#107, In Practice, May/June 2006

May / June 2006 January / February 2006

Number 107 105

Bringing Hope to Africa– World Vision/Kenya

www.holisticmanagement.org www.holisticmanagement.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

by Craig Leggett Craig Leggett is the project lead for HMI’s Nasaru Holistic Management Initiative in Kiserian, Kenya. This project is a contract through World Vision, an international nonprofit. Craig’s task is to train the Maasai community in a region called Loodariak in Holistic Management so they can once again become a thriving pastoral community with the means to provide for their own food security rather than relying on international aid. The following is an excerpt from his notes from the field. went to Zimbabwe and came back to a Kenya that I hadn’t seen before.

Somewhere within the 10 days gone it rained and, with no time lost, grass grew.

The hot, dusty, brown landscape with meager air has changed to fresh spring green with rich, soft air. For a month prior, I had been watering a patch of ground by my back steps just to see some life emerge from the ground. Sprigs of green were my reward. But now! The whole lawn is springing to life, and within a week everything has surpassed what I had started–including sprouts of a million whatevers that had no inclination to break forth before being blessed by the heavens. A liliacae, which was a pitiful munched-on survivor under a tree in the front yard when I left, now blooms with vigor that was well-hidden.

Upon my return to Kenya, we picked up two cases of sodas, 15 loaves of bread, the flipchart and markers in Kiserian, and then headed to the lower end of the district to do a workshop in Oltepesi. Everyone was at the center of town (two buildings) for another meeting about food distribution–which always draws a crowd. A little searching located the chief, and Phillip and Marias, my interpreters, arranged for us to say a few words before his meeting started.

There must have been 140 people under the acacia tree when we started!

Management has a different meaning here. It

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seems that getting things done here is more like a game of chance than a planned effort–it may or may not happen. But probability has a smattering of grace to it, and given enough time something is bound to happen that you had hoped would happen. Surprisingly, that happens a lot here and has made me ponder deep thoughts. In the West, we plan things and expect them to happen and are disappointed and surprised when they don’t. Here, it doesn’t matter if you plan (or don’t plan) because you don’t dare to expect anything to happen, and you are pleasantly surprised when they do happen. These are gross generalities, of course, but underlying the two extremes is a fundamental truth about what is in our control and what isn’t.

So is there hope? Can people living on the edge get a strong foothold and prosper? I introduced Holistic Management to a group of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders today, about 70 of them. We talked about looking at the world through four ecosystem “windows,” biodiversity, sustainability, overgrazing and overrest–the basics. And we touched on how they can create the life they want–they have the power to do that.

I get to come back and go beyond the basics next month. Hopefully they will get something that allows them to go above the basics in their lives.

Taking Charge One girl’s name was Elizabeth. She answered all the questions for the group: What is a water cycle, what is biodiversity, and so on.

She is sharp, and she is not afraid to stand up in front of all the others and say what she knows (students stand up when talking to the teacher and elders). She makes me believe that there is hope.

And there is more hope with the Loodoriak Women Bead Group in Kenya. I talked to them about Holistic Management® Financial Planning. They banded together, solicited World continued on page 18

HMI is working around the world with agricultural producers and pastoralists–improving the land, increasing profits, and improving their quality of life. Read Craig Leggett’s article on this page as he shares his experience working with the Maasai in Kenya as part of HMI’s World Vision Project.

Elizabeth, a schoolgirl in the Loodariak region of Kenya, is one of many Maasai learning how to better steward their natural resources.

FEATURE STORIES Achieving Milestones–An Africa Centre Update . . . . . . . . . . .2 Jody Butterfield

Managing a Holiday Destination Holistically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Aspen Edge

Planning Your Grazing–Time, Paddocks, and Land Divisions . . .6 Jody Butterfield, et al.

LAND & LIVESTOCK New Soil and No Grain–Planned Grazing on Cimarron Farm . . .8 Abe Collins

Prosperity through Simplicity— The Coughlans of Tarabah . . . . . . . . .12 Jim Howell

The Modern Native— Living Consciously in the Age of Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Jim Howell

NEWS & NETWORK Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Horizon Organic Update . . . . . . . . . 16 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Achieving Milestones– An Africa Centre Update

by Jody Butterfield Holistic Management International is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting resource management that restores land to health and operations to profitability. As the worldwide pioneer of Holistic Management, we’ve worked successfully with ranchers, farmers, pastoral communities and other entities since 1984.

FOUNDERS Allan Savory

Jody Butterfield

STAFF Shannon Horst, Executive Director Peter Holter, Senior Director of Marketing and Product Development Bob Borgeson, Director of Finance, Accounting and Administration Jutta von Gontard, Director of Development Kelly White, Director of Educational Services Constance Neely, International Training Programs Director Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Director of Publications and Outreach Maryann West, Executive Assistant Donna Torrez, Administrative Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ron Chapman, Chair Ben Bartlett, Vice-Chair Jody Butterfield, Secretary Sue Probart, Treasurer Ivan Aguirre Gail Hammack Leo Harris Brian Marshall Jim McMullan Ian Mitchell Innes Jim Parker Jim Shelton Dennis Wobeser

ADVISORY COUNCIL Robert Anderson, Corrales, NM Michael Bowman,Wray, CO Sam Brown, Austin, TX Sallie Calhoun, Paicines, CA Lee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZ Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Cynthia Harris, Albuquerque, NM Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico York Schueller, El Segundo, CA Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Tel: (263) (11) 404 979; email: hmatanga@mweb.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by Holistic Management International, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2006.

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t the end of January, Holistic Management International, the Africa Centre for Holistic Management, and the partners in our community land and livelihoods restoration program celebrated some milestones. This pilot program, funded by the US Agency for International Development, had reached its midpoint, which also proved to be a turning point. We had achieved our number one priority–two pilot communities in Zimbabwe combining their animals into single herds under planned grazing–and done so despite unimaginable challenges.

great deal of the enthusiasm for the “goat banks.” However, our guarantee that any goats dying within 30 days of delivery would be replaced, left the community’s trust in us intact.

In February we found a better source for goats and our goat buying troubles were apparently over.

Each bank has an agreement with the Africa Centre, as lender, that specifies interest rates (20 percent–or two weaned goats per family per year), dates of payment (annually) and term of loan (three years).

Each bank, in turn is creating bylaws through which they will Goats-asmanage their Currency bank. There Banking have been We now have several drafts, as a total of four bank members banks in the two implement pilot grazing suggested bylaws Chief Mvutu officially opening the two goats-as-currency communities. and then banks at Monde.

The first two discover grey banks were launched in the Monde community areas that need clarifying–e.g., who inherits the on January 27–a major event attended by local, goats (and the loan liability) when a head of national, and even some international, guests household dies or two parents divorce? This and press, with numerous speeches, singing, process of developing bylaws has proved to be an dancing and feasting. Monde’s Chief Mvutu, important contributor to community shown in the photo here, officially opened the empowerment. banks in a speech made from within the lionproof livestock kraal (corral) constructed by the Land Restoration Through Planned Grazing villagers. The second two goats-as-currency Right up to mid-December we weren’t sure to banks were launched in the Sianyanga what degree we might succeed in getting all community, with the same fanfare and livestock owners in each community to combine excitement, as we were going to press in March. their animals. That we did succeed is due in large We were lucky to be able to launch the part to the enormous effort made by our Africa Monde banks as early as we did. We had Centre staff. They spent the Christmas holiday difficulty sourcing the 400 goats (10 each for 40 period visiting the homesteads of each livestock families) required, and those we found were not owner in Monde that had not brought his/her healthy, having come from a drought-stricken animals into the herd, explaining the program area. Their condition worsened rapidly when and the importance of the livestock coming they arrived in the Monde area where heavy together until the owner understood. Because fuel rains had produced lush vegetation, and an was short, the staff did much of their visiting on inadequate number of vaccinations failed to foot–up to 20 miles (32 km) in a day. Owners protect goat rumens from the drastic change in who had reservations about keeping their animals diet. A number of goats delivered to the Monde in the communal kraal at night, agreed to walk banks died within a few days from pulpy kidney them to the starting point each morning, which disease or pneumonia, and we risked losing a meant starting their trek before daybreak.

quite rugged and the bush very dense, In Sianyanga, the community came particularly so at Sianyanga where the together with their animals fairly herders return each day with their quickly. A handful of families initially clothes in shreds. The lion-proof kraals removed their animals from the herd, in both communities are indeed lion taking them to a nearby riparian area proof. Villagers in neighboring to graze separately, but they soon communities have asked to be part of returned. A couple of families, who lost the program so they can put their animals to lions, quickly saw the animals in the community kraal, too. advantage of the lion-proof kraal and Due to the heavy rains, livestock the supervised grazing and brought diseases have been particularly severe. their animals in.

Many of the goats at Monde, as By the end of December all but a mentioned earlier, failed to thrive; couple of livestock owners had their community cattle, too, were affected at animals grazing with the Monde herd Monde, mainly by Theileriosis (Parva (265 cattle, 46 donkeys, 406 goats, lorensiai–transmitted by the brown ear including 200 bank goats) under tick). The Monde wet-season grazing supervision of the herders. It was the area includes a national park where same at Sianyanga a month later (173 Theileriosis is endemic in the buffalo cattle, 28 donkeys, 216 goats, 25 herds. None of the community cattle sheep), though goats are run in a had been vaccinated for this, so Africa separate herd so herders can keep closer Senior Program Officer Sunny Moyo (right) dancing with some of Centre staff agreed to vaccinate watch on them in the dense bush.

In both communities, the livestock the Monde bank members. Her leadership has inspired the village immediately, and the cattle owners will women and won the hearts of both men and women in our two pay for the vaccine. owners, through their Grazing To keep parasite populations down Committee, have organized themselves pilot communities. into teams of about a dozen herders that change shift. Both men and women are herding, as well in the kraals, where the herd spends each night, weekly. Half the team herds a six-hour morning as teenaged “school-leaver” boys. In both continued on page 4 shift, and the other half a six-hour afternoon communities the wet-season grazing areas are

Hoof-Tilled Crop Field

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hough cropping was not being addressed in this pilot program, we did plan to include cropfields in the dry-season grazing plans so animals could clean up crop residue, deposit dung and urine and churn up the soil. One village headman, Libian Sibanda, agreed to bring a herd of cattle onto a new cropfield last year before the rainy season to demonstrate what might happen. He agreed not to plow the field, nor to cut down any trees, and to plant straight into the soil “tilled” by the cattle. At the same time he agreed to dig a trench around this muchsmaller-thanaverage-field, that would keep cropdamaging elephants out (they won’t jump HMI’s International Training Programs Director Constance a one-meter gap). Neely stands in the midst of 8-foot-tall corn plants in the The results of hoof-tilled, elephant-proof field. the treatment have surprised all of us. The photo above shows the hoof-tilled cropfield in mid-February.

The corn plants are six to eight feet (two to three meters) tall, dark green and with well-developed cobs. The photo on the left shows one of many surrounding fields managed conventionally; the corn plants are two to three feet (up to one meter) tall, yellowish and without cobs.

This field, just 200 yards away, is typical of every other field Villagers all around have taken notice and should eagerly welcome the in the Monde community. Corn plants are stunted and will community herd onto their fields in the coming dry season without our staff having produce very little food this year. to convince them of the benefits.

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Achieving Milestones we’ve advised community members to move the kraal (the fencing is portable) site frequently, and to house their chickens at the site, as many have seen us do on Dimbangombe Ranch.

continued from page 3 positive, and if we can encourage them to freely discuss that fact, and assist them in seeking

Gender/HIV Justice Gender empowerment and HIV prevention and stigmatization are two issues that directly affect the longterm success of the banks and the grazing aspects of this pilot program. We provided training on both subjects prior to launching the banks, and it is being reinforced in the monthly bank meetings. One of many A woman herds the cattle in the Sianyanga things we’ve learned already grazing area. The goats have been pulled out into a separate herd nearby so herders can from the initial training is watch them carefully and not lose them in the that as women begin to dense bush. speak up about issues such as condom use, or expenditure of household funds, their husbands help, it will have a positive may respond by beating them (occasionally it is impact in our two pilot communities, where the other way around with the woman stigmatization makes becoming violent). Program partner, Vivian admission of a positive Ncube, indicated at our January meeting that training in the development of negotiating skills diagnosis taboo. can help overcome this problem and is Challenges volunteering her time to provide that training.

The Dimbangombe Ranch staff, which One visitor to the Monde includes 40 to 60 general workers and their community noted that if we spouses, most of whom hail from the pilot can make this program fly in community areas, will receive the same Zimbabwe, given the chaos training. A number of staff members are HIVthat exists in the country, it

could probably work anywhere. That may be true, but our timeline was off by about six months, partly due to the difficulties of operating in Zimbabwe. Thus we requested, and were granted, a four-month extension from USAID (through September 2006) for completion of this pilot program. Our two biggest challenges are: 1. Hyperinflation–In January Zimbabwe’s official inflation rate reached 600 percent, and by end of February had risen to just over 800 percent. The unofficial and more realistic rate is probably greater than 1,000 percent. This has created hardships all around, of course, but for our program it has made the accounting between U.S. and Zimbabwe dollars

African Centre trainer Nicholas Ncube (right) holding up the Sianyanga wet-season grazing plan with one of the community herders. The grazing plan shows many days spent in an individual “paddock” but herders graze different sections within the paddock on each of those days.

Managing a Holiday Destination Holistically

by Aspen Edge

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hen we moved to southern Spain to develop a 30-acre farm, part of our short-term financial plan was converting the existing workshop into self-contained accommodation for holiday makers. However, four years on, we had not been able to derive any consistent income from this space. It was then Holistic Management became part of our lives and highlighted many of the reasons why we were not having the success for which we had hoped.

We realized that our desire to ensure that

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holidaymakers did not deplete, or adversely affect, the natural resources meant that we simply were not prepared to provide the facilities for which people were looking. This in turn highlighted that we were “fishing in the wrong pond!” Our lack of clarity had been directly affecting our success. Creating a clear holistic goal in turn led us to defining a clear target market. Once our market was defined–selfguided walkers–we were then able to create a clear marketing messenger and ensure that everything that we did was “on brand.” All our

efforts were going in the same direction, and we became much more effective as a result.

Once we had created our forms of production we were able to determine what social, economic and environmental strategies should be applied.

These, in turn, led to the development of policies. For example, one of our social policies is that we are perceived as friendly, caring, attentive and authentic. Finally, we determined the objectives and their timelines. This information was fed into the life plan, our adaptation of holistic grazing planning for other

a special challenge due to exchange rates that fluctuate daily. Sourcing enough cash to purchase goats from “cash-only” goat sellers has also been a challenge. Banks have limited cash, and we often have to travel by road over 360 miles (600 km) to procure it (the bulk and storage required rules out bus, train or air travel). And, of course, when we do manage to get the cash, we have to find a way to make hundreds of millions of dollars (a single goat now costs Z$2 million) look inconspicuous stored on the back of a truck.

2. Fuel Availability–Fuel remains both costly and scarce. Our Africa Centre staff have done their best to minimize fuel consumption–in some cases by working on foot, which is admirable but not cost effective in terms of time. To further reduce costs, the staff are taking turns being stationed in each pilot community for a week at a time, going home only on weekends to be with their families.

Acknowledging our Successes Managing to convince two communities to overcome their fears and to trust in their new understanding of how animals can be used to restore land is undoubtedly our biggest success.

Launching our first goats-as-currency bank, and getting as many dignitaries as we did to share in the celebration, is a close second. And right behind or in front of that is the ownership each community has taken in “their” program. When our staff visited Monde without an appointment, they were reprimanded for acting as if it was their program, rather than the community’s.

Just as pleasing to all the program staff is that the people in both communities, despite all the setbacks, errors, miscommunications, and wrong turns, remain deeply committed and so enthusiastic that they are a continual source of inspiration.

The Lodge areas of management, which made sure that we stayed on target through providing a baseline for monitoring, control, and re-planning.

Through applying the testing questions, we

Our Program Partners We are indebted to our program partners who have contributed so much to the success of this pilot program. They include: ZIA International (Albuquerque, New Mexico). The three principals–Judy Pierson, Paul Bonaparte and Suzanne Stalls–were responsible for setting up the monitoring protocols, designing the data gathering instruments and will be providing the data analysis. In addition they designed and are monitoring the HIV awareness/stigmatization curriculum and, with Vivian Ncube (see below), the gender empowerment curriculum. All three have generously donated many more hours than we could pay them.

Peter Mundy (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe).

Peter is professor of Forest and Wildlife Management at Zimbabwe’s National University for Science and Technology. Peter has provided excellent critiques of our plans and the monitoring program and student interns to assist in Judy Pierson, of ZIA International, gathering data from data gathering. bank members in the Monde community.

Vivian Ncube (Harare, Zimbabwe). Vivian is, among other things, a gender specialist with many years experience in designing training programs specific to Zimbabwe and even more specifically to rural and communal areas. She, too, has been very generous with her time, donating unbudgeted training sessions just because they were needed.

Heifer International (Gweru, Zimbabwe). The Heifer/Zim staff volunteered their time to train our herder trainees in animal health. They also assisted in the goat buying and will be contributing four Boer goat sires to the program to help improve the quality of the pilot community goats.

We also owe a thanks to the program’s independent evaluator–Colin Nott, a Holistic Management® Certified Educator based in Namibia. Even though he was only required to submit a final report, he has provided program staff and partners ongoing and thought-provoking feedback that has been most helpful.

were able to determine the weak link in the process and target our financial resources where they were going to count most. We realized we had wasted much time through simply not identifying the area which was slowing overall progress towards generating a sustainable and consistent income. In addition, the use of Holistic Management also provided us with our unique selling proposition which was that we were the first holiday destination in Europe to use Holistic Management “to put the environment top of the agenda!”

As we have developed greater clarity and established sound management procedures, we have derived any number of additional benefits, not the least of which has been psychological,

because we now know exactly where we are headed and are confident in our ability to manage to a successful outcome every time. In our first three weeks of operation, we had already received two bookings from couples who appreciated the fact that we managed for environmental sustainability and were prepared to support us in that aim.

Aspen is a Certified Educator and lives with her family at Semilla Besada in southern Spain, where people can come and stay at The Lodge and see Holistic Management at work around them, whilst they enjoy walking in the beautiful surrounding countryside. To learn more visit www.holisticdecisions.com or email Aspen at: aspen@holisticdecisions.com.

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Planning Your Grazing– Time, Paddocks, and Land Divisions

by Jody Butterfield, et al to achieve. These divisions can be demarcated by fences, natural barriers, or for herders by blazed trees or natural features. In the future, technology may provide a practical form of virtual fencing.

Whether you’re running a multi-paddock radial cell, leased land transected by ancient barbed wire, or unfenced range, you will have to decide how long your animals will stay together in one place, how big that place will be, where they will move next, and when they will come back.

averaging no more than three days, you have the option of using a single recovery period–say 150 days, rather than 30 days for fast growth and 150 days for slow growth–which simplifies the arithmetic when you get down to planning. You can do this because even if the growth rate is fast there is little danger that plants will be overgrazed when exposed to animals for three days.

However, you may prefer to stick with using a range of recovery periods to better cater for the nutritional needs of your animals. Although you The Effect of Paddock Numbers on Timing are not likely to overgraze plants over three days using that longer recovery period, you could get As the diagrams in Figure 1 show, the more divisions of land you have, the more recovery time better animal performance during periods of rapid growth by dropping to a one-day grazing when per day of grazing each paddock gets. Increasing growth is fast. Not only are the animals moving the number of paddocks doesn’t change the more rapidly onto fresh grazing, the plants they animal days per acre or hectare (ADA or ADH) are selecting from will be less fibrous. Depending yielded by the cell as a whole. It just means that each acre or hectare gives up its share in a shorter on the number of days that growth was rapid before you again experienced slow growth and time. had to lengthen grazing periods, this would Once paddock numbers have built up to the shorten all recovery periods to less than 150 days. point where the longest recovery period (slowThis should still give adequate recovery time since growth conditions) dictates grazing periods all paddocks would likely have experienced rapid growth.

More Paddocks Mean More Recovery Time/Day of Grazing As the number of paddocks increases, the grazing periods become too short for overgrazing to occur, as mentioned, but other Paddock 1 dangers increase, as Figure 2 shows.

90 days grazing 90 days recovery Note that at 30 paddocks or so, slow moves during fast growth cease to cause overgrazing. However, if for some reason animals do return to Paddock 2 any paddock before the plants in 90 days recovery 90 days grazing that paddock are fully recovered you will experience great damage.

With 2 paddocks, each would get 90 days of grazing and 90 days of recovery in a growing season of 180 days.

The reason is simply because the stock density will also be rising with decreasing paddock size and so if Paddock 1 any paddock is badly handled a 30 days grazing 90 days recovery great many plants will be overgrazed at the same time, leading not only to Paddock 2 30 days grazing damaged plants but also, in a brittle environment, exposed soil. Once you Paddock 3 attain high paddock numbers–up to 30 days grazing 100 or more–the chances of returning before plants have Paddock 4 30 days grazing recovered generally diminishes.

Moving too fast is a great With 4 paddocks, each would get 30 days grazing followed by 90 days of recovery. Each of the first two paddocks grazed temptation because a large number might then get a further 30 days of grazing followed by recovery until the 180-day growing season ends. of animals crowded into a small area will deplete it quickly, and Figure 1. The more divisions of land you have, the more recovery time per day of grazing each paddock gets. moving them a day early leaves a Editor’s Note: This is another excerpt from the soon to be published Holistic Management Handbook: Healthy Land, Healthy Profits, to be released this fall. Watch for sales details in the July issue of IN PRACTICE. iming and planning on a chart–these are the keys to holistic grazing management. As explained both here, and in detail in the textbook, overgrazing occurs when animals take regrowing foliage before the plant has recovered from a previous bite. This happens when animals linger too long in one area or return to it too soon. Since, in all environments, plants grow at different rates, timing demands thought and vigilance even without such complications as calving and lambing, poisonous plant seasons, water scarcity, weather, and competing land uses.

With almost all holistic goals involving land management–from small, tidy pastures to wide open desertifying rangelands–land divisions are the instrument for striving toward what you need

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Effects of Timing with Various Paddock Numbers Rapid Growth Grazing Period

Slow Growth

Paddocks

Days/Grazing

Days/Recover

Recovery Period

Grazing Period

8

4

30

8

13

90

DANGER regrowth regrazed

GOOD GOOD GOOD (More plants grazed as time in paddock increased)

31

1

30

GOOD

EXTREME GOOD GOOD OVERGRAZING (More plants grazed at higher stock density)

31

3

90

91

1

90

FAIR GOOD GOOD (Few plants grazed at low stock density)

FAIR

GOOD

Recovery Period DANGER too short

GOOD GOOD GOOD (Even more plants grazed at higher stock density and longer time) GOOD GOOD GOOD (Many plants grazed at very high stock density)

Figure 2: As the number of paddocks increases, the grazing periods generally become too short for overgrazing to occur. However, moving too fast during slow growth cuts the recovery period by a month in a 30-paddock cell and the animals may overgraze every plant. desertifying, low-rainfall brittle environments, further than any other measure. the better this ratio the more rapid the reversal Up to about 30 paddocks, each new division of desertification tends to be, provided animal significantly shortens the average grazing impact is adequate. And in non-brittle period, as Figure 3 shows. After that, the time environments the better this ratio the better gains (in terms of your ability to minimize animals tend to perform and the easier it is to overgrazing) taper off. However, as we will see, slow the natural tendency of pastures to revert to additional paddocks continue to increase stock forest. Aesthetic and legal considerations, type of density on a straight-line basis. As partial rest is terrain, cost of labor, herders, wildlife needs, and commonly a greater problem than overgrazing above all your holistic goal, will control both the on brittle environment ranges, you will want to pace and level of development. All this becomes increase stock density and/or herd effect to help easier the better you grasp the principles overcome it. governing time, density, land and animal If you are running stock in a non-brittle environment, the rule of thumb about maximum performance. density and minimum time still applies although for Paddock Number and Grazing Periods slightly different reasons.

For instance, in 100-inch 0 rainfall tropical forest 2 environments farmers 5 working with Allan Savory 30 paddocks found that only by moving 10 2 days the animals very frequently could they get reasonable 15 animal performance. These 5 paddocks fast moves automatically 15 days 20 came from high paddock numbers and higher Number of Paddocks density.

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 In any environment, increased paddocks will Figure 3. The curve shows how the grazing period derived from an simultaneously improve the graze (and trample)- average 60-day recovery period shortens as the number of paddocks rise. to-recovery ratio. In Grazing Period

paddock looking much better and the animals happier. However, in a 30-paddock cell this cuts the recovery period in every paddock by a month, and the combination of both increased stocking rate and increased stock density may overgraze every single plant. The best way to avoid any of these dangers is to plan the grazing using a planning chart on which you are able to keep an eye on recovery periods for each individual paddock and the cell as a whole.

In general, most ranches are understocked as their mangers begin to manage holistically and thus, in terms of holistic financial planning, “product conversion” is the weak link. In these cases the best marginal reaction per dollar comes from increasing animal numbers rather than paddock numbers. However, once the point is reached where the resource (energy) conversion link is weakest, the return on producing more paddocks–either fenced or demarcated for herding–is amazingly high. Seldom if ever can the provision of additional water or any attempt to reduce heavy invasions of woody plants begin to compete dollar for dollar. It is because of such reasoning that while paddock numbers are low it generally pays to find an inexpensive way to confine animals to smaller units of land–such as strip grazing within the larger paddocks.

At some point water also becomes a limiting factor, but again be cautious in how you deal with it. Avoid rushing into costly water provision prematurely. Water, like fencing or livestock, should only have money spent on it when it alone will push production from sunlight to solar dollar

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LIVESTOCK

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New Soil and No Grain– Planned Grazing on Cimarron Farm

by Abe Collins

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s an all grass, no-grain dairy, we pay close attention to our grazing, and our experience with transitioning from management intensive grazing (MIG) to planned grazing on Cimarron Farm has been rewarding. I am confident that holistic planned grazing gives us the best results possible, and things just keep getting better. Some of the benefits we’ve experienced are: • Everybody on the farm enjoys taking a few days during the cold of winter to contribute to a plan that they can see and work with through the whole season.

• The cattle end up where they are supposed to be, when they are supposed to be there. Thinking through the year before-hand often opens up new possibilities that we hadn’t considered before.

• We don’t “run out of grass” during slow growth periods, as we have planned moves based on slow growth.

• Animal performance keeps improving, and recovery periods keep decreasing.

• Grazing planning is a great way to “enter the mind of the land”... we approach it like a game of biological chess, where everyone wins.

mm). Reasons offered include even re-growth, high digestibility, high protein for high milk and meat production, avoidance of pokey stems causing pink-eye, higher clover content due to less light competition, and even better water cycling due to less leaf transpiration!

This strategy comes with built-in problems. Our challenge in lush pasture grazing is to provide enough energy to balance the very high levels of “protein,” including non-protein nitrogen. When stock are forced to eat short, lush, high protein pasture, the microbes in the gut still need to get energy from somewhere, so amino acids, proteins etc. are de-aminized to get at the energy stored in underlying carbon bonds (i.e. protein is turned into energy). Energy is freed up, but the cost is ammonia that the liver and kidneys are forced to deal with. It takes a lot of energy to run those filters. Additionally, oxygen in the blood is replaced by ammonia, in effect leading to oxygen starvation.

Mark Bader, of Free Choice Enterprises, was the first to alert us to the fact that by grazing very lush pasture, we were creating alkolosis in the herd. When we were grazing lush pasture like this, the smell of ammonia in the milking parlor was very strong, and the manure was similar to green paint. We had an alkolosis problem.

Andre Voisin also warned about the dangers of non-protein nitrogen in Grass Productivity, and Jerry Brunetti, of Agri-Dynamics, helps grassfarmers manage for forage that minimizes “funny protein.”

To counter the negative effects of low fiber and alkalosis that result from grazing such immature pasture, most producers around here feed supplemental hay, silage and grain during the grazing season. Having chosen to pursue the all-pasture path, we determined to figure out how to better meet the nutritional needs of the stock entirely in the pasture. This led us to experiment with “grazing tall.” (We should note that we do feed free-choice minerals, as well as supplement apple-cider vinegar at the rate of 2-3 oz/head/day in the drinking water.) For more information on the benefits of cider vinegar as a supplement for livestock, see D.C. Jarvis’ book, Folk Medicine.

The benefits of the “grazing tall” strategy, though not called this, are laid

Our recovery periods dropped by about 15 days when we began grazing tall, and our maximum recovery period dropped from 60 days to 45 days in one year.

The basic ecological principles outlined in Holistic Management have also led us to experiment with some grazing and soilbuilding strategies that differ from management-intensive grazing convention in these parts.

The results have been encouraging.

I will qualify what follows by noting that we are located in non-brittle Vermont, running cows, (about 70 mature cows and 40 youngstock, this year), and this farm was rotationally grazed for twenty years prior to planning our grazing. I write in the spirit of experimentation. We have made changes in management that have yielded positive results, and we are still monitoring!

Grazing Tall The standard advice in management intensive grazing circles is to graze 4- to 8-inch (100-200 mm) pastures down to 1-3 inches (25-75 8

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accounted for, as we don’t want to overheat the cows, but observing the out in the chapter on energy flow in Holistic Management. In practice, we general principle has been rewarding in terms of cow condition and milk let pasture grow up to the early boot stage, at least 12 inches (300 mm) tall, production. usually taller, graze at high stock density, and leave a well-trampled, high Jim Howell’s article on Llewellyn Manske’s research into rangeland residual, about 4-7 inches (100-175 mm). We still generally achieve 55 ADA, ecology at North Dakota State University was an eye-opener for us. The but the harvested forage is shifted higher up on the plant. realization that the secondary tillers generated in the fall by a grass plant This practice keeps growth in the steepest part of the sigmoid curve (sbecome lead tillers in the spring leads us to be cautious with fall/winter curve) rather than repeatedly knocking the grass back to the bottom, grazing, and leave the residual or re-growth, where possible, so these little shallow slope of the s-curve. Grazing tall leaves lots of leaf area to kickstart re-growth through above ground energy reserves and photosynthesis. tillers stay intact.

Dr. Manske’s research is rich. Like eating an artichoke, we just keep Our recovery periods dropped by about 15 days when we began grazing finding good stuff as we peel away. Dr. Manske points out that light tall, and our maximum recovery period dropped from 60 days to 45 days defoliation after third leaf development in the spring results in high levels in one year. Other factors, such as spring management, also figured into of carbon exudates from roots that stimulate soil life in the rhizosphere, this. enhancing mineral cycling and energy flow and promoting accelerated Grazing tall results in much more developed root systems, plant growth through the season. This is very exciting stuff to us, and deepening the topsoil-building zone and enhancing mineral cycling. compliments Christine Jones’ illuminating writings on the same subject The greater depth of root development is a plus during dry spells, as roots can tap deep water in soils. It also leaves a nice mulch layer that seems to (see IN PRACTICE #97).

Manske’s research shows at least reduce soil drying/evaporation so a 40 percent increase in growing water cycling is generally enhanced. season grassland yield when cool Malcolm Beck points out that season perennials’ lead tillers are the dense litter that results from lightly defoliated after third-and-atrampled residual also leads to high half leaf stage in the spring. That’s levels of CO2 from litter decay in the a lot of extra grass. In addition to pasture tangle, which localizes and the carbon exudates, grazing after accelerates carbon cycling, and third leaf-plus increases tillering. keeps leaf stomata closed longer With this knowledge I am and more often, reducing realizing that we have to abandon transpiration. Sounds good to us. the high-production mindset and Grazing higher on the sigmoid attend to the needs of the plants and curve is where we find the best soil dwellers before production and energy/protein ratio, and accounts performance can really begin to for some of our better animal climb. performance. With our cooler Management intensive grazing weather here in the northeast, we recommendations that I have have fewer problems with lignification than grassfarmers in Abe finds that grazing plants tall result in more developed root systems, encountered actually encourage the opposite of the above information. warmer climes. deepening of the topsoil-building zone, and enhanced mineral cycling.

The MIG advice is to get your Allowing the animals to graze animals on pasture way too early, so forage doesn’t get ahead of you, and the top portions of the plant, and leave the bottoms, also increases the energy levels in the grazed forage. As the cows happily graze the tops of the to set up a grazing wedge (staggered forage volumes in paddocks).

In translation on many farms, this means that animals hit the ground pasture plants, I suspect that they are telling us that glucose levels are highest in the upper portions of the plant, where photosynthesis is actively very early in the season. Many farmers graze through every paddock before any substantial growth even occurs, or start grazing when grass has just occurring. “achieved a definite green color.” By the time they get to the last paddocks Increasing Pasture Productivity on the farm, they are hitting the grass at a reasonable height. This knocks back that pesky spring flush of grass and sets up a grazing wedge, but at a Grazing at high density (we aim for stock density of between 400-800 animals/acre or 1,000-2,000 animals/ha) tramples most everything down, tremendous cost; many plants in many paddocks are overgrazed at the beginning of the season. Remember, overgrazing occurs when we stay too and results in even regrowth, not at all clumpy, even when the grass we turn the animals into is over-mature. It means a lot of moves in the course long, come back too soon, or graze too soon after dormancy. If a plant is grazed that is growing from carbohydrate reserves, rather than from active of a day, but that is the best part of our job. photosynthesis, it has been overgrazed.

High density is not generally used in management intensive grazing, If the “graze really early” advice is combined with the advice to graze but we have found it to pay off. Clipping pastures to deal with down to 1-3 inch (25-75 mm) residual throughout the rest of the season, “clumpiness” is becoming a dim memory. the effect is that we bite off the babies’ heads, expecting them to grow into Another boost to production has come from afternoon strip grazing. healthy adults, and then keep them doing arithmetic, rather than This stimulates the animals’ appetite when the sugar levels in the grass multiplication, for the rest of the season (i.e., they are maintained at the are substantially higher. We realized an increase in milk production of 5 low, shallow section of the sigmoid curve). lbs (2.25 kg) per day per animal once we started restricting morning grazing and emphasizing frequent moves during afternoon and early evening grazing (four and more moves between 11:00 am and 6:00pm, with a larger break for the early evening meal). Hot days need to be continued on page 10 N u m b e r 10 7

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New Soil

continued from page 9

Keyline® irrigation system. Experimenting with varieties that hold up well to winter grazing will be part of that.

Just waiting longer to turn the animals out in the spring, though, can We will also experiment with planting turnips and kale into close-grazed lead to the troubles of a big winter hay bill, low nutritional levels late in the pasture this year. We expect a beautiful crop of kale for the cows to graze cows’ pregnancy (we calve in the spring), no grazing wedge, and many through the snow once the ground freezes. Think of the energy tetrahedron, acres of low-value, over-mature feed. There are many creative ways to and the implications of lengthening the time side by growing a forage that address this. effectively harvests sunlight through mid-December. Brassicas also hold their One way we have stumbled onto grew from thinking through step five in ® sugar better than perennial grasses once it gets cold–another contribution to the Holistic Management Grazing more effective harvest of solar energy Planning Aide Memoire (note and and animal performance. address unfavorable grazing The cost benefits of brassicas are patterns). What we are working with staggering, and the energy input is now is setting up our grazing wedge minimal–especially with zero-tillage the fall before by allowing (and zero herbicide) seeding. We substantial re-growth in some have been assured by at a few other paddocks, higher residual in others, farmers that brassicas can be planted and a normal graze-down on last successfully into standing pasture graze in still others. This staggers the with herd effect.

We achieve herd carbohydrate reserves (and the effect routinely by stripgrazing with survival of fall tillers) that plants very small breaks in our striphave going into winter within grazing. various paddocks.

Is planting annuals sustainable?

Spring growth responds Given the energy used in putting up consistently–lots of carbohydrates hay, as well as the effects of means early, robust spring growth. machinery on the land, I suspect it Since this is all recorded on our last will be.

Granted, we need brassica growing season plan, it is easy to seeds, which had to be grown make the following growing season Afternoon strip grazing stimulates the animals’ appetite when the sugar somewhere.

Current prices are a few plan with reference to the record. levels in the grass are substantially higher. bucks a pound, and the seeding rate The result is that we are not forced to is about 2-4 lbs/acre (2.25 kg/ha). overgraze any plants, get that necessary grazing wedge, and increase overall I spoke with a farmer in mid-state New York who gets 175 ADA (438 grass production through the season on the order of 40 percent and more.

ADH) during winter grazing on turnips at negligible cost, although he does From our experience with this, the gain in grass production manifests itself disc harrow and culti-pack to establish the crop. We’re early in the in reduced recovery periods and higher plant density. development of these ideas, but we’ll keep folks up to date on progress.

We have not been wildly successful with our winter grazing yet. We are Along these lines, it has been illuminating to read Newman Turner’s usually on the bedded pack in the barn by the end of November. Admittedly, Fertility Pastures.

His tried and true strategies for outwintering dairy cows we have been struggling to overcome the common, profitability-impairing match and pre-date our ideas by over 50 years. attitude that afflicts many Northeastern graziers: “We can’t winter graze We aim to minimize the energy/money/time investment in stored because ... too much snow, delicate cows, diesel is still cheap, we like forage.

Beyond winter grazing, we will be experimenting with buckraking supporting feed suppliers, we love making hay ... etc.” un-wilted cut grass into vacuum silage clamps early in the season, when dry This doesn’t mean winter grazing, and attendant planning, is not a good hay is hard to make.

Later in the season, we will make loose hay-stacks. Our idea. We just haven’t done much with it yet. I suspect that when we do, equipment costs for transitioning from round bale and wrapping equipment that’s when we’ll need a shovel to deal with the cash flow. (Winter feed and to two old hay loaders, buck rakes and so on has been very affordable–most bedding are our biggest expenses.) equipment has been found in hedgerows and old barns.

In the recent past our land was overstocked, in that we grazed much of our summer growth, and bought in a lot of hay for the winter. I suspect that Building Topsoil this common strategy for dairy graziers will not hold up well in the face of As part of the general Keyline development of the land, which I will decreasing oil supplies. describe in more detail in a later article, we have been subsoil plowing Toward matching our stocking rate to the carrying capacity of the farm, pastures. we have de-stocked, and now carry about 1 animal to two acres. We expect P.A. Yeomans discovered over 60 years ago that subsoiling land after that the land will be able to carry more animals as we build soil health, but grazing and prior to rain or irrigation, during warm weather, led to very we are growing into it. fast rates of topsoil formation. It is the experience of the Yeomans family Beginning this summer, we plan to experiment with some winter grazing that four to six inches (100-150 mm) of subsoil can be converted to highwork. We have the advantage of a new Keyline Flood Flow irrigation system, humus topsoil per year!! which will enable us to have optimal moisture/ temperature conditions for Grazing of grass and legume pastures at about early boot-stage prunes growing experimental forage varieties we will be planting this year. off a large amount of high carbon and nitrogen root-mass, which We will be reseeding with improved perennials this year, with herbal ley composts readily in the high oxygen, moist environment of land that has ingredients tossed in for good measure, due to earth work related to the

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been subsoiled. Creating multiple biological climaxes in the soil through planned grazing and increasingly deep subsoiling yields stable new topsoil.

Three years of twice yearly subsoiling, in concert with planned grazing, can give us 18 inches (450 mm) of new topsoil that can be maintained indefinitely through continued planned grazing. New topsoil, rich in highcarbon humus, holds vast quantities of sequestered atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Drawing on a lifetime of experience with soilbuilding, Allan Yeomans, son of P.A. Yeomans, predicts in his new book Priority One: Together We Can Beat Global Warming, that we farmers, with the support of conscious eaters, can stabilize climate change within a decade through rapid soilbuilding, and greatly decreased fossil fuel use. I highly recommend his book. It can be purchased or downloaded for free from www.yeomansplow.com.au.

Our monitoring of carbon sequestration through planned grazing and subsoiling will begin in earnest this coming spring. I did spend a good portion of my summer on my hands and knees in the pastures, with my arms up to my elbows in the topsoil, and what I found there gave me a lot of hope.

All of the ecosystem processes were visibly enhanced by subsoiling within planned grazing. Root growth was incredible. The smell was just right. Soil structure in formerly compacted clays was crumbly and loose.

This leads me to share an assumption that is fore in my life. I believe that we holistic grassfarmers are humanity’s front line in restoring biodiversity. There is so much room for meaningful creativity in our work, and it is really helped along by the use of the planned grazing procedure.

The insights offered by people like the Yeomans family, Lee Manske, and Christine Jones are all gifts that we do well to use.

I can’t help but think, too, that the synthesis of knowledge and practice we are able to achieve on our little plots of earth give us the marketing message of a lifetime: “By purchasing the food we grow for you, you will help create the new topsoil in the next few years that will feed a thousand generations. Together, we can localize the mineral cycle, create an effective water cycle, stabilize the atmosphere, increase biodiversity, provide your family with perfect nutrition and true food security, enable you to power down while your life improves, and enable you to a practice the deepest environmentalism possible at every meal.”

Four to six inches (100-150 mm) of subsoil can be converted to highhumus topsoil per year!!

Abe Collins is a dairy grassfarmer in Swanton, Vermont and was part of the 2001 Class of the HMI Certified Educator Training Program. He can be reached at: famfarm@sover.net or 802/527-2913.

Buying Clubs– Part of the Solution

O

ne thought which I repeatedly come back to these days has to do with holistic social forms that can serve as fulcrums in achieving deep social change toward localized, powered down societies, the need for which is becoming more apparent daily. I look to the future resource base, the parts where it says that the land, water and air are all healthy, nutrients are cycling locally and farms are prosperous. Somewhere back in forms of production in our holistic goal there was mention of eaters and farmers directly connected in the process of realizing perfect nutrition while increasing ecological health.

When I ask what the shortest route between where we are now and the future resource base we’ve described, I always come back to farmer management clubs and eater/consumer buying clubs.

Benefits of buying clubs would be: • Everyday people organize to meet real needs (good food) in a longlasting way that builds community and consciousness.

• Perfect opportunity for non-farmers to support each other in learning/practicing holistic decision-making.

• Buying clubs place large orders to farms, greatly decreasing the amount of energy farmers need to invest in marketing, and dropping costs for eaters. CSA’s and similar arrangements have already laid a strong foundation for this type of arrangement.

• Farms and buying clubs merge into new wholes that connect people, food, farmers, and ecology.

• Buying club members can contribute labor at critical times on farms.

• Energy expenditure per food unit is greatly reduced, due to locality, shared transport, and so on.

• Buying clubs form the social network that can provide the political power needed to advocate and protect farmers in this time of increasing pressure/attack on family farms.

• Buying clubs open the door to other arrangements such as cowshare corporations, which dovetail perfectly with buying clubs. In this way, we all become holistic grassfarmers. Goodbye desertification; hello topsoil and food security.

We have formed a buying club with about a dozen other local families, and I can say from our experience that it is an exhilarating experience. We can see a real web of connections growing, and it is tying us all together, as well as meeting our desire to support other farmers, increase land health, and decrease fuel use.

To me, buying clubs are one of the most simple, effective ways for society to begin the immediate “Power-Down” process that we owe a thousand generations of our descendants, starting today with the kids in the U.S. and around the world.

One way to help jumpstart this buying club movement might be for us holistic grassfarmers to publicly offer what no other farmer in history has been able to offer.

–Abe Collins N u m b e r 10 7

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Prosperity through Simplicity–

The Coughlans of Tarabah

by Jim Howell

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ichael and Anna Coughlan, along with their tribe of youngsters (Lily, Harry, Molly, Isabelle, and Emma), are among the world’s greatest harvesters of sunlight. We first met them on a ranch tour that Daniela and I led through the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 2000, and in April of 2001 added their incredible property, Tarabah (on the plains of southwestern New South Wales), to the itinerary of another tour of Australia and New Zealand.

It was a good decision. Tarabah blew us away with its biological abundance, streamlined simplicity, herds of kangaroos, and 100 percent forage-based economic prosperity. And, at that time, they were just getting started in Holistic Management, having taken their first course with Australian Certified Educator Bruce Ward in 1997. I wrote an article based on that initial visit in the September 2001 issue of IN PRACTICE. Much of the following article builds on what’s happened since that story was published.

six-month dormant season, all the animals are put into one herd and moved through all 97 pastures, taking only one selection over the dry season.

If you’ve got 6,000 cattle and no help, it’s tough to get too carried away with keeping records, monitoring calving, or running animals through a chute. The Coughlans have cut this sort of work back to the absolute minimum, and as you’ll see, the results speak for themselves. Calving now happens in June and July (instead of the area’s traditional fall calving season in March and April), the middle of winter. But in their mild Mediterranean environment, winter isn’t really winter. It’s the beginning of the green season, with calves hitting the ground as grass growth gets under way. By the time the bulls go out on August 20, the cows have had at least two months of abundant green grass, and, despite the demands of lactation, are in prime shape to conceive.

Calving happens unassisted over the course of 45 days, and first calf heifers all calve in the same herd as the mature cows and at the same time.

Building on Success Calves are worked at three to four months of age, in late September and early We made another trip to Tarabah in 2004 to witness their progress, and October (when the bulls come out), before it gets too hot. They aren’t we’ve just had the opportunity to spend touched again until weaning in late two weeks with Michael and Anna on a April, at nearly 11 months of age. recent tour through Argentina. So, Mature cows aren’t preg checked. If we’re updated on their progress. In they don’t have a live calf at side by 2001, Tarabah carried 1,000 mother mid-August, just before the bulls go cows, close to 1,000 yearlings, and out, they are culled and sold.

10,000 Merino sheep on 45,000 acres So the main herd is worked once to (18,000 ha) with one full-time hired sort off dry cows, then again six weeks man (in addition to themselves). later to work the calves, and that’s it.

Today, five years later, the purchase of The Tarabah cattle receive no 5,000 adjacent acres (2,000 ha) has vaccinations, no treatment for internal Michael and Anna Coughlan, with only one part-time helper, manage or external parasites, no mineral brought the total area to 50,000 (20,000 ha). Through the swapping of 6,000 head of cattle, moving them on an average of every two days. supplements–not even any salt. sheep and cattle stock units, total animal numbers now include 2,000 Tarabah is now certified organic, so they can’t do a lot of that stuff anyway. mother cows and, for much of the year, close to 2,000 yearlings, and Michael After weaning (which takes place right at the end of the dormant season), and Anna hint that there is still room for expansion. Total number of all the steers and heifers stay together right through the coming winter and pastures has increased from 71 to 97, and they’ve decided that their one hired spring growing season. The Coughlans emphasize that because this big herd man was excessive, so they now do all the day-to-day work themselves. of youngsters is born and raised together (and therefore have their social In addition to Tarabah, the Coughlans also own another property a issues worked out), the common problem of steers riding heifers is nearly couple hours to the east, in a wetter, much more productive environment, non-existent. The bulls actually go straight into this big herd of steers and called Moombril. Its 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) feeds another 1,000 cows and heifers on August 20, with no problems at all, and just like the cows, they 1,000 yearlings, and everything stays humming with one half-time employee, come out 45 days later. in addition to a visit by Michael once every couple weeks. So, between During September and October, the steers are all marketed as grassMichael and Anna and the Moombril part-timer, 2 1/2 full-time labor units finished organic beef at a liveweight averaging 880 pounds (400 kg) at 16 manage to get all the day-to-day work accomplished on an outfit that at months. This marketing happens right through the peak of their spring times of the year carries close to 6,000 cattle. That’s what I mean by efficient. growing season, after these young cattle have made the best of the year’s highest quality green grass, and before quality starts to decline into the No Frills Management summer. By early December (beginning of summer), all the steers are gone, Now, back to Tarabah. With only a 17-inch (425-mm), winter-dominant and the heifers are preg checked. Those that are bred (average breed up on rainfall pattern, the grazing on Tarabah is planned through a six-month, heifers is 78 percent over 45 days) go straight into the cow herd, and never winter-spring growing season from early May through October (remember, come out again. The opens go down the road. The Coughlans don’t need this we’re in the southern hemisphere), and the dormant season includes the rest many for replacements, but they remain in an expansion mode, so anything of the year from November through April. During the growing season, 90-day that catches stays at this point. recovery periods are planned (resulting in most pastures receiving two For every 100 mature cows put to the bull, 85-90 calves reach their first grazings), and two herds are managed–mature cows and mixed sex birthday, and 78 for every 100 yearling heifers joined. Given their hands-off yearlings. This results in average grazing periods of only two days. During the approach, that’s awfully good. It also indicates that their intensive 12

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management of the cow herd through calving is excellent, given that they are moving 2,000 head every 2-3 days with baby calves all over the place. In other words, they aren’t orphaning many calves.

The key, Michael emphasizes, is to open gates and let them move themselves. The cattle are never actually moved–they voluntarily migrate through the property. The Coughlans just open and close gates to control the speed and direction of the migration. During calving especially, gates are left open behind the cows so those that are calving or those that have left a calf behind can catch up or go back if needed. All moves are always to adjacent pastures during this time. If a significant size group gets too far behind, they will often skip this group across a fence to a pasture the main mob is approaching, and get everything recombined when the big bunch arrives.

So, by early in the dormant season (which is also a very, very hot season, with average daytime highs Watering large herds can be typically over 104 F or 40 C), challenging. The Coughlans yearling steers and open have found a 30-foot trough, heifers are all sold, all the with constantly running water females are bred up, every and overflow diverted to the mature cow on the place has pond, offers sufficient clean a calf at its side, and water for up to 5,000 head of everything is in one herd. cattle while minimizing pond Now nothing needs to fouling and crowding problems. happen for another five months when calves are weaned. Michael emphasizes one of the biggest advantages to shifting their calving to June-July is that no cattle working takes place in the searing months of summer.

Watering the Herd Speaking of heat and summer, you may be wondering how in the world they manage to water one huge herd of lactating bovines without stress. In the previous article in IN PRACTICE, I mentioned that their proposed land plan included 37 miles (59 km) of three-inch (75-mm) water line. At that time they were making do with creeks, windmills and small dams (many of which were filled by windmills), but that wasn’t ideal. Now all of this pipe is in, plus another 6 miles (9.6 km) on the new 5,000-acre place. Water can be pumped from the main creek at the rate of 78,000 gallons (330,000 liters) per day. This volume can be sent to whatever water point the cattle are currently using. At most of these points, the water first enters a 30-foot (10meter) trough with a three-inch (75-mm) overflow hole at the other end.

The water continuously runs through this trough, then overflows out the hole, into a pipe, and into an adjacent pond.

The Coughlans have found this to be the perfect combination for watering large herds. With only trough space available, lots of trough space is required to water several thousand animals. With only a dirt dam, water gets quickly fouled and water quality suffers. But with the availability of fresh running water in the trough, the cattle are happy to go and drink dirtier pond water as well (the level of fouling in this water is partly alleviated by the pumped water constantly overflowing into it).

And with the availability of the pond water, the necessity for lots of trough space is hugely reduced, and crowding problems are eliminated. If the pumping-pipe system breaks down, the ponds ensure that the cattle will still have access to water, which is good for the Coughlans’ quality of sleep. Most

of these water points also have an old windmill close by, and when the cattle are gone, the windmill is left on to keep the ponds full. The system is actually designed to handle up to 5,000 cattle in a single herd.

When we first visited the Coughlans in 2001, they were receiving approximately US$.50/lb ($1.10/kg) for their yearlings, and that was an alltime record high. With an unbelievably low cost of production of US$.10/lb ($.22/kg), they were understandably pretty comfortable and content with their profit margins. Now, five years later, cost of production is still the same, but price has risen to US$.80/lb ($1.76/kg) for a finished yearling (as a result of a continued market upswing combined with their organic premium). I’ll let you do the math from there. Incidentally, every critter the Coughlans own is a straight Hereford. That’s what I mean by prospering through simplicity.

Return of the Perennials But, of course, no story is holistically complete without an account of the state of the land. Indeed, that’s what the Coughlans are most eager to share.

Because of the winter and spring concentration of precipitation, dryland wheat farming, and over a century of continuous grazing, vast tracts of land in southwestern New South Wales have lost their perennials and reverted to grasslands dominated by cool season annuals.

All this is starting to change on Tarabah. The Coughlans take photopoints every six months, and read transects every two to three years, and with this data (combined with everyday observation) are seeing some amazing things happen. For example, Kangaroo grass, a native, warm-season perennial of the genus Themeda, is making a comeback on parts Tarabah. It’s nearly non-existent for miles in any other direction. The Coughlans have created the niche, and long-dormant Themeda seed has responded.

When they began managing holistically in 1997, they set the ambitious goal of achieving 100 percent ground cover; and, in Michael’s words, “We are there.” The duck-billed platypus in the creeks are increasing in abundance every year, and echidnas (little porcupine-looking critters) are making a comeback. During his entire childhood on Tarabah, Michael never saw an echidna, and last year he saw ten.

When I think of Tarabah, I think of the marginal reaction test. The Coughlans don’t do anything that doesn’t make a fantastic holistically sound return to their triple bottom line. And, as their example shows, if done consistently, the result is abundance, in every sense of the word. Another result is synergy. For example, despite spending no money on veterinary expenses, the Coughlans have no health issues with their animals. This is because nutrition is optimized with incredibly good grazing planning and implementation, their calving season fits the environment, and the cattle are never stressed. If you can get what matters right, everything else falls into place.

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The Modern Native–

Living Consciously in the Age of Choice

by Jim Howell

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few years back I wrote an article entitled On Becoming Native. culture did not co evolve. For example, the infusion of horses and That was the summer when it dawned on me that my gunpowder into the cultures of native Americans created mass confusion family–recently transplanted English settlers in a landscape as and turmoil on a continental scale. With these new means of resource foreign as the moon–wasn’t native to our high altitude ranch in extraction, suddenly there were seemingly infinite new possibilities, but the Colorado. Even after four generations and over 100 years, I could see that pursuit of these possibilities–beyond horizons that, previously, had been we were still pioneers in this place. We knew well all of our imported admired from a distance, not ridden over with loaded rifle–brought Europeans tools and assets (equipment, livestock, etc.), but we remained depletion, scarcity, and inevitable conflict. This exact dynamic has largely ignorant of the effects of these tools on our land. Our recognition repeated itself countless times throughout history, and, of course, it of intimate details and patterns on the land itself, at the level of the soil continues. surface, remained cloudy at best.

If the Europeans had stopped on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and not Since that awakening, I’ve striven to be as observant and attentive to followed their feral horses inland, the native Americans would eventually the intricacies of our land as my perception allows. And as time passes, we have learned to use their new tools sustainably and in harmony with their continue to discover new details. environment. They would have Every year, every season, has new evolved a new native, adapted culture lessons to teach. We have been that incorporated the horse. The doing our best to incorporate these resulting natural resource base may lessons into our behavior–into have turned out the poorer for it, but a ensuring that our actions in this new equilibrium of sustainability place are building up rather than would have resulted. Where it has had tearing down. And we are making a chance, this pattern of adaptation progress. Our monitoring tells us has also repeated itself over and over. that, even after deviations and But, why the difficult transitions? Why setbacks, we’re on the right track. don’t native cultures automatically The soil surface enters each winter know what’s good for them and what’s more covered (or, as my good friend not? To me, that’s the heart of the Duke Phillips says, “furred over”) issue. than the last, creeks are flowing I think the answer lies in the clearly, wildlife is abundant, and extent to which each culture is our critters are fat. conscious of its place as a native, The lessons will continue coming keystone species. After countless for the rest of our lives, and there will Making conscious decisions about technology is much easier with Holistic generations in the same place, living forever be refinements to make. But Management. Through testing their alternatives for solving a stock water basically the same way, I wonder to we are changing this place for the problem, the Howells found an elegant solution–the ram pump, which is what extent native human better, and our presence here, I’ve populations are conscious of the powered my gravity and requires no other outside energy source to realized, is a keystone element in its pump water. critical roles they play. They might not health. As the years pass, the even possess the concept of “being relationships we are forging with this land are transitioning from pioneer to native,” since it is likely their only reality. So infusion of anything new, native. We are beginning to build. especially if it has obvious potential advantages to quality of life and likelihood of survival, is understandably hard to resist. I’m not suggesting Native Struggles that resistance to anything new is the appropriate response, but we all need to But I’ve also had some new thoughts on this whole issue of becoming evaluate how new elements will fit into our whole. and being native. If you follow my line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, So, my question is, “As humans living in the modern, globally connected societies that are truly native to a place, living in harmony with their natural world, where we all have access to (or at least awareness of) basically every surroundings, should have the capacity to flourish indefinitely. The fact is form of technology and scrap of knowledge, how do we stay on the path of that they almost never do. Some infusion from the outside almost always being native?” We aren’t confronted with the occasional new tool; we receive seems to do them in. Often these infusions (usually some form of a daily onslaught of advertising encouraging our adaptation of thousands of technology) are forced upon them by an invading neighbor. But why did the new technologies, procedures, and widgets. neighbor invade, and how did he have the capacity to invade, to begin with?

Holistic Management® decision-making can help an awful lot with this This neighbor, theoretically, should be from a native culture, too, living in conundrum. With a clearly defined direction and purpose (in the form of a perfect harmony with its environment. Why would he feel pressured to cross holistic goal), we have the advantage of clarity and conviction, which results the mountain and fight? in a much better chance of consciously choosing what fits and what doesn’t.

The answer, nearly always, is tied to resource scarcity, which begs the With a grasp of the testing questions, we can filter through masses of question, “Why did the resource become scarce in the first place?” Again, information. To me, this is the heart of what it means to be native in today’s the answer is typically tied to adoption of a new tool with which the native complex world. We are conscious of the need to live in harmony with our 14

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environment, and be profitable at the same time. And because we are conscious, we can be deliberate in our choices toward these ends.

profitable, and subsidy-free. Their kids choose to return to the land, and they expand their assets with cash purchases. They are faced with the same myriad of choices that we all are, but are deeply conscious that their native Holistic Pumping traditions form the pillars of this model of sustainability, and they make their choices accordingly. We don’t all need to become Amish farmers, but their Here’s an example from the Howell Ranch. We’ve got a stockwater situation on our high place that had perplexed us for decades. We’ve got one example is telling.

The Amish don’t hesitate to expand into new territory, either, if that’s what good creek and two springs, but they are all on the bottom of canyons. Most makes economic, ecological, and cultural sense. New Amish communities of our country lies up another 500 feet (152 m) above the water. The paths are sprouting up in many regions of the country, far away from their leading to the canyon bottoms are constricted and steep, and years of cattle trailing had left them vulnerable to erosion. More importantly, without water traditional strongholds in the East and Upper Midwest.

And that brings me to a new insight–one that hit me hard, and with on the top, we realized that we’d never be able to do a good job of planning which I’m still struggling. Being native doesn’t necessarily mean staying put. the grazing on the property as a whole.

Another good friend, Tony Malmberg, recently sent me a poem called The To move water uphill, it has to be pumped. I assumed we would have Three Fish, by Turkish poet Rumi. The three fish are the three biggest in their to build a small cistern at one of the springs, mount a submersible pump native lake, happy and successful as can be, but one is wise, one is halfinside it, haul up a generator, place a huge storage tank at the highest stupid, and the other is just plain stupid. Then some fishermen arrive, and point up on top, bury tons of pipe through rocks and forest, and gravity flow from the tank to a series of troughs. It was going to take a lot of work the wise fish immediately decides to leave. He doesn’t tell the others of his decision, for he is afraid that their and a lot of money, and would require a deep love and sentiment for their lot of attention to keep running. I loved lake will weaken his resolve. He the idea of having water up there, but I swims out of the lake, has a didn’t like the idea of all this tortuous journey down the river to infrastructure. the sea, but once in the sea, he is Now, here’s the point. We refused to free and the possibilities are give in to conventional engineering and endless. This fish emphasizes that made the conscious, native, holisticallyit is not wrong to love your home, grounded choice to look for an but home is where you are going, alternative that would lead us on a more not where you are. direct path to our holistic goal. And, to The half-stupid fish, after make a long story short, that conscious realizing that the wise fish, his decision led to a pump called a High mentor, has fled, regrets his Lifter. I had never seen one before, and decision to stay. He suddenly finds have still never seen another besides ours. himself in the fishermen’s net, This pump works on gravity. It’s a but devises a risky plan to escape. little, 18-inch (450-mm) long, two-inch He plays dead, and the fishermen (50-mm) diameter stainless steel tube with some simple pistons, valves, and The Amish have a tradition of making conscious decisions based on their throw him out onto the bank, cursing their bad fortune that the seals inside. It’s so simple I can’t figure values. Holistic Management provides a framework for people to biggest fish is dead. The fish flips out how it works. It uses a high volume determine their values and create direction through their holistic goal. and flops himself back into the of low-pressure water to pump a smaller volume of high-pressure water. The principle is called a “hydraulic lever.” For lake, and swims to the ocean to join his wise comrade. The stupid fish ends up in the frying pan, and while sizzling, has the audacity to state that if he every 4.5 gallons (17 liters) of water that get to the pump, one gallon (3.8 liters) gets pumped back up the hill and 3.5 gallons (13 liters) are discharged ever gets out of this fix, he’ll go to the ocean, too. But, of course, it’s too late.

I realize this poem is symbolic and isn’t exclusively referring to a physical out of the pump. From the spring source to the pump, there are 900 change of address as the only means to deal with a threatening, challenging, horizontal feet (273 m) and 130 vertical feet (39 m), which creates enough head at the pump to send one gallon (3.8 liters) per minute 430 feet (130 m) or difficult situation. But, with the Amish, I would surmise that when faced with the necessity to expand their resource base because of a growing up the mountain. That’s 1,500 gallons (5,700 liters) per day, which is population, or to move to escape threatening dynamics over which they have enough for the number of cattle we run on that place. no control (like a Walmart Supercenter next door), they make their decisions We also realized that since we only use this part of the ranch in the based on where the best resource base exists to enable them to continue summer, we didn’t need to bury the pipe (160 psi black poly pipe), and we living their values–to continue as natives. The ocean is their home. didn’t need a big storage to store water between pumpings, since the pump So, the question is, when fishermen are perched on the bank, what is the works 24 hours per day. It is a form of elegant technology perfectly suited to our situation–a much more holistically sound solution to our problem than native response? The possibilities may be many, but if the choice is made consciously, in line with your family’s holistically-grounded path, it will be anything else. And, without the perspective of Holistic Management, we made in the spirit of a native. probably never would have taken the time to find it.

Conscious Choices I’ve never visited the Amish, but I’ve read quite a bit about them. I know they have troubles just like we all do, but there is no question that as a sustainable, intact culture, they are miles ahead of mainstream American agriculture. Their farms are small, energy-efficient, biologically complex,

Jim Howell is a Holistic Management® Certified Educator. He lives in Montrose, Colorado with his wife, Daniela, and his daughter, Savanna. If you have questions or story ideas for Jim, email him at: howelljd@montrose.net. The Howells bought their ram pump at Sierra Solar Systems, www.sierrasolar.com.

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T he news from holistic management international

Board of Director Changes

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olistic Management International is excited to welcome two new Board members, Jim Shelton and Ivan Aguirre.

Jim Shelton & Ivan Aguirre Jim Shelton has served on HMI’s advisory council for many years, and we enthusiastically welcome him to our Board. Jim is the Executive Vice-President of Oklahoma State Bank in Vinita, Oklahoma. His family also owns an 1800-acre cattle ranch outside of town. Jim earned an Animal Science degree from Oklahoma State University and is an alumni of the Oklahoma Agriculture Leadership Program. He later graduated from the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.

Jim learned about Holistic Management through newspaper and magazine articles in the late 1980s and from a friend who had attended some of the early courses Allan taught. He became an Advisory Council member in 2000. Jim is

people, programs & projects

involved in the local Chamber of Commerce and is President of the Board of Education of Vinita Public Schools. He is also a member of the Long Range Capital Planning Commission for the State of Oklahoma, a member of the Ag 2000 Task Force for the State of Oklahoma, a member of the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association, and also various other local and state organizations.

Ivan Aguirre is the new Board of Directors representative from Mexico. He and his wife, Martha, co-manage and own, Rancho La Inmaculada, in Sonora, Mexico. Ivan was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, and graduated from Texas Tech University’s School of Agriculture in 1982. He became a HMI member in 1985 and a Certified Educator in 1993. Ivan is also a board member for the Sonoran Institute in Arizona.

Ivan first learned about Holistic Management back in the early 1980s at a one-day seminar on the Savory Grazing Method, in the Range Department at Texas Tech, where Allan handed out handwritten forms with blue ink drawings of the Holistic Management process and the ecosystem processes.

Ivan is the fourth generation to ranch on Rancho La Inmaculada, a 25,000-acre ranch.

Besides raising Beefmaster cattle, the Aguirres produce handcrafted mesquite items (unique flooring, household utensils, lumber, charcoal fuel, and food), as well as grow produce in their home garden. The ranch also manages a mule deer herd, offers trophy hunts, and operates the

Horizon Organic Dairy– Holistic Planning for a New Dairy

by Joel Benson & Byron Shelton

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n September, Horizon Organic Dairy contracted Holistic Management International to work with the development of a new dairy facility, close to an existing dairy facility owned by Horizon near Twin Falls, Idaho. Certified Educators Byron Shelton and Joel Benson (from Colorado) are heading up the HMI planning team, addressing Horizon’s request for assistance with holistic goal development, testing decisions, holistic planned grazing and its related land planning and monitoring.

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A Tailored Plan The new organic dairy should be operational in 2007. Approximately half the cows from the existing parlor should begin to graze the new site’s irrigated permanent pastures under holistic planned grazing in the 2007 growing season.

Proper planned grazing and land planning in this area of inconsistent humidity are essential to move the ecosystem processes to increase pasture health and productivity, as well as to maintain animal health and milk production.

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Mezquite Café and a guest ranch facility.

Ivan is excited about contributing to HMI through his work on the Board and his work at Rancho La Inmaculada. “Our local commitment to HMI is to strengthen active learning sites, empower local rural communities and expand the practice of Holistic Management. Now with a textbook in Spanish, there is no doubt that interest will solidify and there will a greater need for strategic work in this area of the world.”

We also give a heartfelt thanks to Terry Word, our past Chair for his tireless efforts in moving HMI forward. Terry’s term expired, and he is already planning what to do with all his free time. Many thanks!

New Advisory Council Member

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MI is also excited to welcome Sallie Calhoun to the Advisory Council. Sallie was raised in Tennessee and graduated from Rice University with an Electrical Engineering degree.

She then moved to California in the 1970s where she worked for a number of high-tech startup companies.

In 2001, Sallie and her husband, Matt Christino, purchased a 7,300-acre ranch near Paicines, which had Sallie Calhoun once been owned by long-time HMI member, Joy Law. Joy told Sallie to read Holistic Management. When Sallie did read the book, she signed herself and her ranch manager, Chris Ketchum, for HMI’s Ranch & Range Manager Training Program. Doodlebug Ranch now runs 600 cow/calf and 900 yearlings.

Sallie says that the R&R Training Program really affected how they view the land. Now they are better able to see the erosion and biodiversity and other monitoring indicators of land health.

Our initial focus for the project was on the New Dairy site. Much of our discussions focused on cattle movements within and around the facility. Unlike a beef operation, the dairy management limits flexibility in pasture management because of the need for milking and distance to travel.

Other dairy management needs required multiple groups of animals to remain together throughout their time in the dairy parlor, as well as once they reached pasture. The layout of the New Dairy needed to allow for maximum access to pasture, appropriate levels of production, lowstress on the animals, timing of plant recovery, and handling ease for milking, pregnancy checks, feed rationing, etc Working with dairy personnel, the

She also noted that learning about the holistic goal validated how she and Matt had always looked at the world. The R&R Training Program gave them the context and confidence to take on this new ranch enterprise. In fact, Sallie now finds the world of high-tech startups boring compared to ranching.

Sallie is excited about joining the Advisory Council because she sees how Holistic Management has so many answers, but there are many people who still don’t know about it. She wants to be a part of the solution, and finds that Holistic Management practitioners are some of the most interesting, curious, and smart people she’s met.

Welcome, Sallie!

Africa Centre’s Endowment Herd

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n February 2004 the Maria Gans Norbury Fund awarded HMI a grant of $25,000 to create an endowment fund that would help support the work of the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe. Since inflation in Zimbabwe was running over 600 percent at the time, the grant allowed us to invest the endowment funds in cattle that would be run on the Africa Centre’s Dimbanbombe Ranch. This would enable us to grow the endowment principal through retention of females, and earn “interest” through sales of male progeny and cull cows and bulls, which would then be used

to support Africa Centre programs.

We had two years to purchase all the animals and only just managed to do that by February 2006, when we purchased our 67th animal.

Zimbabwe’s national herd has been decimated due to political turmoil in the country; less than 125,000 cattle are left of 1.4 million. We had to buy animals where we could find them and few of them had immunity to the local diseases, Theileriosis in particular. Eleven heifers died, though none since March 2005. To date there have been 18 calves born and two deaths, bringing total herd numbers to 72 by February 2006. The herd value was estimated at $27,500, which will of course continue to grow.

We’re grateful to the Norbury Fund for making the creation of this endowment possible, and for its willingness to back a unique approach to the investment of endowment funds.

Southern Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (SARE) research grant and honoring long time Holistic Management advocate Bob Steger.

After welcomes by West Station manager Joe Maddox and HRM of TX president Richard Sechrist, Dr. Pat Richardson, the SARE research team leader, explained the project, “Addressing Cedar Infestations Sustainably-Using Animal Impact to Increase Forage Production and Improve Soil Health.” Pat described how the protocol team of Dr. Richard Teague (TAMU Vernon Experiment Station), Dr. John Walker (TAMU San Angelo Experiment Station), Dr. Dick Richardson (UT Austin), Steve Nelle (NRCS), Art Roane (Hair Sheep Association), Peggy Cole (HRM of TX), Joe & Peggy Maddox (HMI) decided to test four grazing

Elephant-Proof Cropfields

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he German Development Service (DED) has awarded the Africa Centre for Holistic Management a grant of US$7,600 to test the effectiveness of chili powder as a deterrent to crop-raiding elephants. The chili powder is mixed with elephant dung into balls that are burned like incense that elephants apparently find disgusting. Many elephants are shot each year while raiding village crops. The chili “incense” could help minimize the loss of elephants, as well as crops–a family’s six-month food supply can be wiped out in one night. The Africa Centre is experimenting with another technique for elephant-proofing cropfields, mentioned on page 3.

Clint Josey presenting Bob Steger with thank you gifts.

The Dimbangombe Endowment Herd

n March 24th, more than 50 people followed the long and winding road to HMI’s David West Station for Holistic Management for the twin agendas of a field day learning about the ongoing

treatments: continuous graze, continuous rest, one herd with four-paddock rotation, and one herd with 10-paddock planned graze.

During the afternoon session, after Dr. Pat Richardson’s ground-breaking video of West Ranch soil mesofauna, speakers Allan Savory, Clint Josey, and Walt Davis surprised Bob Steger with a thank you for all his hard work for Holistic Management and HRM of TX. Thank you, Bob!

Horizon/HMI team first calculated forage potential, herd size possibilities, acreage available, ADA’s, etc. We determined that the herd size desired by Horizon would be appropriate for the irrigated on-site pastures. We then set to work on the facility layout in conjunction with pasture needs and the myriad management needs.

Using existing plans as a point of departure, the on-site team developed around twenty additional land plans, ranging from adaptations of the existing layout, to series of satellite parlors, and even a mobile parlor design. We settled on one design centered on the mile-squared plot of land, using natural contours for drainage, and considering shelter needs, wildlife, distance, etc.

The result was an added fourth freestall, alleyways directing cattle flow into the corners of the

squared piece of land, and an irrigation layout that allowed for maximum flexibility in plant recovery and cattle movements.

Dairy management called for no fewer than eight groups of animals. The layout, therefore, has four quadrants that coordinate with four freestall barns. Since each freestall holds two groups, we split the quadrant into two cells, giving eight total grazing cells. The alleyways and cells are all designed with maximum management flexibility so that, if necessary in the future, cells can be merged and the number of herds adjusted.

Besides serving pasture management needs, the four freestall barns were a necessary improvement to parlor management itself.

One significant question surrounding the New Dairy has been whether or not to plant crops for

grazing, or to help develop a permanent pasture.

Andre Voisin’s work helps us understand the benefits of a permanent pasture in terms of soil health, mineral availability, and biodiversity. Crops would help maintain pasture productivity in the short-term, but would ultimately not achieve Horizon’s desire to reach past organic standards and into actually improving soil health and animal welfare–which showed up in the testing of this decision. The current plan, thus, is to develop permanent pasture, while designing flexibility into the irrigation plan to allow for any future use of the land.

After settling on a land plan and facility layout, we shifted focus to include other facets of the existing dairy facility. We are currently working to improve planned grazing at the continued on page 18

West Ranch Field Day

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Horizon Organic Dairy existing parlor, a replacement heifer facility, and a dry cow facility for the 2006 growing season. We have nearly finalized infrastructure plans for these three planning units and will begin grazing under the new plan this spring, training the dairy personnel and new herdsmen in Bud Williams’ low stress animal handling techniques.

The existing facility is in transition; in 2007, half of the herd will be transferred to the New Dairy, and half kept at the existing facility. Careful planning, infrastructure development, and creativity with pasture and pen layout will help provide all animals remaining at the existing dairy with pasture a minimum of 120 days per year, and work towards a goal of providing at least 30 percent dry matter.

Grazing Hours The goal of providing pasture can be reached, but provides a unique management and planning challenge. Namely, when working through our grazing plan, we have found that we need a new calculation. Given the numbers of animals we are working with, and since we are not planning for 100 percent dry matter (as the cattle are supplemented with cottonseed, flax and canola meal, vitamins and minerals, etc. for optimal herd health), we need to calculate the actual hours of grazing that can occur on each paddock over the minimum and maximum grazing periods. To the Grazing Plan, we added a row #39 – Average Hours per Grazing Period, and an

continued from page 17 additional column, Actual Hours per Grazing Period. The formula for row #39 would be: (8*) (percent removal) (AMGP or AMxGP) = Average Hours of Grazing per Min or Max Grazing Period (* = a constant for the hours of grazing a cow does, according to research) Eight hours of actual eating multiplied by the percent dry matter removed and multiplied again by the average minimum or maximum grazing periods yields the hours of active grazing during the grazing period. The first calculation gives an average time per day that the animals can actively graze. The herdsmen therefore need to be aware of actual time eating. If 30 percent dry matter would give 2.4 hours of grazing per day, and the animals are eating during the entire time, the herdsmen would need to pull the animals off after 2.4 hours because they would have eaten their allotted grass for the day.

If the cows eat a bite and then laze around, they can be grazing on the land for a longer period the next day. The animals can only graze for a particular number of hours during the minimum or maximum grazing period. If the plants are taken down too far, their recovery would be slower and, therefore, recovery periods longer. Actual times would need to be calculated for each paddock as well. Actual Hours would be calculated using the same formula, substituting actual amounts for the average figures.

Bringing Hope to Africa Vision to provide them with beads and supplies to get started, and in three month’s time made bead work for sale. Cash is hard to come by here, especially for women. The men have a corner on it with their cattle sales, so it gets spent where they feel it should be spent. Now, the hope is that the women can make their own money and can pay school fees with it so that their children–including the girls–can get an education, and they can put food on the table when the land is dry, and maybe even dare to dream about getting something “extra.”

Another interesting story is Peninah and her mother (a Bead Group member). Peninah was a World Vision-sponsored child starting in primary school. She was to be married after that–which is common. Her mother said no, and her father relented–which is not common. She finished secondary school and college and has been accepted in a degree program at Western Sydney University in Australia. She is working for World Vision now and is my interpreter when I talk with the women. The mothers–and the 18

IN PRACTICE

In addition to the land and grazing planning, the Horizon team is developing an understanding of the decision-making framework, using a holistic goal developed by Horizon workers from milkers to senior management (team members). A core management group responsible for the dairies in Idaho actively tests decisions about infrastructure and pasture operations toward this holistic goal.

As the year progresses, we will train staff in daily pasture monitoring, annual biological monitoring, plant recovery, pasture management based on recovery periods, low-stress animal handling, etc. We are working to establish social baseline monitoring and indicators of progress, and in the fall we will facilitate holistic financial planning.

Horizon and HMI members involved are enjoying a lot of learning and constant dialogue with many valuable lessons. As managing holistically is size neutral, lessons learned may be applied to smaller dairies, including others involved in producing milk for Horizon. We anticipate that we will also take time in the future to consolidate our learnings from this work and share it with Certified Educators and Holistic Management practitioners so that there is learning for all. We will also periodically update IN PRACTICE readers with what we learn and experience through this Horizon/ HMI project.

continued from page one

Peninah, a World-Vision interpreter, and her mother, a Loodariak Bead Group member. fathers–see that a girl with an education can be of value (she brought home food during the drought when others were waiting for international relief). I think these two have been an inspiration for the others. “Points of light” comes to mind, as does “heroic.”

Talking about points of light, here is one. I watched Allan Savory in his element–in his homeland of Zimbabwe and standing waist deep

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and barefoot in grass where only last year was a pitiful example of pasture. He told a group from Heifer International and World Vision what tool they used on this land–and what anyone else can use to have the land come alive again (it’s called “animal impact”). There’s more in the Holistic Management tool bag, and here in Kenya I feel like a traveling Home Depot. Lucky for me, the Maasai are in the market for a little home improvement.

Fifteen years ago I read an article about a man who said desertification–and the ills that come with it–is reversible. It’s an idea that was contrary to popular belief, but it happened to be consistent with mine. He had an answer to my question: But how?

Time has a funny way of working things out.

Now I am here, walking on land that is drying up and blowing away and among people who suffer from all the ills associated with it. They want a better life for themselves, their families, their animals, and they ask me “but how?” So I show them.

Certified

Educators

To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help others learn to practice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assistance when necessary. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management and to maintain a high standard of ethical conduct in their work.

For more information about or application forms for the U.S., Africa, or International Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Kelly Pasztor or visit our website at: www.holisticmanagement.org * These educators provide Holistic Management instruction on behalf of the institutions they represent.

UNITED STATES ARIZONA Tim Morrison 230 1st Ave N, Phoenix, AZ 85003 602/280-8803 • tim.morrison@az.nacdnet.net CALIFORNIA Monte Bell 325 Meadowood Dr., Orland, CA 95963 530/865-3246 • mbell95963@yahoo.com Julie Bohannon 652 Milo Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90042 323/257-1915 • JoeBoCom@pacbell.net Bill Burrows 12250 Colyear Springs Rd., Red Bluff, CA 96080 530/529-1535 • sunflowercrmp@msn.com Marquita Chamblee 960 Tulare Ave, Albany, CA 94707-2540 chamblee@msu.edu Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 707/769-1490 • 707/794-8692 (w) richard.king@ca.usda.gov Tim McGaffic 13592 Bora Bora Way #327 Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 310/741-0167 • tim@timmcgaffic.com Kelly Mulville 225 Portola State Park, Lahonda, CA 94020 650/704-5157 (c) 650/917-6120 (w) jackofallterrains@hotmail.com Christopher Peck P.O. Box 2286, Sebastopol, CA 95472 707/758-0171 • ctopherp@holistic-solutions.net Rob Rutherford CA Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 805/75-1475 • rrutherf@calpoly.edu Tom Walther 5550 Griffin St., Oakland, CA 94605 510/530-6410 • 510/482-1846 • tagjag@aol.com COLORADO Joel Benson P.O. Box 4924, Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-6119 • joel@outburstllc.com Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 • info@wholenewconcepts.com Rio de la Vista P.O. Box 777, Monte Vista, CO 81144 719/850-2255 • riovista@rmi.net Daniela and Jim Howell P.O. Box 67, Cimarron, CO 81220-0067 970/249-0353 • howelljd@montrose.net Craig Leggett 2078 County Rd. 234, Durango, CO 81301 970/259-8998 • crleggett@sisna.com Chadwick McKellar 16775 Southwood Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80908 719/495-4641 • wonderlandranch@yahoo.com

Byron Shelton 33900 Surrey Lane, Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-8157 • landmark@my.amigo.net GEORGIA Constance Neely 1160 Twelve Oaks Circle, Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678 • cneely@holisticmanagement.org IDAHO Amy Driggs 1132 East E St., Moscow, ID 83843 208/310-6664 (w) • adriggs@orbusinternational.com IOWA Bill Casey 1800 Grand Ave., Keokuk, IA 52632-2944 319/524-5098 • wpccasey@interl.net LOUISIANA Tina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535 phone: 337/580-0068 • tinamp@charter.net MAINE Vivianne Holmes 239 E. Buckfield Rd., Buckfield, ME 04220-4209 207/336-2484 • vholmes@umext.maine.edu Tobey Williamson 52 Center Street Portland, ME 04101 207/774-2458 x115 • tobey@bartongingold.com MASSACHUSETTS * Christine Jost Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine 200 Westboro Rd., North Grafton, MA 01536 508/887-4763 • christine.jost@tufts.edu MICHIGAN Ben Bartlett N 4632 ET Rd., Travnik, MI 49891 906/439-5210 (h) 906/439-5880 (w) bartle18@msu.edu MINNESOTA Gretchen Blank 4625 Cottonwood Lane N, Plymouth, MN 55442-2902 763/553-9922 • ouilassie@comcast.net Terri Goodfellow-Heyer 4660 Cottonwood Lane North, Plymouth, MN 55442 763/559-0099 • tgheyer@comcast.net MISSISSIPPI Preston Sullivan 610 Ed Sullivan Lane, NE, Meadville, MS 39653 601/384-5310 • prestons@telepak.net MONTANA Elizabeth Bird 3009 Langohr Ave., Bozeman, MT 59715 406/586-8799 • ebird@montana.edu Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808 • rutbuster@montana.net

Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 • KROOSING@msn.com * Cliff Montagne Montana State University Department of Land Resources & Environmental Science Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079 • montagne@montana.edu NEBRASKA Terry Gompert P.O. Box 45, Center, NE 68724-0045 402/288-5611 (w) • tgompert1@unl.edu NEW HAMPSHIRE Seth Wilner 104 Cornish Turnpike, Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) 603/863-9200 (w) seth.wilner@unh.edu NEW MEXICO * Ann Adams Holistic Management International 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 • anna@holisticmanagement.org Mark Duran 58 Arroyo Salado #B, Santa Fe, NM 87508 505/422-2280 • markjodu@aol.com Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685 • fax: 505/867-9952 kgadzia@earthlink.net Ken Jacobson 12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87112; 505/293-7570 kbjacobson@orbusinternational.com * Kelly White Holistic Management International 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 • kellyp@holisticmanagement.org Sue Probart P.O. Box 81827, Albuquerque, NM 87198 505/265-4554 • tnm@treenm.com David Trew 369 Montezuma Ave. #243, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505/751-0471 • trewearth@aol.com Vicki Turpen 03 El Nido Amado SW, Albuquerque, NM 87121 505/873-0473 • kaytelnido@aol.com NEW YORK Erica Frenay 454 Old 76 Road, Brooktondale, NY 14817 607/539-3246 (h) 607/279-7978 (c) • efrenay22@yahoo.com Phil Metzger 99 N. Broad St., Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-3231 x4 (w); 607/334-2407 (h) phil.metzger@ny.usda.gov Karl North 3501 Hoxie Gorge Rd., Marathon, NY 13803 607/849-3328 • northsheep@juno.com John Thurgood 44 West St. Ste 1, Walton, NY 13856 607/832-4617 • 607/865-7090 • jmt20@cornell.edu NORTH CAROLINA Sam Bingham 394 Vanderbilt Rd., Asheville, NC 28803 828/274-1309 • sbingham@igc.org NORTH DAKOTA * Wayne Berry University of North Dakota—Williston P.O. Box 1326, Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/774-4200 wayne.berry@wsc.nodak.edu Steven Dahlberg 386 8th Ave. S Fargo, ND 58103-2826 701/271-8513 (h) 218/936-5615 (w) sdahlberg@wetcc.org

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OKLAHOMA Kim Barker RT 2, Box 67, Waynoka, OK 73860 580/824-9011 • barker_k@hotmail.com PENNSYLVANIA Jim Weaver 428 Copp Hollow Rd. Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976 570/724-7788 • jaweaver@epix.net TEXAS Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr., Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019 • tododia@sbcglobal.net Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554 • glosson@caprock-spur.com Jennifer Hamre 602 W. St. Johns Ave., Austin, TX 78752 512/374-0104; yosefahanah@yahoo.com Peggy Maddox P.O. Box 694, Ozona, TX 76943-0694 325/392-2292 • westgift@earthlink.net * R.H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Department of Integrative Biology Austin, TX 78712 512/471-4128 • d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu Peggy Sechrist 25 Thunderbird Rd. Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/990-2529 • sechrist@ktc.com Elizabeth Williams 4106 Avenue B Austin, TX 78751-4220 512/323-2858 • e-liz@austin.rr.com WASHINGTON Craig Madsen P.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008 509/236-2451 madsen2fir@centurytel.net Sandra Matheson 228 E. Smith Rd. Bellingham, WA 98226 360/398-7866 • mathesonsm@verizon.net * Don Nelson Washington State University P.O. Box 646310, Pullman, WA 99164 509/335-2922 • nelsond@wsu.edu Maurice Robinette S. 16102 Wolfe Rd., Cheney, WA 99004 509/299-4942 • mlr@icehouse.net Doug Warnock 151 Cedar Cove Rd., Ellensburg, WA 98926 509/925-9127 • warnockd@elltel.net WEST VIRGINIA Fred Hays P.O. Box 241, Elkview, WV 25071 304/548-7117 • sustainableresources@hotmail.com Steve Ritz HC 63, Box 2240, Romney, WV 26757 304/822-5818; 304/822-3020 steve.ritz@wv.usda.gov WISCONSIN Heather Flashinski 1633 Valmont Ave., Eau Claire, WI 54701-4448 715/552-7861 • heather.flashinski@rcdnet.net Andy Hager W. 3597 Pine Ave., Stetsonville, WI 54480-9559 715/678-2465 • ahager@tds.net Larry Johnson W886 State Road 92, Brooklyn, WI 53521 608/455-1685 • lpjohn@rconnect.com * Laura Paine Wisconsin DATCP P.O. Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911 608/224-5120 (w) • 608/742-9682 (h) laura.paine@datcp.state.wi.us

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IN PRACTICE

INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6882-0605 mark.g@ozemail.com.au George Gundry Willeroo, Tarago, NSW 2580 048-446-223 • ggundry@bigpond.net.au Steve Hailstone 5 Lampert Rd., Crafers, SA 5152 61-4-1882-2212 sh@internode.on.net Graeme Hand “Inverary” Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 • 61-4-1853-2130 gshand@hotkey.net.au Helen Lewis P.O. Box 1263, Warwick, QLD 4370 61-7-46617393 • 61-7-46670835 helen@insideoutmgt.com.au Paul Griffiths P.O. Box 3045, Horth Turramura, NSW 2074, Sydney, NSW 61-29-1443975 • pgpres@geko.net.au Brian Marshall P.O. Box 300, Guyra NSW 2365 61-2-6779-1927 • fax: 61-2-6779-1947 bkmrshl@northnet.com.au Jason Virtue Mary River Park 1588 Bruce Highway South Gympie, QLD 4570 61-7-5483-5155 jason@spiderweb.com.au Bruce Ward P.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 1565 61-2-9929-5568 • fax: 61-2-9929-5569 blward@holisticresults.com.au Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injue, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187 • brian@insideoutmgt.com.au CANADA Don Campbell Box 817 Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1Y6 306/236-6088 doncampbell@saskel.net Don and Randee Halladay Box 2, Site 2, RR 1 Rocky Mountain House, AB, T0M 1T0 403/729-2472 • donran@telusplanet.net Noel McNaughton 5704-144 St., Edmondton, AB, T6H 4H4s 780/432-5492 • noel@mcnaughton.ca Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 • JLPigott@sasktel.net Kelly Sidoryk Box 374, Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4 403/875-4418 • hi-gain@telusplanet.net MEXICO Ivan Aguirre La Inmaculada Apdo. Postal 304, Hermosillo, Sonora 83000 tel/fax: 915-613-4282 rancho_inmaculada@yahoo.com Elco Blanco-Madrid Hacienda de la Luz 1803 Fracc. Haciendas del Valle II Chihuahua Chih., 31238 52-614-423-4413 (h) • 52-614-107-8960 (c) elco_blanco@hotmail.com Manuel Casas-Perez Calle Amarguva No. 61, Lomas Herradura Huixquilucan, Mexico City CP 52785 52-55-5291-3934 (w) 52-55-54020090 (c)

May / June 2 0 0 6

Jose Ramon “Moncho” Villar Av. Las Americas #1178 Fracc. Cumbres, Saltillo, Coahuila 25270 52-844-415-1542 jvillarm@prodigy.net.mx NAMIBIA Gero Diekmann P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 9000 264-62-518091 • nam00132@mweb.com.na Colin Nott P.O. Box 11977, Windhoek 264-61-228506 canott@iafrica.com.na Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi 264-67-234-557 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@mweb.com.na NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 12011 Beckenham, Christchurch 8030 64-3-338-5506 succession@clear.net.nz SOUTH AFRICA Sheldon Barnes P.O. Box 300, Kimberly 8300 barnesfarm@mweb.co.za Johan Blom P.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 6280 27-49-891-0163 johanblom@cybertrade.co.za Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747 blanerne@mweb.co.za Norman Neave P.O. Box 69, Mtubatuba 3935 27-084-2452/62 norberyl@telkomsa.net Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.za Colleen Todd P.O. Box 21, Hoedspruit 1380 27-82-335-3901 (cell) colleen_todd@yahoo.com SPAIN Aspen Edge Apartado de Correos 19 18420 Lanjaron Granada (0034)-958-347-053 aspen@holisticdecisions.com ZAMBIA Mutizwa Mukute Pelum Zambia Office P.O. Box 36524, Lusaka 260-1-261119/261124/261118/263514 pelum@kepa.org.zm ZIMBABWE Liberty Mabhena Spring Cabinet P.O. Box 853, Harare 263-4-210021/2 • 263-4-210577/8 fax: 263-4-210273 Huggins Matanga Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-11-404-979 hmatanga@mweb.co.zw Elias Ncube P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-3-454519 achmcom@africaonline.co.zw

TE800 Energizer Twin Mountain Fence Company introduces the TiTAN TE800 Energizer to the electric fencing market. This powerful unit is digitally controlled to ensure peak performance under all fencing conditions.

the

PRODUCT FEATURES: Built-in lightning protection

Power on demand Powers 80 miles of fence

LCD panel with digital voltmeter and load factor display

Produces 8.0 output joules In-plug fuse

Built-in surge protection

Offers high (red) and low (yellow) voltage terminals.

Sealed against ant & moisture penetration

3 year warranty including lightning!!!

The TiTAN electrical pulse shape is designed for high performance on fence lines with abundant weed growth and/or long distances.This elongated pulse shape pushes the electrical charge down the fence line with more force than traditional spiked pulse shapes. The result is a more equal distribution of electrical charge along your fence line.

NATIONWIDE DISTRIBUTION San Angelo, Texas

Proudly serving Holistic Management Practitioners since 1978!

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

800 527-0990

www.twinmountainfence.com

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THE MARKETPLACE CORRAL DESIGNS

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT TRAINING & CONSULTING

Kirk Gadzia Certified Educator

By World Famous Dr. Grandin Originator of Curved Ranch Corrals The wide curved Lane makes filling the crowding tub easy.

Includes detailed drawings for loading ramp, V chute, round crowd pen, dip vat, gates and hinges. Plus cell center layouts and layouts compatible with electronic sorting systems. Articles on cattle behavior. 27 corral layouts. $55.

Low Stress Cattle Handling Video $59.

Send checks/money order to:

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

970/229-0703 www.grandin.com

Kirk Gadzia has over 15 years experience conducting Holistic Management training sessions worldwide and assisting people on the land in solving real problems. With his hands-on, results-oriented approach, Kirk is uniquely qualified to help your organization achieve its goals.

Introduction to Holistic Management Courses February 5-10, 2007 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Contact: Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100 Bernalillo, NM 87004 kgadzia@earthlink.net www.resourcemanagementservices.com Ph: 505/867-4685

Fax: 505/867-9952

HANDS-ON AGRONOMY BASIC SOIL FERTILITY GUIDELINES

The new edition of Hands-On Agronomy: Understanding Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Use is available this month!

Preorder now to receive your copy. Or order the 80-minute video today to learn the highlights of Neal Kinsey’s work! Visit www.kinseyag.com to learn more about the basic soil fertility guidelines $30 and check on course offerings. (postpaid to US addresses)

For consulting or educational services contact:

Kinsey’s Agricultural Services $30

297 County Highway 357, Charleston, Missouri 63834 Phone: 573-683-3880; Fax: 573-683-6227 Email: neal@kinseyag.com

(PAL orders add $5)

We accept credit card orders (Visa, MC)

(plus shipping)

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IN PRACTICE

May / June 2 0 0 6

THE MARKETPLACE

HMI 2006

Course Schedule Introductory Courses August 25-27 October 13-15 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Ranch & Range Manager Training Program Starting September For more information, call

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The Range Ad P/U from #104 page 23

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HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT MAIL ORDER EMPORIUM Subscribe to IN PRACTICE

Pocket Cards

_ A bimonthly journal for Holistic Management practitioners

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Planning and Monitoring Guides

_ Gift Subscriptions (same prices as above). _ Special Edition: An Introduction to Holistic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5 _ Audio Cassette Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$12 _ Compact Disk Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14 _ Bulk subscriptions available.

_The Complete Holistic Management® Planning and Monitoring Guide September 2000, 192 page 3-ring binder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$45

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

_Aide Memoire for Grazing Planning May 2000, 46 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15

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_Early Warning Biological Monitoring—Rangelands and

Books & Multimedia

Grasslands January 1999, 32 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14

Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making,

_ Second Edition, by Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 _ Hardcover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $50 _ 15-set CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99 _ One month rental of CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 _ At Home With Holistic Management, by Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 _ Holistic Management: A New Environmental Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10 _ Improving Whole Farm Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10 _ Video: Creating a Sustainable Civilization— _ _ _ _ _

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

by Allan Savory. (VHS/DVD/PAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 Stockmanship, by Steve Cote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 The Oglin, by Dick Richardson & Rio de la Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 Gardeners of Eden, by Dan Dagget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 Video: Healing the Land Through Multi-Species Grazing (VHS/DVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30

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

January 1999, 36 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

Planning Forms (All forms are padded - 25 sheets per pad) _Annual Income & Expense Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17 _Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 7 _Livestock Production Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17 _Control Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 5 _Grazing Plan & Control Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15 MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION Amount $_____________ Please designate program you would like us to apply contribution toward _________________________________________

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