#164, In Practice, November/December 2015

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2015

NUMBER 164

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

Good Systems Make Good Businesses—

~ INSIDE THIS ISSUE ~

Healthy Soils

How Clear Communication and Systems Build Trust

BY ANN ADAMS

ne of the graphics we use in our leadership and communication module at HMI is known as the Gibbs Triangle. As you can see in the graphic, the idea is that if you have a strong foundation of trust and respect you can then have better communication and sharing of knowledge which results in more getting done with less control because people are able to give up their personal agendas for the greater good of the organization. This triangle with the strong foundation is the basis for a stable organization and operation.

O

FEATURE STORIES

The Gibbs Triangle is helpful for anyone trying to manage people because it helps explain the key concerns of any group of people in any social setting (including a family business). Those concerns are: 1) Acceptance (Who am I in this group? What will it cost?

Is membership in this group important to me?)

2) Information Flow (How do we communicate and make decisions?)

3)Goal Formation (What are we here for? What can we do together?)

4)Control (How are we accomplishing our goals? What procedures do we use?)

If you think just because you are a family that the family members don’t have those concerns, you may be in for a rude awakening, especially as children grow and become adults. These questions are critical to answer regardless of what group you are involved in or managing.

Healthy soil, food, and finances can go hand in hand in a holistically managed business. The Permans manage the Rock Hills Ranch and won the 2014 Leopold Conservation Award for their efforts.

To learn more about their operation and what they have been able to achieve on the land, go to page 8.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

DON CAMPBELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Appreciation Comes before Depreciation in the Cow Business

WALLY OLSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Growing Healthy Food and the Next Generation of Farmers— Little Seed Garden

Beginning Women Farmer Profile— Boxcar Farm and Garden

LEAH GIBSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

News & Network

Trust and the Holistic Goal

The holistic goal is used as a tool to build that trust and respect and has helped many farm and ranch families work through some of the issues of control by the “senior” management on those operations. I remember in particular how Don Campbell shared with me that he was one of those dads who was highly critical and wanted everything done a certain way. After his training in Holistic Management, he realized that what he was doing was creating an unsustainable operation. He went back to his family and changed his behavior knowing it was the most important thing he could do for his family. Using the Holistic Management process, Don and his family have been able to create a

Profit versus Production in the Cattle Business

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

Land & Livestock

If you start out with one person with a lot of control then the triangle and organization is likely to be unstable because trust is never established and there is little effort to develop it because the focus is on control and not trust. The result is reduced ownership, effectiveness, and productivity.

In looking at this issue of control vs. management it is helpful to look at the meaning of those words. After all, Holistic Management is about “management.” To manage is to cause or to affect or to take care of. To control is to dominate, rule over, restrain, or govern. It may be a subtle distinction, but again the focus of Holistic Management is to manage toward what you want rather than to control what you don’t want. It is a distinction that can confuse the beginning student of Holistic Management, but is the profound paradigm shift that makes so many people better able to create the lives they do want.

Rock Hills Ranch— Land Stewardship and Holistic Management

HEATHER SMITH THOMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Misty Hills Charolais— A Holistic Approach to Purebred Breeding

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

Glendale Farm— Farming Holistically in Tennessee

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

Reader’s Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

From the Board Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Development Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

How Clear Communication and Systems Build Trust continued from page one

In Practice a publication of Holistic Management International

Holistic Management International exists to educate people to manage land for a sustainable future.

STAFF

Ann Adams. . . . . . . . Executive Director Kelly Curtis. . . . . . . . Financial Director Sandy Langelier. . . . Director, Communications and Outreach

Peggy Cole . . . . . . . . Program Manager, Texas Kathy Harris . . . . . . . Program Manager

Mary Girsch-Bock . . Development Manager Carrie Stearns . . . . . Communications & Outreach Manager

Valerie Grubbs . . . . . Accountant / Customer Service Assistant Julie Fierro . . . . . . . . Education Manager

Stephanie Von Ancken . . . . . . Programs / Office Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kelly Sidoryk, Chair

Ben Bartlett Laura Gill Clint Josey Walter Lynn Jim Parker

Kevin Boyer Guy Glosson Wayne Knight Danny Nuckols Jim Shelton

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT In Practice (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by:

better ranch, one where there are 3 ranching families as his 2 sons have been able to take over the management of the ranching operation and there is a clear succession plan in place.

In this way the holistic goal is an incredible tool to articulate the key values of a given family or business. Part of the holistic goal is to identify the key behaviors and systems necessary to create the quality of life articulated in the holistic goal as well. I think this piece of the holistic goal can really help people begin to make the systems and processes necessary to move any business from the “mom and pop” beginning stage to the next level of succession and sustainability.

The bottom line is that the more time you take to build trust, acceptance, and respect, the more stable the organization is. I have found that trust comes from setting clear expectations and creating structures and systems that give people as much opportunity to succeed as possible. The people involved in the implementation of management decisions know what they are responsible for and the systems for measuring and monitoring outcomes are in place.

Likewise, ideally everyone understands the decision making process—who makes which decisions and when and where input is encouraged. Again, these can be very simple systems. For example, Graeme Hand talks about how he set up basic monitoring systems so that his young son could go out and check on the cattle and pasture conditions and could report numerically the condition of the forage (post and pre-graze) as well as rumen fill and dung condition. He knew immediately over the phone what was going on from that report and could provide additional assistance if needed. I would say that is an example of a great system for communication and management as well as profound trust and acceptance which leads to increased productivity and resilience.

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2 IN PRACTICE

November / December 2015

The better able you are to build trust and develop good communication, the better the flow of critical information and the better use of time resulting in better outcomes. Think of the “Speed of Trust” concept. Lack of trust results in a huge loss in financial, natural, and human resources. The less trust, the greater need for control and micro-management which results in more inefficiencies. If we manage for what we want, we need to think about whether we want more control or better utilization of resources and the desired outcomes and results?

Alignment and Productivity

I have found the Productivity Pyramid is also helpful in explaining how those systems, policies, strategies, plans, and implementation all fit together in the context of Holistic Management.

As you can see in the graphic below, the need for all planning and key decisions about an organization or business must be made from that foundation of the holistic goal. The values, systems, and vision are the foundation for each decision moving forward. It should provide the alignment necessary to design the appropriate systems and processes to move you toward your holistic goal and shape and articulate the expectations for each person on the management team so they can better manage toward the desired results. In other words, because the holistic goal is the foundation of all management decisions, then the systems developed to support it would ideally develop the trust within the business. This high level of trust then results in a good flow of communication and formation of the strategies, tactics, and objectives of the business reducing the need for control and encouraging effective management at all levels.

In this way the holistic goal should help provide the commitment and ownership of each CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Profit versus Production in the Cattle Business

BY DON CAMPBELL

here is a tendency in the cow-calf business to put production before profit. I don’t understand this tendency and certainly don’t agree with it. Profit is essential if you want to stay in business. It is important to analyze our individual businesses and structure them for profit. Some of the areas we might analyze are: cow size, time of calving and cow-calf versus cow-long yearling. A business structured for profit in these three areas is likely to produce a profit in the short term and sustainability in the long term.

The easiest place to see the production tendency is at your local auction market. It is interesting to watch people’s reaction when a fat dry cow, a big calf or a heavy yearling comes through. The comments are: “Wow,” and, “That one brought a lot of dollars.” What is never asked is: “Did that animal generate a profit?”

Today’s market is likely to lead to more emphasis on production. I think this would be an unfavorable outcome of our current situation. This is an ideal time to build profit into our businesses.

Let’s look at cow size and profit (Chart 1). For this example we will compare 3 cow sizes: 1,200-lb., 1,500-lb. and 1,800-lb. cows. We will graze the cows for 165 days. Our summer pasture will be our limiting factor. Consumption will be three% of body weight. We begin with enough grass for 100 head of 1,500-lb. cows and then determine how many 1,200-lb. and 1,800-lb. cows we can carry using the same total amount of grass.

T

Cow Weight 1,500 1,200 1,800

% BW 3% 3% 3%

CHART 1. COW SIZE Grass/cow Grass/cow lb.

Days lb.

45 165 7,425 36 165 5,940 54 165 8,910

Cows 100 125 83

T grass lb.

742,500 742,500 742,500

Chart 1 clearly shows that if we have enough grass for 100 head of 1,500-lb. cows we could carry 125 head of 1,200-lb. cows or 83 head of 1,800-lb. cows on the same grass. The choice is up to us.

Now let’s look at the number of calves produced and the income generated from these three herds. To compare the herds we will use a 90% weaning rate. We will wean at 170 days of age. For the 1,500-lb. cows we will use a birth weight of 90 lbs. and a daily gain of three lbs.

This will result in a weaning weight of 600 lbs. [(90 + (170 x 3)]. For the 1,200-lb. cows we will use a birth weight of 85 lbs. and a daily gain of 2.5 lbs. This will result in a weaning weight of 510 lbs. [(85 + (170 x 2.5)]. For the 1,800-lb. cows we will use a birth weight of 100 lbs. and a daily gain of 3.4 lbs. This will result in a weaning weight of 678 lbs. [(100 + (170 x 3.4)]. We will use the WLPIP (Western Livestock Price Insurance Program) settlement average price for October 2014 as a base price. Using this information a 600-lb. steer will sell for $2.76. I used Canfax average prices for October to determine the slide. The slide from 600 lbs. to 510 lbs. was $27. The 510-lb. steer will sell for $3.03 ($2.76 + $27). The slide from 600 lbs. to 678 lbs. was $16. The 678-lb. steer will sell for $2.60 ($2.76 – $16).

Chart 2 demonstrates that reducing our average cow weight from 1,500 lbs. to 1,200 lbs. will result in an extra 3,630 lbs. of beef produced. This is a 7 % increase in pounds of beef (3,630/54,000). This change will also result in a 17% increase in income of $25,579. All this is achieved using the exact same resources.

Cows 100 125 83

Wean % 90% 90% 90%

Calves 90 113 75

CHART 2.

Wean Beef Wt. lb.

600 54,000 510 57,630 678 50,850

Price $2.76 $3.03 $2.60

Income $149,040 $174,619 $132,210

CHART 3. CULL COW INCOME Cull # % Culls lb./Sale 10% 12.5 15,000 10% 10 15,000 10% 8.3 14,940

Price $1.10 $1.15 $1.20

Income $16,500 $17,250 $17,928

CHART 4. SUMMARY Cow Calf Income Income 1,200 1,200 1,500 1,500 1,800 1,800

Total Income 1,200 1,500 1,800

Change 1,200 1,500 1,800

This chart also shows that reducing our average cow weight from 1,800 lbs. to 1,200 lbs. will result in an extra 13 per cent or 6,780 lbs. of beef produced which results in a 32% increase in income of $42,409 from the same resources.

Increasing cow size from 1,500 lbs. to 1,800 lbs. has the exact opposite effect. Pounds of beef produced drops 6% by 3,150 lbs. with an 11% drop in income of $16,830.

Things look pretty clear at this point. The smaller cows make significantly more money. But wait, someone is bound to ask: “What about all the income from those big cull cows.” This is a valid point and needs to be considered. For this example we will cull 10 % of the cows each year. We have priced the 1,200-lb. cows at $1.10, the 1,500-lb. cows at $1.15 and the 1,800-lb. cows at $1.20.

Chart 3 shows that decreasing cow size reduces cull cow income slightly. The next chart shows the total income for calves and cull cows.

Cow Weight 1,200 1,500 1,800

Cows 125 100 83

Chart 4 shows that reducing cow size from 1,500 lbs. to 1,200 lbs. will result in a 15% increase in income while utilizing the same resources. Is there any other change you could make on your place that would increase income by this amount?

Cow Weight 1,200 1,500 1,800

Cows 1,200 1,500 1,800

Increasing cow size from 1,500 lbs. to 1,800 lbs. will result in a 10% reduction in income while utilizing the same resources.

I don’t think that there is any doubt: smaller cows make more money when all the factors are considered. What cow size might be most profitable for you is your decision. If for any reason you like big cows you should continue on. If you want to focus on profit, don’t rely on my numbers. Use your own numbers to determine what cow size might be most profitable on your place. I wish you success in building a profitable cow herd. Happy trails.

Don Campbell is a Holistic Management Certified Educator and ranches with his family at Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada and teaches Holistic Management courses. He can be reached doncampbell@sasktel.net or by phone at 306/236-6088. This article was first published by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Beef Magazine and is reprinted by permission of the author.

Number 164

IN PRACTICE 3

Appreciation Comes before Depreciation in the Cow Business

BY WALLY OLSON

here has been a lot of discussion about how cow depreciation is one of the biggest costs in the cow calf business. Yet cow depreciation and the amount of shrink when selling animals are two of the costs that could be mitigated if they were only tracked.

When I talk about tracking cow depreciation it involves knowing your inventory value so you will recognize when your inventory value begins to drop and depreciation sets in.

First let me give you some background to this thought process.

It dawned on me some time ago that to be able to have depreciation, you also have to have appreciation. If you look at the price of a cull cow and a weaned heifer calf they are the same. At the time I'm writing this, an 1,100pound cow sells for about $1,210 and a 500-pound weaned calf sells for about $1,205.

It is a change in the value of this heifer calf as she grows and matures where the appreciation comes in.

At the time I'm writing this, it is also true the longer you keep a weaned heifer calf the more valuable she is. Keep her to be a yearling, or bred heifer, and she just keeps moving up in value. If she starts giving you calves you can start collecting the calf dividend, too.

Then when she’s 5 or 6 years old she has reached her maximum appreciated value and given you all the calf dividends without a cost of depreciation. After that point, the calves she raises will have to cover the depreciation cost that’s incurred in her inventory value. That's because she begins to truly depreciate, or decline in value.

To take advantage of capturing appreciation we need to have some shifts in our paradigms— which are the mental maps we have fixed in our minds and which we use to make decisions.

T

Paradigm One

It costs too much to develop bred heifers.

We as an industry cannot stand an open cow. This is where the heifer development centers came to be. They had great success in getting heifers bred but at a huge cost. And the breed-up on the first-calf heifer was terrible.

One of the best profit centers that I was involved in was buying these open first-calf heifers and re-breeding them and either selling them or using them in my own cow herd.

By developing these heifers in sync with the 4 IN PRACTICE

nature you greatly cut your costs and also develop a heifer that matures earlier. By doing this you can rough heifers through the winter and take advantage of compensatory gain in the summer and have a very adequate-sized heifer to breed.

Then you turn the bulls in for a short time and you will have selected for your early maturing heifers that will breed. The ones that won’t breed can be sold as heavy feeder heifers.

This is where the rub within the industry comes: You could have from 30% to 60% open heifers. And let me tell you, as the open pen is

filling up and there’s a handful in the bred pen everyone around gets nervous. Everyone talks about selection but very few people do it.

I'll get on my soap box for a moment. What we have done in the cow business is made it so that the beef cow has quit working for us and now we work for her with all the inputs that we make available to her, or, in other words, enable her.

The fact is, my method of buying, raising and breeding heifers is where selection can be done at a reasonable cost. Those open heifers can be sold as feeder heifers or you can put a bull back with them and breed them. Then they have a chance to grow more and they’re just what everybody wants—a big, black, bred heifer. Oklahoma State University research shows that 50% of these heifers will be open again in their lifetime. This is where I have a problem with breeding heifers to calve as 3-

Welcome to Wally Olson’s pity party

I recently sold 95 bred fall-calving cows at Joplin, Missouri, on August 1. That same morning I delivered the weaned calves off of those cows.

The pity party: When I got the stockyards and went back and looked at the cows, they had just melted in the heat. And three of them that were supposed to be bred were open. I had decided to sell these just the Monday before the sale. So I was down in the pecking order as far as when they would sell.

As the sale started off I became very aware that my cows were not near black enough, near big enough and near fat enough to bring top price. There were many black heifers at 1,100 pounds bringing $2,800.

My heifers weighed about 885 pounds and brought $2,250. They were also selling a set of 1,400-pound cows, which just that morning the owner had weaned 700-pound calves off of them. That morning when I delivered, my calves only weighed 530 pounds.

At this point I was feeling very sorry for myself.

One of my stated ranch goals is "to run a profitable ranch.” Nothing I talked about up to this point tells me anything about whether I’m a profitable ranch.

If you divide both sets heifers by their price and weight you’ll find out that they both brought $2.54 a pound. So I guess I got paid for what my heifers were worth.

I do not know the costs of the 1,100-pound heifers, but I do know what mine cost me. It costs me a little under $400 per animal for a year of "carry" on the ranch. The value of each weaned heifer calf when I bought them was $1,300 plus the $400 in costs, and I have a heifer ready to calve for $1,700. Subtract $1,700 in costs from my $2,250 sale price. Next year I have the bred heifer ready to calve and $550 in cash.

Now, for the big weaning weights. The 700-pound steer calves were worth about $2.16 a pound, so that equals $1,572. My own 530-pound steers sold for $2.60 pound and were worth $1,378. That is $134 difference for 170 pounds. The value of those extra pounds, therefore the value of gain, is 78 cents per pound.

If you compare cow efficiencies, I should be able to run 1.32 cows on the same area that the 1,400-pound cows which produced the 700-pound calves were run on. When you multiply my 530-pound steers times 1.32 that equals 699.6 pounds at the same stocking rate as the big-cow operation.

Kit Pharo’s dad has said an acre will only produce so many pounds of beef. Kit pointed out in his last newsletter the very point that I just showed.

Considering stocking rate, and put on that comparative basis, the big calves produced $1,570 and the little calves produced $1,817.

Enough said.

No more pity party.

November / December 2015

year-olds. You have enabled later-maturing heifers to breed and now the ones that don’t breed are cows and sell at a discount compared to feeder heifers.

Paradigm Two

The problem of having too many open heifers when breeding them back for their second calf. Actually, however, this is more a problem of poor marketing and the lack of understanding of the markets than it is one of open heifers.

The open first-calf heifer that weighs 900 pounds is worth about $1,395 at the time I write this, and you’ve weaned a $1,300 calf off her. If she was on inventory for $2,700, you now have a pair that's worth $2,695. So you take away the $500 cost to carry her on grass from the $2,695 and you have a value of $2,195. That shows we’ve lost $505 on that open heifer.

Another way to look at it is we take that open heifer that is worth $1,395 put $300 additional cost to carry in her now we have a $2,700 bred 3-year-old cow. Now you can add value of the bred cow in the value of her calf

and take away the combined carry cost for that longer period. So that would be $2,700 + $1,300 - $800 = $3,200. I realize they will not all re-breed, but the fact that we’ve taken a $505 negative to a $3,200 value is positive and it really changes the nature of this business.

The main thing I’m trying to point out here that we put a lot of selection pressure and did it profitably.

Paradigm Three

Heavy weaning weights equal profit. Wrong!

There are two paradigms in the cow-calf business that eat up all hope of profit. They are heavy weaning weights and cow longevity.

Heavy weaning weights are eaten up by costs and you don’t get paid for the extra pounds.

Cow longevity is eaten up by depreciation.

I was watching Superior Livestock Auction's Week in the Rockies sale recently. A ranch sold four lots of steer calves. One lot weighed 365 pounds and brought $4.05/pound = $1,478 each. Lot two weighed 440 pounds and brought $3.67/pound = $1614. Lot 3 weighed 485 pounds and brought $3.15/pound = $1,527

How Clear Communication and Systems Build Trust continued from page two

person on the team to help make or support decisions that improve the outcomes for the business or organization even if it means letting go of agendas and ego. Trust (especially combined with shared value) builds relationship that naturally dissolves fear, and therefore ego and agenda, which are all based on our need to protect/defend. If we trust others are just doing their best, then problems/issues can simply be approached as ‘information’ that leads to a problem-solving/brainstorming attitude.

This doesn’t come naturally, but is helped when people realize this “sacrifice” is about “enlightened self-interest.” The benefit may be delayed but it is there and clearly spelled out in the business systems. If people know what is expected and that they are being monitored and evaluated on those expectations, then they are better able to rise to the occasion. This is a critical piece in the mentoring process vital to the growth and resilience of any business.

This “system design” conversation can drive some people crazy, but it can be as simple as creating a checklist. Research shows that less costly mistakes are made if a basic process is followed on just about anything: from flying a plane to brain surgery to running workshops to safety procedures while processing animals.

But we can balk at creating such systems

because they may seem like control.

Depending on the system design there may be less or more control. If you have certain policies, these can function as a set of parameters as well. This gives you leeway within which to operate. For example, if you have a low-stress livestock handling policy, you can decide on the levels of do’s and don’ts. We know that the more you can articulate the type of outcome you want (ie. Animals demonstrate calm behavior), the more you get what you want. However, we also know that to assume that all people know how to make that happen or what to look for could end up in a train wreck.

In other words, giving key behavior you want from each other should be considered instruction and system design and not lumped in with “control,” which often has a lot of negative connotations.

Holistic Management is a decision making framework and within that framework there is a lot of planning. We’ve heard from many people over the years that they always thought Holistic Management was this “woo-woo” experience where people sat around and shared what was important to them and that life magically got better. They hadn’t seemed to grasp the part that there was a rigorous decision making process that was integrated with planning for

each. Lot four weighed 530 pounds and brought $2.92/pound = $1,547. As you can see in this example the market wasn’t willing to pay for any gain over 440 pounds. The market was telling you that you can make the 365 pound calves bigger and is willing to give you $1.81 for the value of gain.

It’s all about producing the most economic calf that your country can produce. This does not mean you should be the low-cost producer, but the most economical producer.

There is a time when a little bit of inputs will make great gains in the bottom line. An example of this is making sure that the rumen of your cow has all the degradable proteins they need every day of the year.

Then at weaning you can let the market tell you that you need to sell or keep the calves and put more weight on.

This is all about marketing. Understand where the appreciation comes from and where the depreciation goes.

Wally Olson is a rancher near Vinita, Oklahoma. He can be reached at: olsonranch@junct.com.

production, finances, and infrastructure development as well.

While some folks have gotten a lot from just integrating the holistic goal setting with the systems and processes they already have in place, that is usually because they already have pretty robust systems and processes. For many producers, learning Holistic Management is their first step in realizing the importance of developing management processes for their business. With their holistic goal, they begin to develop those systems and processes necessary for a higher functioning business.

There is a line from a Robert Frost poem that says: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

In this poem he talks about how a fence requires each neighbor to take the time to maintain that fence, helping each other and also acknowledging the boundary, the expectations. In this way, good systems make good businesses. Without those systems, there are a lot of unspoken assumptions that can get in the way of good management and usually results in conflict or confusion, reducing trust and productivity. Using a holistic goal to create the ownership and alignment to design appropriate systems for a business will help create clear expectations and processes so people can effectively utilize resources and achieve the results necessary for a sustainable, regenerative business.

Number 164

IN PRACTICE 5

Growing Healthy Food & the Next Generation of Farmers—

Little Seed Garden

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

laudia Kenny and Willy Denner have been farming for 21 years in Columbia County, near Chatham, New York. Neither one of them grew up on farms, or in a farming culture, but they enjoyed working with land and plants. Their farming venture evolved from their love of gardening. “Early on, we both had our own separate businesses. The farming was a way to incorporate our work life and home life. At that time, the decision to farm was focused on our children. Today our children are nearly grown; our son is 22 and our daughter is 16, but we started farming when our son was just a year old,” Claudia says.

“We started on some leased land for the first 7 years and then purchased our present farm, in the Hudson Valley. Our operation is primarily certified organic vegetables, but we also have a herd of rare breed cows, called Randall. We also have some Suffolk work horses. We now do some of the farming with horses, but we still use tractors,” says Claudia.

During that 21 years of farming Claudia and Willy learned about Holistic Management and have found the value of incorporating into their farm as they raise local food, protect genetic diversity, and train the next generation of farmers.

C

Growing Food & The Next Generation of Farmers

Little Seed Garden is 97 acres. About 15 acres are used for growing vegetables and the rest is woods and pasture for grazing. “The amount of hay we put up depends a lot on the season. We don’t cut all of our hay, usually only 15 to 20 acres at most. We graze those fields first and some years we have more hay than other years. We grow about half of what we need, so we still have to purchase some hay for the cattle,” says Claudia.

They raise about 50 different varieties of vegetables, and grow some of them year round.

“We have one heated greenhouse and seven unheated greenhouses. We grow 4 seasons of crops in those, but the unheated greenhouses mainly grow spinach through the winter. In the summer we grow tomatoes and ginger in the greenhouses. In the spring and fall it’s greens,” Claudia says.

“We market our produce through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), farmer’s markets, and wholesale. All of our marketing is local, which means it’s within a 100-mile radius.

6 IN PRACTICE

Randall cattle are slow to mature compared with Angus, Hereford and other common beef breeds. “They have to go through more than one winter, and are not as quickly finished as some of the other grassfed breeds like Devon.

They produce an amazing milk that has excellent flavor and is very creamy. This may not be as important for someone going into a beef operation, but is very valuable for the person who wants a small herd to feed their own family and maybe do a little marketing as an extension,” Claudia explains.

This is still a rare breed. At one point their

We sell most of the vegetables through farmer’s markets. We also sell to restaurants, stores, and wholesalers who are also marketing local products within our region,” she says.

“The other part of our farming project is working with young farmers. We usually have 2 or 3 young people here who want to be farmers.

We do farmer training and are part of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farm Training (CRAFT). This is a program where young farmers work for a season on a farm and also go visit other farms. On these farms they get a tour but are also taught about a specific topic— that all the farmers have agreed upon in Willy Denner and Claudia Kenny advance. These young people are numbers dropped down to about 20 animals but an amazing source of energy and good spirits breeders have been slowly expanding them and we enjoy having them here,” she says. again. “The kind of selection that has happened with some of the other rare breeds hasn’t Multi-Purpose Animals happened yet with the Randall. The numbers are Another product Claudia and Willy raise is still low. We found out about them because the Randall cattle. “We started with one family milk person who rescued the animals was on some cow, and then a friend brought a Randall bull land in Connecticut not very far from our farm. over from a Conservancy group that was going The main herd was in our vicinity. Since then, that out of business. Our cattle venture grew from herd has moved to our county,” says Claudia. there and we now have about 25 animals. These These cattle have unique coloring. They are are triple purpose cattle, for milk, meat and oxen. like a black and white roan with white down the We milk some for ourselves, and also sell meat back. “They have what looks like random and animals—mostly to people who are doing speckles and blotches but you can see a some form of homestead farming,” she says. pattern; a calf may have the same exact These cattle are very smart, and the bulls splotches like the mother.” are very gentle. “We always keep a bull with The meat that Claudia and Willy sell from our herd. They are very pleasant creatures and their farm is 100% grassfed. “The cattle aid soil very relaxed, so they are easy to handle,” fertility, biodiversity and management of all the Claudia says. fields that are not being used for the “The Randall cattle finish very nicely on vegetables. The cattle are an important part of grass because of their genetics. The meat is the farm ecosystem, rotating with the crops. We very tender, not like some that you buy in the move our garden every year to new ground. store. Everything that I cook, with this meat, just One year it will be cover crops that the animals melts in your mouth. Many of our customers can graze on, and then we move the vegetables have told us that it’s the best meat they’ve ever over to that piece and switch the crop land over had, and I think it’s from the grassfed genetics.” to cover crops and grazing,” she explains.

This is not the typical beef animal because “Because of the cover cropping, and using

November / December 2015

that as forage, we are able to graze the cattle really late into the fall/winter and they can also start grazing fairly early in the spring on some of the cover crops. This helps the transition while the pastures are growing,” she says.

The cattle add natural fertilizer to the soil. “They are not a big economic part of our business but they are still an important part of the whole—and they make amazing meat, which is part of our feed niche.”

Some of the cattle are marketed as meat, but many are sold as breeding stock. “We are trying to help preserve and promote this breed. We usually sell a cow-calf pair or a bred cow to people. There is a lot of interest in this breed all over the country and we get requests from the Midwest and West Coast as well as locally. There are not very many available for sale, so we are able to sell whatever we want to sell very easily. We get far more requests than we can fill. We have a very small herd, so we don’t have a lot to sell, but we always have a market for any that we want to sell,” Claudia says.

A Comprehensive Approach

“We were new to farming when we started 20 years ago and there weren’t as many opportunities for young people like there are today, to learn through internships. We were searching for any kind of training that would help us make decisions and figure out what we

Willy moving the Randall cattle were doing,” she says.

“Holistic Management seemed very comprehensive, so we took training very early in our farming career. A group of us small farmers got together and brought a teacher in to do workshops. Many of us took courses in the overview and financial planning. My husband and I first adopted Holistic Management as a decision-making model (this was what was very attractive to us), and then we used the financial model—for most of our farming career,” Claudia says.

“This has been our primary decision-making model. We have an annual planning process that we do, and then we do the financial planning. This has been a very good route, as a way to work together—a basis of collaboration—and it has been a viable model for us, all these years,” she says.

Beginning Women Farmer Profile—

Boxcar Farm and Garden

BY LEAH GIBSON

s I approach the one year anniversary of purchasing my farm, taking a look around is overwhelming.

Not because there is so much to do (although, there always is!), but because in such a short time frame, I have accomplished so much. Although these achievements have evolved with the help of friends and family, the big-picture visions have come to fruition with the help of Holistic Management. My husband and I have always been avid gardeners and passionate backyard chicken-raisers, although we always had a dream of raising our own pastured pork and turkeys--neither of which are fit for a suburban backyard.

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When we first set eyes on our property, we envisioned happy hogs and frolicking turkeys, but had no logical plan to immediately incorporate this into our farm. The land had been overgrazed for decades and the deep Blackland clay pasture was thick with opportunistic plants such as bermuda, ragweed and mesquite. We dove into research about prairie restoration, which seemed like a long and costly process. Around the same time, I was accepted into Holistic Management International's (HMI) Beginning Women Farmer & Rancher program. The program addressed real-world topics such as setting goals, financial planning, and time management.

“It’s been a great tool for decision-making and collaborating together as a couple because we had a framework to work from.

That’s still what’s intriguing and interesting to me about it. We also use the planned grazing and the business financial planning.

Those are also very solid pieces,” she says.

“We were doing this even before we had the cows. Most people going into Holistic Management today are doing it for the grazing. But before we even had cows, we were interested in it because of the decision-making model that it offered.” They were able to use that decision-making process to better determine how they wanted to expand their farming operation so that new enterprises fit well with existing ones.

One of those new enterprises is working with the Savory Institute and another farm family, the Van Amburghs, to create the Agrarian Learning Center, a Savory Hub, which will do Holistic Management training and consulting. This decision adds value to the farmer training that Willy and Claudia already provide and allows them to share their experience with others on how Holistic Management has helped them improve their land, finances, and quality of life.

For more information about Little Seed Gardens visit their website at: www.littleseedgardens.com

I am no stranger to setting firm and achievable goals and managing time; however, the HMI program taught me how to use my goal as a tool for making important decisions, like prioritizing expenses, solving problems, and managing time. As new farmers, being equipped with such a tool minimized time spent on ideas and tasks that were not fully in line with our holistic goal, and helped us direct our efforts and energy to projects that really helped us move forward with our vision.

One of the most eye-opening and gamechanging topics covered in the HMI program was grazing planning. I assumed that it would take years to improve our pasture before we could add livestock. But through HMI, I was encouraged to use animals right away to help me improve the pasture. It didn’t make sense that the solution to improving an overgrazed pasture would be, well, to "graze" it. However, CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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H and new ideas. Some of the changes over the years on the ranch included more water developments to improve pasture utilization (which also benefitted wildlife), more cross fences, seeding pastures back to native grasses, no-till cropping, and use of cover crops after harvest, along with plots for wildlife. Each year they plant 4 food plots for wildlife and maintain several groves of trees for wildlife habitat. A land

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS management ethic has been evolving in their family during the past 30plus years and they understand the importance of species diversity and uke and Naomi Perman are ranching with his parents, Lyle and living in harmony with all the native residents of their ecosystem.

Garnet Perman, on their Rock Hills Ranch located in the Swan Cattle/pasture management evolved from their original season-long Creek Valley region of north central South Dakota, near Lowry.

Improving the land and using Holistic Management practices have grazing to a planned grazing system in which the cattle are moved every few days. Usually the cattle don’t spend more than 10 days in any one been a primary focus. “I have heard a number of different Holistic Management instructors speak at one-day workshops and I am currently in pasture, and most pastures are grazed only once (and sometimes twice) the process of reading Savory’s book on Holistic Management,” Luke says. during a year. Utilizing cover crops and crop aftermath in the fall enables the grazing plan to facilitate full recovery for grasses after a short period of grazing.

Improving the Land Lyle and his son Luke are members of the South Dakota Grassland Before Lyle’s father, LeRoy Perman, purchased this place in 1975 it Coalition. In October 2013 their family and a neighbor, Doug Sieck (also a was a dairy and crop farm on marginal soils. LeRoy began planting the member of SDGC) hosted a pasture walk featuring bale grazing, swath crop land back to grass and alfalfa. Over the years, the ranch was grazing, cover crops and fenceline weaning. expanded from 960 acres to 3,900 acres. Additional leased ground Being able to graze cover crops and crop aftermath in this rotation currently brings the total to 7,500 acres, of which about 5,000 acres are in system has lowered production costs and reduced winter feeding by at grass. When Lyle took over the ranch in 1979 his main focus was the least 50%. Luke estimates that the ranch is now able to winter a cow for cattle and crops, and managing the grass didn’t seem as important. But less than $1 per day (about 85 cents per day). They graze cornstalks during the 1980s he became interested in conservation practices on their through most of the winter. For instance, in 2014 the cattle grazed crop grasslands. He worked with the local Soil Conservation Service (now aftermath until mid-March, with minimal supplemental feed. The grazing called the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and enrolled in the and manure also cycles nutrients on the cropland. When hay is Great Plains program to improve rangeland. harvested, it is fed on that same field, to put the harvested nutrients back The family learned more about grazing management and the onto the land. importance of rest and recovery for the plants, and the benefits of Leaving a lot of litter on the land (cropland and rangeland—with all the rotational grazing. Their children became involved in Rangeland Days, 4grass regrowth—minimizing any bare ground) captures as much precipitation as possible. Thus, the cropland and pastures help store moisture and are more productive on dry years.

Maximizing water infiltration and minimizing runoff has also improved water quality as the standing vegetation acts as a filter for any runoff. The ranch receives about 17 inches of precipitation annually, on average, which Lyle estimates is equivalent to about 2 billion gallons of water. The goal is to not let any of that water leave the ranch. Thus, keeping a good cover of grass and old organic matter is a top priority so precipitation received will soak in rather than run off or cause erosion.

The Perman family goal is to not just sustain the land as it is, but to regenerate it back to what it was in earlier times—a highly productive native grassland. To facilitate this goal, the land is cross fenced with about 60 miles of permanent fence to create 40 paddocks, which are further divided with temporary fencing. If one pasture is used in early June, it is The Perman Family (from left to right): Garnet, Lyle, Isaac, Luke, Ella, Naomi

Rock Hills Ranch –

Land Stewardship and Holistic Management

PHOTO COURTESY OF LPT IMAGES

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grazed during a different stage of the growing season the next year.

When grass is grazed for only 7 to 10 days out of the year, the plant communities begin to change back to native species. The pastures now have more warm season grasses like big bluestem, sideoats grama and more native forbs. Having a diverse plant community benefits the grazing animals, wildlife, and soil health.

Utilizing Holistic Management

The Perman family takes a holistic approach to managing their land, livestock, wildlife and cultural resources, looking at the whole picture before each decision is made on their ranch. Every grazing management decision considers the impact on beneficial insects, wildlife, and even the family’s quality of life. Rather than just looking at the best return on investment in the short term, it is also important to consider how today’s actions will impact profitability and the ecosystem for the long term.

“For me, it is a paradigm shift from traditional agriculture where the tendency is to simplify things and manage each individual component of the whole system. The thing that I’ve learned, listening to some of the different instructors and reading Savory’s book is that it is really impossible to manage those components individually without affecting other parts of the whole—whether it’s the cow itself, the environment, the grass, crops, etc. We often think we can, but it doesn’t work that way,” says Luke.

“Realizing that we can’t change things without affecting everything else is important. For me, one of the concepts I think about now when making decisions is the idea of wholes and having diversity in different aspects. Just doing one thing and trying to be good at it is not necessarily the best way to do it. I am now looking at how I can use the diversity that already exists on our place, and add more to it,” he says.

“We have to look at our labor force, as well, and some of these things do take more labor if we add diversity, so I am trying to balance this,” Luke says.

“The grazing methods that Savory developed make a lot of sense to me. So I am also always thinking about how I can use animal impact to increase diversity, cover, and protect the soil. These are some of the main things I think about,” he says.

“I am starting to get a little more into the financial planning part of it, in terms of planning out the year for cash flow, etc. This is something I haven’t always been very good at. Working backward, I think this is something Holistic Management teaches us—how much do I expect my family to need, for the year? What’s my profit goal? Working backward I try to figure out how I can provide this, with our resource base,” he explains.

“The more I learn about Holistic Management, especially on the ecological side of things, the more I realize there are many ways to do it.

In traditional agriculture we tend to think that whatever we are doing is the right way to do it. Something that I’ve learned from Holistic Management is that I can’t assume that what I am doing or what the mainstream in agriculture is doing is necessarily the right way to do it. It might be, but there are probably other ways to do it just as well,” Luke explains.

The landscapes across the country, and even from county to county or within a certain county are varied. “It’s so diverse that I don’t think there is one way to do things on our farms and ranches. All too often we find something that works for us and we know how to do it, but when we see someone doing it differently we think they are doing it wrong.” In reality, the varied environments and different situations make it impossible for everyone to do things the same way. A person can look at ways other people accomplish their goals and may be able to take some of those ideas and tweak them to fit their own situation, but there is definitely not one size fits all, or a best way to do things.

“Savory talks about this, and the difference between a brittle and nonbrittle environment. You can’t use the same management practices and

Here the Perman cattle are on stockpiled grass in April as they start to calve

expect the same results, and yet this is what agriculture has often done.

So it’s been humbling for me, to realize that whatever I figure out that works here may not work as well somewhere else. I can’t go to someone else’s place and tell them they ought to be doing it this way,” Luke says.

Luke also notes how Holistic Management helps people keep an open mind. “I try to think critically about different ideas and how they might or might not work on our place,” says Luke. To that end, the family (Lyle and Garnet, Luke and Naomi) have monthly meetings to talk about and chart their future.

Some of the innovative efforts toward their holistic goal include feeding cattle away from areas which could negatively impact water quality, maintaining tall vegetation as a filter strip to improve water quality from feedlot runoff, use of low-stress cattle handling methods and improvements in their working facilities, use of biological control such as stem weevils to reduce Canadian thistles and flea beetles to combat leafy spurge, along with training their heifers to eat less desirable species like western snowberry and Canadian thistle.

The Benefits of Multiple Enterprises

The ranch raises crops and cattle and also welcomes hunters and other visitors. “I am not involved very much in the hands-on aspects of the farming enterprise. We have a neighbor who has the equipment and laborers to do our farming. I rent some land from my parents and from my grandmother, buy seed and fertilizer, and the neighbor and I do the crops on shares. I do my own marketing,” Luke says.

“I am looking for ways to incorporate grazing animals into the cropland as well, trying to improve the soil. I’ve already done a little bit of work with cover crops, and the next step is grazing—to get the animals back on some of that tillable ground and try to work on soil health and biotic diversity.”

Their diversified ranch operation includes 400 commercial Angus cows on native prairie and established pastures, and aftermath grazing on the no-till crops (corn, wheat, and soybeans). To bring in more revenue, the family also hosts pheasant and deer hunters on their land.

The improved wildlife habitat and increased numbers of deer and birds on the ranch has helped provide additional income with the deer hunting (archery and rifle) and pheasant hunting.

A bed and breakfast enterprise, as well as on-site lodging is also available for the people who come on tours (beef tours and eco-tours), and the family takes these opportunities to educate people about conservation. The ranch began offering ranch “safari” tours in 2013, as a way to attract visitors to their on-ranch lodging and tell people about ranch life and responsible resource management.

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Meridian Trail” (since the ranch is located on the 100th Meridian). Trail markers along the way are large rocks engraved with cultural information about each location, which is also highlighted in a printed brochure. The ranch offers half-mile to five-mile hikes and the participants can access the trail and rock markers with hand-held GPS units provided by the ranch. Enterprises like this not only bring in more revenue by tapping into the natural and cultural resources of the land, but also provide a way to help educate the public about how ranchers produce food while protecting/maintaining the environment.

Creating On-going Succession Plans

The original 960 acres was purchased in 1975 by Lyle’s father, LeRoy Perman. Lyle and Garnet were married in 1976 and returned to the ranch the next year. They purchased the ranch in 1979. Their son Luke attended South Dakota State University, completing his Range Science degree in 2006. He then returned to the ranch and he and Naomi were married in 2007.

The family has developed a unique succession plan for the ranch, to transfer it to Luke and Naomi. Even though Lyle and Garnet have not retired, they leased the ranch, cows and equipment to Luke and Naomi, and are paid at the end of the year in cash and cattle. This means that Luke makes most of the decisions and his father is working for him. They still confer on management and marketing decisions but the younger

Misty Hills Charolais—

A Holistic Approach to Purebred Breeding

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

rian Chrisp was born and raised on a farm near Vermilion, Alberta and when he went to college, on his way to being a veterinarian, he didn’t think he would ever want to come back to the farm. “While I was in college I switched over and got an Ag Economics degree at the University of Alberta. As graduation neared, I looked around at the options available. The old family farm was for sale, and had been for quite some time, so I decided to get a loan and come back and fix it up,” says Chrisp.

He had to work off the farm in a number of jobs for several years to make enough money to do it—teaching at the local small community college, Lakeland College. He also worked in an accountant’s office doing farm income tax, and taught night classes to farmers, focusing on farm management and income tax areas.

“I also worked fulltime for Lakeland College for 6 years, managing their farm operation when they were expanding, but after that I have been totally on my own farm, since 1989,” says Chrisp.

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The Benefits of Spring Calving

Brian ran purebred Charolais cattle from the start, and the herd grew over time. He has been running the farm single-handed, with no fulltime help. “For that reason, among others, we started calving in late spring rather than February. We now calve in May, which is not typical for purebred breeders, and we carry those bull calves over until they are nearly 2 years old before we sell them,” he says.

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The Rock Hills Ranch was awarded the South Dakota 2014 Leopold Conservation Award for its good conservation management practices.

generation is in charge, with the major responsibilities.

Thus Luke and Naomi work with Lyle and Garnet, and have another generation coming on. “We have 2 sets of twins. The oldest—a boy and a girl—are Isaac and Ella. The babies—two boys--are 6 months old, and named Noah and Micah,” says Luke.

“This has added another dimension for me, thinking about how much our operation would have to grow to provide an opportunity for them to come back to the farm and work with us if they chose to do that.

Obviously we are still a long way away from that, but I am thinking about it, and how we might be able to do that. We need to be flexible, and if they There is good demand for these older bulls because they hold up better than yearlings. They stay sound, with better feet, not having been pushed so hard with too much grain (as many yearlings are, to get them big enough to sell), and can be grown out more naturally on a foragebased ration. They are far more durable than the young bulls that are pushed too hard at an early age.

“We have a strong customer base of repeat buyers; many of them have bought bulls here for 25 years or more. I have always felt strongly (and have taught this at the college) that a mother cow here in western Canada has to be a scavenger and earn her keep. A lot of operations, especially the purebred producers, really pamper their cows too much and you don’t know if they could manage out in the real world,” he says.

He doesn’t always grow traditional feeds like hay and grain. Each year he seeks out what might be the best for that year. “We graze through much of the year and try to minimize use of harvested feed. This year we quit feeding on April 30, which is quite unique in this part of the country, and put the cows out on carryover grass for calving time. I really enjoy having the cows grazing during calving, and not having to feed them. There is no disturbance of the cows and they are spread out over clean pasture,” he says.

“The only calving problems I have are twin calves; we sometimes need to help a few of those. The cows basically calve on their own and I don’t have to check them. A bull Brian Chrisp at a bull sale. buyer came here a few years

do want to come back we’d want to be ready in one or two years if need be. Or, if they don’t come back, we don’t want that to leave us in a pinch without enough help to get the things done that we need to do,” Luke says.

“I don’t want our kids to feel obligated, thinking they have to come back. I’d like for them to want to come back, and be able to choose.” It’s nice to have some plans and possibilities so that things will work out either way.

He often talks about managing “2 billion gallons of water” and highlights the conservation efforts in the Rock Hills Ranch operation. He feels that people in agriculture can benefit from learning what this ranch family is doing and the mistakes they’ve made, and that people outside of agriculture can learn about sustainable practices being used to make soil healthier, and the air and water cleaner.

His wife Garnet writes a column (“On the 100th Meridian”) for the Hoven Review and a blog for their ranch Providing Education Outreach This is the kind of litter cover that the Permans aim for to website. She also writes grazing-related The Perman family has established a capture the 2 billion gallons of rain that falls on their ranch. articles for the South Dakota Grassland paid ranch internship. This creates an Coalition newsletter. Luke also posts a opportunity for a college student to gain monthly article on the ranch website experience in agriculture, while helping on the ranch. Their first intern, in www.rockhillsranch.com to give an ongoing look at ranch life and the 2013, was from Wisconsin. In 2014 they had applications from 33 schools, management practices being employed. In 2014 their ranch was and their intern was from Missouri. Since 2006, Rock Hills Ranch has also nominated for and received the South Dakota 2014 Leopold sponsored a scholarship for a student attending South Dakota State Conservation Award.

University and majoring in Range Science.

Through their hard work, the Permans have improved their Sharing their personal ranch experiences and grazing philosophies management and the results are showing on the land and in their bank is important to this family, and Lyle has done public speaking at 8 to 10 account. With many years of strong conservation values and adding a events each year since 2011. He has done a lot of speaking in South host of new management techniques to move them toward their holistic Dakota, but has also been on the program at numerous national goal, the Rock Hills Ranch is well on its way to providing rewarding grazing conferences. employment for generations of Permans to come. ago and told me he thought he was going to have to quit raising cattle because it was just too much work; he didn’t think he could do it anymore. He was calving 100 cows in February. We were chatting in the yard and I said, ‘Let’s go see my calving barn,’ and we went up into the hills. It was a beautiful day in mid-May and there were some new calves born since I’d been up there last to check on them. He was quite impressed with how healthy everything looked,” says Chrisp.

“But he said he just couldn’t do it that way—letting the cows calve out there on their own, because he said he’d have to be in control. He asked how I could sleep at night, not knowing if the calving cows were doing ok. I told him I didn’t check mine at night.” That’s the tough part for many ranchers who are in the habit of checking the cows frequently because they have to put Having halter-broke cattle is a value-added product in the purebred breeding industry calving cows in the barn during bad weather. and makes for easy management of animals. With spring calving, these management “That’s the hard part to get over. On the way out he said he decisions means that Brian can run his 350 cow/calf herd without any help. had a question: ‘What if you come out one morning and there’s a cow down in the bush and you go down there and she’s dead, and his antibiotic bill would be for a year for the 350 cow-calf herd. “The she’s your best cow. What would you do then?’ I told him I wouldn’t be answer is less than $200 per year, for the last 10 years. It’s not that I don’t calling her my best cow anymore.” believe in using antibiotic, but we just don’t use as much, calving that time “The losses, when they are out calving on their own, aren’t any more of year. The main things we use antibiotics for would be foot rot. When the significant than when the cows are calving in the corral and calves get cattle come off summer grass they go to crop residues. We have grain stepped on and miss-claimed.” It’s cleaner and healthier for the calves being born out on pasture, with less chance for navel infection, scours, etc. farmers who let us rent their land as soon as their harvest is finished. On those fields the cattle go through the slough bottoms, fencelines, etc. and “We very seldom doctor a young calf. They get weighed and tagged at birth, and then a little later when we split the cows into breeding groups we sometimes we get the occasional case of foot rot,” he explains.

“We have run cows out on those fields until the first part of March, just do calf vaccinations, dehorning, castration, and put in ID tags,” he says. scavenging the rough feed. This saves feed, labor and fuel costs. When we do that, however, we supplement the cows with energy (for the cold Expanding Feed Options Chrisp was giving a talk at the college last year and was asked what

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A Holistic Approach to Purebred Breeding continued from page eleven

winter) but they can fill their belly on whatever’s out there,” he says.

The calves are usually weaned in late November and most of them are wintered on the ranch. “We feed some unique things to the weaned calves. Over time I have fed a lot of loose oat hulls that come from about 300 kilometers away, as a filler, and buy whatever is available to use for energy—such as pea screenings/pea flour, lentil screenings, etc. There is a lot of traditional thinking to overcome, regarding feed.” Cattle are amazing animals, in what they can utilize.

“We haven’t watered cows in the winter for more than 20 years; they are able to lick snow for water. If the snow is adequate they do fine, especially when they are out grazing. Most people who think this won’t work are trying to visualize cows in confinement trying to lick enough snow, but when they are out in big pastures they can just keep grazing and licking snow,” says Chrisp. Dry cows that are not lactating can readily get enough moisture by eating snow. Thus the calving time has to be right, for this to work.

“We haven’t bedded cows for 20-plus years, as a rule. There have been a few odd times when they’ve been here in the yards because of feed conditions, but most of the time they are wintered in the hills eating carryover grass and a bit of supplement.” There are many ways to help ensure that the cows are working for you instead of you working for them.

Even the young bulls are raised on a roughage diet. “They do have an adequate ration but generally we are able to bring them to a 2-year-old sale weighing 1,600 to 1,700 pounds and the buyers are happy with them. We are not competing at a major show and these bulls don’t have to be fat,” he says. The bulls do a better job for the customers, growing up eating what they will be eating out on the job.

Calves are weaned in November and wintered over on the ranch.

“Like everything else, we’ve changed our process over time. We watch the animals and try to work with them instead of against them. If something is going wrong, a person just needs to stand back and see what you are doing wrong, instead of cursing the animal for doing something wrong.” When working with animals, problems are almost always the result of the person handling them incorrectly. Low-stress handling really pays off in having the animals easy to handle.

“One neighbor girl who worked here for a long time said that when she first started, she wondered when the hollering would start. She worked here for 12 years and it never did start,” says Chrisp.

Management Club Support

“I got involved with Holistic Management in the late 1980’s and this all seemed to fit what I wanted to do—not only with the land and the people, but the whole setting. Back in the late 1980’s a few of us here locally took a relatively intense 5-day course on Holistic Management and have Halter-Broke Cattle stayed in close contact with one another since then. We joined this The bulls are all halter-broke. “Traditionally, when we started selling management group which has had monthly meetings over the past 20bulls and consigned them to a number of sales, they had to be haltersome years,” says Chrisp. broke. We have modified our methods over time. I usually have girls “This has been invaluable through the good times and the tough doing the halter-breaking because they are gentle with the cattle. We times, sharing ideas. We don’t always agree on everything, but we have a system set up to where there is no hard work involved. We’ve discuss them at length. The people side has been a big plus,” he says. looked at this over the years, and the time it takes to get an animal “The biggest key to our management program over time—and standing tied to the fence chewing its cud. It always works out to less than sometimes it was forced—is that we have to continually be thinking of one man/woman hour per animal,” says Chrisp. networking and being open to change. It is so easy to fall into traditional ruts Having the cattle gentle and halter-broke is an added benefit that the and habits and keeping doing things the way we always did them,” he says. customers appreciate. “We can handle those bulls easily, and load them Being involved with a group of people who are trying to be innovative into a trailer out in the middle of nowhere on the end of a lariat. There are really helps. “They are very candid. One of the fellows whom I consider many advantages,” he says. to be one of my mentors would sit there and look at me and ask why, whenever I would tell him what I was doing. This would make me think. To explain it to him enough, you have to explain it to yourself.” This makes a person look at things a little harder than you’ve looked at it before. It also helps to bounce ideas off other people; often two heads (or more!) are better than one.

Sometimes a person is just too close to something; we don’t see it with fresh eyes. “Some ideas also come from the strangest places,” says Chrisp. A person has to be a good listener and be open to different ideas. Being open to nontraditional ideas has certainly made a difference in Brian’s operation leading to a cattle operation that now supports him and provides an enviable quality of life. Like others in his Cattle are grazed as much as possible on a variety of feeds creating low-input, hardy management club, the continued support of other producers breeding stock. has led to ongoing learning and improved management.

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Farming Holistically in Tennessee

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

am Kennedy grew up on a farm in Tennessee that was purchased by his great-grandfather. This farm is near Columbia, which is in middle Tennessee. The farm is in the southern end of the Middle Tennessee Basin, often called the National Basin, which historically is rich farming land—some of the best soil in the Southeast.

“My great uncle ran it at the time I was growing up, as a conventional cattle operation with continuous grazing on the whole farm. There was no wildlife, and there were serious erosion issues. This was the way everyone did it, back then. But I grew up hunting and fishing with my dad all over middle Tennessee, working for my great uncle, and learned to love the land. When he retired from the farm, I was in the 8th grade, and my parents took over the farm, even though they weren’t farmers,” says Kennedy.

“My dad realized he needed to do something different so he started reading. He learned about the things Jim Gerrish was doing at that time, and worked with the NRCS. We slowly started putting in cross-fencing and water systems and all the things you need to do for rotational grazing. That was my summertime work, all the way through college. I came out and worked on the farm and helped install these projects. But no one encouraged me to come back to the farm, because they didn’t think there was any way to make a living at it,” he says.

S

Coming Home

“I was in the ROTC in college at the University of North Carolina (at Chapel Hill), and went into the Navy straight out of college. Then I was deployed right after graduation. While I was out to sea, Dad sent me books

by Joel Salatin and Allan Savory. I read those, especially Salatin’s marketing views, and Savory’s holistic viewpoint on management. So I began to think that maybe I could come back to the farm and make it work.”

Kennedy came home 5 years ago and has been on the farm fulltime since 2012. “I am still in the Navy Reserves, which helps with things like insurance. The home farm is 200 acres, with about 130 acres as pasture.”

His parents bought six Katahdin sheep in 2003. These are a breed of hair sheep developed in the U.S. in the 1950’s. They originated on a farm in north central Maine and were named for a nearby mountain. These sheep can finish very nicely on grass, without the need for grain. “We kept our ewe lambs and got up to about 200 ewes a year ago. I bought another guy’s flock, so now we have 400 ewes that we graze with the cattle and a few goats. We like the multi-species grazing and also being able to finish the animals on grass,” he says. This area in central Tennessee is far enough south that with very careful management, livestock can graze year-round without the need for hay in winter (though this is not the norm). It’s also far enough north to be able to grow nutritious cool-season grasses.

When Kennedy was growing up, the farm was managed as a commercial cow-calf operation with an Angus-based herd. “By the time I moved home, the main farm was divided into 20 permanent paddocks, then we started once a day moves about 4 years ago. This is when we really started to see a difference. It was like night and day from what it was like when I was growing up,” says Kennedy.

“We had more diversity of plant species, and a lot of wildlife, and better water quality. So we added sheep, and when I moved home I started to pasture poultry. The first year we did 400 and we’ll do 4,000 this year. We process them all on the farm.”

Glendale Farm is a family affair with Sam’s parents helping out as well as his wife Rachel.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRYSON LEACH

Glendale Farm—

Professional Development

In 2011 he went to a mob-grazing course at Greg Judy’s farm and Ian Mitchell-Innis was there. “I had read about Holistic Management but didn’t really ‘get it’ until I saw them explain it. This gave me hope to keep trying.

It was so different from anything I’d heard before. I am still hacking away at trying to implement in real life what I now understand in theory and have read about and seen on other people’s farms. I’ve been to many conferences, grass farmer’s schools and gave myself a crash course in farming. Even though I grew up on the farm, there was a steep learning curve,” he says.

“I understand the concepts of Holistic Management and have a lot of ‘book knowledge’ in my head from those teachings and other similar practice, but applying this in real life is a different story. Like all professions, this is a situation where you can’t just read a book and think you know how to be or do whatever it is. It takes years of practice, particularly in this kind of situation, along with skills of observation when looking at what both the land and the animals are telling you. I see things now that I would have completely missed 3 years ago. I have learned just enough to know that I am probably still missing other things. I haven’t achieved the soil improvement or additional carrying capacity that I’ve read is possible, but we are moving in the right direction,” he says.

“In 2013 my mom’s family farm became available, near Franklin, Tennessee. It’s about 35 miles north of us, and about 500 acres. I was able to take over that farm, and it was sort of the same situation; it had been abused/neglected for many years, and a lot of the pastures had been abandoned, with the infrastructure in bad shape. Taking all the lessons learned from our home farm, I am trying to do the same thing up there.”

Product Mix

After Sam came home to the farm, he switched to South Poll bulls.

Now most of the cow herd is ¾ to 7/8 South Poll. “We have about 60 cows and switched everything to try to be in sync with nature. We are lambing and calving in April/May,” he says.

“We sell some of the chickens right off the farm but most of them go to restaurants in Nashville. I am working on some local restaurants but I am not sure if their customers are willing to pay as much, down here. We are also selling wholesale to other farms who have access to Nashville farmers markets. I’ve sold a little grassfed beef, but it’s hard to be good at everything so I’ve backed off from that. Plus it takes so long to finish one,” says Kennedy.

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Farming Holistically in Tennessee continued from page thirteen

wholesale outlets and on-line markets. I’m still trying to figure out the right marketing direction,” he says.

“Last year the commodity price was so high it was really hard to beat just selling the cattle and sheep at the sale barn. I am only 10 minutes Sam acknowledges the farm is very much a family operation. “It’s a away from the sale barn, so the cost to get them there is minimal. The team effort. My wife Rachel is a registered dietician and works at an South Poll market is pretty hot right now, however, so I may start trying assisted living facility in town. She spends her evenings and weekends to sell them into a branded grassfed beef program or to another farmer helping me. We have a one-year-old daughter, Margaret Berry. We live on who is doing grassfed beef. I haven’t quite the same farm as my parents, Delk and got that plan worked out yet and I still Mary Susan. My dad is a lawyer and my have a lot of questions, which is why I mom is a college professor at Columbia have been hesitant to start. I haven’t State Community College. They help with applied the holistic decision-making the farm; my dad does the website process very well yet, and I don’t know (www.glendalefarmtn.com ) and my mom what the future is going to be with direct handles the customers. They were the marketing,” he says. ones who first implemented rotational “I don’t enjoy that part as much as the grazing on the farm and had that vision to farming, so I have to figure out what scale start with,” says Kennedy.

I have to be at in order to not have to “My wife grew up in this same area; her value add through direct marketing. I am family has a farm near Columbia, and all of not sure that’s possible in my area our grandparents are still here. Our anymore, because of the way the land is extended family has been in this area for a valued—for development rather than long time. My mother’s family farm, the farming. Finding 1,000 acres in one spot Berry farm near Franklin, has been in the Glendale Farm has been able to sell their pastured poultry, would be extremely difficult. I am sure this family since 1892, even though they but it is definitely the “vegetable” of livestock production is a challenge that many producers in the weren’t farmers either,” he says. with greater labor investment needed. The price has to East will have,” he says.

The current Glendale Farm is actually 3 make up for that input.

“The direct marketing kind of lost its farms: the Berry Place near Franklin, and appeal because it seemed like I was just in the meat business, which I the two farms (Greenway Place and Glendale Place) near Columbia. “It’s am, but there is a certain scale you need for that, too, with freezer space great to have support from family; I don’t see how people can do this and delivery, etc.” It doesn’t work for everyone. otherwise,” says Kennedy.

“We do direct market the chickens, however, and I have been pleased “I have to tweak my plans because right now I haven’t been doing with that. My favorite part about the chickens is what they leave behind on enough planning. I’ve been busy lambing and calving. I just took an onthe ground to aid soil fertility, but they have been called the vegetables of line Soil Food Web Course with Dr. Elaine Ingham. I think this is the next livestock because they are super-high labor. I’ve been able to partner with frontier after a person has been doing planned grazing and playing with another family with the chickens. They help me process, and I do the high-density grazing. I think multi-species grazing is the next step; I think marketing and we split the chicken business,” says Kennedy. it creates synergies that we can’t even measure. Fencing becomes more The farm also has sheep and goats. With the sheep he has been expensive when you add sheep and goats, however,” he says. keeping all the ewe lambs up to this point. “We’ve been selling almost all “With a limited amount of acreage, I think you can do more on the the wethers as white tablecloth lambs, plus some off the farm and to other same acres with more than one species.” They are complimentary in the plants they eat, and a person can raise a lot more pounds of meat per acre.

On the farm website is a video he made, telling why he farms.

“In every urban area there is pressure from development. Through my lifetime I’ve watched the land being swallowed up by houses and construction. The culture and way of life that goes with the land is disappearing. I thought that if I could figure out how I could make the farm profitable again, there might be a chance to compete. I used to hope that I could make the agricultural value compare to the development value, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore,” says Kennedy. “But maybe we can make it worth enough that the next generation wants to stay on the land instead of selling out.

“I get calls all the time. It’s amazing how many people want advice on learning how to farm. I get more calls from them than I do from customers. I’ve thought about doing consulting and writing books but I don’t think I’ve proven myself enough yet to do that in good conscience. But if people ask me for advice I try to help them. It’s hard to have time for that, however. It’s encouraging, Sam has been building his flock of hair sheep by keeping his ewes back and though, to see this much interest, because 15 years ago there selling his wethers as white table lamb. wasn’t much.”

A Family Affair

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READER’S FORUM

Can Ranching Be Sustainable without Profits?

BY BURKE TEICHERT

fluctuations could be reduced. There are numerous examples of farms located side by side where, during very heavy rainfall, one will have very heavy runoff and significant soil erosion while the other will have almost no runoff, putting most of the rainfall into the soil.

• Downstream and aquifer pollution. It has become too common to hear of municipalities complaining of fertilizers getting into their drinking water. Aquatic life is being affected by inappropriate nutrients in stream flows.

• Spray drift and killing beneficial insects. We can’t kill only the n my last column, I asked “Are you a seeker of truth” and then target pest. We kill lots of others in the process—many of which may used the word “sustainability” to challenge us to escape from our be beneficial. paradigms and really try to find truth. Since the word These are all concerns of our urban friends—our customers—and “sustainability” has been used or misused in so many ways, I we, either willingly or by regulation, will need to start to pay attention want to use it here as meaning “being able to endure, not diminishing to those concerns. I think it is much to our benefit to act ahead of and or removing opportunities for future generations.”

In May I was a speaker at a ranch sustainability forum in Sheridan, hopefully avoid regulation because regulation is often drawn up to satisfy agenda and not true principles.

Wyoming I talked about “Keys to Successful Ranch Businesses” and Regulation too often tries to address effect without a good indicated that successful ranch businesses are: understanding of the cause(s). It also limits the ingenuity and creativity • Economically viable—profitable of good ranchers and farmers to explore, experiment and find better • Ecologically sound and sustainable methods still. There will be unanticipated consequences to almost • Socially responsible everything we do, including regulation.

While, as individuals, we probably don’t We can address all of these concerns want to draw attention to our annual profits, In some people’s minds, simultaneously if we will first work to protect the we need not be apologetic for intending to be as profitable as possible. There is nothing profit is a dirty word. And soil and then to improve soil health. A good number of farmers, ranchers and soil specialists good or even sacred that can come from sustainability is nirvana. are promoting five principles of soil health: losing money. When there are profits, you 1. Armor (cover) on the soil surface. This can do much good. Bankers and family But ranches can’t be has been researched and shown to be the most members are happy. You can expand important first step in greatly reducing erosion sustainable without operations to perhaps accommodate the next and increasing water infiltration into the soil. generation. If your business is not profitable, being profitable.

There is also the benefit of temperature it is certainly not sustainable. I hope you want moderation.

The summer temperature at the soil your ranch business to be more profitable. surface will be significantly cooler than the ambient temperature.

You want your ranch business to be ecologically sound and Conversely, the soil temperature in winter will be warmer than the sustainable because, if it’s not, your business sooner or later will not ambient temperature. This enables far greater microbial activity in the be economically sustainable. With the exception of the last few years, soil during a greater portion of the year. the price of anything related to iron (equipment) and fossil fuel has risen faster than the price of our products.

2. Minimal mechanical disturbance. Each mechanical Therefore, it seems unwise to build a production system that is disturbance interrupts soil aggregation and interferes with the soil’s highly dependent on fossil fuel and iron, even though there will be ability to infiltrate water, and it exposes soil to the sun, thus releasing some dependency into the foreseeable future. It is much more carbon into the atmosphere and reducing soil organic matter. reasonable to build a system that has a greater dependence on soil, 3. A living root in the soil for as much of the year as possible. sunlight, rainfall and our ingenuity, creativity and ability to understand This is not so difficult in pasturelands. Root exudates are feeding soil the natural processes of soil health and plant growth. organism, which in turn feed the plants.

Since we all breathe the same air, drink the same water and eat much of the same food as our urban counterparts, there are a number 4. As much plant variety as possible. This happens naturally on of reasons to be socially responsible: most native ranges, but can improve with good management. A large

I

• Air pollution. Fossil fuel and iron are finite resources and the use of fuels contributes to air pollution and related problems.

• Wind and water erosion. I am sure that you have all seen recent pictures of terrible water and wind erosion—new gullies and terrible dust clouds and large drifts of blown soil. These represent opportunities lost to future generations, soil they will never be able to use.

• Increased fluctuation in stream and river flows. If we can

learn to manage soils to greatly enhance their ability to infiltrate and hold water on millions of acres of crop and pasture land, these

variety of plants lead to increased bio-diversity of all kinds. Beneficial insects tend to keep control of the pests. A wide variety makes green growing plants available during more months of the year, thus feeding the creatures that live in and become part of the soil. Variety also provides different depths of rooting, which allows the plants to mobilize minerals and water from deeper in the soil.

5. Integration of livestock into farming operations. This appears to improve soil microbial life by a trampling effect, which puts residual

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IN PRACTICE 15

From the Board Chair

BY KELLY SIDORYK

s many of you know, one of the programs we have expanded greatly in 2015 is HMI’s Open Gate program. This year, HMI has been supporting Certified Educator-initiated programs so that HMI can support growth in new geographic areas and scale this highly successful program.

I have been fortunate to participate in two Open Gates up here in Canada. The model is the same as has been used elsewhere and there were a total of 8 in the Canadian prairie provinces over the summer. The day provides time for a great deal of interaction and sharing which goes a long way to enhance learning for participants. Each day has a particular focus of an area of Holistic Management and speakers from other fields and organizations are invited to join in. The host producer shares stories and practices and then tours their operation. As we continue to emphasize the

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Reader’s Forum

people programs projects

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plant material in direct contact with the soil to start decomposition. The animals also increase mineral cycling through the conversion of crop materials and residues to manure and urine.

Farmers and ranchers need to be “seekers of truth” regarding ecological and economic sustainability. Much is already known, but there is still much to learn. To become truly sustainable—economically, ecologically and socially—many ranchers and farmers will need to begin to follow a different road.

We can’t continue to leave bare ground and exposed soils on our farms and pastures. We must do what we can to increase biodiversity above and below the soil surface.

If we can prove to our urban neighbors than we care about the environment and the well-being of our animals, and that we are becoming continually more competent, there is a chance we can get some of them to be “seekers of truth” also.

This article was first published in Beef Magazine and is reprinted by permission of Beef Magazine. To learn more go to: http://beefmagazine.com.

Boxcar Farm and Garden continued from page seven

mentors I met through the program taught me the in's and out's of portable electric fencing and intensive grazing. We purchased our first feeder hogs only a few months into our farming endeavor. They have proven to be the best and most affordable tool to root up unwanted vegetation, while adding organic matter.

16 IN PRACTICE

feedback loop of Holistic Management, evaluations provide input on how we can improve. However, those evaluations have been very favorable so we are clearly meeting a need that our network has for getting out on the land together. It’s been great to see and be a part of the enthusiasm and interest in this program and I’m excited we can offer more of this programming to more areas.

We’ve had some great media response including an article in the Manitoba Co-operator about the first 3 Open Gates featuring the operations of Blain Hjertaas, Neil Dennis, and Ralph Corcoran. You can read that article at: http://bit.ly/1Xm1P89. Likewise, the Open Gate events in Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand have also gone well with enthusiastic support from our Certified Educators in those regions.

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in these events as well as all those who have supported Holistic Management. Great things are on the horizon and we need more people spreading the word and sharing the results they are achieving and the outcomes they are experiencing. HMI is proud to be involved with such a wonderful network of positive, solution-focused people.

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

Please join us in welcoming Stephanie von Ancken as our new Programs and Office Assistant.

Stephanie grew up in the small village of Corrales, New Mexico, but brings a decidedly international flair to HMI. She most recently worked with Casa Xalteva Education and Culture Center, a non-profit in Nicaragua, where she worked bilingually in program development, outreach and scheduling. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Stephanie von Ancken International Business Management from the University of New Mexico (UNM), her studies included long periods of time living in France and Finland, where she has achieved proficiency in both languages. She is a member of the Rio Rancho Rotary Club with a leadership role in International Youth Exchange.

Her love of the outdoors and interest in the environment, prompted Stephanie to minor in Sustainability Studies, and get involved with local farming and food systems including projects in Urban Egg networking and the LOBO Grower’s Market at UNM. If she is not in the office she can be found hiking the hills at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, trying to teach herself to play the ukulele, cycling, Latin dancing while practicing Spanish, or throwing ceramic pots.

She is looking forward to becoming part of our local team here in Albuquerque and using her skills to support HMI’s mission. Welcome, Stephanie!

New HMI Staff

Behind them, I have planted cover crops and forage to continue adding organic matter and biodiversity.

Grazing planning has helped me understand the processes and biology in the soil, monitor the impact from livestock, and evaluate the time and area that my livestock is allotted each time I move them. HMI equipped me with tools that have helped me prioritize the way my farm develops. I can reuse these tools again and again to ensure that I do not stray far from the

November / December 2015

path I set for myself to achieve my goals. The topics covered in the course can be revisited at any time during my farming career to plan, achieve, and evaluate my success.

Leah Gibson lives in Maxwell, Texas and can be reached at: leahgibson7@gmail.com.

To learn more about HMI’s Beginning Farmer/Rancher Program visit our website at: http://holisticmanagement.org/trainingprograms/beginning-farmers-ranchers/.

DEVELOPMENT CORNER International Open Gates

This year HMI has been busy collaborating with our international Holistic Management Certified Educators to spread our popular program to other parts of the world. We’ve been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for this program from our Certified Educators and excited about the turn out and response they are getting. Here’s a brief rundown on what’s been happening. In our next issue of IN PRACTICE we’ll catch you up on all our U.S. Open Gates from this year. If you want to learn more about any of these events, go to our website and click on our Open Gate link to see a list of the different events and the results from them.

overlooking Horseshoe Lake, a natural landscape feature which is becoming another enterprise to their diverse operation

Dunblane, Australia

HMI’s first Australian Open Gate, held June 1st near Burragate in New South Wales, started off cool and wet, but with the help of a roaring fire and dynamic discussion, the 34 mostly livestock managers had a great opportunity to share ideas and experience the great hospitality of Dunblane Farm.

Managara, New Zealand

About 60 participants from the South and North Islands of New Zealand gathered at Mangarara station, Hawkes Bay for HMI’s very first international Open Gate.

They were mostly cattle and sheep graziers, but also included gardeners, activists, foresters, and a local council senior land management officer.

In presentations, discussions, and through on-the-land exercises, participants learned about managing grazing to improve rainfall absorption on the more than 24,000 hectares they manage in total.

Participants were challenged to lengthen time between grazing to allow for full plant recovery, understand the benefits of pasture litter and diversity, monitor key factors on their land, and explore how to improve the ecosystem function of their land for greater farm performance and resilience. Some highlights of the day included: • Host Greg Hart discussing challenges of farming in southern Hawkes Bay, and how managed grazing helped their land become more resilient • Malcolm White sharing how Holistic Management of their hard hill country property changed their grazing practices, deepened their topsoil, and probably saved them from selling the farm.

• Dr Phil Schofield presenting evidence from John Kamp’s Mangleton property showing the shift to tall pasture and soil mineral balancing • John King focusing on the pastoral ecosystem, and leading a biomonitoring exercise to get participants looking at the soil surface, identifying and evaluating litter, bare soil, diversity of pasture species, maturity, and erosion • Hosts Greg and Rachel Hart showing off their new Ecolodge

Participants at Dunblane Open Gate enjoyed networking opportunities.

Dunblane Farm is Paddy and Liz Reynold’s self-described “Paradise” where they are creating the future vision of their Holistic Goal using the Holistic Management Decision Making process and planning practices. Located in a 1000mm (39 inch) rainfall area, they are creating great pastures, growing fat shiny Angus cattle, and fulfilling their passion.

After Paddy gave an introduction to their family business, he told about his Holistic Management learnings from the 2013 TAFE Holistic Management course taught by Holistic Management Certified Educator Brian Wehlburg. With Holistic Planned Grazing, he increased his paddock numbers to get more recovery for his plants and better animal impact when required and has improved his forage production.

Other highlights from the day included: • Certified Educator Brian Wehlburg covering the key concepts of managing holistically, with a focus on making farming more profitable through increasing the efficiency of the Ecosystem Processes and using the tools of Animal Impact and Grazing • Author Gill Jacob’s entertaining talk on her experiences and discoveries thus far in her travels from the Africa Center for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe on a global trip to collect material for her new book that revolves around Holistic Management, improving soils and creating healthy food • Local farmer and passionate soil advocate, Bruce Davison from Candelo, sharing his latest learnings on creating better soil health, controlling weeds and using worm juice on his farm to increase productivity • A wonderful lunch featuring tasty, succulent beef patties and sausages from one of Paddy’s grass finished steers and plenty of discussions • A farm tour including smelling, feeling, and discussing augered soil samples from several locations; Paddy demonstrating his curved fences to follow the ridges; Paddy showing off his good-looking breeding herd and demonstrating the ease in which he could move them between paddocks; and Brian leading discussions about CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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Development Corner continued from page seventeen

monitoring for recovery using Paddy’s grazing cages Thanks to our sponsors Landcare New South Wales, Local Land Services SE, SCPA Southeast Producers, and Bega Farmers Network for their support of this program.

Bruce Davison shows a soil sample during the farm tour.

Rancho El Represo Del Verde, Mexico

More than 50 people attended HMI’s first Open Gate in Mexico in early June at Rancho El Represo Del Verde near La Colorada, Sonora. This event was coordinated and facilitated by Holistic Management Certified Educator Iván Aurelio Aguirre Ibarra. Mostly ranchers and ranch staff from the surrounding

area, with some technical and professional members of the Sonora Livestock Producers Union, and several professional agricultural consultants attended the event. It was a day filled with learning, sharing ideas, good food, and making connections.

Organizers for this event noted that a “New Wave” of active ranch decision makers – young people in their 20s and 30s – are now entering ranch management and influencing the business in a very positive way. Representatives from the local extension services shared their realization that Holistic Management is much more than a grazing strategy – that it also leads to regeneration and productivity optimization of soils, plants, and animals, impacting the sustainability of entire communities.

In the morning, participants enjoyed presentations under the thatch-roofed meeting area, and after a lunch of range-fed Sonoranstyle BBQ, a tour of the ranch to look at plant health and livestock.

Presentation highlights included: • Marco Antonio Tarazón Maldonado, owner and host, sharing the challenges that he and his ranch team experience as they implement Holistic Management • Ana Bertha Zepeda Valencia, co-owner of her family ranch, sharing her professional experience with the challenges of intergenerational succession of family ranches, strategies for mitigating family conflicts.

• Oscar Benson Rosas, a bovine breeding and reproduction 18

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consultant, noting that ranches using Holistic Management principles and planning strategies have superior nutritional levels throughout the year that result in optimized productivity and profits • Iván Aurelio Aguirre facilitating a discussion on Holistic Management planning and strategies, and how to get started Thanks to Carne A7 Beefmaster La Inmaculada and LIVES (La Inmaculada Vida Ecologica y Sustenable) for their support of this program.

Glenrock Farm, Australia

Grazing camels with cows, and other creative management ideas were the focus of HMI’s Australian Open Gate on July 4th at Glenrock Farm in Cloyna, Queensland. A diverse group of farmers gathered to see the changes occurring on Glenrock Farm after only 14 months of Holistic Management planned grazing.

Many of the 63 participants were impressed with how quickly the changes are taking place and how little time the Kapernick family spends moving their herd.

The camels drew a lot of interest; the primarily cow/calf operator attendees enjoyed seeing firsthand the behavior of camels, what they eat and their effective coexistence with the cows. There was a lot of discussion about improving the health and capacity of the soil, and also creatively marketing direct to consumers and starting other innovative farm enterprises.

Not only were successes discussed, but also how trials that didn’t work as planned were used as learning experiences. Holistic Management Certified Educator Jason Virtue explained, “Managing holistically is not about creating a magic farm, It’s about getting things approximately right instead of dead wrong.”

Craig and Claire Kapernick, owners of Glenrock Farm, and hosts for the day, discussed how they have used Holistic Management to reap almost immediate positive changes. Planned grazing has enabled them to make good decisions for their 480 acres, and despite inconsistent rainfall, they are seeing higher productivity even during hard times.

Some of the day’s activities included: • Interactive exercises measuring the forage available in the pasture and budgeting feed for the animals throughout the season, biological monitoring, and decision Camels grazing hickory wattle trees at testing led by Jason Virtue Glenrock Farm • A demonstration

showing the effects of planned grazing on the soil by the ease of pushing in a screwdriver on the pasture (7 inches) versus an area that had not been managed using the mixed cow and camel herd (only 2 inches) • Damien O’Sullivan, Government Extension Officer, and farmer (beef cattle and share cropping) explained the advantages of using holistic grazing planning to control African love grass.

• Jeff and Sue Trott sharing how they have improved their property, Thooruna. Their creeks and water holes are holding water for months instead of weeks, they are experiencing better weight gains on their cattle, and are seeing more native animals and bird life on the property than ever before. They also talked of how using Holistic Management has changed their lives by allowing planned time away from the farm (previously quite rare) to include fishing trips, laughing and enjoying themselves together.

• Kylie Carr talked about how using holistic planned grazing (with no other inputs), her family has doubled the organic carbon content in their soils in less than 2 years. Their sons helped create a comprehensive holistic goal, which provides the context to test all of their decisions both on and off the farm.

Thanks to Kingaroy Land Group and South Burnett Grazing Network for support of this program.

Glen Orton Farm, Australia

64 hardy souls braved the coldest day in Coolatai, New South Wales in many years to attend HMI’s Australian Open Gate held at Glen Orton on July 17th. Many people traveled long distances from Queensland,

A great lineup of presenters: Phillipa Morris, Judi Earl, Glenn Morris, and Alex Dudley

the northern rivers and New England tablelands regions, and the diversity of the audience was a feature of the day. The presentations, open fires and great food provided the catalyst for the start of many interesting conversations.

Judi Earl, Holistic Management Certified Educator and Glen Orton owner/operator shared how she has applied the principles of Holistic Management to regenerate the land and ultimately improve pasture and livestock production. Since 2011, Judi has been using cattle at Glen Orton to manage Coolatai grass, the dominant low-quality forage in the area. There was a lively discussion about how she has increased the productivity of her land in spite of 4 years of drought, and how her holistic goal has impacted decisions about health care for her livestock.

Other highlights of the day included: • Glenn Morris, manager of Fig Trees Organic Farms, shared how they use Holistic Management and organic farming to regenerate

ecosystem processes, enhance health and stimulate the economy, and how this creates strength in their marketing.

• Philippa Morris of Peach Trees discussing how micro-producers can use good environmental management and good livestock handling practices to help market their animals.

• Zoologist Alex Dudley inspiring and entertaining with his passionate discussion of biodiversity, and how we are all part of the ecosystem and dependent on biodiversity.

• A tour of Glen Orton looking at residual herbage and soil surface condition of a number of paddocks recently grazed as well as ones the animals were about to enter.

• Judi leading an exercise and discussion to assess available feed, plan grazing days, and determine and increase stock density.

• A good group of participants staying afterwards for a BBQ, drinks and more conversation which eventually wound up around 9pm Thanks to Northern Slopes Landcare Association and Fig Tree Organic Farm for their support of this program.

Canadian Open Gates

There were numerous Open Gates in the summer in Alberta and Saskatchewan that were facilitated and developed by many of the Canadian Holistic Management Certified Educators including Kelly Sidoryk, Don Campbell, Blain Hjertaas, Brian Luce, and Ralph Corcoran.

These events included:

Neil and Barbara Dennis, of Sunnybrae Farm in Wawoda, Saskatchewan, shared their experience of regenerating land through livestock and improving soil fertility.

Brian and Gale Luce, of Lucends Ranch in Ponoka, Alberta, presented on their holistic planned grazing an how they are using high stock density to improve profit.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

Number 164

IN PRACTICE 19

Certified

Jeff Goebel

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.

Lee Altier

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

1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 rking1675@gmail.com • 707/217-2308 (c) 707/769-1490 (h)

Kelly Mulville

P.O. Box 23, Paicines, CA 95043 707/431-8060 • kmulville@gmail.com

*

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

NEW HAMPSHIRE Kate Kerman

350 Troy Road, Marlborough, NH 03455 603-876-4562 • 603/209-0946 (c) kkerman@phoenixfarm.org

*

Seth Wilner

D. Nelson *11728Donald Shafer Ave.

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

Rob Rutherford

24 Main Street, Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) • 603/863-9200 (w) 603/543-7169 (c) • seth.wilner@unh.edu

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

Ann Adams

COLORADO Cindy Dvergsten

4865 Quay Rd. L, San Jon, NM 88434 575/268-1162 • Kellyboney_79@yahoo.com

IOWA Torray & Erin Wilson

*4375 Pierce Ave., Paullina, IA 51046-7401

712/260-6398 (Torray) • 563/419-3142 (Erin) torray@gmail.com • wilsonee3@gmail.com

Bill Casey

KANSAS

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

Jason Virtue

MISSISSIPPI Preston Sullivan

*610 Ed Sullivan Lane NE, Meadville, MS 39653 prestons@telepak.net 601/384-5310 (h) • 601/835-6124 (c)

P.O. Box 75 Cooran QLD 4569 61-0-754851997 • jason@spiderweb.com.au

Brian Wehlburg

Pine Scrub Creek, Kindee, NSW 2446 61-2-6587-4353 (h) • 61 04087 404 431 (c) brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au

Don Campbell

MONTANA

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

20 IN PRACTICE

Judi Earl

AUSTRALIA

“Spring Valley,” 165 Ironbark Lane Frogmore, Boorowa NSW 2586 61-0-429069001 (w) • 61-0-263856224 (h) dick@dickrichardson.com.au

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

*

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

Dick Richardson

MICHIGAN

Cliff Montagne

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

150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 (h), 61-4-1853-2130 (c) graeme.hand@bigpond.com

*239 E Buckfield Rd.

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

Kirk Gadzia

Graeme Hand

MAINE Vivianne Holmes

Roland Kroos

Kelly Boney

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

13835 Udall Rd., Erie, KS 66733 620/423-2842 • bill.caseyag@gmail.com

Larry Dyer

NEW MEXICO

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

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

Kathy Harris

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

Craig Leggett

U N I T E D S TAT E S CALIFORNIA

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

CANADA

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

Ralph Corcoran

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

November / December 2015

NEW YORK

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 607/539-6512 (h) • 607/342-3771 (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 607/334-2407 (h) • pmetzger17@gmail.com

NORTH DAKOTA Joshua Dukart

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

SOUTH DAKOTA Randal Holmquist

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

Bellows *NorthLisaCentral Texas College TEXAS

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

Guy Glosson

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

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.

Tracy Litle

1277 S CR 305, Orange Grove, TX 78372 361/537-3417 (c) • tjlitle@hotmail.com

Peggy Maddox

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

Peggy Sechrist

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

VERMONT Calley Hastings

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

WASHINGTON Sandra Matheson

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

WISCONSIN Heather Flashinski

16294 250th Street, Cadott, WI 54727 715/289-4896 (w) 8 715/379-3742 (c) grassheather@hotmail.com

*

Larry Johnson

W886 State Rd. 92, Brooklyn, WI 53521-9102 608/455-1685 • larrystillpointfarm@gmail.com

Paine *N893Laura Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925

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

920/623-4407 (h) • 608/338-9039 (c) lkpaine@gmail.com

Guichon *BoxAllison 10, Quilchena, BC V0E 2R0

NAMIBIA Wiebke Volkmann

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

Usiel Seuakouje Kandjii

250/378-9734 • allisonguichon@gmail.com

Blain Hjertaas Brian Luce

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

Noel McNaughton *5704-144 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6H 4H4 780/432-5492; noel@mcnaughton.ca

P.O. Box 9285, Windhoek 264-61-225183 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@afol.com.na

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

NEW ZEALAND John King

Tony McQuail

*P.O. Box 12011, Beckenha, Christchurch 8242

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

SOUTH AFRICA Wayne Knight

86016 Creek Line, RR#1, Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 519/528-2493 • mcqufarm@hurontel.on.ca 306/432-4583 • JLPigott@sasktel.net

Kelly Sidoryk

Box 72, Blackroot, AB TOB OLO 780/872-9761 (h) • 780/875-4418 (w) 780/872-2585 (c) • sidorykk@yahoo.ca

Christine C. Jost

KENYA

ICRAF, Box 30677, Nairobi 00100 254-736-715-417 (c) • c.jost@cgiar.org

Iván Aurelio Aguirre Ibarra MEXICO

Pitiquito, Sonora 662-3210951 (c), 637-1231168 (c) rancholainmaculada@gmail.com

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) • barnesfarm@mweb.co.za

Ian Mitchell-Innes

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

Philip Bubb *32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB UNITED KINGDOM

44-1480-496-2925 (h) • +44 7837 405483 (w) pjbubb99@gmail.com

Development Corner continued from page nineteen

Art and Leslie McElroy, owners of Day Spring Farms in Frontier, Saskatchewan, talked about planned grazing using high stock density to improve profit.

Don and Marie Ruzicka of Ruzicka Sunrise Farm in Killam, Alberta, shared how they were nurturing healthy land while growing wholesome food and practicing stewardship.

Tom and Margaret Towers of Tamara Ranch in Red Deer, Alberta, told their story of passing the farm to the next generation.

Thanks to co-sponsors Holistic Management Canada, Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Kane Veterinary.

“Bud Williams�

Livestock Marketing & Proper Stockmanship

Grazing Naturally

with Richard McConnell & Tina Williams

Dick Richardson

Learn how good stockmanship can make your livestock handling experiences enjoyable, easier, and PRUH SURĂ€WDEOH DQG KRZ OLYHVWRFN marketing based on today’s price (no crystal ball) can help you realize your SURĂ€W JRDOV &RPH WR D VFKRRO Dec 3-5, 2015 — Madison, FL )HE ² 6SULQJÂżHOG 02 “I can’t over recommend this training if you are in the livestock business. If you can’t afford to spend the money on it, you can’t afford livestock.â€? — Greg www.handnhandlivestocksolutions.com info@handnhandlivestocksolutions.com 417-327-6500

with Dick consults and offers Holistic Management courses and workshops in and around Australia.

His practical experience and success makes his programs highly effective and valuable.

Because Dick has extensive international experience, he is able to work effectively in any country.

For more information: 61-0-429069001 dick@bdynamic.org

THE MARKETPLACE l Services, Inc. KINSEY Agricultura

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 164

IN PRACTICE 21

THE MARKETPLACE

2016 DATES!!!!

CORRAL DESIGNS

Kelly Sidoryk

Holistic Management Trainings February 8-13, 2016 Albuquerque, New Mexico with instructor Kirk Gadzia

Introduction to Holistic Management Feb. 8-10: $495 Advanced Training Session (Requires prior attendance at intro session.)

Feb. 11-13: $495 Comprehensive Holistic Management Training Feb. 8-13: $895 Remember, profitable agriculture is not about working harder— it’s about making better decisions!

Pasture Scene Investigation

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:

www.rmsgadzia.com

GRANDIN LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS

Kirk L. Gadzia, Certified Educator

2918 Silver Plume Dr., Unit C-3 Fort Collins, CO 80526

Information and Registration:

Resource Management Services, LLC Bernalillo, NM ~ 505.263.8677 kirk@rmsgadzia.com

22 IN PRACTICE

November / December 2015

970/229-0703 www.grandin.com

Box 72 Blackfoot, Alberta, Canada T0B 0L0 780-875-4418/872-2585 sidorykk@yahoo.ca HMI Certified Educator Facilitating Holistic Management Intro workshops; Financial planning; Grazing planning and Succession planning.

Rancher, freelance writer and photographer, special event organizer and speaker.

THE MARKETPLACE

CARRIZOZO SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

P.O. BOX 457, 305 12th Street Carrizozo, NM 88301 PH: (575) 648-2941 FAX: (575) 648-3268 Melvin Johnson, Chairman Gray Gallacher, Member Jim Grider, Vice Chairman Lee Sultemeier, Member Steve Harkey, Secretary/Treasurer Karyn Hazen, Program Director

Number 164

IN PRACTICE 23

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID ALBUQUERQUE, NM PERMIT NO 880

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