In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 3
NUmber 150
w w w. h o L i S T i c m A N A G e m e N T. o r G
~ INSIDE THIS ISSUE ~
Building Relationships and Experimenting with Holistic Management
Sustainable Cropping
By SALLIE CALHOUN
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Land & Livestock
FEATURE STORIES
Because Holistic Management is a whole farm planning tool, many crop farmers are finding the benefit of this management and decision-making process. Gabe Brown, one of the Midwest farmers who are experimenting with cocktail seeding in their cover crops and integrating livestock to increase soil health is getting some remarkable results. To learn more, turn to page 7.
The Benefits of Holistic Management in Finland
TuOMAS MATTIlA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
using Holistic Management to Make a Non-Profit More Effective
ElIzABETH MArKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The V6 ranch— Agritourism as another ranch Enterprise HEATHEr SMITH THOMAS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
A Holistic, Soil-Healthy System— Gabe Brown’s regenerative Farming Practices
ANN ADAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Work ranch – Managing for Cows and Wildlife
HEATHEr SMITH THOMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
reviewing the Basics— Holistic Planned Grazing
DON CAMPBEll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
News & Network
few days ago, we had the opportunity to host one of the first workshops in HMI’s new Open Gate Series at our ranch in Paicines, California. These events are designed to bring together the community, both people familiar with Holistic Management, and people interested in an introduction, for a day of on the land learning and relationship building. We did significant outreach through HMI’s mailing lists and those of the ranch and generous sponsors. We were quite pleased with the number of sign-ups and had over 50 people who attended. Frank Aragona, HMI’s Program Director, facilitated the event. The day was organized around the dual goals of learning together on the land and building relationships. After introductions, we spent a couple of hours out in the field. At our first stop we looked at native oak trees and perennial bunch grasses. We described our monitoring protocols for both and gave anecdotal information on what we are seeing in our monitoring plots—no change in oak tree condition or regeneration, clear spread of native perennial grasses. Joe Morris, a neighbor who is incredibly skilled at explaining the principles of Holistic Management, talked about the ecosystem processes and managing for their improvement. We looked at litter and talked about water and mineral cycles, along with management goals. Then we headed out to see the main herd of 1,800 steers. We pulled up to the paddock with quite a herd of our own – about 8 trucks and 50 people. As we parked at the gate and piled out, a few members of the herd looked at us and walked away, but most remained in the large mob that was patiently and quietly waiting for a noon drink. Chris Ketcham, our ranch manager, explained how he weans and trains incoming truckloads over the course of 2 months and consolidates them into a single herd by midDecember. Based on his grazing plan, he moves the herd around the ranch, usually at 2 or 3 days intervals. He explained that our average paddock size is just a bit over 300 acres, and that our recovery periods have been between 60-80 days this season. One long-time Holistic Management practitioner commented that he had never personally seen a herd this large in our area, and marveled at how calm they were on the other side of the single wire electric fence. We headed back to headquarters for a great lunch and much spirited conversation. It took a good bit of work to break up the lunch conversations and move onto the afternoon portion of the program. Because of our outreach, we had a mixture of producers, agency and land trust folks, and people just interested in California grasslands. For the afternoon, we asked people to form groups of 5 or 6, with people from each of the three groups. This was a chance to create relationships and get widely different perspectives. In the small groups, the first activity was for each person to share a problem or issue. The group provided thoughts and suggestions to each person on how they might address the issue. In the final step, we asked that each person write down, with dates, 3 action items that they could immediately work on to address their issue and share those next steps with the group. There were grassfed beef customers, vegetarians, and urban
Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Development Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Book review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
The Benefits of Holistic Management in Finland by TUOMAS MATTILA
In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International
Holistic Management International exists to educate people to manage land for a sustainable future. STAFF Peter holter . . . . . . . Chief Executive Officer Kelly King . . . . . . . . . Chief Financial Officer Ann Adams. . . . . . . . Managing Editor, IN PrACTICE and Director, Community Services Sandy Langelier. . . . Director, Communications and Outreach Frank Aragona . . . . . Director, Programs matt Parrack . . . . . . . Director, Development Peggy Sechrist. . . . . Development Advisor Peggy maddox . . . . . Program Advisor Peggy cole . . . . . . . . Project Manager, Texas mary Girsch-bock . . Grants Manager carrie Nelson . . . . . . Store Manager / Customer Support Julie Kare . . . . . . . . . Instructional Design Specialist
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’ve benefited considerably from holistic decision-making as I’ve learned about it in HMI’s Introduction to Holistic Management Distance learning course. Going through the decision questions forces me to stop and reflect on the consequences and sense of how to proceed this way. The decision questions are structured and keep the thinking process running, so I won’t get stuck ruminating on the problems. usually a few minutes discussing and/or thinking will clarify which way to proceed in difficult situations. In the decision cases I worked on for the assignments, going through the process helped to clarify the options and to identify the risks associated. For example, when I looked at using trace minerals, I finally decided to order wood ash to get most of the minerals correct. Then I will run a set of trials on the land with additional fertilizer input and monitor for crop response. If there is no response, there would have been no sense in treating the whole area. If again there is response, I’ll still have time to treat the whole area at least in autumn. All in all, this will have saved the use of about 8000 € until later in the year, which keeps opportunities open to find other ways of improving the soil. After these decision cases, I’ve also been applying the decision making tools on a few
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sallie Calhoun, Chair Ben Bartlett, Past Chair Kelly Sidoryk, Vice-Chair Jim Shelton, Treasurer Judi Earl, Secretary Ron Chapman Zizi Fritz Laura Gill Gail Hammack Clint Josey Wayne Knight Sam Montoya Jim Parker Michael Podolny
HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT In Practice (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by: Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org
Copyright © 2013
The soil cover on this cereal crop field is 90%. 2 IN PRACTICE
July / August 2013
other decisions as well. We were discussing on hiring a worker on the farm. Going through the root cause question quickly clarified that the problem isn’t the amount of hours, but the amount of enterprises. Therefore instead of getting a “tractor driver” to outsource the simple stuff, we hired a young agroforestry specialist and a permaculture designer for a month to start-up the orchard we were planning on doing ourselves. In doing so, we got more enthusiastic people working on the land, learned a lot and have a chance of spreading the results to other farmers as well. Instead of focusing on cutting costs, this actually moves us towards our holistic goal quite a bit as an important investment in the farm. All in all, having a shared holistic goal for the farming family is probably the greatest tool we’ve gotten from Holistic Management. Just stopping to reflect how the everyday decisions we make link to the quality of life and future assets makes quite a difference. And, having the quality of life and behaviors and processes statements clear opens up new possibilities for using time and money. For example, it helped me make the decision to quit farm work early in on a beautiful winter day and babysit to allow my wife to go skiing in the forests as time very well spent. It’s odd how writing the quality of life statements down can actually make such a difference. On the resources side, the description of ecosystem processes and tools is a treasure chest for creative land management. Through looking for signs of ineffective energy flow and water cycles I’ve been able to figure out ways to capture more sunlight and soak in water. For example I realized that weed control by postharvest cultivation is really bad for energy flow and water cycle. Instead we now undersow annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) with grains and subsoil the land after harvest. This allows three more months of sunlight capture before the killing frosts, and the successional weeds have less of a habitat as well. As you can see from the photo, the soil cover is 90%, which is much higher than with no-till. It’s difficult to think that this is from a cereal cropping field. The percentage was measured by a trick adapted from the Holistic Management® Biological Monitoring. When I walk the fields, I carry a coin in my pocket. Twenty tosses give a rough indication of the percentage of living and dead soil cover. I’m constantly trying to maximize the amount of soil cover and measuring it is the first step towards improvement. Tuomas Mattila is a farmer from Pusula, Finland.
Using Holistic Management to Make a Non-Profit More Effective by ELIZABETH MARKS
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n 2009, the Hudson Mohawk resource Conservation and Development Council (HMrC&D), a non-profit organization that I assisted as Elizabeth Marks Coordinator, underwent its fiveyear comprehensive organizational planning process. The Council was pretty typical of most small, non-profit organizations. The board was a group of intelligent, highly caring individuals who wanted to make their community a better place. While they did great things, they weren’t always sure what projects to dive into (they all sounded good!) or had a clear idea of what they were trying to create. At the same time, myself and two of my council members (Donna Murray and Crystal Stewart) were going through the Holistic Management professional development grant funded by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture research & Education (NE SArE) taught by Phil Metzger and Erica Frenay in New York. Even though we were still learning, the three of us decided to use the Holistic Management framework to plan for the future and make better decisions. Phil said, “Just go for it. Even if it is awkward, you will always make more progress than if you don’t try and you’ll improve your ability to work with people and Holistic Management.” Phil was right about the awkward part. Many council members were older farmers who weren’t familiar with strategic planning, let alone coming at it from an Holistic Management angle. Some of them didn’t understand what we were trying to do and felt the time would be better spent talking about the details of specific projects. With the three of us as allies, we kept at it.
Creating Vision & Mission The council’s original vision and mission had been developed 10 years earlier and was pretty dry. It certainly didn’t inspire or excite anyone. Vision The Hudson Mohawk rC&D Council’s vision is to be a “Catalyst for Action” serving to
facilitate improvements in the quality of life in the six-county rC&D area. Mission The mission of the Hudson Mohawk resource Conservation and Development Council is to promote regional, economic and natural resource conservation development. Donna, Crystal and I prodded the council to dig deeper. What were the council’s core values? What did they love? How did they want to be perceived? Here is what they came up with: The HMrC&D council operates as a positive force in its community. • It enables citizens to make sustainable choices by expanding access to a variety of local energy and food sources. • It improves forestry and agriculture by helping landowners and farmers develop environmentally, socially and economically sustainable practices. • It fosters increased communication and collaboration among groups working towards similar goals. • It operates with the flexibility to help where it is needed most. • Internally, the HMrC&D is known as a place where: • Differing views can be shared and explored. • Council members, the NrCS coordinator and secretary, and partners all feel valued and engaged. Next they came up with what they needed in order to achieve those values. In order to be a positive force in the community, the HMrC&D needs to have: • Open communication among our members, contributors, and partners. • An active and engaged council. • Credibility in the community, with funders, and NrCS. • Finally, they spent some time articulating what they were trying to create both as an organization and a community at large. The HMrC&D is striving to create a community which: • Has a sustainable, profitable landscape. • Addresses current concerns using human creativity. • recognizes and supports the rC&D and what we accomplish. Council members and partners are eager to support the organization by volunteering and advocating for funding.
A Process for Creating Priorities Now that we had a meaningful and real “mission” and “vision” statement (aka the Holistic Goal) that excited people, we could use it to make decisions for the organization. I helped the council modify the Holistic Management testing questions to help them make decisions about what projects to undertake. Prior to this projects were suggested using the “popcorn method.” At meetings, council members or partners would pop up suggestions for projects, everyone would think it was a good idea, and it was left to the coordinator to implement them. Donna, Crystal and I developed a project proposal form that contained the following questions (see box).
Project Proposal Form 1. Does this project fit in with the current 5 Year Plan? Does this project fit within the mission and values of the HMrC&D? ____ Yes _____ No 2. Does this project address the root cause of the problem that it is trying to address? (Identify root cause of the problem.) 3. Would this project create any opposition for a partner/individual whose support is needed in the near future? Would this project improve relations of a partner/individual whose support is needed? 4. Would this project strengthen the weakest link of a problem? 5. Does the council have the resources (time, money, expertise) to do the project? If no, what resources are needed to undertake this project? 6. How much time will this project take? 7. What will be the Coordinator’s role? What will be the Council’s role (i.e. what involvement is needed by council members)? 8. How will this project help the Council’s sponsors (the soil and water districts and county governments of Albany, Columbia, Greene, Schenectady, rensselaer and Montgomery counties)? 9. How will the Council monitor the project to know if it is effective or successful?
These questions helped the council members think about if the project: • Fit within the goals of the organization or was creating a future condition envisioned by the council, CONTINUED ON PAGE NINETEEN
Number 150
IN PRACTICE 3
The V6 Ranch—
Agritourism as Another Ranch Enterprise by HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
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n today’s economic climate many ranchers are struggling to find ways to survive and continue in business. One option to augment ranch income is to take in paying guests. Many people are eager to experience nature and a Western ranch environment. Jack and zee Varian have taken advantage of this potential market on their California ranch and they enjoy the people who come for this experience.
Opening the Door Their V6 ranch is in the Diablo Mountain range in southern Monterrey County near Parkfield. Their closest big town is Paso robles. “What got us started thinking about this was 6 years of drought—from 1985 through 1991,” explains Jack. “A few of those years weren’t exceptionally dry, but this whole period had subnormal moisture. I was not doing very well, financially; I was trying to solve the problem in the traditional ways that cattlemen had been using for a long time, and they weren’t working.” “My friend George Work asked me in 1991 if I wanted to go to a class that was being put on by the Center for Holistic resource Management [now HMI]. Allan Savory was just starting some of his classes and demonstrations. This was a 3-day class in Paso robles,” recalls Jack. “The first day I was saying ‘yes, but.’ The things he was talking about were foreign to me. The second day was transitional and I was thinking maybe there is something here of value. The third day was the ‘aha’ moment. Not everything he said was absolutely clear to me but it was starting to make sense. One thing that freed me from tradition was when he asked us to examine the things that we do and then assume that we do them and they are wrong,” says Jack. “I already knew my traditional management wasn’t working but I didn’t know what to replace it with.” If you assume that the things you are doing are right, you never change them. Many people make decisions and live with those decisions and never question them. “This was a turning point for me, when I could ask myself to look at what I was doing and assume that it was wrong. Consequently I discovered that a lot of it was wrong.” Then several things came to mind as possibilities. “My wife and I had gone to see the 4 IN PRACTICE
July / August 2013
movie “City Slickers.” After seeing that movie (a comedy with Billy Crystal, involving a dude ranch) I said to zee that we could do that. We had too many horses and a lot of beautiful country. Our ranch is 20,000 acres that runs from 1,500 feet up to 4,000 foot elevation. We thought, why not?” The first year, they put on one ride. “I look back on it now and remember what a struggle it was. We had too many guests (38 riders), portable outhouses, and we were just winging it. In spite of all this, the people loved it,” says Jack. The next year they pared it down to 25 guests, and split up the riders. They used 2 wranglers to supervise about 8 guests in each group. This created a more hands-on experience for the riders, to help with a multiday cattle drive. “We gather cattle from different directions, and took sack lunches tied behind the saddle. My wife zee would take a group, I took a group, and my daughter Barbara took a group. People were hungry for this kind of experience, and we found we enjoyed doing it.” This is totally a family operation and the Varians don’t need to hire help. “My daughter cooks for the group, and one of my sons helped as a wrangler. Now, after many years, this has evolved to where the grandchildren are helping. We do 4 cattle drives each year and time our guest rides to coincide with when we need to move the cattle,” he explains. The cattle need to be moved at certain times
from Fresno County to Monterrey County. The ranch straddles the Diablo Mountains so the cattle are taken over the mountains at one point and then brought back later. “These are things we are doing anyway, so we just time it so we can bring guests on these rides,” he says. “We usually ride about 5 to 6 hours a day, which is more than some people want to do, but they all enjoy the experience. We take any riders, from beginners to people who ride really well,” says Jack.
Growing the Enterprise They built a facility they call Mustang camp, with showers and flush toilets. “These are a little rough but welcomed by the guests. We have a chuckwagon and our family prepares the meals. We provide everything for the guests from the Thursday night dinner at our Parkfield café, until Sunday afternoon. We provide all the food, haul their gear to Mustang camp for them, and provide the horses, saddles, etc. Next year will be our 20th year,” he says. This venture has really helped the ranch cash flow. “After we started this, we also started looking at other things like trail rides. We’d already let a hunting club use our place ever since we moved to Parkfield in 1962 when we purchased the first piece of the ranch.” The hunting club simply uses the ranch and the Varians provide an area for camping and trailers.
Participating in a V6 Ranch cattle drive is an all-day affair with 5-6 hours of riding for beginner to advanced riders.
All in the Family “We didn’t have any interaction with the hunters so we weren’t really dealing with the public until we started the cattle drive experience where we were living and camping with our guests for 3 days. We have made some wonderful friends over the years, doing this. It’s been a good experience for our immediate family and our grandchildren,” he says. The ranch headquarters is 37 miles from town, an hour’s drive. “People often think our grandchildren are isolated, but they enjoy mingling with the guests and meet a lot of people—and these visitors enjoy our grandchildren. It’s been a win-win situation. It’s been a way to have them become responsible for helping get the horses saddled and ready. They can’t be wranglers until they are 18, but there are many things they can help with. It’s been a wonderful family operation,” says Jack. His son John Varian puts on a ride for the American Quarter Horse Association and for the Arabian Horse Association. He also has a cowboy camp, teaching all the cowboy skills like roping, cutting, and everything involved with being a cowboy. John has been very successful with these; this year will be the 7th ride for the Arabian Horse Association. “My cousin Sheila Varian (who raises and trains Arabian horses) also comes to help us occasionally. After the ride she’ll give one of her demonstrations about bridles, bits, hackamores or the old Spanish vaquero garb and traditions; she’s a great speaker,” says Jack.
The Real Thing “We’ve found that our guest riding program has been a good fit with our holistic ranch management. This recreational aspect doesn’t impact the cattle or grazing operation. It is very complementary and sustainable, and something the public really wants.” The guests enjoy it and learn something about ranching. “If we have calves to brand, we invite them to help. We warn them that it might not be something they want to watch, but they are welcome if they want to help. We let them vaccinate, castrate, etc. We rope the calves to brand them, and we explain to them why we hotiron brand, to show ownership. In California, if a calf is over 6 months old and weaned from its mother, and not branded, whoever has it in possession owns it. A brand is the only way to prove ownership if your cattle stray. When people see these things they realize it makes sense. I also try to explain about the different vaccinations the animals get, and why, and that the discomfort for the calf is just a momentary thing. The calf is only on the ground for about a
Ranch guests get the opportunity to experience all aspects of the cattle drive including sorting, branding, and castrating.
minute, and then it’s over,” says Jack. The guests enjoy the ranch experience because it’s the real thing. The cattle are being moved from one pasture to another for a reason, and not just to give the guests a cattle drive. The two purposes are complementary. “The fact I have people scheduled to come and move cattle also ensures that I move them at the proper time. There have been occasions when a person might just postpone, or not move them, especially as we get older and more tired, but this way I am committed. We end up with a more meaningful program of grazing management because of the cattle drives,” he says. It also makes the work a little different, with some flexibility, and maybe a little more patience and a broader outlook. “These people are on vacation and they don’t want to be yelled at. If they are in the wrong place or mess up when we are moving cattle, we don’t say a word. If things go awry we just send the dogs around to pick up the pieces, and the people love to watch the dogs work. Our dogs aren’t great, but we get the job done. If the cattle are going off in the wrong direction or into the brush, the dogs just get around them and stop them and maybe bring them back toward us. We get everything under control and can continue on,” explains Jack.
Succession Planning Jack and zee have 4 children and 9 grandchildren. The oldest grandchild is 21. They all live on or near the ranch. “Part of the trick of getting the ranch from one generation to
PhoTo creDiT: mArShA KirSchbAUm
the next is figuring out, for the ones who want to stay, how they will make a living. I am looking toward recreation as a big opportunity for this. The cattle will always provide a living for one family, but there are other grazing animals that we might ultimately utilize. At this point I haven’t convinced any grandchild to take it over yet, but we have one ranch that would be excellent for complementary goat or sheep grazing. There also might be an opportunity to raise chickens. There are a host of different livestock that might work here,” he says. At this point most of the grandchildren still want to work with the cattle and rope and rodeo—junior rodeo and high school rodeo. “Maybe when they get older and need to make a few dollars, they might look at some other alternatives as a way to make a living on the ranch. This hasn’t happened yet, but getting older and realizing you have to make a living can change a person’s attitude about how to make a living.” Priorities may change or expand. “All we are trying to do is let them know that if they want to stay on the ranch and they see a niche they could fill, we’re good with that. If they want to move away and make a living elsewhere, that’s fine, too. But we see the recreation potential and other forms of livestock raising as possible paths our grandchildren could follow if they want to,” says Jack. It’s wonderful to have that many members of the family still close, and involved. “When we have a branding or work cattle, CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE
Number 150
IN PRACTICE 5
The V6 Ranch
continued from page five
V6 Ranch guests experiencing a real cattle drive
PhoTo creDiT: GArY UNGeFUG
we don’t have to invite anyone to come because we have enough help with just our family and grandkids. We can rope and brand a lot of cattle in a day,” he says.
Advice from the Field regarding advice for anyone who might be interested in augmenting ranch income with recreation, he says that it’s important to enjoy people. “If you don’t truly like people, it won’t work. You almost need to be an extravert, to welcome people to your ranch—people who don’t know anything about ranching or cattle. They just know they want a Western adventure. You have to be patient and caring,” he says. If guests are helping with a cattle drive or any other ranch job, you also have to not worry if things don’t always go as smoothly or perfectly
Building Relationships
as you’d wish. “I’ve helped neighbors who were too fussy, and I might have been that way myself, years ago. A person gets to doing things a certain way or by habit, or has a certain route you always take the cattle to the corrals. For me now, there are 10 ways we can get off that mountain and I don’t care which one we take— as long as we get to the bottom with the cattle. You become more flexible and you change.” If you are not flexible, it won’t work as well for you to deal with extra people. “You don’t need as much country as we have, to do a good job with a recreational experience for guests. Even with a small place, you can have hands-on experiences for them, and perhaps a teaching environment. Maybe you would teach them how to team rope or some other skill with horses and cattle. There are many things a person could do with guests on a smaller ranch,”
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environmentalists sitting with ranchers brainstorming about growing more forage and solving water problems. There were ranchers sharing electric fence ideas, of course, and permaculture instructors working with government agency representatives on their issues. As the formal program ended, people lingered in conversation for quite awhile. It seemed that most of the attendees enjoyed the day and found it interesting. I have written before about how much time I spend building and encouraging relationships, and this day was another great opportunity to continue that work. I am currently reading Leadership and the New Science by Margaret Wheatley, who is able to articulate some of the things that I have been feeling over the last year or so. Having attended the Open Gate field day, I was really struck by this quote, “We must engage with each other, experiment to find what works for us and support one another as the true inventors that we are.” I want to thank HMI for developing this program and giving us the opportunity to participate. I think that strengthening the Holistic Management community is valuable work, and this is another tool we have for doing just that. For more information about this event and other Open Gate programs go to page 17.
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he says. Every ranch is unique, with certain special aspects that might lend themselves to a recreational opportunity to capitalize on. The nice thing about adding this type of program to a ranching operation is that it doesn’t cost much to get started. “You don’t need much infrastructure so there isn’t much investment at risk. You can try it and see if it’s for you. If it is, the people will know it. There’s a certain feeling when guests come and they know right away that they are welcome. If that kind of feeling isn’t there, you should try something else,” says Jack. If people have a good experience at your place, they’ll want to come back again, and the word will get around that this is a good place to come. “We have many people who have been coming here for 10 to 15 years, and we enjoy seeing them again,” he says. “This is an aspect of ranching that I don’t think the Holistic Management philosophy has really explored—in terms of things we can do using the holistic model, and find that it works,” he says. This is something a rancher can do to make the financial picture healthier, in conjunction with good holistic planned grazing. “We have improved our guest camp over the years with the flush toilets and showers, and have a good set of corrals for our horses. By the time we get our guests and wranglers and some grandchildren mounted, we usually have about 35 horses saddled. We take 25 guests, but after we break up first thing in the morning and go in different directions, we usually don’t see the other groups until evening when we arrive back from wherever we deposited the cattle,” he says. “On the last day of their stay, we hold a few cattle in the corrals overnight and have a little team sorting so the guests can participate. I run a lot of stocker cattle, with a variety of colors, and we use some of those. We might have several 3-member teams competing at this sorting, and there’s lots of hooting, hollering and cheering. I might tell them they have to bring out 2 black ones and a red one to pen. This is a fun thing to wind up their stay,” he says. Most of the riders want to interact with horses as much as they can. “We encourage anyone who wants to, to help catch, brush and saddle the horses in the morning. They can also help feed them. Most people want to grab a brush and help. We usually try to wash the horses at night after the rides, mainly where the saddle goes, but there is often a little sweat or dust left, and people like to help us brush them in the morning,” says Jack. There are many ways to accommodate the public in a recreational program on any given ranch. This is like another crop from the ranch and you are providing an enjoyable experience for the people who come to your place.
LIVESTOCK
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A Holistic, Soil-Healthy System—
Gabe Brown’s Regenerative Farming Practices by ANN ADAMS
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any people these days are excited about how to improve soil health while creating a profitable agricultural business. While the answers are tried and true in grass-fed production (albeit with much variability), large acreage crop systems are still a new frontier for those seeking to create regenerative farming models. In my mind, Gabe Brown of Bismarck, North Dakota is on the front edge of that exploration. I’ve heard him speak at numerous events and always come away inspired and filled with new ideas of how these new agricultural systems could work. One of the more recent times I heard Gabe speak was at the Quivira Coalition Conference in November 2012 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He began his talk on how to build soil health by saying that in North Dakota they can get snow 9 months out of year. But, he always hears the excuse “Sure this stuff works in North Dakota, but it won’t work on my place.” But as he noted, it’s really a matter of “If it can work in North Dakota, it can work anywhere.” The point is, if you have soil, even really poor soil, you can improve the health and profitability of it by pushing yourself to think outside the box and experiment.
Because of high organic matter, Gabe’s fields were able to handle much of the 13 inches of rain that fell in a 22 hour period. In fact, the land captured 8 inches of that rain before the water began moving off. Moreover, when Gabe dug up soil, he found a soil that was friable and not water logged.
results of managing holistically • • • • • • •
Yields 30% higher than county average More of saleable product More nutrient-dense product Improved Quality of life Increase carbon storage Increased Profits regenerating the resource for future generations
• • • • • •
No Chemical Fertilizers No Pesticides No Fungicides reduced Herbicides reduced Fossil Fuel reduced labor
Gabe has found that by managing holistically, he’s improved the triple bottom line of the farm—increasing land health has led to better profit and improved quality of life.
Starting from Scratch Gabe and Shelly Brown bought the Brown ranch from Shelly’s family in 1991. The farm had been farmed conventionally as long as the family had owned it since 1956. The land was not in great shape and most of the fields had organic matter ranging from 1.7-1.9%. There was very little plant diversity and infiltration rates were ½ inch per hour. The 5,400-acre ranch gets 16 inches of precipitation a year but only approximately 9 of those come in the form of rain. As Gabe looked at his options he came to accept that they were dealing with a degraded resource, and he needed to think about more than just sustaining it—he needed to regenerate it. “When people talk to me about sustainability, I have a hard time with that,” says Gabe. “Why sustain a degraded resource. We need to focus on reversing that degradation and regenerate the resource.” For that reason, he has spent his energy on actually increasing the fertility of the landscape he manages by looking at how a healthy landscape functions. In his mind, the model to follow is in how healthy native rangelands and pastures function—with lots of biodiversity. “We practice Holistic Management Grazing,” says Gabe. “My son teaches at the local college so he had his students come out and count how many species we had in one of our native pastures. They counted over 140 different species.” One of the reasons that biodiversity is so important is that all those different roots produce root exudates which feed soil life. With healthier soil comes more glomalin so the Browns’ soil has the pore spaces which increases water infiltration that helps them in both droughts and floods.
Floods & Droughts The soil was put to the test in June 15, 2009 when 13.6 inches of rain fell in 22 hours. The Browns experienced no erosion and the first 8 inches infiltrated before the rest moved off. This was in contrast to his neighbor who had water sitting on his land for 3 months. “That’s why you need to CONTINUED ON PAGE EIGHT
Number 150
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Gabe Brown
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work with nature,” says Gabe. “You can’t impose your will, because nature wins every time.” It was the Browns’ focus on soil health that allowed them to reap the benefit of a soil that could infiltrate that amount of water and store it in the soil profile. That focus really began in 1993 when the Browns went 100% no till on their 2,000 acres of cropland. “We learned we had to keep the armor on the soil surface,” says Gabe. They learned how to transition from a small grain operation to a diversified system. That transition meant not just notill, but also planting a variety of species. Gabe plants warm and cool season broadleaves and grasses, which means diversity in the cropping system. For Gabe a cool-season grass could be oats, a warm-season grass could be corn, a warm-season broadleaf could be sunflowers, and a cool-season broadleaf could be flax or brassica. “We feed soil life,” says Gabe. “It needs a diverse diet so you need to seed a lot of different plants. You have to look at what the soil needs to determine what to plant. We may plant a cool-season cover crop primer or we may have a cover crop primer for the whole year, it all depends on what the resource needs. cover crops 2012 cool Season Grasses • Annual ryegrass • Oats • Barley • Winter Triticale • rye • Spring Wheat warm Season Grasses • Hybrid Pearl Millet • Sorghum/Sudangrass • German Millet • Corn
cool Season broadleafs • Canola • Phacelia • radish • Buckwheat • Turnip • Kale • lentil • Flax • Sweet Clover, Berseem • Winterpea Clover, Crimson Clover, Persian Clover, Hairy Vetch, Sub Clover • • • •
warm Season broadleafs Sunflower • Soybean Cowpea • Sunn Hemp Safflower • Ethopian Cabbage Favabean • Alfalfa
“But just growing diverse crops in rotation is not enough. Gabe believes that you need to speed up biological time by growing cover crops with a great deal of biodiversity. He is constantly experimenting with different combinations to improve soil health. The Burleigh County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has been doing some research on this very thing. In 2006, the Burleigh County producers were faced with an extremely dry year. It had been a winter with very little snowfall, so the SWCD seeded a polyculture cover crop (also known as cocktail seeding). They seeded into dry soil and had only one inch of rain from seeding until late July when the data was collected. One plot was seeded with a monoculture of turnips, and in another only oilseed radish. Each of these test plots were only 1/10th of an acre. The results were astounding. If you look at the production outcome, the cover crop had triple the production of the monoculture plantings. There isn’t a clearer picture of how production management can make a huge difference in outcomes, particularly in challenging times like a drought. The SWCD’s explanation of why the ½ rate cover crop slightly out yielded the full rate is simply because the full rate was too many plants per square foot in that drought. 8
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2006 Production on District Plot Production #/acre
crop Cocktail Mix (1/2 rate)
4785
Cocktail Mix (Full rate)
4350
Pasja Turnip
2070
Cowpea
1914
Purple Top Turnip
1513
Soybean
1496
Oilseed radish
1260
lupine
1232
Multi-Species Grazing Soil health also means that growing season lengthens as you have a diversity of species growing throughout different times of the year. So as Gabe looked once again at rangelands he realized he had only one grazer in his operation—cattle. “look at what healthy native rangeland has,” says Gabe. “It had very diverse species mix with bison, elk, rabbits, predators, insects. Producers don’t pay enough attention to the benefits of a diverse and healthy insect population. “We are also looking at the importance of predator insects. There was a recent study by Dr. Jonathan lundgren of the Agriculture research Service (ArS) in Brookings, South Dakota. The study was performed on Dr. Duane Beck’s Dakota lakes research Farm near Pierre, South Dakota. This farm had a field of 23 years of corn-on-corn production with non-GMO corn. Dr. lundgren hand placed 1,000 corn rootworm larvae per foot in that field and watched to see what would happen. You’d expect total decimation of the crop because Dr. Beck uses no insecticide, but
These pictures clearly show the difference of how a mono-culture of turnips performed the year when there was only 1 inch of rain by July. In contrast, a diverse polyculture cover crop of over 16 seeds performed remarkably better under the same conditions and soil types. Both were subject to drought conditions, but the biodiversity of the polyculture allowed it to make more effective use of the water that did come.
there was only a 1% loss of the corn roots. Why? They set their traps, and after doing some extrapolation, Dr. lundgren estimated that there was a billion predator insects per acre to address the corn rootworm. “Dr. Beck had created a healthy soil with his cover crops so he created an environment where the predator insects could thrive and keep the pests in balance. We’ve done the same thing on our place. That’s why we don’t use any insecticide or fungicide. We want to have the predator insects, and we need some pests to feed the predators. It’s all about a balance and about looking at the whole. All species have a purpose, and we want our management to reflect nature. That understanding made us look at multispecies grazing and we brought in other livestock to create more diversity. “When my son Paul came back to the farm, I had one request—he had to think outside the box and push my thinking. Well he did that. He said, ‘We’ve got diversity in crops, so we need to diversify the livestock.’ So Paul has added pastured poultry, ducks, chickens, and turkeys to try to imitate nature. We also brought on sheep to increase diversity even more. “livestock are simply a tool to convert sunlight into dollars. We make our cattle earn their keep. Cattle have legs so we make them use them. We combine them with the crops we grow to improve soil health even more. We may start with a cool season primer such as fall seeded biennials and then graze this at high stock density for only a matter of hours, moving the livestock 5-6 times a day (either with our 350 cow/calf pairs or our 400 yearlings).” Despite many people’s concern about the labor it takes to set up fences for that many daily moves, Gabe says it takes only an hour each day to set up fences for those moves. When they leave, they’ve covered the ground with litter. That’s the armor to protect the soil while feeding macro organisms. right now the Browns soil is so full of life that they need to get more carbon into the soil to feed that life. It takes only 2 months for the soil life to consume all that litter so they are challenged to keep the ground covered. After the animals graze, the Browns seed another soil primer with a drill. Gabe found that results from broadcasting were variable in his environment so he prefers to drill the seed. He grass finishes the cattle so he figures out how to fit his cover crops into the holes in the native forage cycle so there is always feed for the cattle and always a living root to feed the soil organisms.
profit per acre and a 20% increase in bushel production than the county average. The main reason again is a healthy, functioning soil. “Measuring for NPK with a conventional soil test is a waste of time,” says Gabe. “My conventional soil tests have shown that I only have 10 units of nitrogen. But with a functioning soil I’m producing more than the county average. The soil life allows good growth without inputs. That’s why we don’t need any synthetic fertilizer. If you want to take care of the energy crisis, get rid of synthetic inputs and focus on soil health. I’m getting 130 bushels to the acre. The county average is 100 bushels per acre. Instead of focusing on the plant, we’re focusing on the soil. That is why one needs to use a soil test that takes soil biology into account. I prefer to use the test that was developed by Dr. rick Haney.” Dr. rick Haney’s research (ArS) of Gabe’s farm also shows the difference between his no-till fields versus no-till and livestock. That’s the real combination to take soil health to the next level. If you look at the nitrogen levels, they are about the same. But, the inorganic phosphorus and potassium is much higher where livestock has grazed because of the root exudates and soil biology that happen through both diversity of plant and the grazing/pruning of those plants by animals.
Diversity = Profit So how does all this management focus equate to profit? Besides the resilience to flood and drought and increased production during those times, Gabe has consistently been able to have a 200% higher gross
Cool season grasses (oats) are planted in combination with other broadleaf plants to maximize diversity.
In this chart created by Dr. Rick Haney of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), he compares the soil health of no-till soil versus Gabe Brown’s soil which has the added benefit of livestock integrated into the system. As can be seen in this chart, the organic carbon in the Brown Ranch soil is almost 50% more with the value of the nutrients being almost 30% more as well. “People say to me, ‘Gabe your system is going to crash.’ But, that’s not going to happen if I keep feeding the soil with diversity of crops, cover crops and livestock,” says Gabe. “If you take care of the soil, it will provide the nutrients you need. If you focus on the soil, that means more money in the producer’s pocket. If you look at our expenses per acre for corn, you see it cost me $1.10/bushel. The u.S. average cost of production for corn is $4.40/bushel (without land costs). If I add my land costs in it goes to $1.20 /bushel. The u.S. average with land costs is $5.50/bushel.” So what’s the cost of not cover cropping and using livestock to improve soil health? What’s the profit loss to farmers? An 80% decrease in profitability if you are the average American corn farmer. That should be a powerful motivator to change farming practices towards healthier soil and less reliance on inputs which will in all likelihood continue to go up. CONTINUED ON PAGE TEN
Number 150
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Gabe Brown
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New Frontiers
Gross Profit When Gabe isn’t busy income/Acre working on improving soil Yield 159 bushels/acre @ $6.48/bushel health and profit, he’s $1030.32/acre exploring how to use the same farming techniques expenses/Acre to grow vegetables as well Seed $64.05 as grain. In a low-rainfall Herbicide $12.50 year, he decided to try notill potatoes and onions by Crop Insurance $17.94 laying down the potatoes Planting $18.00 and onion sets then Combining $22.00 covering them with hay. Trucking $24.40 “I’m lazy, so I used the garden vegetable species Storage $15.90 as a primer,” says Gabe. “I Total Expense $174.79 seeded a 20-acre garden Gross Profit $855.53/acre with over 70 species. In 90 (does not include income from direct days we had more payments, CSP, and winter grazing) vegetables than we could eat. We didn’t use any Cost per bushel of corn = $1.10 irrigation to grow these (excluding land cost) plants. The extra produce Gross Profit $5.38/bushel we donated to a food pantry. Paul was trying to inventory what we grew, and we counted 20 thousand pounds of zucchini and squash alone. It was a fun project to do, and we’ll continue to do it. So much time we spend worrying about what species we should or shouldn’t plant next to another. It doesn’t matter so much with healthy soil. After we harvest, we bring in cattle and ducks and poultry so the garden gets the same livestock fertility treatment.”
Gabe sees the management options available to agricultural producers on a spectrum of how they improve land health. The ultimate healthy soil building practices is a combination of holistic land regeneration techniques that he continues to experiment. Gabe sees these different land management techniques as a spectrum toward improved soil health. The first step is to eliminate tillage because it destroys the soil. So that means going to no-till with the next step being to diversify your crop types. Follow that with the addition of cover crops. Then you integrate livestock and move to multi-species grazing. That’s when you get to regeneration. The results? “Cleaner 10
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In an experiment to see if this type of no-till cropping could work in a garden situation, Gabe polyseeded 20 acres of farm land as a vegetable garden. Despite a very dry year they were able to harvest 20,000 pounds of zucchini and squash alone by using this method. To plant potatoes and onions no-till he simply placed the sets on top of the soil and covered them with hay.
water, cleaner air, healthy land, and healthy people; they are all intertwined,” says Gabe. Gabe readily admits he’s not organic. He still uses one herbicide pass every 3 years. “I want to get to organic,” says Gabe. “Some organic folks are doing one tillage pass every 3 years. We’re going to meet in the middle and learn from each other. For the most part, with the amount of residue we have, weeds aren’t an issue. If weeds are germinating, something is out of sync.” Gabe is excited about the concept of pasture cropping as the ideal of keeping the land covered while growing a cash crop. The problem is that you need to seed a cool-season cash crop into a warm-season perennial stand or a warm-season cash crop into a cool-season perennial stand and in North Dakota the difference between cool season and warm season is about a week, he jokes. When asked if his neighbors think he is crazy, Gabe replies, “Yes, because I am. When I first started, I only had to go back to Thomas Jefferson’s journal. He was doing the same thing. I’m just coming full circle. I tell people I’m just 200 years too slow. When I bought into no-till, a mentor told me to sell all my tillage equipment so I could commit to learning how to no-till and not go back to the status quo. You learn, and I learned the hard way.” Gabe continues to explore different combinations that help improve soil health but are also good forage for the livestock. He likes triticale and hairy vetch because he can either hay it or graze it or combine it for seed. He has found that the triticale is more palatable to livestock than rye and has more protein. He is beginning to experiment with compost as he continues to look for ways to get his organic matter up to 6-7%, like the rangelands he works to mimic. His stock density is currently 685,000 #/acre, and he’s only grazing any given paddock once/year. He doesn’t use fly control because it would be detrimental to dung beetles and other predatory insects. He’s also using cover crops (biological primers) to extend the grazing season which reduces hay usage and, therefore, costs. His focus on these additional soil fertility practices are a result of the Holistic Management training and mentoring from HMI Certified Educators Don Campbell (as far back as 1997), Wayne Berry, Terry Gompert and Joshua Dukart. “When I started down this road of resource
regeneration, I did so not knowing about Holistic Management at the time,” says Gabe. “I will never forget when I first heard Don Campbell. I had just had my third year of crop failure due to hail and drought and I asked Don how financially do I cope with that?” His answer was sympathetic, but honest, “replan!” It took me a while to realize what he meant, but I will never forget those words as I went home and replanned! “That was my first exposure to Holistic Management, so I had a lot to learn but it got me thinking. It was not like I grasped Holistic Management right away, so my thought process changed slowly over time. Over time I realized that I needed to take my profit first. This has made a real difference in how we manage our operation. Early on it “forced” us to cut expenses. Now we realize that those expenses are not needed. “Making a profit in agriculture today is very easy if you use Holistic Management. As far as production planning goes we now use the Holistic Management decision testing in every situation we encounter on our operation. We ask ourselves, will this have a positive impact on our resources? Will this decision help us meet our vision statement? On our operation we realize that we need to put the resource ahead of shortterm profitability as it is the resource that will sustain this operation for future generations.”
This is the amount of litter that Gabe aims for when working to feed the “livestock” (micro-organisms) below the ground. Getting the next generation involved in production agriculture is very important to the Browns. “The next generation is going to have to live with the ramifications of the current production model, which is degrading our resources. It is imperative that they have the holistic training to rectify this situation,” says Gabe. Gabe and Shelly are busy turning the ranch over to their son, Paul, through a well thought out succession plan. “We knew Paul wanted to come back and ranch,” says Gabe. “We sat down with him and his sister. We told them that Paul gets to work into operation and we made different outcomes for his sister. When Paul came back from school, we wrote up a 20-year plan so that 5% of the ranch is turned over each year to him. I had seen way too many instances where parents wait until they are ready for retirement before making transition plans. That is not good for the parents and certainly not for the children, especially any children involved in the operation. Shelly and I were 50 years old and Paul was 24 when we developed this plan so we all knew what the plan for transition was up front. We formed a Family limited liability limited Partnership. Shelly and I are the principle partners and we can transfer portions of this to Paul over time. This insures a smooth transition without estate tax
In situations where the resource needs more carbon, Gabe allows the biennials to reach a more mature state and then lets the livestock consume only 1/3 of the above ground biomass. ramifications should unforeseen circumstances develop.” “There is no better feeling than working with one of your children. We look upon it as blessing and do what we can to make it work. We also told him that any new enterprises he wanted to start up, he’d get 100% of the income from them. By doing this he learns financial planning and decision making. Paul took Holistic Management training so he is well versed in these processes. We are challenging him to push himself and think outside the box,” says Gabe. “If you are starting to farm, the number one thing to realize is that the biggest roadblock is the human mind. You have to look at things differently. Don Campbell from Canada says, ‘If you want to make large changes, change the way you see things.’ You have to have the ability to see differently. We try to fail at something every year. We want to see and know how a little different approach or different species of livestock will affect things. How do we know if we don’t try it? Experiment. If you don’t fail, you’re not trying hard enough. Just fail small. I don’t tell people about my failures because I’m afraid they won’t try it on their place. Just because it is failure at Gabe Brown’s doesn’t mean that it will fail somewhere else.” To learn more about the Brown ranch visit their website at: www.brownsranch.us
As part of the effort to increase above ground biodiversity, Gabe’s son, Paul, has developed a pasture poultry operation for the farm. Number 150
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The Work Ranch—
Managing for Cows and Wildlife by HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
G
eorge Work and his wife, Elaine, have been practicing Holistic Management for many years on their California ranch near San Miguel, California. Over the years, George’s primary focus has been how to improve wildlife habitat. Through improving access to water and controlling livestock grazing with wildlife needs in mind, the Work ranch has seen wildlife numbers increase and the attendant benefits those animals bring to the ranch in terms of increased biodiversity and additional income streams.
“We were beginning to hunt the pigs by then and it didn’t seem to make sense to fence them out of the water, because they were bringing in more money for hunts than the quail. So the next water facility we built so the pigs couldn’t hurt it—and we made a one-foot square area where they could stick their noses in to drink. We protected the float mechanism so the pigs couldn’t get at it. Then we thought it would be nice to let the deer water, too. So we put a 3-wire barbed wire-fence around it, which kept cattle out but enabled deer to jump over or crawl through, as well as the pigs,” says Work.
Water for Wildlife After Holistic Management training, George did a lot of infrastructure development on the ranch. Over the years, as wildlife habitat became more of a focus, George really began looking at how the water systems could be improved. “We want to work with Nature, but it takes awhile to get very far. I could have saved a lot of time and effort if I had just asked myself, ‘Where did the Creator put the water?’ Humans are the ones who put the water for our cattle 30 inches above ground level where nothing but a large adult animal can reach it,” he says. “It took me a long time to get from where we started until we were working with the first ground-level water trough. It began when we put a small drinker on the ground for quail. It was a small concrete drinker by a water line going to the cattle. In our part of California we have huge areas with no water, so we pipe water all over these ranches,” says Work. “We had a quail hunt club and were trying to figure out how to increase quail numbers. We thought the best way to increase them was to provide water. If the water sources are a mile apart and you put them a half mile apart you’ll have more birds. A carpenter in our quail club built a form for a waterer and we poured the concrete. He made a wooden box over the top to protect the float, but I thought it wouldn’t work because wild pigs were coming into the area and might tear it apart.” So Work put cattle panels around it so the pigs couldn’t get through but the birds and rabbits could drink.
At the Work Ranch there are many species of wildlife, such as this elk herd, that are supported by the land management techniques used.
“We spent $400 putting that in, but the cows couldn’t drink! We’d continually remodeled our plan over several years. So the next one we built was made so everything could drink. We built forms in 4-foot sections. A 4-foot section is fine for the wildlife, then we added additional 4-foot sections for however many number of cattle we wanted to water. We made it narrow on top, only 8 inches wide, with a V bottom so a hoofed animal won’t want to put a foot in it because it would be uncomfortable. It’s about a foot deep, and easy to clean out because we made a shovel with a pointed bottom that would fit,” he explains. He put in a drain for cleaning, but has never used the drain because it’s so easy to clean with the shovel, in about 3 swipes—swishing the water out the other end. Even though these troughs are only 6 to 8 inches wide across the top, he put a slope on each end so that if a small animal did fall in, it could swim to the end and crawl out. “We made grooves in the sloped surface, to make it easier for them. After observing our first ones in use, we noticed birds were using these to bathe on. So we’ve flattened the slopes a little more so they are not so steep. The slope drops about an inch in every 3 inches in length. This is about the angle the Audubon folks suggest since a bird doesn’t like water more than an inch deep. This way the birds have 3 inches of shallow water to bathe in—and they like to use them,” he says. This design helps public relations, showing that cattle water facilities can be wildlife-friendly. “If a person uses a concrete trough, however, or one with a wide lip, a bird can’t get a good perch on the edge. If the water is down 2 inches or more from the lip, most birds can’t get a drink. Even before we installed the ground level trough, we did what many ranchers used—limbs, boards or rocks in the end of the trough, to make a bird ladder,” says Work. He found one of the best ways to create a ladder is with George has developed a water trough that serves the water needs for a variety of ramps using two “concrete boards” 2 inches thick and 12 species of animals. 12
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inches wide, and about 6 feet long. “We let 2 of the 3/8 inch re-bar from the concrete trough stick out about 10 inches, and bent those over the lip of the trough to hold the ladder in place—one on the inside of the trough and one on the outside. Then if you keep the water level at the top of the trough, a bird can reach it,” he says. “I designed a little thing that goes onto the float rod, similar to the old toilets. The rod goes perpendicular down through a hole in this adaptor. Then you can slip the rod up and down and adjust it—within 1/16th of an inch. You could move it from 3 or 4 inches to 1/16th inch. The normal adjustment on float mechanisms has a little click to help hold it. You loosen a bolt and move it one click. But one click moves the water level about 2 inches. This doesn’t give a very fine adjustment unless you bend it, and with the stainless steel rods they use now, I can hardly bend them. This little adaptor makes it easier to adjust the water level,” he says. In some of his older water systems he had large troughs with small pipes going to them. The trough might hold 1000 gallons but took a long time to fill up. “Most of our systems have storage tanks that hold 2,000 to 18,000 gallons. So instead of using a ¾ inch pipe we started using 1 ½ pipe for smaller troughs since they hold only 15 or 20 gallons. They needed to fill faster when cattle are drinking,” says Work. “It also makes a difference in terms of water pressure. We have one that only has a ½ inch valve on it because it’s gravity feed and has 100 pounds of pressure—from a spring on higher ground. But with the others we’re now using a 1 ½ inch valve and this enables 100 head of cows to drink at an 8-foot exposed trough and they can’t drink it down. It still amazes me when I drive through dry areas and see the cattle troughs, where people have made the effort to get cattle watered but the troughs are only accessible to less than 10% of the other animals out there. Only adult deer can reach them. Even an adult pig or baby calf can’t drink out of most of them because they are too high,” he says. The troughs he created are more versatile and anything can drink. “When my son Ben and I made the first one and got the water running into it I had this weird feeling and had to laugh. I was almost feeling sorry for the cows having to reach clear down to the ground to get a drink. I’m a 3rd generation cattleman, and out here a cow would probably spend 6 hours a day with her nose on the ground to get enough to eat. I don’t think a 5 minute drink at ground level is going to bother her, so why did I have that feeling? Maybe it’s because we’re used to troughs being up off the ground, and this is why it took us 10 years to eventually put the water down where it belongs, where everything can drink out of it,” says Work. “I have a friend who put a couple of these low troughs in and left his old troughs in place. He watched his cows as they came in to water, and said that 90% of the time, unless there was a big crowd, they choose to drink at the new low troughs with the water at ground level.”
Wildlife Benefits The number-one game species on the ranch for their hunting program is the wild pig. These feral animals are hunted in many states around the country where they have been multiplying and causing destruction to the landscape. But the Work ranch noticed that these feral pigs also have some positive effects. “In our area, partly because we are looking at grasses and native species—and trying to regenerate our oak trees—we’ve found that pigs are beneficial. They help toward this goal by suppressing the annual vegetation, mainly exotic species, which have only been here about 300 years. These annuals came in during the Mission settlements, from the Mediterranean,” he says. The exotic annuals have influenced the ecosystem and reduced some of the native species. “We usually think in terms of exotics crowding out
native species, but it’s not always direct competition for water, light and nutrients. Sometimes the annuals have a way of ensuring their own survival with a sort of chemical protection. Nothing else will grow under and near them,” he explains. These plants have a way of saving space for their own species. “As an example, when we were farming, we found that wild oats have this characteristic. Even if you cultivate the ground and kill the wild oats and plant your crops, here comes a bunch more wild oats. Why didn’t they sprout before? Scientists have found that when the first wild oat germinates, it sends off some kind of chemical that stops germination of the other wild oats around them.” This is a selfperpetuating mechanism to keep those seeds on hold until later, when there are no other wild oats germinating. This is a way to help the species survive.
The livestock on the Work Ranch serve not only as a source of income, but are also a tool to improve wildlife habitat. “When you look at this farther, what would that chemical do to something the wild oat considered an enemy? It might totally inhibit any other plants that try to grow in that space. When pigs root in the oak woodland and adjacent grassland, they suppress the growth of the exotic annual species—which enables other plants to come in.” George has one spot on his ranch, about 150 square feet (10 by 15 feet) that he’s been watching for more than 20 years. “I had a biologist out here recently and he identified 23 native species that had come into that spot, about half of them annuals and half of them perennials. The people interested in native plants could hardly believe it. They’d never seen that much diversity, even in a botanical garden.” This is just one more example of animals having a beneficial impact on the land. Just like mob grazing, animal action in pastures can improve soil health and plant diversity. This is nature at work, with plants/animals/land benefiting one another in symbiotic relationships. The plants and soils need a grazer or some type of animal action for optimum health and productivity. In some situations that can be a pig, in another it could be a bear that is using its claws to dig up the soil instead of its nose like a pig does. With their digging and rooting, these animals are helping create their own food supply, just as mob grazing creates better (more diverse and abundant) forage for the grazing animal to come back to. By managing for a multitude of species the Work ranch creates good wildlife habitat that is also good for livestock and reaps the rewards of a health landscape. George Work can be reached at: george@workranch.com. Number 150
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Reviewing the Basics—
Holistic Planned Grazing by DON CAMPBELL
F
or many of us in North America, we are in the middle of our growing season by the time you read this article. Each year we are given one opportunity to manage our land to the best of our ability. How did you do last year? Do you have plans to do an even better job this year?
Planned Grazing Works This process has been proven over and over again in all types of climates and seasons. Planned grazing can help you move towards your landscape goal. It can help you improve the ecosystem processes (energy flow, water cycle, mineral cycle, and biological community). The result will be an increase in the fertility and health of your land. The benefit will be more growth on a set land base. Since we are in the business of capturing and harvesting solar energy, an increase in growth has the potential to result in an increase in profit. Many producers report that they have doubled grass production on a set land base. This is done through management at little or no cost. Doubling
Planned Grazing: Points to Consider 1. Review your landscape goal. Knowing what you want to achieve will give you a general direction for your grazing plan. 2. Set your graze period. The graze period is the time (number of days or hours) the animals will remain in a pasture at one time. The general rule is: the shorter the graze period the better. To prevent overgrazing I suggest you will require a graze period of 3-5 days. This is a great place to start. As your skills and knowledge improve, you may choose to shorten your graze period which will improve your results. 3. Set your recovery period. The recovery period is the number of days between grazings. The general rule is: full recovery is essential. The best indicator that plants have fully recovered is that the plants are ready to flower. The recovery period is the single most important point in planned grazing. The recovery period will vary depending on the growing conditions you are experiencing and the area you live in. For most of us in Western Canada I would suggest a recovery period of 60-90 days. In most areas I think your results will improve as you move closer to a 90-day recovery period. In some areas you may want an even longer recovery period. This could extend to grazing once in the growing season. 4. Monitoring is essential to achieving full recovery. My experience has been that many people tend to use too short a recovery period. If you are not pleased with the results of your grazing you might consider increasing your recovery period. 5. Determine how many pastures are required. The formula is (recovery period / graze period) + 1 = pastures required. Here are a couple of examples. If you want a 75-day recovery and a 5-day graze, you will require 16 pastures. (75 / 5) + 1 = 16. If you want a 75-day recovery and a 3-day graze, you will require 26 pastures. (75 / 3) + 1 = 26. The number of pastures required can only be determined once you have set your graze and recovery periods. 6. Rating our pastures. We have set our graze and recovery periods. We
14
Land & Livestock
July / August 2013
your grass production is like doubling your land base but without incurring the increased costs. What would increasing or doubling your grass do for your bottom line? Can you afford not to make a serious effort at better grass management? Planned grazing will also help your operation become more drought resistant and more sustainable. How well it works for you is dependent on your individual knowledge and the motivation and commitment you have to applying that knowledge. Think about how you can increase your knowledge and skills. This might be accomplished by visiting with a neighbor or meeting with your management club to review the planned grazing process. Motivation and commitment are very personal decisions. You are the only one who can decide on your level of motivation and commitment. I urge you to give this some serious thought. Make a list of the benefits of planned grazing. Are there any negatives? The only negative I can think of is the time commitment. You might address this by asking is there any way I could spend my time that would be more beneficial to my operation than improving my grass management? I will now discuss some of the main points in planned grazing. The planned grazing process is designed to consider the variables one at a time. By following the process you can be confident that you have covered all the variables and that you have the best possible plan. This example is not comprehensive. Please refer to the materials HMI has on its website about planned grazing for more detail.
know how many pastures we require. If all our pastures were equal in size and quality we would simply graze them all for the same number of days. If our pastures vary in size and/or quality, there are 2 simple methods we can use to compare the pastures to each other. The first uses historical records—how many animal days per acre (ADA) did the pasture produce in past years? The second method allows you to rate and compare the pastures using a 1 to 10 scale. You simply rate your best quality pasture as a 10. You then compare the quality of your other pastures to the best one and rank them accordingly using the 1 to 10 scale. If your pastures are of similar quality you may have more than one pasture with the same rating. You now multiply the quality rating (or the actual ADA’s) X the size of the pasture. This gives you a relative rating for your pastures. The next step is to add the relative ratings and figure out the average. Here is an example. Size relative (acres) rating
Pasture #
Quality
1
10
40
400
2
8
200
1600
3
4
100
400
4
2
50
100
5
1
200
200
Total Average
2,700 relative rating/# of paddocks
540
This is a simple example. I have only used 5 pastures but I will proceed as if I had rated 26 pastures. This method can be used for any number or any size of pasture. The end result is we now have a way of comparing the quality and size of various pastures. 7. Determining the graze period for each pasture. You begin by CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
people programs projects N E W S F R O M H O L I S T I C M A N AG E M E N T I N T E R N AT I O N A L
Holistic Management in New Mexico It was a busy spring at HMI and particularly in the state of New Mexico. In April Dr. Ann Adams, Director of Community Services, presented on a panel for Innovative land Management Practices at the 31st National Pesticide Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Also presenting on that panel was long-time Holistic Management practitioner Lani malmberg. Dr. Adams also facilitated a ½ day Introduction to Holistic Management session for the Carbon Economy Series—Women Farmer, Gardner, and rancher Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico on April 13th. The program was well-received and was a good kick-off from other New Mexico Holistic Management practitioners such as Nancy ranney and mimi Sidwell. At the end of the month, Dr. Adams taught a one-day Whole Farm Financial Planning class for the Farm Services Agency (FSA) Borrowers Training Program in roswell, New Mexico. HMI is a vendor for this program in New Mexico. Evaluations showed that 100% of participants increased their knowledge with an average of 67% increase in financial planning knowledge. 100% of participants gained confidence in their ability to: get profit from their farm and determine the weak link on their farm. 83% also were more confident in their ability to prioritize and cut farm expenses, identify cash flow issues, perform an enterprise analysis, and monitor their farm finances. 83% intended to complete or modify their financial plans. 100% of all participants were satisfied with the program and shared that key learning outcomes were: record keeping and organizing your finances, breaking down and understanding each step of the financial planning process, and determining wealth generating investments.
Cows & Quail HMI’s Cows & Quail workshop is a unique experience for serious land and wildlife managers. In 2012 our west Texas habitat improvement workshop helped participants understand the interaction of large grazers with Scaled and Gambels quail, Northern Bobwhite Quail, Pronghorn, Desert Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer and Desert Big Horn Sheep; and the response of their critical habitat to Holistic Management grazing techniques. land
managers left the training with advanced knowledge of how ecology is affected by animal impact, food, water, cover, other range practices, and fencing, to support the population growth of these species. Workshops this year are being held in June and July at the Birdwell and Clark ranches near Henrietta, Texas, the running V ranch near Jourdanton, Texas, and the Circle ranch near Van Horn, Texas. To learn more about these events go to HMI’s website. Thanks to the Grazing Lands conservation initiative Texas coalition, Quail Forever San Antonio chapter, and our host ranches for their generous support.
New Staff at HMI HMI is excited to announce our new Instructional Design Specialist, Julie Kare. Julie is from Albuquerque, New Mexico and is an accomplished instructional designer with Julie Kare an emphasis on practical learning that’s immediately applicable. Her position at HMI centers around creating new learning tools for our community. Julie graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication from the university of New Mexico, and received her Master’s Degree in Organizational learning and Instructional Technology also from the university of New Mexico. She has created instruction materials and training programs for Gap, Inc., and the university of New Mexico Continuing Education and their clients. Welcome, Julie!
TWPD Award The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s lone Star land Steward Program announced their 2012 Conservational awards. One of the recipients was the 600-acre Thomsen Foundation’s Nature Center. The Director for the Thomsen Foundation is Dr. Lisa bellows of North Central Texas College (NCTC) who is also in training as a Holistic Management® Certified Educator. Dr. Bellows is also the NCTC Science Department Chair. She has combined these two positions to provide more educational opportunities through the Foundation. The Thomsen Foundation and North Central
Texas College join together to educate the teachers of rural area schools, in order that they will go and teach others. This year, the Foundation hosted over 1,200 visitors, many of them are school-age children (from rural Montague and Cook Counties) . Teachers of these students are also offered training in such areas as Environmental Concepts and understanding Nature. ranchers and farmers also come to learn how to improve soil health. likewise, interns from Texas A&M and Texas Tech also conduct research at the Center. As a managed land deer permits (MlDP) cooperator, the Thomsen Foundation also uses the program to teach students about controlling deer numbers, conducting surveys, and collecting harvest data. using a variety of land management practices, the Foundation has developed a great deal of biodiversity, with over 400 species recorded. Funding for this program comes from the Texas regional Collaborative for Excellence in Science and Math Teachings, university of Texas, and The university of Texas Dana Center. Congratulations to Dr. Bellows and the Thomsen Foundation!
HMI wins Marketing Award Once again, HMI was recognized by the New Mexico Chapter of the American Marketing Association at the Annual Marketer of the Year Awards ceremony. HMI and our vendor, Mudhouse Advertising were recognized for our 2012 Annual Appeal Campaign. We won a Compass Award (Best in Category) for Interactive Media and an Award of Merit for Integrated Marketing. Entries are evaluated for creative impact as well as for delivering results. We share these awards with all the individuals that supported our campaign and allowed us to reach our fundraising goals.
In Memoriam It is with great sadness that HMI learned that George Gundry of Willeroo, New South Wales, Australia passed away in early May. George was passionate about George Gundry sustainable agriculture and Holistic Management and was a Certified Educator. He also was filmed as part of HMI’s “First Millimeter” documentary. He is survived by his wife Erica, his children and their partners Charlotte & Dan, Henry & lauren, and Edward, and his grandson Jack George. Number 150
IN PRACTICE 15
DEVELOPMENT CORNER
Texas Beginning Women Farmer Program Results he Beginning Women Farmer Training Program in Texas began in August 2012 when funding from the uSDA/NIFA Beginning Farmer and rancher Development Program (Grant #2012-494001963) was awarded to HMI. 30 women were accepted into the Texas program for the 2012-2013 program year and 28 completed the program successfully. The State Coordinator was Peggy cole and the instructor was Peggy Sechrist. Program mentors were Peggy maddox, Kathy harris, betsy ross, and Laurie bostic. At the end of each of the 10 sessions (6-8 hours in length and held over 5 twoday periods) participants filled out evaluations to measure knowledge and attitude change, intended behavior change, and actual change. There was a final program evaluation that also measured these changes with the whole program in mind and the changes and results of those changes that took place over a seven-month period. The data below demonstrates that a high level of knowledge and attitude change occurred and that the women completed or modified numerous farm plans (actual behavior change) which resulted in many benefits. Most participants experienced increased confidence in key farm/ranch management practices (90-97% participants). Participant behavior change was mostly in the 90-100% range where there was sufficient time for developing plans or taking action during the program. Additional survey and evaluations will be done in a year to determine continued behavior change and additional benefits that result from that change. In 8 out of the 10 sessions 100% of the participants noted knowledge change. That knowledge change varied depending on content of sessions, but key content area change was in the 85-157% range. Interestingly, large levels of knowledge change did not always correlate to high levels of satisfaction with a given session (although overall satisfaction with sessions were 86% or higher).
T
Participant Demographic information Of the 30 participants the following demographics were: • Average 4.8 years of farming (range: 1 – 10 years with only 2 having one or less years of experience) • 42,734 acres under production (range: 1 - 34,000 acres with a median of 80 acres) • race: 3% Hispanic, 97% Anglo • Age: 60% over 50, 40% under 50 • Farming Experience: 100% less than 10 years experience • Total customers of all participants: 1,135 • 27 were livestock producers, 9 were small scale vegetable/fruit producers, and 3 were large crop production (some did two different types of operation) These demographics suggest that this program (over a 3-year period in 7 states) will result in 14,400 more customers having access to a sustainable food system as these women increase their knowledge, continue to plan more effectively and implement those plans so that they improve their ability to manage all resources (human, financial, and natural).
16 IN PRACTICE
July / August 2013
Key Programmatic outcomes The knowledge gained, the confidence built, and the intentions to implement actions show that the sessions were very effective in educating the participants. likewise, the high numbers of expressed satisfaction (ranging from 86 – 97% for all sessions) indicate that the participants felt the program was successful. See the following tables for key areas of knowledge, confidence, intended behavior change, actual behavior change, and subsequent results of that behavior change due to this program. For more detailed results of this program, visit HMI’s website under case studies. Top Areas of increased Farmer/rancher confidence Due to Program Topic Area % of Participants human resource management Managing time on the farm ................................................97% Making complex decisions on the farm ..............................93% Developing and writing whole farm goals ...........................91% Implementing strategic systems and projects ....................91% Providing leadership on the farm .......................................86% Financial resource management Identifying logjams and adverse factors .............................97% Developing a business plan ...............................................96% Prioritizing and cutting farm expenses to guide re-investment ........................................................93% Getting profit from the farm ................................................93% Identifying cash flow issues on farm ..................................93% Determining weak link in farm enterprises .........................90% Assessing the competition .................................................88% Developing a marketing plan that meets your farm goals ...............................................................88% Determining viable profitable enterprises ...........................87% Monitoring financial plan ....................................................83% Natural resource management Assessing recovery periods in grazing systems ................97% Determining residency periods in grazing systems ............96% Monitoring farm eco-system health ....................................96% Ability to prioritize land infrastructure improvements ..........96% Ability to incorporate natural resource issues into land planning ...........................................................96% Improving soil eco-system health on the farm ....................93% Top Areas of Actual behavior change Due to Program Plans created/Action Taken % of Participants Holistic Goal/Whole Farm Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100% Forge relationships that Positively Impact Farmer . . . . .100% Holistic Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96% Financial Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93% Business Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90% land Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90% Grazing Plan (of those raising livestock) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84% Biological Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80%
Top Areas outcomes Achieved Due to Program outcome Areas % of Participants human resource management Improved ability to make complex decisions . . . . . . . . . .100% More efficient use of resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97% Improved decision-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97% Better ability to determine resources available for management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97% Clearer sense of what farm is managing towards . . . . . . .97% Higher quality of life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90% Better communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93% Improved time management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93% Improved communications on the farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87% Financial resource management Increased ability to determine profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100% New record keeping systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90% Improved ability to incorporate social, environmental, and financial information into land plan . . . . . . . . . . . . .90% Increased understanding of your farm finances . . . . . . . .87% Ability to prioritize expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87% Improved ability to prioritize land/infrastructure investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87% conclusions Based on the data and response from participants, HMI’s ability to take this program from the Northeast u.S. to Texas was successful due to program structure and curriculum, support and connection between Northeast State Coordinators and Texas State Coordinator, and current capacity of Holistic Management practitioners/mentors and instructors. To build a sustainable program will require the training of additional mentor/educator resource which will take place in years two and three of this grant program.
HMI’s Open Gate Series Begins It was a busy spring as HMI began its 2013 Open Gate series with two events in May, one in Boerne, Texas and one in Paicines, California. Over 100 people attended these 2 events and as the reports below attest, a great deal of good learning happened in these on-ranch educational events that focus on peer-to-peer action learning. HMI is also excited to announce that we received a $5,000 grant from the chS Foundation in support of our Open Gate On-Farm learning Series. CHS Foundation proudly invests in the future of agriculture, rural America, and cooperative business through education and leadership development and is located in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. These types of grants and funding for individual events help HMI make these events happen.
Spring Creek Ranch, Boerne, Texas In spite of some severe thunderstorms moving across Central Texas and Spring Creek ranch in the early morning hours of May 10th, 54 participants showed up at HMI’s Open Gate ranch Day to learn about effective grazing management practices that mitigate drought. HMI Certified Educator, Peggy Sechrist facilitated this ranch day, hosted by Steve Lewis of Spring Creek ranch, which involved many opportunities for small group exercises and peer-to-peer learning
Steve Lewis shares his experience of managing the riparian areas of Spring Creek Ranch in a drought. focusing on riparian and upland monitoring as well as discussions on the challenges of grazing different species. Many participants were new to Holistic Management so it was helpful for them to hear the experiences of producers who have seen the benefits of holistic planned grazing to help improve land health Points most discussed during the day included a) managing for recovery times, b) biological monitoring and soil organic matter, c) the impact of bare ground, d) matching animals to available forage, e) soil biology (more on creating a soil sponge), and f) plant species as indicators. Presentations by Dr. richard Teague of Texas A&M and rangeland consultant Steve Nelle were well-received by participants who then contributed to a robust Q&A. Dr. Teague’s research on how holistic grazing planning mitigates drought reinforced other producers’ stories including Peggy Sechrist’s stories of grazing and animal impact as tools to build soil organic matter. Steve Nelle’s presentation on riparian management in the context of grazing management, helped everyone learn something new. For example, participants learned that upland forage species growing in the riparian zone do not Knowledge, Attitude, provide the and Intended Behavior % of degree of soil Changes Due to Program Participants stability necessary for Would recommend long-term program to others 97 riparian health. Expanded network 94 Discussion around this Intend to change fact was management practices 70 particularly Increased confidence in ability stimulating. to create drought plan 65 Thanks to our host for the Increased confidence in ability to monitor and/or analyze day, Steve ecosystem health 61 lewis, owner of Spring Increased confidence in ability Creek ranch. to improve riparian health 60 Thanks also to our funders CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
Number 150
IN PRACTICE 17
Development Corner
continued from page seventeen
brigatino irrigation for their help making this event possible. Collaborators for this event were chris Ketcham of Paicines ranch, Joe morris of Morris Beef, richard King, Santa clara county open Space Authority, NrcS, University of california extension, central coast rangelands coalition, Alameda rc&D, San benito working Landscapes Group, and the contra costa water District. Finally, thanks to our volunteers for their help during the event.
protocol during the field day, and explained how it is conducted and why the data is important. Keeping management simple and focused on straightforward things that any farmer or rancher would be willing to try is a key principle that dictates Sallie’s decision-making for a particular practice. Sallie is using planned grazing on the Paicines ranch to allow sufficient recovery time for the perennial grasses, which should help to increase coverage and frequency. Another key area of discussion is the use of a high-density herd as a landscape management tool. Sallie’s ranch manager, Chris Ketcham, explained in detail the challenges of building fence and water distribution to manage a herd of between 1,000 and 2,000 head of yearling stockers every year during the winter growing months. While the fencing was done fairly Sallie Calhoun Paicines Ranch, Paicines, California quickly, the water distribution system presented a number of On May 10th, 2013 over 50 people attended unique challenges, namely the HMI’s Open Gate Paicines ranch Day in Central challenge of moving enough water California. Throughout the course of the day, over 7,500 acres so that 1,500 participants saw how ranch host Sallie Calhoun cattle can get a drink of water 2 to is managing towards various resource goals. As 3 times a day. A lot of water must HMI’s Board Chair she was also excited about be moved across the landscape to HMI’s Open Gate Program which she reports in do this; through a process of trial her Board Chair article on page 1 of this issue. and error, Sallie and Chris arrived at the right mix of piping, tanks, pumps, and Joe Morris troughs, and their herd is never too far from a watering point during Evaluations of the program show that 100% the day. of the participants were satisfied with the After lunch, the group settled program. 74% of participants experienced some in for a group exercise where knowledge change. Participants manage over each participant identified a 28,328 acres which will now be managed critical problem they faced on differently as a result of this program. the farm or ranch. Other group members offered solutions As part of the Open Gate program, participants have opportunity to the stated problem, and Knowledge, Attitude, to engage in small group exercises. and intended behavior % of each participant was asked changes Due to Program Participants to provide a bullet point list One big goal for the Paicines ranch is to of actions with deadlines attached. Expanded network 100 use simple grazing management techniques to Participants enjoyed the accountability and Would recommend this improve the coverage of perennial grasses on networking opportunity that this exercise program to others 96 the landscape. Ecologists believe that perennial provided, and they appreciated the and sponsors, the Dixon water Foundation and Sustainable Growth, Texas for their help making this event possible. Collaborators for this event were Texas wildlife Association, Texas Agricultural Land Trust, cibolo Nature center, Natural resource conservation Services, Texas A&m, riparian Network, and Texas riparian Association. Finally, thanks to our volunteers, ben eldredge of Cibolo Nature Center and Tracy Litle for their help during the event. Evaluations of the program show that 100% of the participants were satisfied with the program. 95% of participants experienced some knowledge change. Participants manage over 53,000 acres which will now be managed differently as a result of this program.
grasses were once abundant in the Central California landscape; the arrival of cattle and invasive annual grasses radically changed the grassland ecology. Today, native perennial grasses are rare in Central California. Although rare, these grasses can be found, and Sallie Calhoun, in collaboration with HMI, has developed a rigorous protocol for monitoring the frequency and coverage of perennial grasses on her ranch. She discussed this monitoring 18 IN PRACTICE
July / August 2013
opportunity to get insights from their peers. HMI would like to offer special thanks to our host for the day, Sallie calhoun, owner of Paicines ranch. In addition, this day was made possible by a grant from the community Foundation of San benito county, and generous support from our sponsors, TomKat educational Foundation, Leftcoast Grassfed beef, Pomponio ranch, Pete Pulis and
Intend to develop land plan
57
Intend to change management practices
56
Increased confidence in ability to develop land plan
40
Increased confidence in ability to monitor and/or analyze ecosystem health
30
Planned Grazing: Points to Consider determining the average graze period. You divide the recovery period by the number of pastures minus 1. using a 75 day recovery and 26 pastures would look like this: 75 / (26 -1) = 3 days. You now use the relative rating to determine the graze period for each pasture. The formula is relative pasture rating / average relative pasture rating X the average graze period. Pasture 1 & 2 in our example looks like this: Pasture 1: 400 / 540 = .74 X 3 = 2.2 days. Pasture 2: 1600 / 540 = 2.96 X 3 = 8.8 days This tells you that if you graze Pasture 1 for 2.2 days and Pasture 2 for 8.8 days you will have treated each pasture equally. If you want to stay with your 5-day graze to prevent overgrazing you will need to shorten the graze period in Pasture 2. A possible solution would be to cross fence this pasture. 8. Determining the start of growth. Before growth starts you can’t overgraze. Once growth starts you need to implement your grazing plan to prevent overgrazing. You begin counting your recovery from the first day of growth. The best indicator of growth that I have found in our area is the day the first green leaves appear on the poplar trees. There will be some growth prior to that, but I think it will be minimal. I have monitored this for the past 8 or 10 years. Green leaves have appeared as early as April 21st and as late as May 16th. I think it is important to account for this variation when you are planning. 9. Plotting your pasture moves. You now plot your planned moves on the grazing chart. You always plan in pencil so you can change your
continued from page fourteen
plan when necessary. record your actual moves in pen so you will have a record for next year. Planned grazing mimics how a large herd of buffalo may have grazed years ago. You want a short graze period and a high stock density. Graze, manure or trample every plant, then move and don’t return until the plants have fully recovered. I hope you have your best grazing season ever in 2013. I hope 2014 will surpass 2013.
General Planned Grazing Guidelines 1. Stock density: the higher the better. 2. Graze period: the shorter the better. 3. recovery period: full recovery is essential. 4. The severity of the graze: the less severe the better, but you must achieve full recovery. This can only be accomplished by changing the severity of the graze depending on the growing season. When growing conditions are ideal you might graze less severely thereby shortening your recovery period. When growing conditions are poor you might graze more severely thereby increasing your recovery period. 5. The Holistic Management® Grazing Plan Chart does not deal with carrying capacity. The chart is designed to prevent overgrazing.
Using Holistic Management • Was addressing the root cause of a problem or strengthening its weakest link, • Had enough resources from the Council to successfully implement it.
Strengthening the Value Chain While it doesn’t seem like much, creating a meaningful organizational goal and testing questions had a subtle, but significant, impact on the Council. There were no longer long debates at meetings about whether to do a project or not. Answering these questions became a powerful tool when applying for grants. We could show funders that we were addressing the root cause and not just a symptom of the problem. The Council’s biggest impact has been on the local livestock industry in Eastern New York. Early on, they identified that the weakest link in the chain of production for family farms was finding processing for its animals. Farmers had to wait up to a year to schedule processing for their cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Many farmers couldn’t even find poultry processing. The Council channeled all its efforts into
continued from page three
strengthening that chain by creating the Northeast livestock Processing Service Company (NElPSC). NElPSC worked with farmers to coordinate processing with existing slaughter plants. They became the go-between educating farmers about how to work with processors and vice-versa. They scheduled slaughter dates and oversaw processing to make sure it was done to the farmer’s specifications. Once things began to run smoothly, NElPSC turned their attention to the new weakest link, marketing. They created new markets by finding what buyers wanted (for example grass fed ground beef) and delivered it to them. They reliably delivered large quantities of local meat to universities, private schools, restaurants, and small distributors. Four years after being started by the HMrC&D, NElPSC was working with 9 processors and 110 farms in Vermont, Massachusetts, California and 22 New York counties. They had sold $460,000 worth of local meat from family farms and connected members with markets for millions of dollars more. 75% of their farmer members have said they’ve been able to expand their business due
to NElPSC. It is estimated that the project has created over 150 jobs in rural New York. With the product and money conversion links strengthened, the Council turned its attention to resource conversion and offered workshops and technical assistance for livestock farmers to improve their grazing. We started an Holistic-Management based, farmerto-farmer learning community called the Hudson-Mohawk Grass Masters. Holistic Management helped the Hudson Mohawk rC&D Council identify what they valued and envision a world they were trying to create. It helped them easily identify projects that fit with those values/future vision and better articulate those projects to funders which improved their ability to get grants. Most importantly, it enabled the Council to have a significant impact on its local community. It took an intelligent, caring group and made them smarter. Elizabeth Marks is a biologist for the Natural Resource Conservation Services in Ghent, New York and can be reached at: elizabeth.marks@ny.usda.gov. Number 150
IN PRACTICE 19
Certified
Educators
◆ These educators provide Holistic
The following Certified Educators listed have been trained to teach and coach individuals in Holistic Management. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives and to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management.
*
These associate educators provide educational services to their communities and peer groups.
ralph Tate 1109 Timber Dr., Papillion, NE 68046 402/932-3405 • Tater2d2@cox.net
U N I T E D S TAT E S ARIZONA
MAINE
Tim mcGaffic P.O. Box 1903, Cave Creek, Az 85331 808/936-5749 • tim@timmcgaffic.com
Management instruction on behalf of the institutions they represent.
Vivianne holmes 239 E Buckfield rd. Buckfield, ME 04220-4209 207/336-2484 • vholmes@maine.edu
NEW HAMPSHIRE ◆ Seth wilner 24 Main Street, Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) • 603/863-9200 (w) seth.wilner@unh.edu
CALIFORNIA MICHIGAN
Lee Altier College of Agriculture, CSu 400 West First St. Chico, CA 95929-0310 laltier@csuchico.edu • 530/636-2525
Larry Dyer 1113 Klondike Ave, Petoskey, MI 49770 231/347-7162 (h) • 231/881-2784 (c) ldyer3913@gmail.com
*
owen hablutzel 4235 W. 63rd St. los Angeles, CA 90043 310/567-6862 • go2owen@gmail.com
MISSISSIPPI
richard King Poppy Hill Farm, 1675 Adobe rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 rking1675@gmail.com • 707/217-2308 (c) ◆ rob rutherford CA Polytechnic State university San luis Obispo, CA 93407 805/756-1475 • rrutherf@calpoly.edu
Preston Sullivan 610 Ed Sullivan lane, N.E. Meadville, MS 39653 prestons@telepak.net • 601/384-5310
cindy Dvergsten 17702 County rd. 23 Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 • hminfo@wholenewconcepts.com
MONTANA
montagne *P.O.cliff Box 173120, Montana State university
Department of land resources and Environmental Science, Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079 • montagne@montana.edu
IOWA
NEBRASKA
& erin wilson *4375Torray Pierce Ave.
Paul Swanson 5155 West 12th St., Hastings, NE 68901 402/463-8507 • 402/705-1241 (c) swanson5155@windstream.net
Paullina, IA 51046-7401 712/448-3870 • wilsonee3@gmail.com
Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685 • 505/867-9952 (f) kirk@rmsgadzia.com
holmquist *25267randal Holmquist rd., reliance, SD 57569
605/473-5356 • randy@zhvalley.com
mae rose Petrehn 1122 Woodburn Dr., Spearfish, SD 57783 913/707-7723 (c) Treadearthintometaphor@gmail.com TEXAS 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 • 325/226-3042 (c) westgift@hughes.net Peggy Sechrist 106 Thunderbird ranch road Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/456-5587 (c) • peggysechrist@gmail.com VERMONT calley hastings 787 Kibbee rd., Brookfield, VT 05036 802/279-3893 • Calley.hastings@gmail.com WASHINGTON
NEW YORK roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 • 406/581-3038 (c) kroosing@msn.com
COLORADO
NEW MEXICO ◆ Ann Adams Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 • 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org
SOUTH DAKOTA
Frenay *454erica Old 76 rd. • Brooktondale, NY 14817
607/539-3246 • efrenay22@gmail.com
Phillip metzger 120 Thompson Creek rd., Norwich, NY 13815 607/316-4182 • pmetzger17@gmail.com NORTH DAKOTA Joshua Dukart 2539 Clover Place, Bismarck, ND 58503 701/870-1184 • Joshua_dukart@yahoo.com OREGON Jeff Goebel 52 NW Macleay Blvd, Portland, Or 97210 541/610-7084 • goebel@aboutlistening.com
Sandra matheson 228 E. Smith rd., Bellingham, WA 98226 360/220-5103 • mathesonsm@frontier.com ◆ Don Nelson Washington State university 121 Clark Hall, Pullman, WA 99164-6310 509/335-2922 • nelsond@wsu.edu Doug warnock 6684 E. Highway 124, Prescott, WA 99348 509/629-1671 (c) • 509/849-2264 (h) dwarnock@columbiainet.com WISCONSIN Laura Paine Wisconsin DATCP N893 Kranz rd., Columbus, WI 53925 608/224-5120 (w) • 920/623-4407 (h) laura.paine@datcp.state.wi.us
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I N T E R N AT I O N A L CANADA
AUSTRALIA Judi earl “Glen Orton” Coolatai, NSW 2402 +61 4 09 151 969 (c) • judi@aimsag.com.au Graeme hand 150 Caroona lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 (h) • 61-4-1853-2130 (c) graeme.hand@bigpond.com Dick richardson Frogmore, Boorowa NSW 2586 61-0-263853217 (w) • 61-0-263856224 (h) 61-0-429069001 (c) dick@hanaminno.com.au brian wehlburg Pine Scrub Creek, Kindee, NSW 2446 61-2-6587-4353 brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au
Don campbell Box 817 Meadow lake, S0X 1Y6 306/236-6088 • doncampbell@sasktel.net Linda & ralph corcoran Box 36, langbank, SK S0G 2X0 306/532-4778 • rlcorcoran@sasktel.net Allison Guichon Box 10, Quilchena, BC V0E 2r0 250/378-4535 • allison@guichonranch.ca
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blain hjertaas Box 760, redvers Saskatchewan SOC 2HO 306/452-3882 • bhjer@sasktel.net brian Luce rr #4, Ponoka, AB T4J 1r4 403/783-6518 • lucends@cciwireless.ca
For more information about or application forms for the hmi’s certified educator Training Programs, contact Ann Adams or visit our website: www.holisticmanagement.org. 20 IN PRACTICE
July / August 2013
Tony mcQuail 86016 Creek line, rr#1 lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 519/528-2493 mcqufarm@hurontel.on.ca Pigott *BoxLen 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) sidorykk@yahoo.ca KENYA christine c. Jost International livestock research Institute Box 30709, Nairobi 00100 254-20-422-3000 254-736-715-417 (c) c.jost@cgiar.org
NAMIBIA wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@mweb.com.na NEW ZEALAND King *P.O.John Box 12011, Beckenham, Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 • john@succession.co.nz
SOUTH AFRICA wayne Knight Solar Addicts P.O. Box 537, Mokopane, 0600 South Africa 27-0-15-491-5286 +27 15 491 3451 (h) • +27 82 805 3274 (c) theknights@mweb.com.za UNITED KINGDOM Philip bubb 32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496-2925 (h) • +44 7837 405483 (w) pjbubb99@gmail.com
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The mArKeTPLAce
Holistic Goal Setting & Facilitation Services
New Books for Sale at HMI!
Are you ready to make the most out of your resources? Do you need help dealing with critical human resource issues? Has change taken you by surprise?
The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook By Richard Wiswall $34.95
HMI provides skilled, objective facilitators to help you achieve your goals! Benefits of Holistic Management Facilitation Include:
The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball
,
$15
To learn more • Elicits key motivators and values contact Frank Aragona from the group for more effective at 505/842-5252 group decision making or by email at • Improves communication franka@ • Improves conflict resolution holisticmanagement.org. • Creates common ground from which to make management decisions and plans • Creates a safe environment to have crucial conversations including generational transfer
ADVANCED I SOIL FERTILITY COURSE Determining & Calculating Needed Nutrients July 29-31, 2013 LOCATION: CLINTON BUILDING 501 CAMPANELLA DRIVE, SIKESTON, MO
To order these products and more, use the back page order form, call HMI at 505/842-5252 or order online at www.holisticmanagement.org
—SPONSORED BY —
KINSEY AGRICULTURAL SERVICES, INC. CONDUCTED BY NEAL KINSEY
This workshop utilizes 100 soil tests employing the Albrecht System to establish the desired formula and calculate needed nutrient requirements for top production and quality.
— MONDAY — Working with Soil Tests, pH and Liming REGISTRATION: $650 per person, including lunch each day. Or, $950/person, includes breakfast, lunch and lodging for July 28, 29, and 30. For room reservations call Kinsey Ag. Services, Inc. (573) 683-3880
— TUESDAY — Building Fertility with Major Nutrients
— WEDNESDAY — Working with Micronutrients
For consulting or educational services contact:
Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc. 297 County Highway 357 Charleston, Missouri 63834
Ph: 573/683-3880, Fax: 573/683-6227 www.kinseyag.com • neal@kinseyag.com
— THURSDAY — WE ACCEPT CREDIT CARD ORDERS (VISA, MC)
Optional Farm Tour
Number 150
IN PRACTICE 21
The mArKeTPLAce
4 2 1 1. WRAPPER WIRE with 6 stainless steel strands that deliver a high shock impact. White or orange.
3
2. BRAIDED MEGA WIRE with 9 stainless steel strands, this superior strength wire is an ex excellent conductor. 3. POWER TA TAPE High visibility tape with 6 stainless steel strands. White or orange. 4. MEGA TA TAPE with 10 stainless steel strands creating an excellent conductor. White or orange.
.!4)/.7)$% . !4)/.7)$% $)342)"54)/. $ ) 3 4 2 )"5 4 )/ .
s 3AN ! NGELO 4EXAS s TWINMOUNTAINFENCE COM En Mexico : Lada sin costo 01-800-640-3156
Holistic Management Trainings
CORRAL DESIGNS
February 10-15, 2014 Introduction to Holistic Management Feb. 10-12: $495 Advanced Training Session Feb. 13-15: $495 Comprehensive Holistic Management Training Feb. 10-15: $895
5HPHPEHU SURĹ? WDEOH DJULFXOWXUH LV QRW DERXW KDUGHU ZRUN ,WÄłV DERXW PDNLQJ EHWWHU GHFLVLRQV For more information and registration, visit our website: www.rmsgadzia.com
Kirk L. Gadzia, Certified Educator PO Box 1100 Pasture Bernalillo, NM 87004 Scene 505-263-8677 Investigation kirk@rmsgadzia.com
22 IN PRACTICE
July / August 2013
Dick Richardson CONSULTING
Albuquerque, New Mexico with instructor Kirk Gadzia
(Requires prior attendance at intro session.)
0310
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
Dick consults and offers Holistic Management courses and workshops in and around Australia. His practical experience and success makes his programs highly effective and valuable. Because Dick has extensive international experience, he is able to work effectively in any country. For more information: 61-0-429069001 dick@bdynamic.org
The mArKeTPLAce
Kids On the Land, Inc.
Brian Wehlburg Holistic Management Training Hjertaas Farm On-Farm Day Redvers, SK, Canada July 10 • 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. CST Topics/Small Group Activities: • Comparing performance of conventional and planned grazing pastures • Improving soil health • Effective biological monitoring • Forage assessment techniques • Multi-species grazing systems • The role of dung beetles • Brush control using animal impact • The connection between soil & human health
• Decision Making • Goal Setting • Land Planning • Environmental Monitoring • Grazing Planning Training Individuals and groups (Landcare, TAFE, CMA, etc.) Contact: 61-2-6587-4353 or 61- 04-087-4431 Mid-North Coast NSW, Australia Brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au www.insideoutsidemgt.com.au
Lunch and supper (pig roast) are included in tour price. A Kids on the Land Program for the younger generation is also in the program. Great opportunity to learn from each other.
Blain Hjertaas, Facilitator, Livestock Producer, & HMI Certified Educator Cost $50/couple; $30/individual To register: bhjer@sasktel.net or 306/452-3882
A unique environmental program designed to teach children about the region where they live, connecting them to the land and a more sustainable future.
“I did this course with Brian and can thoroughly recommend it. It takes land management to a whole new level. He brings a wealth of experience to the table.” Martin Bartlett, Sydney
The 13th Annual ve te! NODPA Field Days a S Da Organic Dairy: e Innovative Strategies th to Stay Profitable September 26 & 27, 2013 Mansfield Hose Company Banquet Hall Mansfield, Pennsylvania September 26 Morning — KTS Farm, Kress and Tammy Simpson and Ann Adams, HMI Farm tour and educational workshops with HMI and KTS Farm Staff Afternoon — KTS Farm Tour Q & A and KTS Farm Succession Planning Planning for your Farm’s Future: Applying Whole Farm Planning to Your Farm September 27 Morning — Multi-Species Cover Cropping (a.k.a. Crop Cocktails) Ray Archuleta, NRCS East National Technology Center (invited) Jeff Moyer, Farm Director, Rodale Institute (invited) King’s AgriSeeds Representative Ask the Vet Q & A: Susan Beal, DVM and A.J. Luft, DVM Afternoon — Sprouted Grains: On-Farm Experimentation : Andrew Dykstra, Dykstra Farms; Roman Stoltzfoos, Spring Wood Organic Farm; and John Stoltzfus, Be-A-Blessing Farm More information & registration will be online at www.nodpa.com or contact NODPA Field Days Coordinator Nora Owens at noraowens@comcast.net or 413/772-0444.
Kids On the Land is ready for an appearance in your school district. Peggy Maddox can come help your host landowner and school get started. • Make a donation • Offer your land as a site for a KOL program • Become a volunteer Executive Director – Peggy Maddox P.O. Box 694, Ozona, Texas 76943 325/392-2292 peggy@kidsontheland.org http://kidsontheland.org
See the Big Picture ~ Respond to Change ~ Be Sustainable
Get Started Today – Join Our
Holistic Management Distance Learning & Mentoring Program Realize Immediate Benefits Save money on education — and get more for your money with highly personalized training. All you need is a telephone, a computer is NOT needed. Learn at your own pace; apply what you learn to your situation and get results now!
Don’t change your life to learn. Let your education change your life! Visit: www.wholenewconcepts.com Email: hminfo@wholenewconcepts.com Call Cindy at 970/882-4222 for a free consultation! Cindy Dvergsten, is a Holistic Management® Certified Educator, offering you over 15 years experience in training, mentoring, and facilitation; 30 years in natural resource management; and a lifetime of experience in diversified farming.
Offered By Whole New Concepts, LLC P.O. Box 218 Lewis CO 81327 Number 150
IN PRACTICE 23
NON-PrOFIT OrGANIzATION u.S. POSTAGE PAID AlBuQuErQuE, NM PErMIT NO 880
a publication of Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 uSA return service requested
please send address corrections before moving so that we do not incur unnecessary postal fees
Holistic Management Mail Order Emporium
Subscribe to IN PRACTICE, a bimonthly journal for Holistic Management practicioners ___ one-year Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 u.S. ($40 International)
Software
___ Two-year Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $65 u.S. ($70 International)
___ Grazing Planning Software (single-user license) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100
___ Three-year Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $95 u.S. ($105 International)
___ upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . electronic $30, hardcopy $45
___ Gift Subscription. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Same Prices As Above) ___ back issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5/each
Pocket Cards
___ back issues collection cD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25
___ holistic management® Framework and Testing Questions, March 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4
Free DowNLoADS of many of HMI’s educational materials are now available on HMI’s website, http://www.holisticmanagement.org. Click on the Free Downloads link on the homepage to learn more.
Planning and Monitoring Guides ___ introduction to holistic management, August 2012, 128 pages . . . . $25 ___ holistic Financial Planning, August 2012, 58 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17
Books and Multimedia ___ holistic management: A New Framework for Decision-making, Second Edition, by Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60 ___ Spanish Version (soft). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $40 ___ holistic management handbook, by Butterfield, Bingham, Savory. . . $40 ___ At home with holistic management, by Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 ___ holistic management: A New environmental intelligence . . . . . . . . $10 ___ how to Not Grow broke ranching by Walt Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 ___ Video: creating a Sustainable civilization—An Introduction to Holistic Decision-Making, based on a lecture given by Allan Savory (DVD) . . . $30 ___ Spanish Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 ___ Stockmanship, by Steve Cote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 ___ comeback Farms, by Greg Judy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $32 ___ The oglin, by Dick richardson & rio de la Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15 ___ Gardeners of eden, by Dan Dagget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 ___ Video: healing the Land Through multi-Species Grazing (DVD) . . . $30 ___ PBS Video: The First millimeter: healing the earth (DVD) . . . . . . . . $25 ___ The organic Farmer’s business handbook by richard Wiswall . . $34.95 ___ how Stella Saved the Farm, by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.99 ___ The Dirty Life, by Kristin Kimball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
TO ORDER:
___ holistic Grazing Planning, August 2012, 63 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17 ___ holistic biological monitoring—croplands August 2012, 26 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15 ___ holistic biological monitoring— rangelands and Grasslands, August 2012, 59 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . $17 ___ holistic Land Planning, August 2012, 31 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
Planning Forms ___ Annual income & expense Plan, padded, 25 sheets/pad . . . . . . . . . . $17 ___ worksheet, padded, 25 sheets/pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7 ___ Livestock Production worksheet, padded, 25 sheets/pad . . . . . . . . . $17 ___ Grazing Plan & control chart, padded, 25 sheets/pad . . . . . . . . . . . . $17
I would like to make a Tax Deductible Donation In the amount of $_____________. Please designate the program you would like us to apply contribution toward ________________________________________
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