixing tannin, terpenes, and oxalates were compared with lambs naive to the foods containing these secondary compounds.

During the studies, all lambs were offered five foods, two of them familiar to all of the lambs (ground alfalfa and a 50:50 mix of ground alfalfa:ground barley) and three of them familiar only to experienced lambs (a ground ration containing either tannins, terpenes, or oxalates). Half of the lambs were offered the familiar foods ad libitum, while half of the lambs were offered only 200 g of each familiar food daily.

Throughout the study, naive lambs ate much less of the foods with secondary compounds if they had ad libitum (66 g/d) as opposed to restricted (549 g/d) access to the nutritious alternatives. Experienced lambs also ate less of the foods with secondary compounds if they had ad libitum (809 g/d) as opposed to restricted (1497 g/d) access to the nutritious alternatives. In both cases, however, lambs with experience ate markedly more than naive lambs of the foods containing the secondary compounds, whether access to the alfalfa-barley alternatives was ad libitum (809 vs 66 g/d) or restricted (1497 vs 549 g/d).

In a companion study, when access to familiar foods was restricted to 10, 30, 50 or 70 percent of ad libitum, animals ate more of the foods with secondary compounds and they gained more weight along a continuum (10 = 30> 50 = 70) that illustrates animals must be encouraged to learn to eat unfamiliar foods that contain secondary compounds. Critically, grazing management can influence what animals learn: continuous grazing at low stock densities encourages selective foraging, whereas management-intensive and short-duration grazing at high stock densities encourages animals to learn to mix their diets.

Young sheep and cattle also learn habitat selection behaviors from their mothers, as illustrated by cross-fostering studies with sheep and cattle. A culture develops when learned practices contribute to the group’s success in solving problems. Cultures evolve as individuals in groups discover new ways of behaving, as with finding new foods or habitats and better ways to use foods and habitats.

In summary, experiences early in life, and in particular maternally mediated effects on food and habitat selection, are widespread and their evolutionary dynamics are unusual relative to standard genetic theory.

Specifically, the evolution of maternal effects involves two levels of selection, within and among families; as a result of selection among families, much more genetic variance can be maintained at equilibrium with mutation than for ordinary genes. The increased heterozygosity, in turn, permits random genetic drift to quickly differentiate local populations and creates opportunities for local adaptation via individual selection.

Accelerated local divergence of isolated populations due to maternal effects can quickly contribute to locally adapted individuals, social groups and cultures which can eventually contribute to speciation. Thus, the environment interacting with genes creates organisms, and the development of each individual is an emergent property influenced by the interplay between its genes and social and the biophysical environments where a creature is reared.

This article is an excerpt from Fred’s talk at HMI’s conference held in November 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fred can be reached at: fred.provenza@usu.edu

Piling Hay—

San Juan Ranch

by Tony Malmberg

G

eorge Whitten stopped putting up hay the conventional way 20 years ago. By conventional I mean moving it off the field in summer and loading it to feed again in the winter. George stores the hay in 70 pound (32 kg) piles right on the field, where cattle eat it during the winter. This practice has reduced his costs 500 percent, increased his production by 25 percent, and improved the bio-diversity of his landscape.

George estimates it costs $50 per ton to put up hay conventionally.

With hay piles it costs only $10 per ton.

They use a 1975 model, 1066 International tractor to pull a 1980 model swather for windrowing the hay. It can lay down about 25 to 30 acres (10 to 12 ha) per day. Immediately after the hay is cut, they use a 1946 Case tractor (22 HP 4-cylinder gas motor) pulling a 24-foot (7-meter) dump rake to pile the hay by driving down the windrow and raking the hay into piles that settle to from 18 inches to two feet high (46 to 60 cm). The Case takes about 30 gallons (114 liters) of gas for piling 400 acres (162 ha). It’s important to pile the hay while it is still green, George says, or it will blow.

After about one week, the green hay “thatches” and “seals” so that it wards off wind and moisture. However, if cattle “escape” in the meadow and stir up the piles before they are ready to be fed, the wind can get ahold and blow the piles. It also exposes the sealed pile to sunlight and the hay will lose some nutritional content.

George says the hay is 9-11 percent protein in the piles and may lose a point or two, but it is still plenty good for cows. However, yields have increased from 1.5 tons per acre (3.4 metric tons per ha), when they used to hay conventionally, to 1.92 tons per acre now (4.74 metric tons per ha).

This 25 percent increase has come from increased perennial forbs. George estimates his fields are 60 percent grass and 40 percent legume due to the plants maturing before he cuts the hay in the last week of August to the first week of September. Maturity before cutting also allows for seed set. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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practice of piling keeps the seeds near the microclimate they grew and where they are more likely to grow the next generation.

Pounding Posts

This method works really well in the San Luis Valley, where winters are cold and dry. Yet George said in 2006 they had eight inches (200 mm) of precipitation in the fall. Any baled and stacked hay that was not under a roof or tarped over got mold damage. That wasn’t the case with the piled hay because it was able to dry out more quickly. So maybe this method would work in wetter regions also. George advises anyone that is interested to try a small portion of their winter hay needs the first year and see how it

George rations out this feed in winter to his cattle using temporary electric fence that is moved daily. For that reason, he has also developed a post-pounder, with a slide hammer, and a 50 penny nail to make a hole in the frozen ground for the post to slide into. It takes up to 40 or 50 whacks to make the hole and three or four to get the nail back out. The hammer aspect of his post pounder also works to pull frozen posts out of the ground. The posts are metal, with a loop on the end, holding the top wire at 32 inches (800 mm). They put an insulator on the post for a second wire at 16 inches (400 mm) to keep the calves in. Yearling cattle are more prone to go under the 32-inch wire and a second ground wire helps train them to the electric fence, even on insulating snow.

It takes George up to 40 or 50 whacks to make the fence hole and three or four to get the nail back out.

George developed a post-pounder, with a slide hammer, and a 50 penny nail to make a hole in the frozen ground for the post to slide into.

If you aren’t there strictly on time for the morning move, the calves will crawl through the fence and the cows won’t be far behind. George has learned how to move the fence by himself with years of practice, but he says it’s usually a two-person job. He feeds the cows a dab of alfalfa to keep them busy for ten or fifteen minutes, while he moves the fence for the day’s allotment of hay. On occasion, they will do a multi-day set if they need to go somewhere for a couple of days, but the cattle will waste a higher percentage if not fed daily. They don’t roll up the wire but just pull the posts and hold the wire up over the brush and piles as they move. If the piles are thick, they move less distance than if they are more sparse. It takes 3 to 3 ½ hours to feed three bunches totaling 450 cows without starting a huge tractor in the cold weather.

George had two feet of crusted snow on the hay piles this year. The cattle didn’t have a problem getting to the hay, but in wet spring months the bottom edge of the pile tends to freeze down. They do drag the meadows in the spring to stir up the manure and areas like the frozen down corners of the hay piles. After 20 years, of building the plant material and litter, George has found that it works better to graze or hay the ground on occasion.

Any piles that are not used by spring are baled and stored for the next winter. He has learned to keep a few tons of baled hay to get from the last of the pile to good green grass in the spring. If the piles lay through the growing season they will spoil the ground underneath, and they end up with bare ground. In 2008 George wintered his bulls on hay that was baled in the spring of 2007 and the bulls have done very well on the two-year old hay.

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Land & Livestock

September / October 2008

works. If it goes well you can add some more the next year. George says after two trial years they did all of their hay in hay piles the third year.

George estimates a cost of $50 per ton to put up hay conventionally, plus another $10 per ton to haul it out and feed in the winter. It only costs $10 per ton, as fed, by piling. That saves $50 per cow, or $22,500 per year for George to move a little fence on a quiet winter morning.

George Whitten and his wife Julie Sullivan ranch in the San Luis Valley in South Central Colorado and can be reached at: moovcows@fone.net

Even if two feet of snow cover the hay piles, the cattle can get to the hay.

T he news from holistic management international

people, programs & projects

The Kenya CETP 2008 group at their final training intensive.

Kenya Certified Educator Graduation

H

MI’s Kenya-based Certified Educator Training Program held its fourth and final training intensive in June at the Mpala Research Station, Nanyuki, Kenya. Thirteen participants and three mentors, all from Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia, attended. The entire CETP was co-facilitated by Dr. Constance Neely and Craig Leggett.

The Kenya CETP started in October 2006 and the group has met three previous times: twice in Kenya and once in Zimbabwe at Dimbangombe Ranch, operated by the Africa Centre for Holistic

Management (ACHM).

Mpala Research Centre provided a unique setting for the group. Located in the wildlife-rich central Kenya area and surrounded by private and pastoralist-based ranches, it represented the setting that many of the participants will be working in. Participants represented World Vision Kenya, World Vision Zimbabwe, Heifer International, ACHM, and Grevy’s Zebra Trust – all who directly work with improving land-based livelihoods. The knowledge and experience gained by the participants in training others in Holistic Management is being incorporated into their organizations’ programs.

in Holistic Management in Kenya. These seeds, together with a couple years of training in one Kenyan community

by HMI under an agreement with World Vision, have produced numerous strategic efforts and keen interest in The West Gate Conservency Grazing Committe members with bringing Holistic Belinda Low (right) and Craig Leggett (middle bottom row).

Management to the Horn of Africa.

Kenya Pilot Projects In the Loodariak region (southwest of Nairobi) two pilot learning sites are being established or many years now, Certified Educator where community based organizations (CBO’s) Constance Neely and Richard will be establishing pilot Holistic Management Hatfield have been sowing seeds of interest

F

Inner Mongolia Project

I

n June, Shannon Horst traveled to Inner Mongolia to work with Heifer International and a local NGO, called SEE (Society, Environment, Entrepreneurship), on a project plan to bring Holistic Management into a nomadic community near the Helan Mountains. In this region, nomadic families have been taken off their traditional lands (government policy to halt desertification) and settled onto other lands (very poor conditions) where they do have animals and rights to graze.

The project plan will include assisting the nomadic communities in using their animals to restore the lands they have been moved to and using that effort to open doors of communication to scientists and policymakers in this region concerning the relationship between grazing animals, grasslands, and desertification. Our hope is that the project has the best potential possible to help China (Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China) find a way forward to reversing the significant collapse of large landscapes that is leading to the deserts swallowing up whole towns and the horrific dust storms that engulf Beijing and other cities. Holistic Management is very excited to be working with Heifer and SEE on this project plan.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

grazing planning, implementation and monitoring efforts to be used as educational focal points for surrounding Masaai communities.

In the Laikipia region (north of Mount Kenya), a local NGO and a number of land owners (communal and trusted and privately held) are coming together to establish additional pilot learning sites under the guidance of Richard Hatfield.

Additionally, new Certified Educator Belinda Low and her team at Westgate are now poised to implement their Holistic Management plans on behalf of lands set aside to preserve the endangered Grevys Zebra. In the coming years, HMI anticipates a host of sites will be restoring grasslands and providing communities with increased food production and economic return as well as bringing communities together and resolving conflict over resource management.

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Canadian Conference

H

olistic Management Canada is holding a Holistic Management International Conference on October 22-25, 2008 at the Keystone Center in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.

This conference is the Holistic Management International Conference for 2008. Speakers include Abe Collins, Ivan Aguirre, Lee Pengilly, Peggy Maddox, Peter Holter, Ron Chapman and many other dynamic speakers. To register for the conference, call the Manitoba Forage Council at 204/622-2006 or go online at: www.mbforagecouncil.mb.ca.

When she learned about HMI, she was immediately struck by the commitment to the Triple Bottom Line approach to problem solving and was excited about the possibility of working with the organization.

A

s our new Administrative Assistant, Valerie Gonzales provides vital support to the Finance and Administration departments. Valerie is also a student at Central New Mexico Community College, working toward completion of the certificate program in Court Reporting.

Outside of school and the office, she is a busy mom with two terrific kids, Joseph and Cyrea.

Valerie is excited to contribute her skills and abilities to such a dedicated, friendly team, and she enjoys the diversity of tasks Valerie Gonzales her work provides.

Welcome Tracy and Valerie!

Sun Valley Fundraiser 2007 Annual Report

H

MI’s 2007 Annual Report is now available online. To view it, go to: http://www.holisticmanagement.org/n7/Annual _reports/HMI_Annual_Report_07.pdf.

Staff Changes

H

MI is excited to announce the addition of two new staff members. Tracy Favre will be joining HMI as Senior Director/Contract Services and Valerie Gonzales as Administrative Assistant.

T

racy was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and went to Texas A&M and completed a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering in 1985. She spent 18 years as a Registered Professional Engineering working in the water, wastewater and storm Tracy Favre water engineering fields and eventually, with partners, started and sold two engineering consulting firms, working with all types of people from field technicians to city council members.

In 2002 she and her husband moved to Germany. Exposure to European farming in the community they lived in taught her something about sustainability.

For years, she felt the need to find a way to utilize a systems approach to problem solving. In her engineering business they tried to bring communities together to solve watershed pollution problems, but found that often the structure of governments worked against that approach.

When she found a graduate program at the University of London in Sustainable Development, she signed up.

Tracy graduated with a Masters of Science in Sustainable Development from the University of London in 2007 with specialization in Agriculture.

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IN PRACTICE

I

n 2007 Lea Flocchini felt her life was about to change, and in October that year it did when she visited Zimbabwe and one of the communities neighboring HMI’s Dimbangombe learning site near the Victoria Falls.

Lea and her parents, long time HMI supporters Bud and Marylou Flocchini and son, John, plus four other family members, took the family trip of a lifetime, joining Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield and Africa Centre staff for 10 days at Dimbangombe. The visit to the Monde community, one of four communities HMI is working with to restore land and water resources and food security, was the highlight for everyone.

“After my touching experiences with the resilient people of Zimbabwe and their dedication to shaping a new and healthy future against all odds, I was inspired to help in my own small way to keep this program alive,” says Lea. Her idea was to invite Allan and Jody to her community in Sun Valley, Idaho, so they could talk about the program and gain some of the support needed to keep it going and growing once the USAID grant currently funding most of the work expires.

Lea rounded up a formidable group of sponsors: Barbi Reed, Pirie Grossman, Priscilla Pittiglio, and Jeri Waxenberg. The event, held at the Anne Reed Gallery in Hailey, on July 1, was attended by over 60 people. Our heartfelt thanks to Lea and the other sponsors and to all who participated!

In Memoriam

H

MI remembers supporter and friend Edith Cather of Montrose, Colorado, who passed away on July 1 after a courageous battle with cancer.

A dynamic woman who was full of energy, Edith took over the family business in Parkersburg, West Virginia after her first husband’s unexpected death. She grew it into a substantial family enterprise, breaking ground along the way as a woman working full-time. Edith also dedicated herself to her community in service with many organizations, including tenure as the first woman President and Chairman of the Greater Parkersburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Edith is survived by her children, John and HMI Board Member Jim Parker, as well as 5 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren. Her contributions to HMI have helped fund many key Holistic Management initiatives around the globe.

September / October 2008

Edith Cather 1919-2008

UNITED STATES

Certified Educators 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.

THESE EDUCATORS PROVIDE HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTION * ON BEHALF OF THE INSTITUTIONS THEY REPRESENT.

UNITED STATES

CALIFORNIA 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 P.O Box 323, Valley Ford, CA 94972-0323 707/431-8060; 707/876-3592 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

IOWA * Margaret Smith Iowa State University, CES Sustainable Agriculture 972 110th St., Hampton, IA 50441-7578 515/294-088 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

GEORGIA Constance Neely 635 Patrick Place Atlanta, GA 30320 706/540-2878 cneely@holisticmanagement.org

NEBRASKA Terry Gompert P.O. Box 45 Center, NE 68724-0045 402/288-5611 (w) tgompert1@unl.edu

Paul Swanson 5155 West 12th St. Hastings, NE 68901 402/463-8507 swanson@inebraska.com

R. H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Section of Integrative Biology School of Biological Sciences Austin, TX 78712 512/471-4128

NEW HAMPSHIRE WASHINGTON

* Seth Wilner 24 Main Street Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) 603/863-9200 (w) seth.wilner@unh.edu

NEW MEXICO * 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 Phil Metzger 99 N. Broad St., Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-3231 x4 (w) • 607/334-2407 (h) John Thurgood 15 Farone Dr., Apt. E26 Oneonta, NY 13820-1331 607/643-2804 • jthurgood@stny.rr.com

NORTH DAKOTA Wayne Berry 1611 11th Ave. West Williston, ND 58801 701/572-9183 wberry@wil.midco.net

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 509/540-5771 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 * 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

OHIO Larry Dyer Olney Friends School 61830 Sandy Ridge Road Barnesville, OH 47313 740/425-3655 (w) • 740/425-2775 (h) larry@olneyfriends.org

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

PENNSYLVANIA Jim Weaver 428 Copp Hollow Rd. Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976 570/724-7788 • jaweaver@epix.net

INTERNATIONAL

AUSTRALIA

TEXAS Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr., Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019 tododia@sbcglobal.net Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy. 380 Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554 glosson@caprock-spur.com Peggy Maddox P.O. Box 694, Ozona, TX 76943-0694 325/392-2292 westgift@hughes.net

Judi Earl 73 Harding E., Guyra, NSW 2365 61-2-6779-2286 judi@holisticmanagement.org.au Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6884-4401 mark.gardner@vbs.net.au Paul Griffiths P.O. Box 3045, North Turramura, NSW 2074, Sydney, NSW 61-2-9144-3975 • pgpres@geko.net.au

Number 121

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17

INTERNATIONAL Jason Virtue Mary River Park 1588 Bruce Highway South Gympie, QLD 4570 61-7-5483-5155 Jason@spiderweb.com.au

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 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 Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injune, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187 brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au

CANADA 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

KENYA Christine C. Jost International Livestock Research Institute Box 30709, Nairobi 00100 254-20-422-3000; 254-736-715-417 (c) christine.jost@tufts.edu Belinda Low P.O. Box 15109, Langata, Nairobi 254-727-288-039 belinda@grevyszebratrust.org

Pacific Northwest Sustaining Agriculture Conference February 10-12, 2009

Richland, Washington

Early bird registration $150 ($275 for two people from the same family) begins October 1, 2008

Join over 100 Holistic Management practitioners and educators from the Northwest to learn from speakers including Bob Chadwick and Joel Huesby!

To register for the conference, send a check payable to Sustainability Conference in the amount of your registration fee to: Sustainability Conference c/o KCCD, 607 E. Mountain View Ave., Ellensburg, WA 98962 or call 509-525-3389 for more information.

Special room rate at the Shilo Inn is $70 per room plus tax.

Call 509-943-2234 and tell them you are with the Sustainability Conference.

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IN PRACTICE

September / October 2008

MEXICO Arturo Mora Benitez San Juan Bosco 169 Fracc., La Misión Celaya, Guanajuato 38016 52-461-615-7632 jams@prodigy.net.mx Ivan A. Aguirre Ibarra P.O. Box 304 Hermosillo, Sonora 83000 52-1-662-289-0900 (from U.S.) 52-1-662-289-0901 Rancho_inmaculada@yahoo.com.mx

SOUTH AFRICA 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

SOUTH AFRICA Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747; blanerne@mweb.co.za Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1853, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-082-934-6139;Dickson@wam.co.za

NAMIBIA Usiel Kandjii P.O. Box 23319 Windhoek 264-61-205-2324 kandjiiu@nampower.com.na Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@mweb.com.na

NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 12011, Beckenham, Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 succession@clear.net.nz

SPAIN Aspen Edge Apartado de Correos 19, 18420 Lanjaron, Granada (0034)-958-347-053 aspen@holisticdecisions.com

UNITED KINGDOM Philip Bubb 32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496-2925 (h); 44-1223-814-662 (w) philipbubb@onetel.com

ZIMBABWE Amanda Atwood 27 Rowland Square, Milton Park, Harare 263-23-233-760; amandlazw@gmail.com

HMI Texas Increase Forage Production up to 400%!

Ian Mitchell-Innes will teach you how: October 25-26 . . . . . . Biological Monitoring $450 ($800 couple) at Running High Ranch, Bowie, TX;

October 27-28 . . . . . . Land Planning $450 ($800 couple) at Running High Ranch, Bowie, TX;

October 29 . . . . . . . . . Mob Grazing $100 at Decatur Civic Center, Decatur, TX

Register online at http://www.hrm-texas.org, click on October Intensives. Or register with Jeanie Dreinhofer (jdreinhofer@hrm-texas.org or 325-348-3014).

Annual Meeting 2009 celebrates our roots with Allan and Jody!

Allan and Jody are coming to the HMIT 2009 Annual Meeting!

Mark your calendar now for March 6 and 7, 2009 in Abilene.

W Wrapper rapper Wire Wire 6 stainless steel strands, offers exceptional strength surface wire wrapping increases animal shock impact

excellent conductivity won’t cut into insulators thick polyethylene strands increase strength ideal for windy conditions

Livestock Portable Fence Kit Fence-in-a-bag trail kit for a small corral. Designed for pack trips, camping expeditions, horse shows, or any occasions requiring a temporary and portable enclosure.

0908

NATIONWIDE DISTRIBUTION San Angelo, Texas

Proudly serving Holistic Management Practitioners since 1978!

En Mexico: Tele y fax: 1-800-640-3156

800 527-0990

www.twinmountainfence.com Number 121

IN PRACTICE

19

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 (plus shipping) (PAL orders add $5)

297 County Highway 357, Charleston, Missouri 63834 Phone: 573/683-3880; Fax: 573/683-6227, neal@kinseyag.com WE ACCEPT CREDIT CARD ORDERS (VISA, MC)

Where we goin’?

Mapping to Manage the Ranch

WORKSHOP

Learn how and why GIS and GPS can help you make better decisions with your land through “MapWindow” software and hands-on exercises. Allan Savory will be on hand to teach students how to use maps that they create and apply holistic view for managing the land.

$400 per person

Workshop includes: • Valuable training to help you better manage your ranch • Free GIS software and access to future releases • Free Garmin GPS

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 Pocatello, Idaho • ISU’s Pond Student Union Pre-registration is required and closes at noon, October 31, 2008. Registration forms are available at http://giscenter.isu.edu/workshops or by calling (208) 282-3606.

Cancellations made after noon, October 31, 2008, are not eligible for refund.

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IN PRACTICE

September / October 2008

GIS Training and Research Center

T H E M A R K E T P LAC E

Journey to the Tip of the Americas BRITTLE AND NON-BRITTLE PATAGONIA ARGENTINA AND CHILE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2008 • Explore the extremes of the Patagonian Andes, from lush Chilean valleys to the stark immensity of the Argentine steppes • Ranch visits to fascinating families, creatively thriving in one of the world’s most isolated corners • Grass finishing lessons in Chilean paradise, fine wool Merino sheep production on the Strait of Magellan, large scale Hereford ranching at the foot of the Andes

Holistic Management Facilitators Don & Bev Campell

• Famous Patagonian Fly-fishing

Achieve success with— People—learn to differentiate

• Exploration of the peaks, fjordlands, glaciers, and glacial-fed lakes of the southern Andes • Off-the-beaten-path, luxury accommodation

between standard of living and quality of life Land—leave a legacy, improve the land Finances—make a profit every year

• The best of the big city in Buenos Aires

*************************** Box 817, Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1Y6 306/236-6088; doncampbell@sasktel.net

For detailed itinerary and price, contact Jim and Daniela Howell at howelljd@montrose.net 970/249-0353

Holistic Management International Conference

Paradigm Shifting for the Future IN CONJUNCTION WITH

The Wheat City Stampede— www.wheatcitystampede.com

October 22-25, 2008

Keystone Center, Brandon, Manitoba Canada

REGISTRATION: Register Early—Space is limited! Early bird price $175.

To register go to: Mbforagecouncil.mb.ca, or call 204/622-2006. For a downloadable brochure and registration form, go to www.holisticmanagement.org.

Accommodations and Airport Shuttle: A block of rooms have been booked at the following host hotels. FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE! • Royal Oak Inn: (800)852-2709 or (204)728-5775; www.royaloakinn.com • Comfort Inn and Suites: (204) 727-6232; www.choicehotels.ca • Super 8: (204) 729-8024 or 1-800-800-8800; www.super8brandon.com Brandon Air Shuttle: www.brandonairshuttle.com

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

SPONSORS:

Abe Collins • Manitoba Agriculture, Ivan Aguirre Food & Rural Initiatives Lee Pengilly • Manitoba Forage Council Peter Holter • Holistic Management Ron Chapman International Gene Goven • Manitoba Rodeo Gabe Brown Cowboys Association Ken Meter • Manitoba Rural Jill Clapperton Adaptation Council Meyers Norris Penny • Canadian Cattleman Blain Hjertaas Association Peggy Maddox • Greencover Canada Number 121

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21

T H E M A R K E T P LAC E CORRAL DESIGNS

Resource Management Services, LLC Kirk L. Gadzia, Certified Educator PO Box 1100 Pasture Bernalillo, NM 87004 Scene 505-263-8677 Investigation

kgadzia@msn.com

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

How can RMS, LLC help you?

On-Site Consulting: All aspects of holistic management, inFOXGLQJ À QDQFLDO HFRORJLFDO DQG KXPDQ resources.

Training Events: Regularly scheduled and customized training sessions provided in a variety of locations.

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

Land Health Monitoring: Biological Monitoring of Rangeland and Riparian Ecosystem Health.

Property Assessment: Land health and productivity assessment with recommended solutions. www.resourcemanagementservices.com

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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

Laboratory Services Free Choice Cafeteria Mineral Program Energy Supplements SPECIALIZING IN NUTRITION FOR THE GRAZING ANIMAL AND THE LAND WHERE THEY GRAZE

Offered By Whole New Concepts, LLC

22

P.O. Box 218 Lewis CO 81327 USA

—— C O N T A C T ——

Cindy Dvergsten, a Holistic ManagementÂŽ 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

September / October 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

HMI Fall Courses

Holistic Management® Certified Educators

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

Holistic Financial Planning

Introduction to Holistic Management

Nov. 12 & 13, 2008

Nov. 10 & 11, 2008

Holistic Biological Monitoring

Holistic Grazing Planning

Nov. 14 & 15, 2008

Nov. 14 & 15, 2008

450

$

All classes held in Summerville, Oregon

PER CLASS

Special package discounts for multiple class registrations!

INSTRUCTORS:

Tony & Andrea Malmberg

To register for these classes, contact HMI at 505/842-5252 or register online at www.holisticmanagement.org.

CLASSIFIEDS Livestock 5 Bar Beef Harvesting the Deserts of the World

BARZONA RANGE BULLS F.J. FITZPATRICK • HIGHLY GREGARIOUS DESERT CATTLE 714/749-5717 • P.O. BOX 41 • SILVERADO, CA 92676 frank@5barbeef.com

Advertise

Advertise in. . .

In Practice

a publication of Holistic Management International

Low Rates International Audience Contact Ann Adams at 505/842-5252 or anna@holisticmanagement.org

Position Wanted We can manage grass without fences and improve animal performance to boot.

Couple seeking position as Low Stress Stock Herders/ Cattle Placers.

Contact Nate Chisholm at: anchisholm@rocketmail.com or 402/244-5331 or 608/658-4674

Number 121

IN PRACTICE

23

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT MAIL ORDER EMPORIUM Subscribe to IN PRACTICE

Software

Holistic Management® Financial Planning (single-user license) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $249

_ A bimonthly journal for Holistic Management practitioners

Please specify PC or Mac, Office ‘95 or ‘97, 2000, XP, or 2003 and version of Excel you are using

Subscribe for 1 year for only $30/U.S. ($35/International) 2 years ($55/U.S.; $65/International) 3 years ($80/U.S.; $90/International)

_ Gift Subscriptions (same prices as above). _ Special Edition: An Introduction to Holistic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5 _ Compact Disk Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14 _ Bulk subscriptions available.

Pocket Cards Holistic Management® Framework & testing questions, March 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$4

Planning and Monitoring Guides

One year for $17 each/U.S., or $22 each/International ______ Please indicate number of one-year subscriptions

_ Introduction to Holistic Management August 2007, 128 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25

_ Back Issues: $5 each; bulk orders (5 or more issues) $3 each. List

_ Financial Planning August 2007, 58 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

Please indicate issue numbers desired: ___,___,___,___,___,___,___,___,___,___ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25

_ CD of Back Issues: #71 - 89

_ Aide Memoire for Grazing Planning August 2007, 63 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_ Early Warning Biological Monitoring— Croplands

Books & Multimedia

April 2000, 26 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14

Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making,

_ Early Warning Biological Monitoring—Rangelands and Grasslands

_ Second Edition, by Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $39 _ Hardcover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $55 _ 15-set CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99 _ One month rental of CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 _ Spanish Version (soft). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ Holistic Management Handbook, by Butterfield, Bingham, Savory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $27 _ At Home With Holistic Management, by Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 _ Holistic Management: A New Environmental Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10 _ Improving Whole Farm Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10 _ Video: Creating a Sustainable Civilization—

August 2007, 59 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_ Land Planning—For The Rancher or Farmer Running Livestock August 2007, 31 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

Planning Forms (All forms are padded – 25 sheets per pad) _ Annual Income & Expense Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17 _ Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 7 _ Livestock Production Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17 _ Control Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 5 _ Grazing Plan & Control Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

An Introduction to Holistic Decision-Making, based on a lecture given

by Allan Savory. (VHS/DVD/PAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 Stockmanship, by Steve Cote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35

_ _ The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ The Oglin, by Dick Richardson & Rio de la Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ Gardeners of Eden, by Dan Dagget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ Video: Healing the Land Through Multi-Species Grazing (VHS/DVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 TO ORDER

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For online ordering visit our secure website at: www.holisticmanagement.org

healthy land. sustainable future. a publication of Holistic Management International 1010 Tijeras NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 USA

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