#160, In Practice, March/April 2015

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

MARCH / APRIL 2015

NUMBER 160

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

Rancho Los Potreros and the IRS

~ INSIDE THIS ISSUE ~

Grassfed Genetics

BY ANN CHAMBERLIN WITH GAIL GELLES

t’s not easy keeping a cattle ranch going for 3 generations. It was death and estate taxes that brought 2 generations of our family together and reunited us with our common heritage.

My grandfather, Ted Chamberlin, bought Rancho Los Potreros, an 8,000-acre ranch in Santa Ynez Valley in 1929. At that time, the ranch was only one of many sprawling acreages in the area. He and his neighbors drove their cattle 25 miles to the Goleta railhead for shipping to the Los Angeles stockyards. Now, vineyards, acres of them, wineries, small ranchettes and horse farms, border Los Potreros. The local sales yard which used to be 8 miles down the road, a short trip after lunch to pick up a few extra head, has moved 200 miles away and requires getting up at 5:00 am in order to be there when it opens.

The families’ interests have changed. My father and his 4 siblings grew up on the ranch, gathering cattle, changing sprinkler pipe and hauling hay. After going away to college, only my father returned to work on the ranch as general foreman.

My brother, my sister, and I lived 3 miles down the road from the ranch headquarters.

We raised beef for our 4-H and FFA projects, sold sides of beef under our own brand, BAR-C Beef, and entertained our 5 out of town cousins who would come to visit and swim in the ranch reservoir.

As far as we were concerned the ranch ran itself under my grandparents’ and my dad’s capable hands.

After we grew up, my cousins and I loved to visit our personal dude ranch, bringing our friends to ride, bar-b-quing tri-tip, and strutting about in our cowboy boots, before returning to our more Ann Chamberlin and her financial planning spreadsheet. citified lives.

I

We survived the first death, my grandfather’s. My uncle came down on weekends to help my father with the accounting and eventually he took over management of the ranch while my father entered politics.

The next three deaths and their accompanying taxes changed the playing field. My grandmother and members of the second generation passed away and some of the 3rd CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

FEATURE STORIES

The Dairy Creek Golf Course— Combining Sheep, Golf, and Holistic Management

Land & Livestock

Steve Normanton Grassfed Beef— Raising Grassfed Meat in New Hampshire

ROB RUTHERFORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Adding Enterprises — And a Next Generation

GABE BROWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Piney River Cattle Company— Creating Connection with the Land

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The Powell Ranch— Bringing Genetics & the Land Together

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

News & Network

Death and Taxes Change Landscape

Many farmers and ranchers are jumping into the growing grassfed market. There’s a lot involved in those production and marketing decisions. Learn about the Powell Ranch’s decisions and results on page 13.

Reader’s Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 From the Executive Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 From the Board Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Development Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

The Dairy Creek Golf Course—

Combining Sheep, Golf, and Holistic Management

BY ROB RUTHERFORD

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2 IN PRACTICE

March / April 2015

enjoy playing golf. By tradition, this activity occurs on golf courses. A golf course near where I live, near where I spent 39 years trying to educate students at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) has proven to be a fun and exciting place to develop new relationships and to make decisions in a new way.

As with many golf courses, Rob Rutherford appears to be enjoying retirement while certain parts of the property are improving the triple bottom line of Dairy Creek Golf Course groomed and treated very (with a little help from his friends). chemically and mechanically to riparian areas, which were designated produce desired conditions for those that want to use the area. Of course, this includes the planting Environmentally Sensitive. It was expected that these areas would eventually return to native of virtual monocultures, mowing continuously at grasses and forbs, supporting wildlife, and healthy various heights, repelling organisms that are not water cycling. Seventeen years later, none of that wanted (both plant and animal), reduction in the was happening. speed of growth of certain organisms, and of I enjoy playing golf at Dairy Creek Golf Course. course, the enhancement of growth of desired Fortunately, I had the chance to form a relationship plants. A reader of this article might ask—what, with the County Superintendent of golf, Josh if anything, could come from this type of Heptig, as well as the lead course manager, Albert landscape that would warrant recognition in a Nunes. During discussions about the ecological publication dedicated to the understanding and management of complex relationships in a way as health of these areas, I was able to convince them that what was needed was something to “jump to sustain civilizations? start” the biology. I explained that this could be Dairy Creek Golf Course is located near San done with sheep. They were very receptive and the Luis Obispo, California—a brittle tending area plan was set into place. I initially planned to use about 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The the Cal Poly flock that I managed with Cal Poly water that leaves this area ends up in the Morro students to do the actual moving and monitoring. I Bay Estuary, an area of critical ecological estimated it would take about 4-5 months to get significance. As is to be expected, the creation of around the entire course with the 100-head flock. the course had to comply with numerous conditions and restrictions relative to the quality of The administration at Cal Poly, however, felt it was much too risky and slammed the door on the water which left the site. Following conventional proposal. Not to be deterred, I retired from Cal Poly logic, the non-manicured areas needed to be protected by excluding human activities. This was and then arranged with a former customer who had bought some ewe lambs from Cal Poly to set up a particularly true in the areas generally considered new enterprise. He had recently run out of places to have his sheep, so the idea was acceptable to him. Free feed for his sheep, free ecosystem restoration for the County property, and free golf for me.

What a triple bottom line!

Using 9 sections of electrified portable net fence, 25 sheep, a portable watering system (attached to sprinkler heads at the course), a solar panel, energizer, battery, and a portable mineral feeder – we had a sheep outfit. We started July 21, 2013 and have been out there until present, with no The sheep have been grazing on the golf course for over a year plans to quit. Depending on the using electric netting to keep them in the “rough.”

I

golfers got to that location. condition of the vegetation, the It happened to be ladies day sheep stay in one spot for 4-10 on the course. Rumor has it days. A great deal of litter is that it turned out to be the intentionally left. It is the plan to slowest round of golf ever try to get as much of this litter as experienced on the course. possible in a horizontal position Foursomes of golfers were at the soil surface. Range driving in from all over the Scientists in California course to see the lambs. recommend leaving at least 500 Hundreds of pictures pounds of litter per acre. Most of were taken. the areas where the sheep have We ended up with a grazed were covered with at 140% lamb crop, and lost least 2000 pounds. one lamb with a difficult birth.

Five different transects were We had no predator losses established to monitor (we have coyote and characteristics at the soil Using the sheep to graze woody/weedy areas helps to improve the biological function mountain lion in the area). surface. Along each transect, a of those areas to help other plant species, like perennial grasses, to establish.

The lambs have now been series of one square meter plats practitioner of Holistic Management, I would weaned and ewe lamb replacements selected were randomly selected. We estimated bare soil, launch into a brief description that we were not and added back in. During the mid-summer, one percentages of live versus dead plants, trying to get rid of anything—rather, we were of the lambs was harvested and prepared for percentages of the various species types, and trying to influence biological succession making consumption by one of my fellow golfing buddies made notes about any other key observations. better conditions for more desirable plants. I knew who happens to be from Australia. We put together Many of the plots had at least 50% bare soil.

I had been successful when I began hearing an appreciation barbeque for the maintenance Perennial plants of any kind were rare. Most of those same golfers begin to correct and educate crew right there at the course. While they were the plants were thistles and annual weeds. Each enjoying the delicious feast, I reminded them that area will have at least 15 – 18 months of recovery a wider scope of players.

As the year wore on, I realized that some of every bit of nutrition that the meat provided to their time between treatments. the regular players had taken to watching the bodies was courtesy of the soil of Dairy Creek Golf So – how have things gone? Initially, I sheep’s behavior, and would report that they were course—with significant help from the sun. prepared a flyer that was posted at the golf shop eating this and that—or sleeping a lot—or The Dairy Creek Golf Course is on line to be in an attempt to educate the golfers as to what whatever. They had begun to take ownership. The the only zero waste course in the country. They was going on. I tried to make clear that we were ram was introduced to the flock in late October. Of compost all of their green waste as well as food using the sheep to change the vegetation in the course that meant lambing season in March. I waste, recycle everything they can, and minimize “rough” in order to improve the appearance of the created a calendar matrix where golfers could the chemical inputs for their turf management. course. I warned about the power of the electric “buy” a date when the first lamb would be born.

The superintendent has been asked to give fence and urged people to avoid hassling the As it turned out, two people shared the prize presentations at several national meetings for sheep too much. of $160. One of the winners, Shirley, asked to golf course superintendents. Now the sheep Of course, the humor was quick and name the lamb. She chose the name “Nina” grazing is a part of that presentation. The PR has predictable. There were lots of suggestions about because the lamb was born on the Ninth of been incredible, and the sheep are happy. I think a sheep eating the golf balls that got into their March. I used a can of spray livestock paint to put little bit of education has occurred with the players grazing areas. Lots of other comments that one and staff, and I have a great reason to be at the might expect from people with little understanding a big “N” on one side of the lamb. I put a big “S” on the opposing side. Asked if that stood for course. Seems like a pretty good decision, but of the process and who show up at the course Shirley, I responded that it could be—or maybe it obviously, one that needs continuous monitoring. wearing a weird assortment of costumes that That’s why the clubs are always in the trunk of would not fit very well at other businesses in town. stood for South (opposite of N for north). We had a lot of fun with the whole activity. the car!

The most common comment I got, other than the On the third day of the lambing season, the sheep were doing a great job of cleaning up the ewes happened to be in a small section Rob Rutherford is a Holistic Management course (that meant that it was easier to find Certified Educator and lives in San Luis Obispo, wayward shots in the rough) – was that the sheep immediately adjacent to one of the tee boxes.

A ewe had produced a beautiful set of twin California. He can be reached at: were “getting rid of the weeds”. lambs about 10 minutes before the first group of robtrutherford@gmail.com.

Of course, being a retired teacher and

Wild turkeys also seem to appreciate the increased biological diversity brought in by the sheep on the golf course.

Despite California’s record drought, the sheep impact has improved biological processes such that both annuals and perennials grew during the summer.

Number 160

IN PRACTICE 3

Adding Enterprises—

And a Next Generation

BY GABE BROWN

speaker at a recent conference posed this question: “How many of you have a son, daughter or relative taking over or planning to take over your operation?” Of the more than 160 in attendance, how many do you think raised their hands?

Myself and one other. I was stunned! I had expected at least 30, and was hopeful of many more. I find it hard to believe that of the more than 120 operations represented, only two had daughters, sons, nieces or nephews who wanted to make a living on the farm.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I realize that many children do not wish to make production agriculture their career. That is perfectly fine. Everyone should follow their dreams.

But why did only two operations have an atmosphere that was conducive to bringing youth into the business? I have spent the past month asking that question of as many operators and youth as I could, and found two reasons cropping up again and again.

The first reason is that there is not enough income to support two families. The second is that it is just too expensive to enter production agriculture. I believe that the answers to both of these concerns are quite closely related.

A

Generating Answers

In an earlier article in Graze, I talked about the Holistic Management decisionmaking process. If we use this process to answer the above questions, we can arrive at some conclusions.

First, why is the farm not generating enough

Paul and Gabe Brown 4 IN PRACTICE

March / April 2015

income? Is it due to low prices? High input costs? Or can it be that the farm is not capitalizing on opportunities for other enterprises?

As for the second reason, why is it too expensive to enter production agriculture? Or is it just too expensive to enter certain areas of production agriculture, such as grain, dairy or beef? What about other enterprises?

At upper right is a chart of the enterprises we have on our ranch. In no way am I saying that you need these on your operation; that is for you to decide. I am merely illustrating some of the possibilities.

If you have been following my articles, you know that I believe farm profit is directly related to carbon. The more carbon we have in our soil, the greater our farm’s profit potential. On our operation we use carbon to grow perennial pastures, cover crops and cash crops, including vegetables and fruit.

We use livestock to harvest much of this production. Notice that we are not just running one livestock species. I think that multispecies grazing is a missed opportunity on many operations.

We run cow/calf pairs, stockers and grassfinished beef. These beef animals harvest primarily grasses and legumes in our environment.

However, there are many other plants in our paddocks — why not convert some of those to cash?

That is why we added a flock of sheep. They graze plants that are not often grazed by the beef animals. This adds income without adding to the land base.

Answering Questions

We need border collies to help us move the stock and guard dogs to protect the sheep. Why not breed and sell border collies and guard dogs? There is strong demand for both.

Insects abound on our operation. Most are beneficial: For every insect pest, there are 1,700 other species that are beneficial or produce neither help nor harm. Why not take advantage of the insect populations? Why not add some poultry to feed on those insects? This is why we added laying hens that we house in portable egg-mobiles (salvaged and converted stock trailers). We follow the grass-finished beeves with these egg-mobiles. The layers feast on all of the fly larvae found in the dung pats, and in so doing spread those pats, thus fertilizing a larger area. The layers are happy, the beeves are happy and our pocketbook is fuller from the sale of nutrient-dense eggs.

We run our grain crops through a “quick cleaner” to glean any weed seeds and cracked kernels before we sell that grain. Why not add a pastured broiler operation to convert these screenings to cash? We take something that would be dockage at the elevator and convert it to cash in our pocket. If we pull the “broilermobiles” across the pasture, they will be fertilizing as they go.

Another enterprise that fits well into our operation is pastured hogs. The sows farrow on pasture, and as long as we move them frequently, they are not destructive. We have many shelter belts surrounding our farmsteads. They are great places to run finishing hogs that are supplemented with the corn, peas and barley we grow, thus adding value to those crops.

As I have talked about in several previous

articles, we grow a lot of cover crops. These always have flowering species in mixes. These, along with all the alfalfas, clovers and forbs in our perennial pastures, are producing a lot of pollen. Why not raise bees to take advantage of that opportunity? We formed a partnership with an apiary to take care of the hives, which provides our partner with great habitat for their bees, and another income stream for us.

Those same cover crops and diverse perennial pastures attract a lot of wildlife. Many people are willing to spend a healthy sum of money for the opportunity to hunt that wildlife with a gun or a camera. Do not feel guilty about charging them a fee to do so, as it costs money for the cover crop seed and other habitat you are providing. When deer drop their antlers in the winter, take advantage of that, too. People are willing to pay for those sheds. Why not pick them up and sell them instead of finding them in a tractor tire?

How about the vegetable garden? We are selling our grass-finished meats and eggs at the farmers market anyway, so why not vegetables? Consumers appreciate the variety and writing just one check. How about the farm orchard? Jellies, jams and pies can add value.

The Labor is Do-able

I know that by this time many of you are wondering just how many people are required to raise, grow and market all of these enterprises. The answer is three full-time people and one seasonal employee: my wife, Shelly, our son, Paul, myself and one summer employee. Since we are taking advantage of “stacking” enterprises that go well together, the labor to accomplish this amount of production is relatively minimal.

We are finding that the most labor-intensive part is the marketing, and are working to streamline that process with online ordering.

Direct marketing may not be for you, but don’t let that stop you from adding value to your production. Team up with an individual who has the will and desire to direct market. Use their skills to your advantage, and let them sell your products for a commission. This will put more money in both of your pockets.

What about logistics? Having a population of 100,000 people within 25 miles of our operation it is an advantage to us. However, we are in the process of starting buying clubs in other cities up to 200 miles away. Online ordering and buying clubs will allow us to travel to these

Rancho Los Potreros and the IRS

continued from page one

generation had to write checks with a lot of zeros to pay their estate taxes. Suddenly there was razor sharp interest in the ranch, its profitability and how it was managed. The entire operation was confusing to them with 3 different cattle operations: stocker, cow/calf and dairy springers, along with farmed crops.

In addition, the 2nd generation had continued my grandfather’s management style, including his double entry accounting system.

Everything was entered by hand, a very tedious and time-consuming process. It was nearly impossible to decipher profit from loss. Seeking to be helpful and to clarify the accounts, for 3 years two of my cousins and I traveled up to 4 hours each way to meet once a month in the ranch office and to transfer the hand written accounts onto a computer.

My brother, who had returned to work on the ranch about 6 years ago, introduced us to HMI, and suggested that three of us attend HMI’s 5-day Whole Farm/Ranch Planning Course. The topics included Values, Weak Links, Outcomes, and Holistic Financial, Marketing and Business planning. At the end of the course, we each drafted a business plan, and a farm/ranch goal as well as financial and

marketing plans, for ourselves and hopefully for the other family members I had always thought that the goal of ranching was to make money. However after the course I realized that there could be many other goals and a greater understanding of ranch finances could help us identify and achieve them.

Inspired, I created a spreadsheet, which included expenses, income, depreciation, death loss, veterinary, feeding, and transportation costs for each category of cattle.

We began monthly meetings to discuss our existing projects and finances and invited everyone from the 2nd generation and 3rd generation to participate.

In the beginning the conversation ranged far and wide, different definitions, different goals, and different experiences led to some frustrating conversations. Several cousins were in the tech industry, others in large organizations, and some in the wine business.

Only my dad, my uncle and my brother had any actual ranching or farming experience. On the other hand the younger generation brought new questions to the table and a different viewpoint from the one held by my dad and my

cities once a month, thus adding considerable marketing opportunities with little investment of time.

I know of one family operation that drives 700 miles one way each month to service a buying club. This one buying club accounts for over 75% of their income! Distance is an issue only if you allow it to be.

We are considering many more enterprises, including pastured dairy, rabbits, turkeys and ducks. All could be raised in a pasture-based operation. We also produce compost and have had demand for it, so we plan to market more of that in the future. Paul enjoys welding and has seen demand for egg-mobiles and broilermobiles, which means another potential income stream is waiting to be tapped.

The greatest roadblock in solving a problem is the human mind. I wonder how many more young people would and could enter agriculture if we would just open up our minds to the opportunities available to us.

Gabe Brown grass finishes beef on his family’s ranch near Bismarck, ND. This article first appeared in Graze Magazine. To learn more about Graze go to: www.grazeonline.com. uncle who had grown up on the ranch and wanted to continue to manage the ranch the same way that their father had and that they so fondly remembered.

Dialoguing about our values and creating a shared vision was a new idea for both generations. The 2nd generation had an opportunity to hear the younger generations’ concerns and to answer their questions and it allowed the 3rd generation to understand the 2nd generation’s philosophy, the complexities of the business, and to inquire about the various income and expense items. We began to integrate the costs into our goals.

The family is closer now. There have been some management and some financial changes since we began the process. We are just beginning our journey as we began to integrate the financial analysis into our goals. And I look forward to our next steps. Who would have thought that the IRS could rekindle interest in a faraway ranch that was part of an old Mexican land grant?

Ann Chamberlin has a MA in International Business from Webster University in Leden, the Netherlands and has helped businesses with their financial goals for the past 20 years. She lives in San Diego and can be reached at: annchamberlin1@gmail.com Number 160

IN PRACTICE 5

LIVESTOCK

&

Steve Normanton Grassfed Beef—

Raising Grassfed Meat in New Hampshire

By Heather Smith Thomas

person doesn’t need to own much land to raise livestock. Steve Normanton has a flourishing operation on numerous leased parcels near Litchfield, New Hampshire. “I have a mixed livestock operation on 250 leased acres. The foundation product that I raise is grassfed beef that I market directly to the end user—usually families or individuals. I try to sell as much as possible through pre-orders.” Most of the meat is already sold by the time the animal is butchered.

“For example this year I have 43 steers/heifers that were all spoken for, with deposit down payments, by late July even though they won’t be butchered until September or later,” says Normanton.

A

Playing with Genetics

1,300 pounds. Otherwise, they take more feed to maintain and longer to mature. With grassfed beef it is really tough to get a lot of fat on the carcass with the larger animal,” says Normanton.

“I have 3 different beef bulls at the moment. One is a Galloway, another is British White and the other is a cross between Galloway and British White. This enables me to breed the larger-framed cows to smaller bulls, for smaller-framed offspring. I have a lot of Galloway cows that are black in color. They do well in the cold winters but not so well in the hot summer.

They struggle more with the heat. By using British White bulls the calves have a lighter coat color. We get a black and white hide,” he explains.

These young cattle have done well, but this year will be the first year butchering any of them. “I will be able to tell, after this fall, how they do carcass-wise,” he says.

“I always wanted to get into breeding my own animals, but before I could do that I needed some land. It’s hard to find land around here so I started by buying feeder or stocker cattle, keeping them for a year and then butchering them. But you always end up with somebody else’s problems when buying cattle. It’s better to breed your own and be able to select for temperament, different carcass traits, good udders and mothering skills, etc. When you pick up someone else’s cattle you never know what you will get, and may end up chasing cows around the neighborhood. We are surrounded by houses, and we don’t want our cattle going through people’s yards and gardens. People don’t seem to be very appreciative of the fertilizer!” he says.

Normanton has 51 brood cows that calve during late May through June and early July. “I time the calving to coincide with the bounty of summer when there is a lot of nutrition in the forage. Our farm mimics the natural patterns and cycles of the earth,” he explains.

He keeps the calves after weaning, growing them out on grass and butchering them a little past 2 years of age. “It seems that somewhere between 24 and 30 months of age is ideal.”

At first he purchased calves to raise and only recently started a breeding herd. “We have a lot of work to do on genetics, to improve how quickly we can get the calves raised to optimum butchering size. At the moment the cow herd is a mix of different breeds including Simmental, Hereford, Galloway, British White and a few Scottish Highlanders. These are bred to various bulls; I tend to mix and match because I’m not 100% sure at this point what will work best for my environment,” he says.

“For instance, the Simmentals are good cows but I want to eventually have smaller While grassfed beef is the primary product for Steve Normanton, he is also building his poultry offerings as well because the poultry add so much to soil fertility. framed cows that would be no bigger than 6

Land & Livestock

March / April 2015

Extending the Growing Season

Steve moves the cows once a day, and up to 2 or 3 times a day during summer, depending on the animals and their age. “The cows with calves are only moved once a day. I like to move my feeders and stockers at least a couple times a day,” he says.

This is good management for the pastures, allowing them to recover before being grazed again. He is using grazing to help improve the soil. “The main farm I am on was once a vegetable operation before I took it over and created pastures. The soils are such that they easily become compacted with the number of cattle I run, because the plants don’t have enough root structure.

Typically after I graze the cattle on these pastures I have to run over them with an aerator to break up the surface compaction to allow air into the soil. This is helping deal with the surface compaction until I can get the pastures better established,” he explains.

“The grasses that grow out on the plains have an impressive root system, and they survive well even when herds of cattle are going over them. Those grasses Steve raises pastured pigs and uses them to open up forest areas for his cattle to graze later. readily withstand high stocking density because of their root systems. When some of the roots die out this creates spaces and as soon as the plant starts to grow again “After a time there would be a fire every now and then and it would there are places there for the roots to grow, to break any compaction. destroy some of the forests. Then the first things that come back in would With my grasses I am still working on getting good root systems be forbs and grasses that attract grazing animals. Then you get the cycle established,” says Normanton. going again, with manure and nutrients being put down, to rebuild the Currently he is using some cocktail cover cropping, utilizing a variety soil. I look at forests as Nature’s last stand, because the soil wants to be of warm season annual plants like buckwheat, sorghum, soybeans, covered. So I look at my cattle as a band of soil-building implements that I sunflowers and other plants that bring their own beneficial attributes to can use,” he says. the soil. “I am planting them, no-till, into my pastures. Those plants come up and are ready to be grazed fairly early in the season and this gives the cattle a wider selection of plants,” he says.

Stacking Functions “After those are grazed off, the cool season pasture grasses and “I complement those grazing practices with broiler chickens on clovers are still there. I haven’t really destroyed anything, but just added pasture.

I can only do 1,000 birds each year because of state and federal to it. This helps smooth out the grazing curve and introduces more regulations, but next year we may be getting a new multi-processing diversity. In mid-summer, I no-till in some brassicas so that I can extend facility just up the road from where I farm. That will allow me to continue my grazing season into December,” he says. to use more chickens to top-dress the fields. The chicken manure is very Extending the grazing season with more early plants and some latehigh in nitrogen and phosphates.

It’s a way to complement certain areas season forage is important for his operation. “I had to do this because I of my fields so I try to target the areas that need this, by doing soil don’t have enough land to make my own hay, due to the way I manage samples,” says Normanton. my herd. I don’t want to spend my valuable time sitting on a tractor “I’d also like to experiment with certain types of grain crops in my making hay. Extending the grazing reduces the amount of hay I have to pastures, harvesting the grain and still having the pasture underneath. buy, and hay is one of my biggest expenses,” says Normanton.

Everyone says I won’t get much of a yield but I look at this as vertical “I may eventually do something with winter wheat, which would come integration, like building a one-story house versus a two-story house on a into play and be ready to graze by early April. I am playing around with small piece of land; you get more for your efforts with the vertical many different concepts and ultimately striving for the ability to be able to integration,” he explains. graze sooner in spring and longer in winter. Even though I don’t want to “Ultimately this is what I want to try and work at—this is all part of have to buy very much hay I look at it as buying fertilizer. You are creating a sustainable environment. Grain that I have to bring in for the basically bringing in nutrients from someone else’s farm and putting that chickens is another cost, so anything I can do to bring those costs down into your own soil. If you have to buy hay, you look at the positive aspects,” he explains. The hay can be fed out on the land and go through will ultimately make the whole operation more financially sustainable.”

Another livestock enterprise is laying hens. “My farming style is a little the cattle and add litter and manure to the soil. bit like the concept publicized by Joel Salatin, with several species’ “I believe every kind of land needs some biomass and benefits from interactions rather than grazing livestock on it. This creates an ideal situation where everyone is just producing cows, or chickens, or sheep, or pigs. Joel’s place was one benefiting. Forests and brush grow on land where there are not enough of the first farms I visited where this concept was practiced and it was a herbivores to aid the biodiversity and control the overgrowth. In those huge paradigm shift for me. It also made me look at a cow differently,” areas the earth goes into a self-preservation phase and grows trees that says Normanton. can find minerals down deep in the soil and bring them up to try to improve the quality of the soil,” he says.

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carcass efficiently. I make them aware that I am not butchering cattle all continued from page seven year round because there is an optimal time for finishing them when they are grassfed,” Steve explains.

“Thus, there is an optimal time for sending them off to be butchered, “I looked at a cow and thought about it as a human would think about usually in the fall before the good grass is gone.” So the customer has the a human. It’s not that I have a ‘Bambi’ attitude toward the cattle, but more various cuts from the carcass and can utilize these throughout the year in like looking at life the way a cow would look at it, from the cow’s a logical manner. perspective. Instead of just thinking that cattle like to eat alfalfa, or “At least 70% of my beef customers are return customers. They buy a orchardgrass or whatever, I started watching the cows when they went side of beef from me year after year. At first I would panic about the ones out to pasture and saw that they ate different things. I might put them out that didn’t come back. I might not hear from them, and then a year or two into a really lush stand of grass and assume they will really like it, and later they’d come back for more, saying that a side was quite a lot for they might select a weed instead.” them and they decided to do a side every 2 years.”

We tend to learn most of the things we “know” about cattle out of Many people are far removed from farming and there is a disconnect textbooks regarding how much energy and protein they need. “That’s how regarding the way their food is produced. “Some people think they could we usually try to build have a rib steak every the farm and figure out single day or even once what to feed them, but a week. Yet a side of that’s not really the best beef will only produce way to figure out how it about 10 rib eye steaks. works. We sometimes Thus 2 beef animals have to step back and would have to die for observe the cows someone who likes a rib themselves, in their own eye steak every week.” environment,” he says.

People need to broaden He also raises pigs. their use of the whole “I’ve been implementing animal so they could a technique called utilize more of that silvopasture in which you animal through the year, selectively cut some of and enjoy it. the trees so there are “I try to educate some open spaces. people about nutrition.

Then I put the pigs in In the summer when it’s there and they basically hot you don’t really need Steve is also intensively grazing sheep to add to his product mix. He beliefs the demand for all of these clear up the understory a heavy potato grassfed products far out strip supply at this point. and root through the soil. casserole kind of meat We move them very dish, and you also don’t intensively, not necessarily every day, but as often as needed for the work want to be eating salad in December. Some consumers want to go to a that needs to be done in that section to clean it up. They don’t stay in any steak house and eat a salad 365 days of the year without considering given place for a long time. Once they have used a portion I don’t put any where the avocado, salad greens or tomatoes come from,” he says. They pigs back on that land for about 4 years to break their parasite cycle,” have no notion about eating food that is seasonal, grown locally. he explains.

“I try to focus on local agriculture and helping my customers “Once the pigs have gone through a parcel I should theoretically understand about the importance of knowing where their food comes broadcast some grass seed in there behind them, but instead I put in from and introducing themselves to farmers. Local is a relative term. It some large hay bales and the pig play around with those and toss may mean getting sugar from Florida (rather than some other country). them around. This will probably add some seed and litter and introduce For avocado I am not sure where local would be, since we don’t grow some grasses into these areas. Then it will be a wonderful place to those in New Hampshire!” put some cows during the hotter times of year—where they can utilize the shade and have some forage. With everything we do we find there is a Expanding Markets symbiotic relationship between all these species, the soil and plants. We Steve has been exploring Holistic Management and has learned about look at the big picture and try to understand it as a whole,” Steve says. holistic planned grazing from Greg Judy and Ian Mitchell-Innes. He has played around with some of the grazing planning principles on his Direct Marketing Education property over the years. “It seems counter-intuitive that you could make “With all my products—the eggs, chickens, pork, beef—it’s direct more money grazing a piece of land only twice a year (and trampling half sales to the consumers. I never take cattle to an auction or feedlot. The of it!), instead of grazing four or five times plus harvesting hay,” says animal is sold directly to the customer and they have it butchered. I take Normanton. “Greg Judy’s results are very convincing. Does that mean I time to educate the customer about the various cuts of meat and how to am ready to sell the tractor? Not yet. The soil in Litchfield is years away get it cut up. I also tell them that in the winter it’s nice to eat more things from the results we saw in Missouri. But selling the tractor is now my goal. like pot roast and stew, whereas ground beef is handy for the summer. It’s “Recently, I was excited to see a bit of snow-grazing on my own place. a new education for some customers; I provide an educational piece for I have a small amount of stockpiled pasture where the forage was pretty them, trying to make people aware that they can use the entire beef thick before the snow came. When I gave the cows access to this spot

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with a normal day’s ration of dry hay and high-moisture hay, they bypassed the hay and went straight for the grass through the snow. It was a nice validation that I’m on the right track with Greg’s holistic grazing management concept.

“I have a number of employees who help me with the farming, due to the intensive nature of the way we do things and how spread out we are, land-wise. The 8 parcels I lease are spread out over about 70 miles,” he says.

“Some of the people who do Holistic Management with cattle manage them as one big herd together but I don’t have that ability. I’d have to spend most of my life on the road moving cows around if they were eating in one parcel and then another. I’d lose Steve likes to move his stocker and feeder animals several times a day and uses tumblewheel electric fence. all the gain if I had to spend a day moving them a long ways,” he says.

“There are certain groups of cattle that I do move around from parcel to parcel but I keep my brood cows on the them. Thus we are not taking on more than what we have market for,” same pieces of land as much as possible. It makes it tough checking the he says. water every day on 4 or 5 places. Not every place has a well, so I have a It is nice to have a ready market for whatever the farm produces. “I truck come up that pumps water into storage tanks. There are many haven’t pushed the limits of that market yet. I am about an hour’s drive different pieces to the whole puzzle and sometimes it’s hard to keep hold out of Boston and I haven’t even tapped into that market. A person needs of all those pieces!” to build a market and get the land to support that market. Everything here He also grows a couple acres of vegetables, which supports 42 is grown organically and I am reaching the capacity with my cattle that the families. “We do this as a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) which land will support. I’d have to find more land in order to expand, but I’ll is a pre-buy situation. People pay up front so that the farmer can use the never be able to completely supply the demand for grassfed beef. I’d like money to produce the crop. When we start harvesting—usually about the a little bit more market than I have at the moment,” he says. first or second week of June—the customers come and get a box of In the meantime, his cattle remain the foundation of his holistic farming vegetables, and continue to get a box once a week while the crops last,” system that mimics nature in a way that builds fertility in the soil, treats the explains Normanton. animals humanely, and produces healthy food. “The concept of Holistic “We do the same with the broiler chickens. People tell us how many Management takes into account the well-being of everything involved,” they want, we give them the processing dates and they tell us how many says Normanton. “It is not just about end product because in order to get they want at those times. They come and pick those up and pay for this end product, you must better the whole.”

READER’S FORUM The #158 issue of IN PRACTICE has an article titled “Holistic using any number of equipment types. The most important aspect of Management on a Pasture Dairy” which includes a discussion about Keyline is to establish, and follow contours, then, plow down in valleys Keyline plowing. The author states that Ron Holter did not use the and up on ridges. plow in the way that Yeomans says to use it, because it was too I cannot speak with authority regarding whether Keyline water difficult given the fencing layout. I wondered if that meant that Ron management will work in Maryland. But, I can say that any form of did not set contours with a transit and then follow those lines in plowing that does not rest on Keyline theory and practice is not establishing a plow pattern.

Keyline plowing. I doubt anyone has as much experience with the That to me is the difference between using a plow made by plow in our Southwestern deserts as we do. I will say without Yeomans but not practicing Keyline plowing. reservation that anybody who is ranching in How many times have I heard it said at our Southwestern deserts and does not know HMI meetings that if you take the planning about, and use, a Yeoman’s plow, is missing READER’S FORUM out of planned grazing you are no longer out. If you’d like to learn more about our practicing planned grazing? results go to: http://vimeo.com/110705548.

Give us your feedback and questions on Keyline theory is a concept that describes I enjoyed reading the article. the articles you read in IN PRACTICE! how water will flow over land surfaces. The Chris Gill Email: anna@holisticmanagement.org patterns which spread water can be applied Van Horn, Texas

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Piney River Cattle Company—

Creating Connection with the Land

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

ee McCormick has come full circle from his boyhood on ranches, to the country music and treatment center industries, back to raising cattle the way he feels is most beneficial. Piney River Cattle Company is 45 miles west of Nashville, Tennessee, an area that McCormick moved to in the late 1970s because of the Lee McCormick came music business. He grew up on a family from a ranching family ranch in Florida, and his family but spent time in the homesteaded in Florida during the Civil country music and War. His dad and step-dad both had treatment center ranches in southern Wyoming and industries before returning northern Colorado as well. to his ranching roots.

“I grew up around several different cultures,” says McCormick. “My dad and step-dad were in other businesses also. They both had grown up around ranching and then went off into the business world doing other things and then came back to ranching because they loved it. The ranching was the part of their world that I really identified with and felt at home in—on the land with the animals.”

The first place he bought in Tennessee is called Piney River Ranch.

“We bought that place in 1982. Then we bought what is known as the Pine Wood Farm, which is a pre-Civil War farm, in 1991. Over the years, we fed a lot of cattle. My step-dad, A.D. Davis, and his brothers were the founders of Winn Dixie stores and developed the boxed beef trade.

They were the first people to cut and break carcasses and box them to ship. This changed the whole beef industry,” he says.

“I grew up and stepped into the typical traditional commercial cattle business. We fed a lot of cattle, had a cow-calf herd (which was secondary) and traded commodities for a number of years. All through the 1980s these businesses were really marginal. I’d make money doing some things, lose money doing other things and was just trying to keep my head above water. During the bad years you live off the assets of the land and during the good years you try to pay it back,” he says.

“I always say you have to love the cattle business to stay in it, because it’s not an easy way to make a living. I was with my step-dad for a while and we had ranches leased in Florida, cattle feeding partnerships in Iowa and the panhandle in Texas and we covered a lot of ground. Then A. D. had a stroke and passed away,” says McCormick.

L

Connecting to the Heart

“I then became involved in the addictions treatment business. The intensity of the cattle business and the commodities trading business (which I loved because I loved high pressure intense situations) led me into my own problems. While dealing with my problems I became very interested in the mental health addictions treatment world and business, and ended up creating a treatment center on the ranches that I ran cattle on and lived on, in Tennessee.”

It all fit together. What he saw, happening with people in the healing work of the recovery business, was congruent with a connection back to the land. “This brings us back to who we really are. Then I made friends with some Native American guys and had this dual life. I was still 10

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running cows. I had backed off from feeding cattle and trading commodities a little bit, but still had cows,” says McCormick.

He started a treatment center called The Ranch, which he sold 4 years ago to a venture capital group from California. “What we are really doing, in the recovery world, in the mental health addictions world, is healing the human legacy of suffering that is passed on from generation to generation, and our resistance to being completely honest and open about the dark side of our legacies. These are the things that go on behind the curtain in families all over the world,” he says.

“Every family has its secrets. Every family has things that need to be resolved. If those things are not addressed and dealt with and brought out into the light, they just get passed on from generation to generation.

We have to step back and look at the bigger picture. It’s not unlike what we do in a grazing system, in that we are trying to work with things as a whole. There are no compartments. The compartments in our lives are a perception, not a reality. We’ve compartmentalized our way of life. Our culture is so compartmentalized that we perceive it that way, we believe it to be that way, but it’s not true.” Everything is connected. It’s not black and white and simple, in one little box.

“The sad thing is that now the treatment industry has turned into a massive commercial cash-flow business. It used to be a more soulful, grounded, privately owned and independently managed series of programs around the country. Now it has become commercialized—as always happens whenever something starts making a lot of money. I created a successful business and I sold it,” he says.

“I lived in Los Angeles for a while, created treatment programs in California for 12 years and sold them. I am still very involved in the mental health addictions world and still believe that what humanity is suffering from is a lack of connection to our heart and spirit and needs to get back to the earth again, to the foundation of what we really are,” says McCormick.

“I’d love to connect with a ranch somewhere out West that has the set-up to create another recovery program on a ranch again, because everything about a ranch is conducive to healing. Working with animals, being outdoors experiencing nature, putting on snowshoes in the winter, etc. can be a great experience. Taking people who have never done that in their lives can be healing. What percentage of our population today has any relationship at all to the earth, or the seasons?” asks McCormick. Being outdoors and being a part of that, doing daily chores to take care of animals, can be a very positive thing, being a part of the whole. “It’s like coming back to being a part of life again, in a real sense—the real life, not the imaginary one that we humans have created,” he says.

Back to the Cattle

“About the same time I sold the treatment business, I ran into a good friend in upstate New York who has a farm in the Hudson Valley. He was raising grassfed beef and selling it as fast as he could get the cattle finished. He also had an organic farm raising fresh produce on his place. He introduced me to Ian Mitchell-Innes who grazes cattle holistically in South Africa. I met Ian, and a man named Mark Bader who is a nutritionist in Wisconsin. Mark has a company called Free Choice Enterprises. Between Mark and Ian, and the grassfed beef idea, it was almost like the ghosts of my dad and step-dad telling me that I was getting back to what this was all about in the first place—grass and cattle. It’s not about corn and conversion rates (corn to beef) or about the price of commodities or massive commercial ventures and $150,000 tractors,” says McCormick.

“One of the things we are plagued by, culturally, is the fact we seem

rather than pharmaceutical drugs and American Medical Association to think there is an importance to our ability to complicate everything.” protocols. So I realized again the importance of holistic thinking.”

We are enamored with the technology and forgetting the basics of life.

“My wife is brilliant and she did a lot of research. We became aware “It all resonated with me—Ian’s practices and Mark Bader’s of the fact that people in America on a daily basis are exposed to experiences. It was not about beliefs; it was all about direct experience. something like more than 86,000 chemicals that have been introduced I became very interested again in raising cattle. I had been so involved into our environment by us,” he says. in the treatment industry that I’d just kept cattle on the ranch simply to They realized that commercial agriculture has been one of the be able to go ride through them and stay connected to this, but it wasn’t contributors to this problem. “I love the people and respect the making any money. I was more involved in the treatment/recovery individuals in commercial agriculture, but I do not respect the industry programs; that’s where 90% of my attention went,” he says. and the business practices. There is a definite difference. We have Everything came full circle. “I realized that the mob grazing idea was created man-made epidemics of disease that are now revealing for real because I had watched it over 2 years. I had the same ranch themselves. Unless you look at this from a holistic standpoint, most manager on my place while I was off doing other things. The impact and people don’t realize that it’s us doing it to us.” response from mob grazing was very interesting.” It was good for the “You can’t change the nature of the economic model of ranching land and good for the cattle. unless we change our minds and are willing to open up our perceptions “We feed free choice minerals, and feed 16 different minerals and look at it from a different point of view than the one we all inherited separately, free choice. We don’t feed a mixed product. This allows the and have lived by. It’s a paradigm shift,” says McCormick. cattle to select what they need. The selection changes from pasture to While some people consider Holistic Management/practices/ideas pasture,” says McCormick.

“New Age”, the irony is that many of these ideas are not new. We are “I watched it all come alive and could see how things fit together and just going back to preI became inspired technology and some of again. It’s easy to the realities of life on this get bogged down earth. “I am 58 and my and say to hell with dad was born in 1907. I it, and it was great grew up with older to be inspired about people; my parents something. I was were the same age as getting disgusted most of my friends’ with the treatment grandparents. I industry and how remember riding through commercial it had the woods with my dad become. So I as a kid. Those older started shifting my ranchers intentionally left attention back to the grass when they moved ranch,” he says. their cattle, and made “Then 18 months sure water holes were ago I let my working well—for the manager go and Piney River cattle are a mix of Murray Grey and Beefmaster. wildlife,” he says. decided to stay “Living on the land, home and run the with the animals on a ranches myself, day-to-day basis, paying attention and watching, can teach us a lot. which I hadn’t done in years. It was almost like being a kid again. When We are too much on the go and don’t always take time to pay I was a kid my dad and my step-dad were both very successful attention—because we tend to think that the more we do, the better off business people; their lives and our world was pretty intense and fast we are. But that’s not true. There is too much fear, and pressure, and and I just felt more at home on their ranches. I was more happy and that way of living gets passed on from generation to generation. But at content in the woods or in the cow pens than I was flying around the the end of the day, what really matters to us? What do we really care world in a private jet,” he says. about? Holistic ranching, Ian and Allan Savory, all the people who have “That always felt right, to me. So I just came full circle. This style of management and way of life—mob grazing and holistic practices— been instrumental in telling us to wake up, got me back on track,” brings me back, as a human being, to the whole of what we are really says McCormick. doing here and how we live in this world. I have realized that a lot of “I fed cattle for years. Some of the greatest people and best families things are very congruent in many ways with the healing work that we I’ve known my entire life are in the panhandle of Texas, farming and do with people,” says McCormick. feeding cattle. All these people are such good people and work so hard and are so sincere—so how did we end up with an economic model that put those of us who feed the world at the bottom of the social and Value-Based Agriculture economic ladder? It makes no sense,” he says.

“At the same time I was coming back to basics, my wife became “Today I have to feel right about what I am doing, and will no longer very sick and we found out she had Crohn’s disease. This is an autoparticipate out of fear and desperation. If I can’t be creative and working immune disease. During the course of her search for a way to heal what toward something that I feel good about, I don’t want to do it. I have to she was dealing with, she connected with a woman who had been be comfortable with it. I don’t want to be spraying chemicals all over the working with auto-immune diseases for 25 years. Her whole platform CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 centered on diet and Chinese medicine like acupuncture and herbs Number 160

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Creating Connection with the Land continued from page eleven

place trying to manipulate nature into creating a profit.

That’s insane. I am not going to poison my children and grandchildren doing something for a dollar that I know will have a deeper downside on down the road,” he says.

“Agriculture is in a predicament, but there are options. People need to understand that they have more choices than we might think. We just need guts enough and courage enough to try some things and be willing to make mistakes, Lee has had Holistic Management Certified Educator, Ian Mitchell-Innes, and to accept that maybe what we believe in is not as a workshop leader at Piney River necessarily the truth or right.

Cattle Company, to help others in the area learn about Holistic Management. We have become a consumption-driven culture, and agriculture is a consumption-driven business today. We are using more energy than we are producing, and that won’t work long-term,” say McCormick.

Holistic Management and practices like mob grazing are gaining more attention and acceptance today as people realize this, compared to 30 years ago when very few people were willing to step outside the box and look at ways to produce food without heavy reliance on modern technology.

“It partly boils down to what we value. I am not nearly as concerned about my neighbor’s opinion as I am about what I see on a daily basis.

We need to be concerned with the whole. That’s what Ian says all the time: creation, and the true reality—that God created—only exists as a whole. Then we have the human perception of reality that is simply a matrix, and we are led to believe that the matrix is the reality, and that the natural world is just here at our disposal,” says McCormick.

buy Murray Grey cattle from me but I’m just not ready to do that yet. I will be able to sell some bulls eventually, but I am not papering any of these cattle.

“In a few more years of this breeding program we will have cattle that will be completely adapted to this environment, and part of the whole in our ranching operation here in middle Tennessee. I’ve learned over the years, in shifting cattle all over the country, that it takes them several years to acclimate when you take them somewhere else,” he says. You are better off to keep a herd that is well adapted.

“I am a big fan of forage-based Lasater cattle—how thick they are and how much meat they carry on the carcass and how well adapted they are to the Southeast. The Murray Grey cattle don’t do as well in this climate because our summers are so hot and humid. But by crossing them, and continuing to select for the ones that do well, nature takes care of it and you end up with cattle that are well adapted,” he says.

“In the buying and selling that I do, the easiest cow for me to sell is a 1,250-1,300 pound big fancy black cow, just because they are the most popular. Being black doesn’t necessarily mean there is any Angus blood; it just means they have black hair. But those 1,300-pound animals are not what I am interested in feeding and raising. I like a cow that is 1,000-1,100 pounds.” She will raise a bigger calf, in comparison—a calf that is much higher percentage of her own body weight—and will be more feed efficient. A herd of moderate-framed cows will produce more pounds of beef per acre than a herd of largerframed cows because you can run more small cows on a certain piece of ground and the smaller cows wean off a higher percent of their own weight.

Piney River Cattle Company is diversifying their product mix by adding Red Wattle hogs and Barbados and Dorper sheep.

Developing Forage-Based Cattle

To raise healthy, grassfed cattle profitably, McCormick is working on the right beef genetics. “Right now I am running about 700 cows on 3,500 acres. The land is 2/3 pasture and 1/3 woods. Even though I buy and sell a lot of cattle, I have a base herd I raise calves from. I use Murray Grey bulls on cows that are part Beefmaster. Murray Grey cattle have by far the most efficient meat quality for grassfed beef that I’ve ever seen. The Angus people have been the best marketers and have done a really good job of selling black-hided cattle, but Angus are not consistent and they don’t finish very well on grass, compared to the Murray Grey cattle,” says McCormick.

“So I am using Murray Grey bulls and Lasater forage-based Beefmaster bulls. The cross I am hoping for on down the road is a halfblood Murray, half Beefmaster or ¾ Murray and ¼ Beefmaster. I will just keep crossing back and forth. I have 450 cows that are more or less a closed herd and I’m raising my own bulls and heifers. People often try to 12

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Diversifying the Whole

McCormick is also bringing diversity into the operation by raising lamb and pork. “I have 100 sheep; I bought a little flock and have some Barbados and some Dorpers and I’m raising grassfed lamb,” says McCormick.“They are not managed as efficiently as the catlte. I have a couple of big bottom pastures that I mob graze the cows through, and I just rotate the sheep through 3 or 4 different pastures. I have more pasture than I need, in the area where I keep the sheep, so they get to randomly graze,” he says.

“I also bought some red wattle hogs. I have never been a hog person but I sure like their reproduction rate, compared to a cow! We have our hogs on two different farms, where I feed them a little bit in the woods. I’m in the process of developing the hog operation. I like what CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

The Powell Ranch –

Bringing Genetics & the Land Together

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

ent Powell and his wife Linda raise registered Angus cattle on their ranch near Kalvesta, Kansas—a ranch that has been in Kent’s family since his greatgrandfather started farming there in 1887.

Kent and Linda have 3 children—Jayelynn, Garrison and Trace—and they run the ranch together. His parents were actively involved until about 13 years ago. Their three children all have different interests but they also help with the cattle and are involved in the county fair.

Kent has experienced a lot of change in agriculture over the years and has been practicing Holistic Management for the last 20 years as he has worked to improve both the land and the genetics of the animals he is running to increase the profitability The Powell children—Garrison, Jayelynn, and Trace—enjoy living and working on of the family’s operation. the Powell Ranch “For much of our history we farmed wheat and a little milo.

When faced with the decision to upgrade equipment and hire help to continue farming—or change direction—we chose to convert our of cattle I am not interested in drastically changing them. It’s more about farmland to grass,” says Powell. fine-tuning and moderate refining. I am interested in making them more “We started planting grass through the Conservation Reserve alike, more often. It’s all about a gene pool, a population, not the standout Program (CRP). We put the first 1000 acres in CRP for 10 years in 1986. individual,” he explains. He wants big, rangy beef cattle that gain and As each contract expired, that land was used for grazing, and more grade well and make trouble-free mother cows. This is the kind that he farmland was signed up. Over the past 30 years we’ve put more than feels are always needed, regardless of the whims of the beef industry.

3,000 acres of farm ground back into grass,” he explains.

“In years past if we used AI sires because they had more growth, milk, The CRP acres were planted to native grasses. “We were familiar with size or marbling and we thought we needed it, there was always a buffalo grass, blue grama, sideoats grama and western wheat, but I tradeoff, and some things that weren’t so good about that animal. I can’t hadn’t been around the taller grasses like big bluestem, Indian grass and really appreciate how fast an animal grows if it knocks the fence down switchgrass or forbs like Maximillian sunflower. We also introduced every day and we have to go sort it out of the neighbor’s cattle. Poor Eastern grama grass, Old World bluestem, crownvetch and birdsfoot udders, bad disposition, bad feet, structure issues and calving problems trefoil,” says Powell. can all be introduced when attempting to improve something that probably didn’t need much changing to begin with. I don’t know how to avoid some of those unwanted traits except to not introduce them in the Breeding for Dependability first place,” he says.

The journey of their herd runs parallel with the improvement of their After selecting and fine-tuning the genetics for so many years, your land. “We started with registered Angus cattle in 1987 and began phasing own cattle can be very dependable in many traits. “There are very few out the crossbred commercial herd,” explains Powell. “During the first 5 people who have ever stuck to their own bloodlines, but they are the ones years, most of the popular bulls we used seemed to take us backward.

I respect the most. They were content with producing the best they could We selected our cows to do what we wanted them to be able to do and from proven bloodlines rather than always seeking something new or their daughters didn’t seem to do it as well, so we started researching different without regard to the downside of that decision,” says Powell. bloodlines that would work for us. After about 10 years of sorting and Powell works to have his cows calve in May and June to try to match testing, we settled on some Emulous cattle from Carlton and Geneva the cows’ highest nutrient requirements with the highest quality and Corbin’s Stoneybroke Angus in Oklahoma. About half our herd now is volume of grass production. “May has been a beautiful time to calve, but straight bred Emulous. As far as I know, we are the only breeders in the the last couple years it got hot (100 degrees) and dry very early. We world with this pure a set of Corbin cattle. Dad and I had the pleasure of usually turn bulls out about August first,” he says. meeting Carlton and Geneva at a Nichols Farm sale in Iowa. A few years later, after their passing, I had the opportunity to select a small herd of Drought Challenges Stoneybroke cattle.”

“This has been a relatively closed line for 70 years. The Emulous But the drought has brought challenges to keeping his bloodlines cattle are very consistent and trouble-free, with very few surprises—which intact. “We’ve had about 6 hot, dry years and cumulative moisture is what we like. I prefer consistency—more the same rather than more depletion. Two of those years were especially bad and our deep-rooted different. Predictability, dependability, repeatability and continuity are the tall grasses didn’t even green up. After a little relief late last summer and goals,” says Powell. a wet June last year, we are relieved to have tremendous grass recovery,” “With this in mind, our selection criteria favor the middle rather than says Powell. the outliers. Change happens whether we want it or not. Change is easy, but keeping them the same is the big challenge. In working with this line CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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Bringing Genetics & the Land Together continued from page thirteen

“The first really dry year was pretty tough on the cattle, and we supplemented them more than we should have. Looking back, we would have been better off to just load them all up and sell them, but that’s the hardest thing to know. A person always thinks it’s going to get better.”

He destocked down to about 20% of former capacity. “Even though we want to increase our numbers again now that we’re having a better grass year, I don’t really want to buy anything. It’s probably a mistake retaining our heifers, with prices the way they are, but there’s a big advantage to keeping our own bloodlines. I can remember all the problems we used to have, and I would hate to put up with that again. With all the years of progress, we want to keep our own bloodlines,” he says.

financial gain. If we can help somebody and get to meet good people, this makes it worthwhile. We enjoy meeting likeminded people who are already disappointed in what the mainstream offers and looking for something better—looking for solutions from a different perspective.”

Doubling Capacity

To improve grazing practices, Kent has invested in infrastructure. “We buried more than 10 miles of pipeline, drawing water from 2 wells. We have 18 watering points that we are using right now, with potential for 27.

Watering points are centrally located, usually in the center of a quarter or a section. The paddocks are in various shapes; we have some wagon wheel designs with water in the center, and some that go with the contours of the land, and some just use old fencelines. We are experimenting with paddocks ranging from 5 to 160 acres. We try not to leave cattle on any one piece for more than 7 days, and keep the cattle moving,” says Powell.

In Tune with Genetics & Land “We have 5 to 8 paddocks per watering point. If we do everything Over the years as Kent right, it’s at least a year has worked to improve the before we hit the same land and his herd genetics, pasture again. We try to he has noticed how one remain flexible and decision or action can monitor the grass. The influence a number of cattle are here as a ranch different factors. “Nature management and forage functions in wholes. You marketing tool. When our can’t control or change one weather was really dry and thing in one area without the grass didn’t even having an impact on green up, we still had a something else in another year of grazing in those area—as we learned from rested pastures—which Allan Savory. You can’t was really nice,” he says. pick and choose when Over the years, the changing something cattle adapted to planned without changing grazing and look forward something else. You are to moving. “There is working with a whole. nothing more rewarding Tinkering with it changes than watching a calf that’s everything, not just one just a few days old moving part,” Powell explains. paddocks with its mother.

“All environments are The cows know when it is Good forage and good genetics are necessary to grow good bulls on the Powell Ranch different. We need to time to move; when you acknowledge nature’s are in sync with the needs complexity and realize that an action can produce completely different of the cows, they tell you what needs to be done. They can be easily results in different environments. You can buy a bull with a 1000 pound managed by one person; our 12-year-old daughter can move the cows weaning weight or the highest EPD in the breed for a certain trait but you simply by opening a gate and honking a couple times.” With this kind of can’t buy the breeder’s feed, management or environment (and maybe management the cows come to the gate. you don’t want his cost of production). If you don’t have similar quality “Through grazing management, our ranch is able to support a cow on feed, similar management and provide a similar environment, how can 5 acres per year in country that is supposed to take 10 acres per cow for you expect similar results? Many ranchers have been on the same land 6 months summer grazing. I think this is a significant improvement. I’ve for more than 100 years. We need to be in tune with the genetics we had neighbors knock on my door, wanting to rent my grass because they need for our cattle, just as we need to be in tune with our land and how to think I’m wasting it; the key is rest and recovery.” manage it. You wouldn’t plant expensive corn seed in a desert and make claims about its genetic potential to yield; the environment is very Ranching as Vocation important,” he says.

Powell started practicing Holistic Management 20 years ago and has Powell enjoys raising cattle and trying to produce animals that are found the principles and practices to be good guidelines whether he is trouble-free and do well in their environment without pampering. He making decisions about breeding or infrastructure development. mainly raises cattle to suit himself and doesn’t cater to the typical bull “I’d heard about Allan Savory for years. I finally purchased the Holistic buyer who wants something new and different, nor the ones who are in Management book and read it. Then I got the book on tape, and still the breeding business for the social aspects. listen to it if I go on a long trip. You get something new every time you “This is probably the only reason we still raise bulls. It’s not for 14

Land & Livestock

March / April 2015

doesn’t take into hear it, that you account the effect missed before.” each decision will “That’s how I got have. When we make started in Holistic a change, we assume Management, and we are wrong rather kept implementing a than just taking for little more as we went granted that it is an along, getting a little improvement (without deeper as we gained knowing the understanding. The ramifications of the thing about Holistic change). We are in a Management that I long-term vocation. really like is that it’s Our decisions not a textbook on how have long-term you have to do ramifications. We things—which is what need to advance most people want. If only as we assure they want to be told ourselves of the what to do, they really soundness of don’t like Holistic our decisions,” Management,” he Through holistic planned grazing, Kent Powell has doubled the carrying capacity of his ranch. he explains. explains. It’s just a Whether doubling guideline to figure out his carrying capacity what you need to do. or developing the right genetics for his herd, Kent Powell has certainly For Kent, Holistic Management introduces a framework for decisionused the Holistic Management framework to his advantage as he grows making. “This framework fills the gaps and problems created by isolating his business and his family on the Powell Ranch. the various aspects of business and management decision-making that

Creating Connection with the Land continued from page twelve

Joel Salatin is doing. He is running hogs the way my grandparents did.

There’s nothing new or innovative about it. It’s simply a matter of fencing a few traps in the woods, and moving the hogs through those.

When I do feed them, I don’t use GMO grains. Many farmers around me have already shifted back to growing non-GMO grains because they were not getting better yields with those. Today there is a 10 to 20% premium for non-GMO corn and the yields are just as good,” he says.

“We feed some corn to the hogs but they also live in the woods.

The red wattle hogs came from the woods in east Texas and they know how to take care of themselves. There’s a lot of food for them in the hollows here in Tennessee and acorns in the fall. On our farm the hogs are a part of the whole,” says McCormick.

Flexible Management

While some cattle work is done on horseback, with mob grazing McCormick doesn’t really need horses. However, he has a passion for quarter horses, so he uses them when he can moving the cattle from one ranch to another.

“I buy and trade cows on a regular basis, rather than buying calves. I’d rather sell calves than buy them, with today’s prices. So I buy a lot of cows, turn them out on that place, then gather and group

them and resort them and resell them,” says McCormick.

“In our mob grazing we move the cattle on a flexible basis— sometimes once a day, sometimes 3 times a day. It depends on the day and the time, and the work we need to do. If I need to pull the whole crew and go do something, we may just open up the pasture and let the cattle have what’s enclosed in the permanent fences that have been there for 40 years—and let them have the whole pasture for a couple days so we can go do some work somewhere.

“We are all programmed to want to operate a certain way, from a book of rules. It takes some time to wean yourself off that. The whole idea of normal is ridiculous. There is no such thing. So we manage our cattle with flexibility, and the free-choice minerals are a big part of it. We have a lot of deer (our county has the biggest deer population in the state of Tennessee), and the deer love the mineral we put out of the cattle. We lease out hunting rights on some of our places. I don’t hunt anymore. I grew up hunting but now I get all the meat I want from the hunters who want the horns but not the meat,” he says.

“I love the livestock business and I believe there is a great future for mob grazing and Holistic Management, and a great future in bringing the focus back to watching the cows. They will tell you what they really need. A lot of people think animals are dumb, but a cow never wakes up in the morning confused about she is or what she is going to do and humans do that every day. I’m not sure who is farther along on the evolutionary curve! Animals have never separated themselves out from nature, and we have, and we’re paying a big price for it,” he says.

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people programs projects

New Program Manager at HMI

HMI is excited to announce our new Program Manager, Kathy Harris. Kathy comes to HMI from Texas, where she has been involved with the Beginning Women Farmer we build out our strategic plan for the next 5 Program as a mentor and Certified Educator years. Over 300 people responded to this survey and we would like to thank all those who trainee for the past few years. She is passionate about learning and has seen firsttook the time to respond. Here are some of the hand the difference Holistic Management can key findings from the survey. make in people’s lives, so she is very excited If you would like to read more about about the opportunity to make a greater impact he survey go to: by being a part of the HMI staff. http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/hmiHaving grown up mostly in different cities community-survey-results/ across Texas, Kathy’s main connection with the land was time spent on her In what areas can HMI improve? % grandmother’s ranch in west Texas, and Creating mentorship/internship programs 33% a lot of time picking beans and okra in Integration of Holistic Management with the home backyard garden. After a other tools/techniques 29% college education and first career in technical communication and training, More collaboration/connection with other she took a break from the business organizations 23% world to start a family.

Collaboration with universities 22% Then, a series of family injury and Broaden outreach 22% losses spurred a more intense interest More ways to learn about Holistic Management 22% in health and nutrition.

Concurrent with her introduction to Grazing Planning Curriculum 20% Holistic Management in the late 1990s, Focus on wildlife and animal impact 17% Kathy became involved with the Technology and apps 19% Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), a

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

HMI Community Survey Results

As part of HMI’s 30th Anniversary, HMI initiated a community-wide survey at our 30th Anniversary Rendezvous and online. Both HMI’s Board and Staff felt it was important to hear from our community to help HMI better determine the direction we should be taking as What are HMI’s greatest strengths?

The Holistic Management Process

The documented results people have achieved with Holistic Management

Education and Training Curriculum Field Days and Open Gates

%

57% 48%

32%

27%

Availability of free materials

25%

IN PRACTICE journal

17%

Educational Programs

25%

Providing outreach about Holistic Management

16%

Great community

10%

Online Courses

14%

From the Executive Director HMI Strategic Direction

s we head into 2015, taking time to reflect on where HMI has come from, and the exciting direction we’re heading in, is important. HMI just completed our 30th Anniversary last year, which is a notable accomplishment. We thank the trailblazers who have led the way and have created today’s environment in which Holistic Management is often and proudly cited by recognized producers and land stewards as a key to their success. This is an indicator of the broadening acceptance of Holistic Management. Nonetheless, HMI has a lot to do to further support individual farmers and ranchers, and our Certified Educator network that provides resources to land managers.

Recently, as part of HMI’s 30th Anniversary, we conducted a community-wide learning session through both in-person discussions at last November’s Rendezvous meeting, and by online survey [see related article on page 17]. With over 300 people responding to the survey, the results are a valuable tool that is already shaping the future of HMI. For example, responders told us they want HMI to do more things like facilitate an internship program, collaborate with other like-minded organizations, broaden our outreach and efforts to educate the general public about Holistic Management, include wildlife and conservation more prominently in our focus, and stay

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16 IN PRACTICE

March / April 2015

focused on our current educational programming. HMI has listened to the feedback and is already starting to work on some of these items as we strategically set the direction of the future.

A key message that HMI has received is that we must keep doing the good things we’re already doing, but we must, in the spirit of continuous improvement, create additional value toward helping people learn and practice Holistic Management. HMI’s mission to educate people to manage land for a sustainable future is critically important and drives all HMI does. Fine tuning our strategic direction by applying the principles of Holistic Management allows us to better achieve that mission, and is something we strive to do every day.

Thank you to all those who engaged with us during the strategic learning process and the community-wide survey. As an organization we are dedicated to continuous improvement and to supporting the Certified Educators and Holistic Management practitioners who are at the core of what this organization is about.

In the future you can expect to see even greater collaboration, exciting improvement and expansion of our curriculum, and a broadening of our reach. The need for Holistic Management is greater now than ever, and HMI is well positioned to deliver on our mission. We invite people everywhere to connect or reconnect and to work with us to expand the practice of Holistic Management.

—Bryan Weech

Kathy Harris

non-profit organization dedicated to education about traditional foods and nutrition, and she started the first chapter in Texas. With the guidance of a personal holistic goal and new knowledge about traditional foods, she transitioned her family from the suburbs to a small homestead, and was soon raising dairy, eggs, poultry, beef, vegetables, and fruits to

support the health and education of family and friends. Through involvement with Holistic Management in Texas and the WAPF for the past 15 years, she has worked to support small farmers by connecting them with consumers interested in sustainable, grass-based farming and nutrient dense foods.

After successfully completing the schooling of her two daughters, she left her homestead just outside McKinney to manage the start-up of a 250-acre grass-based ranch in North Central Texas. There, she developed the infrastructure for intensive, multi-species grazing of beef cattle, hair sheep, pastured layers and broilers, a small herd of dairy goats and cows, and a native pecan orchard. With that task completed, HMI tapped Kathy to become the new program manager we needed to provide increased capacity here at HMI headquarters as we continue to grow our programming.

Welcome, Kathy!

2014 Conservation Award Recipient

Sand County Foundation, the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association and the South Dakota Grassland Coalition announced that Rock Hills Ranch is the recipient of the 2014 Leopold Conservation Award. The award honors

South Dakota landowner achievement in voluntary stewardship and management of natural resources.

Rock Hills Ranch of Lowry is owned and operated by Lyle and Garnet Perman along with their son Luke and his wife Naomi. The Permans raise crops and Angus cattle, and manage 7,500 acres, most of it grassland, using a holistic approach to managing their land, livestock, wildlife and cultural resources.

“Our goal is not to sustain what we have, but to regenerate (the native grassland) to what it was,” Lyle Perman said.

The Permans have focused on creating conditions for good water infiltration on the ranch using planned grazing, no-till practices and cover crops. “Our number one goal is not to let a drop of water leave the ranch,” Perman said.

The Leopold Conservation Award is presented in honor of renowned conservationist and author Aldo Leopold, who called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage. Award applicants are judged based on their demonstration of improved resource conditions, innovation, longterm commitment to stewardship, sustained economic viability, community and civic leadership, and multiple use benefits.

Congratulations to the Permans!

From the Board Chair

BY KELLY SIDORYK

t a recent grazing conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a session given by Certified Educator, Josh Dukart from South Dakota. Josh presented the Golden Circle concept developed by Simon Sinek. It is composed of three circles with the inner circle being “why,” the middle circle is “how,” and the outer circle is the “what.” Sinek proposes that most organizations work from the outside in, but that great or inspired organizations start with the why, the inner circle. He has gone on to develop a program based on these principles.

As Josh presented, it struck me this is what Holistic Management does. In fact, in one clip, Sinek uses the phrase “your true north” which is the same phrase we use to explain the holistic goal—one of the key tools in Holistic Management. We start with the values-based holistic goal, the “why” that drives our actions. In my mind, this is one of the strengths of Holistic Management, and also one of the challenges, as it is the hardest to define and describe. When people have gone through the goalsetting process and defined their values, they usually experience a major learning. But, this learning is not always easy to express in a few sentences.

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The Golden Circle As we at HMI continue to learn as an organization and provide learning opportunities for others, it is important to keep the importance of why and our holistic goal in mind as we embark on the next 30 years and the decisions that will move us toward our mission.

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IN PRACTICE 17

DEVELOPMENT CORNER 2014 Beginning Women Farmer Report

The Growing Successful Transitions with Beginning Women Farmer Programs in the Northeast and Texas began in September 2012 and will run through August 2015. This program was primarily funded by the USDA/NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (Award # 2012-49400-19673), along with significant contributions from Farm Aid and Clif Bar Family Foundation. In 2014, 127 participants were accepted into the program and 98 graduated (77%) by participating in 70% or more of the trainings.

Our collaborating partners and state coordinators were: Devon Whitney-Deal and Kristen Wilmer of Massachusetts’s Community State Involved in Supporting Agriculture; Jessie Schmidt of University of Vermont Extension; Kate Kerman of Texas Small and Beginner Farmers of New Hampshire; Sarah Williford of Central Maine New York RC&D; Sherry Simpson New York and Deb Legge of Connecticut Massachusetts Northeast Organic Farming New Hampshire Association; Gail Chase of Women in Vermont Agriculture Network Maine; and Peggy Cole of HMI in Texas. There Connecticut were 19 mentors and a pool of 15 Average % instructors.

At the end of each of the 10 sessions (6-8 hours in length) 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 five to nine month period. 94 women completed that survey for a 74% response rate.

Program Outcomes

As evidenced in the data below, the average level of participant satisfaction of the program was 91% (84-97% spread). There was a total of 43,403 acres under management by participants and they were providing products to over 3,085 customers in their respective states. All participants had been farming less than ten years with a state average ranging from 2-5 years. 91% of participants are either farm owners or farm workers.

Both program goals (getting 50% of participants to experience knowledge change and behavior change) were met.The last program goal was 25% of participants experiencing some outcome of improved management as a result of the training.

Based on surveys, and depending on the state, an average of 68% of participants experienced improved satisfaction in their quality of life and 91% improved their ability to make complex decisions, 94% to determine needed profit, 87% to manage time, and 97% to communicate. Additional outcomes were also measured with top common outcomes noted below, all of which fell above the goal of 25% of participants experiencing outcome changes. HMI thanks USDA/NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program for their funding of this program.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

Whole Farm Goal

BWF 2014 Behavior Change

(% of participants completing draft or plan or taking action) Financial Plan

Business Plan

Market Plan

Land Plan

Grazing Plan

100

100

17

86

0

50

86

100

100

83

72

89

89

78

72

93

100

100

100

88

97

89

89

88

92

63

86

67

88

92

86

96

96

67

100

100

88

75

75

38

100

67

92

54

63

73

Session

82

61

96

100

75

100

25

56

88

67

100

50

81

100

68

2014 Knowledge Change TX

NY

VT

Decision Testing

100

Overview

Goalsetting

Time Management & Financial Planning Market Planning

93

ME

100

CT

93

93

100

100

100

100

100

100

Business Planning

100

Communication

100

Leadership &

94

94

100 92

78

95

NM

100

MA

80

75

89

85

100

100

100

89

93

100

100

89

100

100

100

100

88

100

100

91

100

100

100

63

100

100

100

100

100

100

Soil Fertility

100

100

100

83

80

100

100

91

100

90

100

Land Planning

Grazing Planning

March / April 2015

86

Average % of participants experiencing knowledge change for each session

Enterprise Analysis

18 IN PRACTICE

89

Bio Forged New Monitoring Relationships

100

90

95

95

71

100

75

83

100

100

Topic

Top Post-Program Satisfaction with Outcome Changes Experienced CT

MA

TX

NH

VT

ME

NY

Av.

71%

83%

96%

75%

92%

100%

89%

87%

88%

89%

96%

88%

100% 100% 100% 94%

88%

88%

96%

88%

100% 100%

78%

91%

with Quality of Life

57%

22%

93%

63%

69%

83%

89%

68%

with Communication

71%

56%

93%

75%

85%

100% 100% 97%

Increased Satisfaction

with Time Management

Increased Satisfaction

with Ability to Determine Needed Profit

Increased Satisfaction with Ability to Make

Complex Decisions

Increased Satisfaction Increased Satisfaction

WSARE Financial Planning Course

HMI completed our fifth online course as part of our Whole Farm/Ranch Planning Program for Agricultural Educators funded by The Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE) Professional Development Program. The Financial Planning course began in October 2014 with 32 participants from 11 different states.

This course provided key financial principles to help facilitate conversations with producers about how to work on their business, not just in their business. Participants learned a simple approach to financial planning that helps producers understand the big picture view as well as make critical production decisions based on a clear sense of cost of production for different enterprises. The participants developed a financial plan and learned to identify ways to implement and monitor that plan so they can better help producers do the same. The participants are excited to share their knowledge about key economic analysis tools for improved financial decisions for both annual budgets and for long-term investment with producers.

After surveying the participants in the WSARE Financial Planning course, a high number of participants experienced knowledge and behavior changes as noted below.

HMI thanks WSARE for their funding of this program.

WSARE Financial Planning Evaluation Results Knowledge/Behavior and Confidence Increase How to increase your farm’s net worth Determining your farm’s projected revenue Identifying logjams and adverse factors on your farm Delineating your farm’s expenses into categories Assessing the cash flow of your plan Your skills in developing a whole farm financial plan Getting the profit you need from your farm Prioritizing and cutting farm expenses to guide reinvestment in your farm Monitoring your financial plan Behavior Change: Increased confidence in ability to determine your farm’s net worth Increased confidence in ability to determine your farm’s projected revenue Increased confidence in ability to determine the weak link in your farm’s enterprises Increased ability to identifying cash forecast issues on your farm Increased ability to monitoring your farm financial plan Increased confidence in ability to determine viable profitable enterprises Overall Satisfaction of the course

% Increase 88% 88% 88% 88% 88% 100% 100% 100% 100% % of Participants 88% 88% 88% 88% 88% 100% 88%

What the Participants Said:

“The most useful parts of the course were identifying logjams and adverse factors, I LOVE planned profit and the way it changes how I think, cash flow, figuring out how to make planned profit happen.”

“How to integrate individual enterprises into the overall financial plan were the most useful, including how to pull out the weak link expenses and place them in the high priority column. Calculating how net worth would be impacted by the plan was a new concept.”

“I think the planning tools were very valuable - it is helpful to put these in to practice for personal finances before advocating them to customers!”

Featured Participant

Rhoby Cook, District Coordinator Klamath Trinity RC&D, Hoopa, California

Rhoby uses portable electro-mesh fencing to manage grazing on her permanent pasture. The flock are Romeldale/CVM, a California heritage breed.

“Through what I learned in the Grazing Planning course, I was able to manage through last summer’s drought without ruining the pasture. Even though I didn’t irrigate past the end of June for fear of our dual-use well (household & irrigation) running dry, the field stayed green all summer. It didn’t grow very much, but it stayed green until thankfully, rain came at the end of September, and I was able to begin grazing again in the early fall with the rapid re-growth. I used the testing questions to help make the decision to purchase hay rather than reduce the flock, a little pricey, but it was a decision I was comfortable with.

“As for Holistic Management, the first year my husband and I took the financial planning course, we were able to re-purpose about a third of our income and pay off all of our consumer debt. During the years after that we focused on paying off our mortgage five years early and building up a savings account. Holistic Financial Planning made that possible for us to accomplish.”

Number 160

IN PRACTICE 19

Certified

Educators

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.

Tim McGaffic

MISSISSIPPI

Sullivan *610Preston Ed Sullivan Lane NE, Meadville, MS 39653

P.O. Box 1903, Cave Creek, AZ 85331 808/936-5749 • tim@timmcgaffic.com

Lee Altier

prestons@telepak.net 601/384-5310 (h) • 601/835-6124 (c)

CALIFORNIA

College of Agriculture, CSU 400 West First St., Chico, CA 95929-0310 laltier@csuchico.edu • 530/636-2525

Owen Hablutzel

4235 W. 63rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90043 310/567-6862 • go2owen@gmail.com

Richard King

Poppy Hill Farm, 1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 rking1675@gmail.com • 707/217-2308 (c)

Mulville *P.O.Kelly Box 23, Paicines, CA 95043

707/431-8060 • kmulville@gmail.com

Don Nelson

*11728 Shafer Ave.

Red Bluff, CA 96080-8994 208/301-5066 • nelson-don1@hotmail.com

Rob Rutherford

4757 Bridgecreek Rd., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 805/544-5781 (h) • 805/550-4858 (c) robtrutherford@gmail.com

These associate educators provide educational services to their communities and peer groups.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Kate Kerman

*350 Troy Road, Marlborough, NH 03455

603-876-4562 • 603/209-0946 (c) kkerman@phoenixfarm.org

Seth Wilner

U N I T E D S TAT E S ARIZONA

*

Roland Kroos

MONTANA

4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 • 406/581-3038 (c) kroosing@msn.com

Cliff Montagne *Montana State University

1105 S. Tracy Bozeman, MT 59715 406/599-7755 (c) • montagne@montana.edu

NEBRASKA Paul Swanson

5155 West 12th St., Hastings, NE 68901 402/463-8507 • 402/705-1241 (c) swanson5155@windstream.net

Ralph Tate

1109 Timber Dr., Papillion, NE 68046 402/932-3405 • 402/250-8981 (c) Tater2d2@cox.net

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.

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

Ann Adams

Holistic Management International 5941 Jefferson St. NE, Suite B Albuquerque, NM 87109 • 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org

Kirk Gadzia

P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/263-8677 (c) • kirk@rmsgadzia.com

Katie Miller

22755 E. Garrett Rd., Calhan, CO 80808-9170 970/310-0852 • heritagebellefarms@gmail.com

IOWA

Torray & Erin Wilson

*4375 Pierce Ave., Paullina, IA 51046-7401 712/448-3870 • wilsonee3@gmail.com

MAINE

Vivianne Holmes

239 E Buckfield Rd., Buckfield, ME 04220-4209 207/336-2484 • vholmes@maine.edu

Larry Dyer

MICHIGAN

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 (h) • 61 04087 404 431 (c) brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au

CANADA

Ralph Corcoran

*3421 Cedar Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55407 20 IN PRACTICE

Graeme Hand

Box 817 Meadow Lake, SK S0X 1Y6 306/236-6088 • 320/240-7660 (c) doncampbell@sasktel.net

MINNESOTA

913/707-7723 (c) treadearthintometaphor@gmail.com

“Glen Orton” 3843 Warialda Rd. Coolatai, NSW 2402 +61 409 151 969 (c) • judi_earl@bigpond.com

Don Campbell

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

Mae Rose Petrehn

Judi Earl

AUSTRALIA

Box 36, Langbank, SK S0G 2X0 306/532-4778 • rlcorcoran@sasktel.net

Guichon *BoxAllison 10, Quilchena, BC V0E 2R0

250/378-9734 • allisonguichon@gmail.com

March / April 2015

SOUTH DAKOTA Randal Holmquist

*4870 Cliff Drive, Rapid City, SD 57702 605/730-0550 • randy@zhvalley.com

Lisa Bellows

TEXAS

*North Central Texas College

1525 W. California St., Gainesville, TX 76240-4636 940/736-3996 (c) • 940/668-7731 ext. 4346 (o) lbellows@nctc.edu

Guy Glosson

6717 Hwy. 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554 • glosson@caprock-spur.com

Peggy Maddox

9460 East FM 1606, Hermleigh, TX 79526 325/226-3042 (c) • westgift@hughes.net

Peggy Sechrist

1033 N. Gabaldon Rd., Belen, NM 87002 541/610-7084 • goebel@aboutlistening.com

106 Thunderbird Ranch Road Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/456-5587 (c) • peggysechrist@gmail.com

NEW YORK Craig Leggett

VERMONT Calley Hastings

6143 SR 9, Chestertown, NY 12817 518/494-2324 (h) • 970/946-1771 (c) craigrleggett@gmail.com

Erica Frenay *Shelterbelt Farm

200 Creamery Rd., Brooktondale, NY 14817 607/539-1179 (h) • 604/342-3771 (c) info@shelterbeltfarm.com

Elizabeth Marks

1024 State Rt. 66, Ghent, NY 12075 518/828-4385 x107 (w) • 518/567-9476 (c) Elizabeth.marks@ny.usda.gov

Phillip Metzger

120 Thompson Creek Rd., Norwich, NY 13815 607/316-4182 • pmetzger17@gmail.com

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

17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 • 970/739-2445 (c) wnc@gobrainstorm.net

2539 Clover Place, Bismarck, ND 58503 701/870-1184 • Joshua_dukart@yahoo.com

Jeff Goebel

COLORADO

Cindy Dvergsten

NEW MEXICO

NORTH DAKOTA Joshua Dukart

Blain Hjertaas

Box 760, Redvers, Saskatchewan SOC 2HO 306/452-3882 bhjer@sasktel.net

Brian Luce

787 Kibbee Rd., Brookfield, VT 05036 802/279-3893 • Calley.hastings@gmail.com

WASHINGTON Sandra Matheson

*228 E. Smith Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226 360/220-5103 • 360/398-7866 (h) info@mathesonfarms.com

WISCONSIN Laura Paine

Southwest Badger Resource Conservation & Development Council N893 Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925 608/732-1202 (w) • 920/623-4407 (h) 608/338-9039 (c) • lkpaine@gmail.com

*

Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii

P.O. Box 23319, Windhoek 9000 264-812840426 (c) • 264-61-244028 (h) kandjiiu@gmail.com

NEW ZEALAND

John King

RR #4, Ponoka, AB T4J 1R4 403/783-6518 • lucends@cciwireless.ca

*P.O. Box 12011, Beckenham

Pigott *BoxLen 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO

SOUTH AFRICA Wayne Knight

Tony McQuail

86016 Creek Line, RR#1, Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 519/528-2493 • mcqufarm@hurontel.on.ca 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

ICRAF Box 30677, Nairobi 00100 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@afol.com.na

Christchurch 8242 64-276-737-885 • john@succession.co.nz Solar Addicts, P.O. Box 537, Mokopane, 0600 South Africa 27-0-15-491-5286 +27 87 5500 255 (h) • +27 82 805 3274 (c) wayne@theknights.za.net

Sheldon Barnes

P.O. Box 300, Kimberley 8300 +27 82 948 2585 (c); +27 866 369 362 (f) barnesfarm@mweb.co.za

Ian Mitchell-Innes

P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte, KZN 2900 blanerne@mweb.co.za • 001-83-262-9030 (c)

UNITED KINGDOM Philip Bubb

32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496-2925 (h) • +44 7837 405483 (w) pjbubb99@gmail.com

*

Book Review

by ANN ADAMS

Defending Beef—The Case for Sustainable Meat Production The Manifesto of an Environmental Lawyer and Vegetarian Turned Cattle Rancher

by NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN • Chelsea Green Publishing • 2014

or those of you who have made a conscious decision to eat or raise sustainably produced grassfed beef, Defending Beef is a book that you can use to help educate others as to why that decision is good for the planet. I’ve read numerous articles and books about the impact of raising beef on the planet or on human health, but this book brings all the critical information into one place. Additionally, this book explains how the negative attitudes towards beef as a food and on cattle as a livestock came to pass. In turn, those stories make you realize just how much journalism, pseudo-science, political agendas, and corporate lobbying can influence such critical areas of our lives like our food system. The book is filled with surprising statistics that refute just about every negative statistic you have heard about the cattle industry at large.

For me, the interesting part of Niman’s story is how she served as senior attorney for the Waterkeeper Alliance, running their campaign to reform concentrated production of livestock and poultry, so she’s done some due diligence on the negative impact that kind of production can cause. She then married Bill Niman, a rancher, and began to explore the value and importance of grassfed livestock. While this may seem

F

like old news to some of us, there are still lots of people out there arguing that concentrated livestock production is the better route to go to make the most of agricultural lands and therefore we should be eating more pork and chicken.

Niman takes this argument to task and she points out how cattle can be used to improve soil health, sequestering carbon and methane so that more climate changing gases are stored in the soil. Likewise, grassfed beef can improve the land base that could not be farmed/ cropped and can increase biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and restore grasslands that have been taken over by invasive weeds and shrubs.

While reading Defending Beef can be frustrating at times because the focus is only on cattle, the benefits of all grassfed livestock for both the planet and human health are transferable. Perhaps one of the most interesting statistics for me was how little beef is actually imported into the US from other countries (16%). This was good news for me in that we are actually raising most of our own beef. That means there is more opportunity to create change within this system domestically. As always, the key to that change is an informed consumer base who is actually choosing healthy beef instead of heavily processed food that are being sold as healthy because they are vegetable-based food.

If we ultimately want our food choices to help us be healthy, regenerate the landscape, and provide economic opportunity for those involved in the raising of those animals, then we need to know the truth about that food and the difference that management can make.

Defending Beef gives you the full story behind sustainably raised beef and allows the reader to not be pulled off course by the sound bites we are surrounded with in the mainstream media.

THE MARKETPLACE

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E R U T S A P E S N E D NUTRIENT-

How many animals truly receive feed that has been grown with correct nutrients added to the soil?

95+% of all pasture and hay soils we test do not have the fertility required to provide the animals that eat it with even close to good nutrition. What about yours?

You can only manage what you correctly measure. Soil test as soon as conditions permit to add lime or other needed nutrients for pasture and hay crops.

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 • info@kinseyag.com

Soil test as soon as conditions permit to add lime or other needed nutrients for pasture and hay crops.

Number 160

IN PRACTICE 21

THE MARKETPLACE

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CORRAL DESIGNS

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Healthy Land, Sustainable Future

How can RMS, LLC help you?

On-Site Consulting: All aspects of holistic management, including financial, ecological and human resources.

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

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

Land Health Monitoring: Biological monitoring of rangeland and riparian ecosystem health.

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

22 IN PRACTICE

March / April 2015

Create the Farm or Ranch of Your Dreams

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

Now you can learn Holistic ManagementÂŽ Whole Farm/Ranch Planning from anywhere in the world. Enroll in any or all of our 6-week interactive Getting Started Online Learning Series Courses. $199 each. Scholarships available.

FSA borrower training approved in many states

2015 Schedule

Holistic Grazing Planning

March 2

Introduction to Holistic Management Whole Farm/ Ranch Planning March 19

Holistic Financial Planning

May 4

To learn more and register go to: holisticmanagement.org/trainingprograms/getting-started/

THE MARKETPLACE

Restoration Agriculture

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MARK SHEPARD Restoraation Agriculturee explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate natture in fo orm and fu unction while still providing fo or our fo ood, building, fu uel and many other needs — in your own backyyard, farm or ranch.

Book & DVD Combo #S-7170 $45.00

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SAVE $15!

NEW FEATURES INCLUDE:

List yourself on HMI’s website as a Holistic Management practitioner!

You must be willing to answer questions about your Holistic Management practices via the contact information you provide (email or phone).

Contact Sandy Langelier at:

sandyl@holisticmanagement.org

Order online www.acresusa.com or call toll-free 1-800-355-5313

HMI GRAZING PLANNING SOFTWARE UPGRADE

• Ready to connect and share with others about Holistic Management?

• Do you have products and services you would like to have others know about?

to get your listing on the HMI website.

To learn more about HMI’s Community Map go to: http://holisticmanagement.org/directory/

The HMI Grazing Planning Software is an electronic version of the Holistic Management Grazing Plan and Control Chart.

This software tool does all the grazing planning calculations for as many as 100 paddocks.

• Easy calculations to determine SAUs • Auto-fill functions for closed plan eady given “This tool has alr urn beyond • Account for multiple herds us a many fold ret ent and we tm es inv l tia ini r ou • Added ability to identify exclusion to use it.” n gu be t jus have periods and paddocks needing — Arnold Mattson, nch, rvices Bra special attention Agri-Environment Se nada e and Agri-Food Ca ltur ricu Ag • Compares estimated SAUs with planned peak SAUs • Grazing Manual hyperlink TO LEARN MORE OR references for each step for TO ORDER CALL: ease of reference HMI at 505/842-5252 or go to our online store at • New Livestock and Land www.holisticmanagement.org/store/ Performance worksheet

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At Home with Holistic Management

As a Holistic Management Certified Educator, mediator, and mother, Ann Adams has created a workbook that helps individuals and families easily understand Holistic Management and put it into practice.

To order call 505/842-5252 or visit www.holisticmanagement.org

Number 160

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

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___ Back Issues Collection CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 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.

Books and Multimedia

■

■

___ Grazing Planning Software (single-user license) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100 ___ Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . electronic $30, hardcopy $45

Pocket Cards

___ Holistic Management® Framework and Testing Questions, March 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4

Planning and Monitoring Guides

___ Introduction to Holistic Management, August 2012, 128 pages . . . . $25

___ 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:

Software

___ Holistic Financial Planning, August 2012, 58 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17

___ 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

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