#083, In Practice, May/June 2002

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT

IN PRACTICE

in this Issue

Providing the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy MAY / JUNE 2002 NUMBER 83

Values, Money, and Time

by Ann Adams

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rom a very early age I was a frugal person. Like my siblings, I indulged in many comic books and candy bars, but unlike them, I also put a portion of my allowance into savings. I was proud of my frugal nature. But as we grew up, I came to realize more fully that money’s power came from good decisions, not who could spend the least. I could choose to keep my expenses low so I could have more free time to do extracurricular activities. Others might choose to work more so they could make more money so they could pay someone else to do work for them to free up their time to engage in other types of extracurricular activities. In essence I was learning the intrinsic connection between time and money. What I hadn’t really grasped at that point was the importance of knowing what one values.

You may have read the statistic that about a third of the U.S. population is happy with their lives regardless of how much money they make. This percentage has remained steady over the years. The two thirds who aren’t happy often believe that money will improve their situation. Of course, that doesn’t pan out because those disgruntled people with higher incomes are saying the same thing. Ultimately, it isn’t about money, but about knowing what you value and actually creating a life that moves you in that direction.

The Holistic Management model has clarified for me more than anything else the importance of knowing what I value, and how money is one tool I can use to live those values more fully. Money has its place with human creativity and labor and the other tools. It is not at the top of the model by itself; the holistic goal is.

Passion & Profit What you will notice in the following stories is how intricately money is interwoven with time and priorities, how financial planning by definition is about time management within a

holistic perspective. All of the writers understand the value of money because they understand the value of their lives and their decisions. If you recognize your influence, your ability to affect people, events, or the world around you, then you begin to make more thoughtful decisions, particularly financial decisions, because money is one tool to move you toward your holistic goal.

Many people have been introduced to the principles of sound financial planning, but unless pressed by crisis, they may choose to just float along in life, continuing with time and money spending patterns that may only serve basic needs. Once they really take the time to look at what they value and what they feel passionate about, they begin to make the transition from consumer to creator. Usually they create more profit as part of this transition, but it really is almost a side effect of living their values and making decisions toward a bigger picture.

Lots of people have passion, and they can accomplish great things with that alone. But give someone the tools to combine that passion with clarity, vision, and focus, and you begin to see the results grow exponentially. The old adage is that time is money and money is time, but I think such a simplification keeps people from looking at why they are making decisions about their use of time and money. In some situations, time and money cannot be traded equally or even compared. If I know I want to spend quality time with my son, then I look at how my use of both time and money will help me achieve that within the larger context of his life and mine. That reasoning is far different than saying, “I need more time so I’ll spend more money.”

With Holistic Management we understand the purpose behind financial planning, which means we actually do plan and monitor our finances instead of hoping this year will be better. In today’s society, our lives can feel fragmented as people, obligations, and things compete for our time and money. Financial planning offers one focal point to bring our decisions in line with where we want to go.

Financial planning is much more than figuring out how you’re going to spend your money. Read how Dick and Judy Richardson’s lives were transformed when they began to practice Holistic Management and learned how to focus on what would bring them the most return as they mo ved toward their holistic goal.

From Zero to Twenty-Five Tom Redfern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2

A Roadmap for the Year Preston Sullivan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

From Employee to Entrepreneur Judy Richardson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Setting Sail with Holistic Management® Financial Planning Christopher Peck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Socially Responsible Investing Christopher Peck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

LAND & LIVESTOCK— A special section of IN PRACTICE Holistic Transitions in America’s Breadbasket Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Grazing in Nature’s Image, Part 3— Lessons from Nature’s Migratory Herbivores Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Savory Center Supporters Marketplace

. . . . . . . . . .16

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The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management

From Zero to Twenty Five

by Tom Redfern

Ad definitum finem

The ALLAN SAVORY CENTER FOR HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The center works to restore the vitality of communities and the natural resources on which they depend by advancing the practice of Holistic Management and coordinating its development worldwide.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rio de la Vista, Chair Ann Adams, Secretary Manuel Casas, Treasurer Gary Rodgers Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM Ron Brandes, New York, NY Sam Brown, Austin, TX Leslie Christian, Portland, OR Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Christine Jurzykowski, Glen Rose, TX Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX York Schueller, Santa Barbara, CA Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK Richard Smith, Houston, TX

STAFF Shannon Horst, Executive Director; Kate Bradshaw, Associate Director; Allan Savory, Founding Director; Jody Butterfield, Co-Founder and Research and Educational Materials Coordinator ; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Andy Braman, Development Director; Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Membership and Educator Support Coordinator , Craig Leggett, Special Projects Manager; Mary Child, Regional Program Development Coordinator.

Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe tel: (263) (11) 213529; email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre; Elias Ncube, Hwange Project Manager/Training Coordinator

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: savorycenter@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2002.

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #83

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or three years at college I avoided needed to hear from a nonacademic. financial units of study as I found Changing my paradigm about financial figures and financials bored me to management was not enough to help me tears. I thought I could leave the nitty-gritty improve my financial situation. Of course I to a bean counter with Coke-bottle glasses at needed a reason to improve it. This is where the bank. Shortly after leaving college I the power of Holistic Management kicked in. realized how shortsighted I had been.

It took me a year after completing the Holistic For one thing, my Management course to form employer expected me to a (temporary) holistic goal. know something about For that year I basically finances since I had a tried my hardest to critique management degree. But Holistic Management and I couldn’t analyze or look at other management understand my own financial theories. position properly. I knew I This research (which needed to do something, so is an ongoing process of I took some basic financial reading books and trying to training. apply the principles to my By that point I had life) was a real life changer some idea about money in that I now have more management, but it all hadn’t direction. It has also reyet clicked in my brain. In invigorated my passion for my final semester I had the Holistic Management. I Tom Redfern opportunity to study Holistic could not find a better Management. This really management model, and revved me up. In struggling through the I could see how many other management financial planning, I came to appreciate models could be incorporated into Holistic the principles even more. Making a profit Management. and feeling in control of my finances were Taking the Plunge definitely contributing factors to that change in attitude.

In trying to discredit Holistic Management by reading other management texts, I kept Why Count Beans? finding myself thinking, “I can see how this Over the years I realized I will never be would fit into Holistic Management,” or “this financially free without understanding is only part of the big picture described financial management—regardless of how through Holistic Management.” So finally, much I thought I could leave for an after three years of full-time college, another accountant to do. Ironically, when I first year of part-time study, and an operational learned about Holistic Management, I had management position, I was starting to put wanted to disprove the principles. In studying into practice what I had learned. I think and practicing it, I actually ended up I must be a slow learner! recognizing their importance (including With a holistic goal I had some direction, the importance of financial planning). and with only a little planning I was ahead.

The final catalyst that changed my Having a goal as most people know gives thinking was reading the Rich Dad, Poor Dad some direction. Actually forming the goal series of books by Robert Kiyosaki. I needed made me think really hard about what I to hear about finances in an interesting way wanted and who I wanted to be. This was from someone who obviously knew lots something I had not done seriously before. about money, a self-made millionaire. My Now that I have had a holistic goal for a while cynicism for lecturers was pretty bad so I and have tested decisions, I know that my

goal needs revising as I better define what I want. I would not suggest that my testing is necessarily thorough or refined, but I am working on it. However, when I had finally seen why I should change, and how it could be done, the whole process was really easy.

With a holistic goal I was then able to plan my finances and this has been an important step in saving money. I decided to plan on saving 25 percent gross wages, and as I was confident I could do this, I set up an account where the money goes automatically every month.

This practice may not work for some but it works for me because I know that money is “unavailable,” for now anyway. At least the money is a little harder to access. This especially works for me because I have found that when some extra money comes my way (such as my yearly tax refund) it does not take long for that extra money to disappear.

This may be through a lack of planning or discipline, but my perception that 25 percent of my wages is unavailable for spending helps keep it in the bank.

More Than Money Of course so much of financial planning is also about time management. In conjunction with the holistic goal and testing questions, I undoubtedly use my time more productively.

I no longer spend time doing things that I feel will not lead me towards my holistic goal, (i.e., association with particular groups, or simple activities such as servicing my car). I used to service my car, but now through testing I realize that it really is better for me to have a professional do it. After all, time is money.

Having more money left me with more choices of what I could do with my time.

Some of the things that I was spending my time and money on I have realized were taking me away from my goal. For example, I no longer play Rugby Union with what was my local football club. They did not know if they were a football club with a drinking problem or a drinking club with a football problem. Spending half the weekend, as well as weeknights, training and travelling to games, really was a great timewaster.

I also no longer associate with political groups who have good intentions but will really not achieve anything better then any other political group. When I have more training and experience, maybe I can return to groups I was involved in and help them change or manage in a better way. Being clearer about whom I associate with or at

least what opinions I value and which systems, or any other consumer good that is opinions I do not value as much has changed a liability, but which my mates regard as an my life dramatically. asset or good investment). In this way, with All of these changes were a result of Holistic Management training and other getting clearer about what was important to education I went from saving zero percent me, knowing which tools could help me get of my income to saving 25 percent. What a there, and actually putting that knowledge huge change! Although I am saving, I do not into practice. By doing the financial planning, feel I am missing out on things I enjoy or the I could see that with some discipline I would “luxuries” I have always had. have a substantial “nest egg,” which I could In fact, I am now better off to purchase use in other ways later to lead me towards luxury items if I want because I am not my holistic goal. Simply knowing that I could always waiting for my next paycheck. I may (according to my plan), and would, be able not always save 25 percent of my income as to live on 75 percent of my income made me my situation will change with employment mentally prepared to take the step. The saving and travel. In fact, most of my saved money was made just by sticking to the plan—easier will actually be used for travel overseas for said then done normally. increasing my knowledge and training.

Before I created my first financial plan, I Obviously there have been all sorts of had been monitoring my expenses for some changes in my life with further education months. In doing so, I realized just how much and experience. I would not be so naive to money I was wasting on things I did not suggest that Holistic Management has been need or could easily do without. Later, by my salvation, but it has definitely given testing decisions holistically, I found that there direction and continues to expose me to new were better alternatives. ideas and opportunities that just somehow Blowing money on liabilities or non-wealth appear to be more obvious these days. creating things is not a big issue any more. I Holistic Management tied together three once thought that spending money for those years of university into something really little extras on my car would actually increase powerful, and the association with likethe vehicle’s value. I now realize that this is a minded people is fantastic. long way from the truth. I would once spend my money on many material things that I Tom Redfern lives in Gladstone, thought were worth something to me: tools, Tasmania, Australia and can be contacted a car, all sorts of toys. at: 63-3-6357-1023 or tomredfern@bigpond.com Now that I realize that knowledge is the only real thing of any worth that will help me achieve my You start at the goal, I invest most of my very beginning. It’s spare time on gathering a very good place to start . . . information, and trying to

HOLISTIC FREEFALL

turn that information into something useful— knowledge. Hence my “toys” are books and experience, not a flash car or boat.

I am now more confident about the future in that I will not be investing my money in liabilities such as houses or new cars (both can be a liability or an asset, depending on cashflow).

I am not falling into the trap that many of my friends are (i.e., paying off cars, houses, boats, stereo

Holistic Management® model

In an effort to reinforce the importance of working through the Holistic Management® model when analyzing policy, Allan Savory tries a new presentation technique.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2002 3

A Road Map for the Year

by Preston Sullivan

I

started using Holistic Management ® Financial Planning in 1995 after returning from the financial training session of the Certified Educator Training Program where we were learning the process and how to teach it to others. I remember sitting in class just totally captivated at the process being taught. I distinctly remember saying to myself, “No wonder farmers are going broke.”

It was then that I realized their financial straits were not caused by all the things they complain about, but rather, their lack of planning. That was such a revelation to me.

Armed with that knowledge, I now see others making that same mistake all the time.

Routinely I hear farmers complaining about prices, and the government as reasons why they cannot make it financially. Yet in most cases, these two are not the cause at all. It is often their own fear of change and their resistance to it.

Once the planning process sunk in and the thinking changed in my head, there was no going back. I could see tremendous potential not only for my own personal finances, but to teach it to others as well.

Getting Started When I returned to Arkansas I started my own holistic financial plan immediately.

I followed the financial planning guide step by step until the plan was finished. I find that it’s best to follow the book like a recipe as the steps definitely follow each other and you lose a lot by skipping steps.

At first I wondered how I would come up with reliable estimates of expense items so I just pieced together estimates from the previous year from my checkbook ledger.

That was good enough to get started.

I wrote all the income and expenses on the paper worksheets then transferred the numbers to the annual planning sheet. I used the paper sheets until the Savory Center developed their financial planning software and started using that with my 1999 financial plan. The software definitely makes the planning process and the monthly monitoring go faster because all the calculations are done instantly as the numbers are entered. You don’t have to spend time writing numbers on the sheets

4 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #83

or doing calculations on a hand calculator.

You can also do “what if” scenarios to see what would happen with changes in income or expenses. I spend about two to three days, spread out over a month or more, in the fall of each year doing my holistic financial plan for the upcoming year. By the time the New Year rolls over, I already know how much income, savings, and expenses I will likely have in the upcoming year.

Preston Sullivan

Consistent Profit The results have been impressive. Even with my modest salary, I have averaged a 20 percent savings rate over the past five years. Savings rate for the past two years was 23 and 22 percent respectively. Prior to doing a holistic financial plan, I had always managed to live within my means, but I never had a good sense of where my money went. I just looked at my checkbook every few weeks and would cut back on spending if the balance got below a number I considered a threshold. When the checking account balance got well above the threshold, I would send some money to my retirement fund.

To put this into perspective, in a recent article by Alan Newport, he says most Americans spend 21 percent of their income for credit card and other consumer debt payments. This expense provides no value at all because so much of it is paying off high interest!

At the end of each year, I create bar charts showing my income and expenses as

well as a table showing the expense percentages of major categories. These major categories include taxes, insurance, utilities, housing, auto maintenance, health maintenance, food, etc. I use these charts to show others how well the planning process works.

The table helps guide my decision-making to find better value where possible and to make year to year comparisons. For example, my auto maintenance category went down by half when I switched from a Ford station wagon to a Toyota pickup. Once I realized my wagon would need replacing I began to research which autos had the lowest maintenance costs. Toyota was among the lowest—that’s why I bought one. The purchase price was about what I paid for the wagon. Both vehicles were five years old with around 60,000 miles on them. Buying good used vehicles with high durability keeps overall auto cost to a minimum.

The tax category is the highest one of all. Insurance continues to be a challenge. I wish I could find a way to spend insurance money toward risking something good happening rather than hedging against something bad happening. If you have ideas on how to do this, please contact me.

My percentage table also provides another benefit because it shows me where I am receiving extremely high value. For example it’s easy to take electricity for granted, but until you do without it for a few days, you don’t realize how much value you’re receiving for such a low price. For a measly $30 per month I have lights, refrigeration, clothes washing, radio, TV, and computer with just the flip of a switch.

Knowing this, helps me look for higher value in some other expenses—such as insurance!

I have to say the biggest change I’ve made since using holistic financial planning is in how I think about money. Now, I am able to align my expenses with my holistic goal.

Doing that gives me certainty that my expenses are going toward producing the life I want and living my values.

Teaching Others Teaching this financial planning process to others is pure pleasure for me. I’m a detail

From Employee to Entrepreneur

by Judy Richardson

person anyway so working with numbers, tables, and charts is a natural. Once people realize that their financial problems are typically spending problems not income problems they begin to feel a sense of more control over their finances. Then they get excited about the possibilities.

When I teach financial planning, I have my students bring their own financial records so they can develop their holistic financial plan right there in class. They leave the training with a sense of confidence that they can manage their finances successfully.

I’ve seen people get so excited that they stayed up late in the night getting their financial plans complete. It gave them a since of control they had not experienced before.

Holistic financial planning has also been the most successful method I have found to get people interested in learning Holistic Management. I start by showing them my expense and income bar charts and my savings rate in the percentage tables. Then I explain how they can align their expenses with their values and plan their savings up front. Almost everyone is interested in making more money. When I tell them that they can make more money for themselves without increasing their income, their interest level goes up.

Holistic financial planning has provided a systematic process to get my financial house in order and keep it that way because it provides a roadmap for the financial year.

Because I have found it so helpful in my own life, I enjoy teaching it to others. That educational experience has in turn provided me with one of the most meaningful contributions I can offer others.

Preston Sullivan became a Holistic Management ® Certified Educator in 1997.

He is a single professional emplo yed with the National Center for Appropriate Technology located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

There, along with 12 other Technical Specialists, he answers farmers’ questions about sustainable agriculture, when they call the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. He can be reached at 501-443-0609 or prestons@nwaisp.com.

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y husband, Dick, is from a holistic goal it gave us the courage to reassess successful (in conventional terms) our position, and a month later Dick resigned ranching family in South Africa. from his job on the farm.

There was always a lot of pressure on Dick In September of that year, Dick joined to return to the family farm (ranch), but his the first Africa Certified Educator Training relationship with his parents wasn’t really Program held in Zimbabwe. We invested our conducive to a good working environment. entire savings into it, put our furniture into In 1991 Dick and I met, working as safari guides in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

In 1992 we made the decision to succumb to family pressure and we took up employment with Dick’s father at Brussels, the family ranch in Vryburg.

We were ranch employees earning R700 per month between us (less With increased profits comes increased choices. Judy Richardson has than US$100), and a little more time to ride her horse now that she isn’t trying to make we were provided ends meet with a second job off the ranch. with a house and other related benefits. By 1995 we were earning R2,000 per month, and to storage, and left the farm with a pickup truck, make ends meet I had got a job in town our camping equipment, and our clothes. earning more than twice that amount.

From July 1995 we committed ourselves I don’t know how long we would have to managing our own business with Dick as stayed in that situation if we hadn’t learned a fulltime Holistic Management ® facilitator, about Holistic Management, because like educator and process consultant, working many young ranchers we didn’t know what throughout Southern Africa. Dick started by else to do. But with Holistic Management, we working with other holistic managers not only turned around our finances, we (without pay) who had attended the same gained the confidence to try new experiences training program as we had with Kirk and work in new situations that we probably Gadzia—helping them with their planning never would have tried before. (financial, grazing, biological monitoring, and land planning) and facilitating goal setting, etc.

New Knowledge This was the best way to gain an incredible We were introduced to Holistic amount of experience in a very short time, Management by farmers (ranchers) in the which we knew we needed if we were going district in 1992, and in 1995 we attended our to succeed quickly. In 1997, Dick became a first Holistic Management training when our Certified Educator, and our company, Whole management club invited Certified Educator Concepts, was truly established.

Kirk Gadzia to South Africa to lead the session. This was really a turning point in our lives. Once we had set our first temporary continued on page 6

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2002 5

From Employee to Entrepreneur continued from page 5

New Opportunities For five years we provided training and on-site assistance to people throughout Southern Africa full time. Early on in this period we realized that with Dick as the only Holistic Management ® Certified Educator in South Africa we would be unable to meet the demand for training we were generating. For that reason we encouraged others to become Certified Educators, and there are now five in southern Africa and six more in training.

We were spending about 70 percent of our time earning only about 30 percent of our income.

That failed the common sense test!

We work predominantly with commercial farmers (graziers / ranchers with large and small stock) and with wildlife conservation areas, conservancies, and game farms. But Dick also has had the opportunity to work with communal farmers, urban businesses, educators, and others.

We have clients throughout South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

In the last six years, Dick has provided Holistic Management ® training to over 600 people in South Africa and Namibia. He has given onsite assistance to over 100 businesses, and has introduced Holistic Management to hundreds more people. He even has the opportunity to help train participants in the Africa Certified Educator Training Program on behalf of the Savory Center.

New Beginnings One of the quality of life statements included in our holistic goal is “to have a healthy and balanced life in touch with nature and animals.” In February 2000, years of planning, sacrifice, and hard work came together and we made the move back to the land. We are now running 14,425 acres (5,770 hectares) with about 1,200 head of cattle in an extensive beef operation on the edge of the Kalahari desert, where the rainfall averages

6 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #83

16 inches (400mm).

We are very excited to have the opportunity to be back on the land and to provide a learning site for Holistic Management. We now offer the majority of our training programs from home where people can come and see Holistic Management in action and learn with us. We do still travel a fair bit providing training and support throughout southern Africa, as we continually strive to extend our sphere of influence. In fact, in 2002 we have our first training program scheduled exclusively for people from the urban business environment.

Holistic Management has shaped us, as individuals, as a family, and as a business. We enjoy sharing what Holistic Management has done for us as we hope that it will motivate others. The biggest quantifiable difference that Holistic Management has made for us, is that our business has grown from zero profit in 1995, when we invested our life savings into the Certified Educator Training Program, to a business that now turns over about R1.5 million (US$170,000) a year and growing.

Holistic Management® Financial Planning has helped considerably in our ability to increase our profit, mainly because we get better and better at our time management through the financial planning process. For example, we found we were spending about 70 percent of our time earning only about 30 percent of our income. That failed the common sense test! So we consciously decided to put more effort into our more effective income earning enterprise, our NoseRings.

In 1997 Dick designed our NoseRing to assist in the weaning of calves/lambs/kids without having to separate the animal from its mother. The motivation behind this product was to assist holistic managers with their grazing planning. (The NoseRing is a plastic molded ring with points on it that is clamped to a calf or other young animal’s nose so that when it tries to nurse, the mother is irritated and won’t let it). We identified a need for something that would make grazing planning easier at weaning time. We took the plunge and made the product and for the first year of operation only marketed to holistic managers we were working with. Within a year we started marketing the product nationally and it now provides the majority of our income.

We are also now marketing it internationally, in the U.S. and Australia, and hope to access the South American market next year. We would not have achieved this success without the Holistic Management ® Financial Planning process.

Making a Difference I think our biggest achievement has been on the social side, with increased feelings of self-worth, personal growth, self-confidence, and knowing we are making a difference.

Having our holistic goal clearly defined has strengthened our relationship beyond measure. We have gone from being employees with very limited freedom in decision-making and personal time, to being self-employed, and directing our own lives.

We have gone from being employees with very limited freedom in decision-making and personal time, to being self-employed, and directing our own lives.

And our sphere of influence has grown way beyond anything we ever imagined.

We have become international role players and have made the most incredible friends worldwide. So many of the people involved in Holistic Management are really special and we feel very privileged to have become a part of it all. Being in the position we are now provides us with opportunities that we would never have even known about before.

In addition we have created the opportunity to get back on the land, which is such a huge part of our holistic goal.

We are enjoying the challenge of making a difference ecologically and providing a learning site for Holistic Management. It is too early to comment on ecological shifts, but Holistic Management ® Grazing Planning and biological monitoring are giving us confidence that we can achieve on the land the way we have financially and socially.

Judy and Dick Richardson live in Vryburg, South Africa. They can be reached at judyrich@cybertrade.co.za or 27-53-927-4367.

Setting Sail with Holistic Management ® Financial Planning

by Christopher Peck

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s a fan of Napoleonic Age seafaring stories, I frequently use sailing metaphors to help convey what Holistic Management® Financial Planning is and does. We start by asking who’s on the ship, and what is this ship we’re sailing, to give us a sense of the whole under management. Then, we need to have at least a rough idea of where we’re going, a temporary holistic goal to begin. The financial planning process helps us plot our course and choose between competing options.

We regularly check our sightings and soundings and correct course as needed. And of course we’re always rebuilding the ship and changing crews as we sail.

I heard recently that 95 percent of the time an airplane is not pointed towards its destination.

I think the percentage must be worse for sailing, and this is another great metaphor for our practice of Holistic Management ® Financial Planning. Course corrections are the rule not an occasional afterthought. Power comes from the process, from committing to it and the on-going learning that is required over the long term.

No one learns to sail in a day. For all complex endeavors it takes time to develop competency. The sailing metaphor helps people accept that it takes time to become proficient practitioners. In my experience the practice of, and proficiency in, holistic financial planning falls into three broad categories: awareness and first use, competent practice, and enjoying the journey. I’ll share my thoughts on each of the three stages through my clients’ experience.

Since confidentiality is a top priority in my business, all names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Getting Under Way The first stage of learning a new skill generally begins with a confused state of affairs.

Considerable energy is bound up in wasted time, miscommunications, a loss of opportunities, and burnout. There is usually a nagging sense of not quite having found what is most important, and much asking of the question, what do we do?

People are on the boat, and it may have been at sea for some time, but no one knows where they’re going or even who’s at the rudder.

This stage does not necessarily coincide with

energy lost in misalignment of vision and the a lack of money. Many years ago I was working group has improved its communication. The with a non-profit organization, IrkedWorks process gives people a place to anchor Institute. Funded, supported, and led by a very themselves, particularly amidst the storms of generous donor, we suffered from the problem conflict that always arise. Course corrections of “over choice”—too many good options and a become the main metaphor; the destination is lack of spending constraints makes decisionpretty well defined.

Then the process becomes making hard. one of refining and testing Struggling with budgetary decisions that continually move decisions we began using the ® you closer in line with what is Holistic Management decisionmost important, always spiraling in making framework. Lacking a to what is most vital and most at well thought out holistic goal, the heart of who you are. we played around in the testing I have a long time client, let’s guidelines. We had allocated call him James, who has been $5,000 to fund someone to write applying a version of this work grants and only $1,000 to since 1991.

He reports that over the someone to help us think last 10 years he has continued through our financial to deepen and refine his holistic sustainability. Our first big “Ah goal.

It began as a Covey-inspired Ha!” came when we realized that Christopher Peck mission statement and then evolved the grant writer was not getting into a holistic goal, and continues at the root cause of our longto become more relevant every term financial situation, but that year.

As a self-employed businessman being the business planner would. We reallocated very clear about what’s most important, and immediately and this simple realization having a financial planning process that propelled us into a long development process ® supports and enhances that, has been vital to using the Holistic Management model, and his success. me onto becoming a Certified Educator.

He has found that the weak link—chain As Stephen Covey says “the enemy of the of production—testing question provides a best is the good.” When you’re paddling necessary discipline to his business planning. around in the “just ok,” it is a tremendous waste A frustrated scholar, James’ historic pattern has of opportunity and energy. A great release been to continually get more training—more of enthusiasm usually happens at this stage classes, more certifications, more letters as people begin to align with what is most following his name.

As we worked through important. People begin to develop a sense of the testing questions one year, he had the vision and direction, what to do first, how to realization that education and his own personal navigate. Big lesson: this does not guarantee skills (his resource capability) were not the that the boat won’t sink, even with the best weak link; far from it.

His weak link was navigational tools and a compass that reads marketing—and pouring more and more time true. As in IrkedWorks case, we still sometimes and money into another training program run aground, or are unable to wrest the rudder wasn’t doing anything to improve his bottom away from the mad captain. line. For the last four years he has been Sailing Along making marketing his priority (while still maintaining his continuing education), with At this next stage practitioners have a solid on-going success. understanding of holistic decision-making. They He notes two major benefits of the process: have begun to make real progress towards the ease and confidence of doing what’s right, important objectives and their holistic goal is “alive.” Finding one’s destination makes sailing so continued on page 8 much easier. In this stage there is little wasted

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2002 7

Setting Sail continued from page 7 and the unanticipated side effects. He says that without this ease and confidence he would not have been able to persevere in his work. “My planned profit is tied to my highest aspirations.

What could be more motivating?”

Unanticipated good side effects flow from the process, once things get moving. Things seem to come to you, you’re more often generally happy, and, as James says, “your wishes just seem to come true.” Side effects, like quadrupling your net worth, become not the core thing, but one of many feedback flows you’re monitoring. A mental and emotional sense of security and stability arises, a sense of being able to ride out whatever storms may come.

Land Ahoy!

What does success in holistic financial planning mean? Does one ever accomplish their

holistic goal? Do you ever arrive in “port”? From my perspective holistic financial planning is about living our dreams. The process enhances and deepens what is most important and vital.

I only have a few clients who are living at this level. In general they are older, are retired, or into the “next phase” of their lives, and exude a wonderful feeling of exuberance and good cheer. As Pat and Sharon put it, “our lives are about giving back, about contribution, about trying to make the world a better place.” At this stage spiritual practice and development becomes central; living your most important values is how you spend your time and invest your resources.

I asked them how holistic financial planning might have helped them in a specific way, what kind of guidance it may have offered. Sharon replied without hesitation: “Biggest bang for the buck. We’re conscious of the limited number of years we have left, and we want to use our time in the best way we can.” She explained that for them the process has helped, not to

Socially Responsible Investing

S

ocially responsible investing (SRI) is a natural complement to Holistic Management. You can invest your planned profits in a way that supports your holistic goal and helps create the kind of world you want to live in. As a Holistic Management® Certified Educator who owns and operates a financial services business specializing in socially responsible investing, I think SRI is an ideal tool to help us further our collective holistic goal, our values and principles.

SRI began in 1928 with the Pioneer Fund serving church groups who objected to investing in tobacco, alcohol, or gambling companies. They reasoned that it is unethical to profit from human weakness, disease, and what they regard as sin. The principles have blossomed in the last 70 years with fund options screening for the avoidance of nuclear power, and gambling, and choosing companies with positive records on minority employment, charitable contributions, and environmental impacts.

Through shareholder advocacy people investing in socially responsible mutual funds have made a difference. For example, the

8 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #83

Social Investment Forum, working with many other groups, convinced Home Depot to move all of their purchasing to “sustainably harvested” forest products companies.

Another form of SRI is community investment in local and appropriate causes.

Community investment opportunities include local credit unions, self-help lending banks, micro-lending funds, and community investment funds.

Obviously your Holistic Management business is the ultimate socially responsible investment, and you will continue to invest in that to support its growth and development.

Over time, as you find success with the holistic financial planning process, you will have extra planned profits to invest outside your own whole. What do you do with your planned profits? How do you invest them?

SRI helps you put your planned profits where they can support your holistic goal. Does the future resource base description in your holistic goal include considerations of the health and well being of your community? How about the air you breathe and the water you drink?

What about local businesses? What about the impact of transnational corporations? Are you

figure out what things to do, but what things not to do. “We got rid of our TV last year. We noticed that, despite our better intentions, we watched it more than we really wanted to.

We hardly notice its absence now, oh, except during the Olympics, of course. We read more now, and we like that.” When you’re making decisions like that you’re out in the open ocean, the sky is clear, the wind is strong, and the sails full and singing.

The holistic financial planning process is the best process I have found for helping move into this final phase. As we begin to make decisions that bring us the high quality of life we desire, in a way that enhances the natural world and our communities, joy becomes available to all.

Christopher Peck is a Certified Educator who owns and operates a financial services business based on the principles and practice of Holistic Management. He can be contacted through his website: www.Holistic-Solutions.net or 707/758-0171.

concerned about their decision-making? Every dollar you spend ripples out and has effects around the globe. As a member of a global economy are you spending and investing in a way that helps create the kind of world you want to live in? The Sustainability testing question leads us directly to SRI. Holistic decision-making compels us to make decisions that are simultaneously ecologically, economically and socially sound.

The whole basis of wealth from our perspective comes from this recognition that true wealth is only developed when all three “reservoirs” are being filled. Twenty years of performance data show us that SRI help fill the ecological and social reservoirs, and top off the economic pond.

Socially responsible investing isn’t perfect— a gap exists between what we’d like to do and what’s available now. It’s a work in progress.

Your support helps it grow. In some ways it parallels the growth of organic agriculture, and has many of the same challenges. As Holistic Management grows in influence, as our planned profits are fruitful and multiply, we can change the investment opportunities that are available. In time we will be able to invest in funds that exclusively support regenerative agriculture and a solar dollars future.

—-Christopher Peck

LAND&LIVESTOCK A Special Section of

IN PRACTICE MAY / JUNE 2002

#83

Holistic Transitions in America’s Breadbasket

by Jim Howell

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’m not much of a farmer—never have been and probably never will be. I don’t know anything about farm machinery, center pivot sprinkler irrigation systems, corn futures, government subsidies, or agricultural chemicals. I’m into simpler things, like green grass and fat cows. So when a guy like me visits a bonafide farmer in the heart of America’s breadbasket (Kansas in this case), it’s a serious eye-opener.

Tom and Darla White were some of our first tour clients when we started that side business in 1999, and since then we’ve stayed in touch and developed a good friendship. They farm and ranch near Lakin, Kansas, which is a little west of the feedlot capital of the world, Garden City. In February 2002, we finally had time to take them up on their invitation and headed out to the plains for a visit. We picked a nice weekend. The night we arrived, the mercury dropped to 0 degrees Farenheit and 40 mile-per-hour winds out of the north created a minus 26-degree Farenheit wind chill factor.

Like so many of us striving to manage holistically, the Whites have had many successes. But combined with the victories are those old entrenched behavior patterns that are tough to shake. This story is about becoming aware of these hard-to-break habits, then taking the steps to transition toward more holistically sound lives.

A Midwestern Model Whenever I descend out of the Rocky Mountains onto the Great Plains, I always feel like I’m entering another world. Topographically, the two regions are as opposite as night and day. In the White’s “neck of the prairie,” there actually isn’t too much prairie left. Lakin is still in the short grass prairie belt, which makes dryland farming in this 17-inch (374 mm) rainfall country a major gamble. So why is the prairie gone? In southwest Kansas, the coincidental presence of two abundant resources have enabled another form of industrial agriculture to flourish—irrigated crop farming, including corn, wheat, alfalfa, and soybeans—and lots of it.

The resources that make it possible are the Ogallala Aquifer—the largest pool of subsurface fossil water in the United States—and trillions of cubic

Darla, Heather, Rachel and Tom White at home on their Kansas farm.

feet of natural gas. The natural gas powers the engines that run the pumps that deliver the water—200-500 gallons (800-2000 liters) per minute per well. Lots of country is also flood-irrigated with water out of the Arkansas River. Without the gas and water, vast tracts of native shortgrass prairie would still dominate most of southwest Kansas.

All this grain and alfalfa combined with their semi-arid climate has created the world’s greatest concentration of confinement feedlots. Hog producers and dairy farmers also love it here. It all sounds wonderful if you come from the paradigm that humankind’s purpose in the world is to dominate and subdue nature and reap a bounty in the process. On the other hand, if you have a long-term holistic perspective and are used to evaluating everything in light of its social, economic, and ecological soundness, southwest Kansas is a living nightmare.

Layers of Unsustainability The gas wells, for instance, have to be continually reworked to maintain enough pressure to power the irrigation pumps. Saltwater has to be pumped out of each well, then hauled away and dumped down a failed well somewhere else. Eventually the pressure drops to the point that the only way to keep the gas rising up the well is to install a vacuum pump. At that point all the gas gets sent straight to the gas company, and the farmer loses his on-site cheap source of energy. That’s bad, but it gets worse. Water levels in the irrigation wells are also dropping— by as much as eight inches (176 mm) per year. So much for sustainability.

Believe it or not, there’s more. The only thing that makes it economically viable to mine all this gas and water are the government grain subsidies. Tom admits that without the subsidy, he wouldn’t plant an acre of corn. It just wouldn’t be worth the effort. During the growing season of 2000, the Whites paid $5. 50/1,000 cubic feet of gas—up from $1.76 the year before. Some farmers paid up to $7/1,000 cubic feet. Even with the subsidy, the increase in the price of their most significant input continued on page 10

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Holistic Transitions in America’s Breadbasket continued from page 9 nearly wiped out any profit. The gas price has since dropped back down to around $2, but it’s anybody’s guess how long that will last. It’s also highly likely that the government will eventually pull the rug out from under the subsidy program. There’s sure a lot of talk about it.

Tom is all for an end to subsidies. He said that the whole issue disgusts him so much he doesn’t even like to talk about it. If the production of cheap corn is dependent on cheap gas and government handouts, then the whole feedlot industry is dependent on these things too. Talk about a precarious, non-holistic situation.

Changing Course Tom and Darla have two little girls, Rachel and Heather, with a third on the way. Tom is the fourth generation of Whites to farm his family’s land. His great grandfather bought the place in 1918. It’s hard to imagine the fifth generation being able to carry on with business as usual. Tom and Darla are acutely aware of this, and since attending their first Holistic Management course in 1987, they’ve taken significant strides toward leading more holistically sound lives. The Whites practice minimum tillage on their nearly 2,000 acres (810 ha) of irrigated and dryland cropping ground. The most severe disturbance is done on their dryland country by passing a sweep (an undercutting blade designed to kill weeds) once a month during the summer fallow between corn and wheat crops.

They have transitioned from continuous corn to a corn-wheat-alfalfasoybean rotation on their five big irrigated center pivots. They apply as little fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides as they feel they can get away with. They’ve done away with their haying equipment and now contract out the entire haying operation. They realize, however, that these improvements really only amount to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Something more fundamental has to change.

To that end, Tom envisions his center pivot sprinklers delivering a precise application of water to a perennial pasture base. The prairie isn’t meant to grow corn—nature meant for it to grow perennial grasses and forbs. Irrigated perennial pasture would require a fraction of the water of an annual grain or soybean crop. With their usually wet springs (most of their 17 inches comes over the course of April, May, and June), supplemented by a few warm season applications from the sprinklers, southwest Kansas could be grass-growing heaven. In the White’s vicinity, which is just north of the Arkansas River, their groundwater aquifer

Tom feeds winter protein supplement in the brushy corners and edges surrounding the center pivots. This helps open up the brush and creates good seed-to-soil contact in his sandy ground.

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actually benefits from some river bottom recharge. With a little less demand on the aquifer, it’s possible that their water table could stabilize or even rise, especially if the neighbors follow suit. With high value grazers doing the harvesting and generating a subsidy-free profit, all of a sudden we have a much more holistically sound agricultural model.

Transitions Aren’t So Simple It all sounds great, but it’s not so easy. These sorts of major changes always entail a significant learning curve. As conservative Midwesterners, Tom and Darla are reluctant to dive into unknown territory without having done their homework. In that light, they’ve been experimenting with several types of perennial pasture mixes on smaller plots, both irrigated and dryland.

The most promising irrigated mix includes intermediate wheat grass, smooth brome, meadow brome, orchard grass, and Alice white clover, a superior nitrogen fixer. Some of their odd-sized flood-irrigated patches are now permanently planted in this mix. The biggest failure has been a solid stand of perennial ryegrass. It produced well the first year, but then winter-killed and never came back the following spring.

This year, Tom is taking one of his 85-acre (34-ha) center pivots out of its usual corn rotation and will go in with an oat/turnip combination.

At this point he is planning to harvest it with light stockers over a 120-day grazing season. Depending on the price of stockers, he will either buy and sell his own cattle or bring in outside calves to run on the gain. The oats will provide early high quality grazing when it’s still cool. As temperatures rise, the turnips will provide the bulk of the forage during the hot summer months.

He plans to run 300 stockers on the 85 acres, and is budgeting a twopound (0.9-kg) average daily gain. This trial will give Tom some good experience managing a high value class of grazer under a sprinkler— another step in his education toward holistic sustainability.

Rangeland Recovery The irrigated farm is only half of the story. The second half is a lot more uplifting. The Whites also own 4,300 acres (1,741 ha) of native sand sage prairie about 20 miles south of the farm. Tom and Darla call this ranch “The Sandhills.” According to Tom, an ancient mountain chain predating the Rocky Mountains eroded out onto the plains into the current course of the Arkansas River. Strong northerly winds blew this outwash southward, sending the finer particles miles away and depositing the heavier sand just south of the river. This ridge of sand parallels the Arkansas for 200 miles (320 km), and ranges from two to fifteen miles (3 to 24 km) wide.

Much of the sandhills has also been put to the plow, but much has been spared as well. Besides the predominant sand sage, the native patches still support a beautiful diversity of mostly warm-season perennial grasses, including big bluestem, little bluestem, switch grass, sand love grass, sand dropseed, sand reed grass, and blue grama. Western wheat grass, a cool-season perennial, as well as Austrian winter pea, rusty lupine, and showy partridge pea (all valuable legumes) round out the forage mix. That sure sounds better than corn, wheat, and soybeans.

In 1987, the Sandhills ranch (3,200 acres/1295 ha at that point) ran 100 mother cows from mid-April to mid-October in just one big pasture with two water points. Since then, Tom has added the neighbor’s place (1,100 more acres/445 ha) and gradually increased pasture numbers to 13 with very minimal one-wire high-tensile electric fence. He has also installed

some new 2-inch (44-mm) water line and two more simple but effective watering points.

Now, 160 lactating cows (of mostly Beefmaster breeding) graze from mid-April to late December on the 4,300 total acres (1,741 total ha). In 1987, each acre supported 5.6 lactating-cow days. Now each acre supports 8.9 lactating-cow days, which works out to a 59 percent increase in annual forage harvest per acre, with an increase in biodiversity to boot.

Like many of us, Tom hasn’t found time to do any formal biological monitoring, but old photos and observation indicate good things are happening. Tom says the biggest change seems to be an improvement in plant species composition. By minimizing overgrazing, the high quality, upright growing species such as big bluestem have made a great comeback.

In 1987, Tom said he was lucky to come across one or two big bluestem plants over the course of a whole day’s ride. Now he says it’s nearly impossible to be anywhere on the whole ranch without seeing big bluestem. That’s exciting. From my perspective, I was impressed by the amount of cover and the high plant density, especially considering the extremely sandy soil type.

Low Cost Cows and Calves The White’s cattle don’t start calving till mid-April, after the brunt of late spring snowstorms have passed, and are finished by the end of May. That’s only 42 days, or 2 heat cycles. They calve out on the range, just as the grass is starting to green up. Because growth is slow at this time, grazing periods stretch out to two weeks, which would lead to very heavy pasture utilization and poor animal performance without some supplementation.

The calving cows receive a total of 500 pounds/head (312 kg/head) of alfalfa throughout the calving period. After that, as growth rates start to boom and pasture moves speed up, the cattle are on their own until December, making 100 percent of their living straight from the range. In their grazing planning, the Whites make sure that the pastures grazed during this early spring growth period change every year. In other words, they vary the timing of their early season grazing to ensure that the same plants only have to endure this early season defoliation once every few years.

Tom and Darla plan to graze each pasture only once over the course of their growing season, which is pretty well finished in late August/early September. With only 13 pastures, this still results in fairly long grazing periods (7 to 10 days once they’re through the two-week grazing periods during the slow growth conditions at calving). In fairly dry sand sage prairie, however, little regrowth occurs within a week of grazing, and severely-grazed plants frequently don’t fully recover within the current year’s growing season. Faster moves would therefore lead to widespread, serious overgrazing on pastures subjected to two growingseason grazing periods. In dry prairie and steppe country, returning too soon is usually far more damaging than staying a little too long.

From September through late December, when plants are pretty well dormant, the cattle graze each pasture once more. By the end of the dormant season grazings, the calves have been weaned, and the dry cows are moved onto corn stalks until pasture turnout in mid-April at the start of calving. This year they also had early spring grazing on winter wheat pasture.

These crop residues and winter wheat are in six more 130- to 160acre center pivots that the Whites own adjacent to the native sandhills range. These circles are leased to a local farmer, with costs and income

split 40/60 between the Whites and the lessee.

The residue and early winter wheat grazing are handy byproducts of the cropping program, keeping cow wintering costs down to a fraction of all-hay wintering. In fact, Tom runs about the lowest input cow/calf operation of any place I’ve seen in the U.S. His program reminds me a lot more of the low-cost models followed by the austere Australians and New Zealanders.

The Whites haven’t treated any cows for external or internal parasites or given any vaccinations (other than blackleg at branding) since 1996. Other than $15 spent per cow on a little 32 percent protein cake to supplement the corn stalks, and $20 in hay during calving, direct cash expenses to the cow/calf operation are almost nonexistent.

It takes a long time for most of us to integrate the holistic decisionmaking framework into our everyday lives. The concept is simple, but that doesn’t mean its assimilation is. As we make this transition, it’s extremely important to remember that we have to stay in business. We might know that raising irrigated corn isn’t taking us toward our holistic goal, but if that’s what’s paying most of the bills, we can’t just quit overnight. That awareness is the first step. The tough part then entails taking the steps to change.

In that light, there is a lot to be learned from the White’s overall conservative approach to change. Small but deliberate steps in the right direction help prevent big, expensive, and demoralizing setbacks. It’s a lot easier to swallow a 30-acre perennial ryegrass wreck than a 1,000-acre failure.

Well planned, low cost fencing and water infrastructure that pays for itself via increased production sure beats thousands of dollars invested in miles of fancy fences. Hasty fencing development often ends up in the wrong place anyway. Switching from annual crops to perennial grazed pasture is a huge jump. Working out the bugs on smaller experimental plots can sure eliminate costly mistakes down the road.

I’ll never forget the first time I met Tom in 1999. I asked him how the previous few years had been. “Obscenely good,” he said. How often do you hear farmers say things like that? Thousands of Midwestern farmers are stuck in the high input, soil eroding, subsidy-dependent grain-farming paradigm. Eventually, economic and ecological pressures will force them to change. Proactive folks like Tom and Darla White, who see the change coming and are adapting accordingly, will be well-positioned to truly prosper when that time comes.

The Whites vary their marketing plan depending on cattle prices. Last year’s calves were marketed during this April’s peak in feeder calf prices, after having gained about 250 lb (114 kg) per head through the winter on cheap corn stalks and cereal rye pasture.

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Grazing in Nature’s Image, Part 3—

Lessons from Nature’s Migratory Herbivores

by Jim Howell functioning effectively. This variability is primarily the result of precipitation quantity and pattern.

The high production brittle environments are characterized by abundant rainfall over a fairly concise summer growing season, which happens to coincide with high levels of atmospheric humidity and warm temperatures. The result is an explosion of vegetative growth, recently heard Bob Budd, manager of the Nature Conservancy’s followed by a long period of dry conditions and plant dormancy.

Red Canyon Ranch near Lander, Wyoming, throw out one of his Low production brittle environments are typified by much lower more provocative statements. He said that ecologically, his focus is amounts of annual precipitation. In the tropics it frequently still “managing for chaos.” That doesn’t mean letting everything fall apart arrives over the course of a short season in the summer. In the low and turn into a disorganized mess. It means creating a diversity of production steppe environments of the temperate latitudes, little bits vegetation patches and structures through intentional management of precipitation are possible most any time, but significant moisture practices—patches that lead to a multitude of niches for all the accumulations resulting thousands of plants, in new growth are critters, fungi, and typically few and far microorganisms living between. As a result, on and in our plants lie dormant for landscapes. Nature, most of the year and he insists, abhors biological decay gives monotony. way to oxidation when I never really herbivores are absent. thought of it that A well-managed high way, but I think he’s production, very brittle right. There is environment in the nothing monotonous, One of the few surviving populations of migratory herbivores still interacting with tropics of Africa might predictable, or routine pack-hunting predators, the wildebeest in the Serengeti number about 1.5 million. produce on the order of about a naturally 130 to 180 ADA (Animal functioning landscape.

Days per Acre) per year, while well managed, low production, very Nature is dynamic, constantly changing, chaotic. Chaos includes brittle environments in the western United States typically produce disturbance, and disturbance dynamics change across the brittleness from 5 to 25 ADA annually. scale. In very brittle environments, disturbance is created by large herbivores living in association with their pack hunting predators.

Megaherbivores Allan Savory has been saying that for a long time. Herbivores stay Do disturbance regimes and patterns vary as brittle environments bunched and moving as a survival strategy when healthy populations transition between low and high production? My observations and of predators are present, and we strive to imitate this behavior with research indicate that they do. Under natural conditions in the high our domestic livestock. We control such variables as timing, frequency, production tropics, very large grazers and browsers (large mammal and intensity of grazing and animal impact. We manipulate stock biologists call them megaherbivores)—those weighing 1,000 kg (2,200 density, stocking rate, and animal behavior. Those are a lot of pounds) or more—tend to comprise the majority of the mammalian dynamics to consider, and “getting it right” from the point of view of biomass of a region. These animals include the elephants, rhinos, and the plants, the animals, and the soil surface condition isn’t easy. My hippos. Elephants and rhinos are hind-gut fermenters like a horse, contention is that naturally functioning herds of herbivores (with which means they’re anatomically designed to consume large volumes their associated predators) still have a lot to teach us in our efforts of very low quality forage. to “get it right.”

Hippos are foregut fermenters, but only have a two-chambered Very Brittle, but High or Low Production? stomach and they don’t chew a cud. This makes them similarly adapted to consuming lots of low quality forage. Since these high Very brittle environments can range from productive tropical production brittle environments are characterized by large quantities savannas to unproductive semi-desert and temperate latitude steppe of lignified, low quality forage for much of the year, it makes sense environments. The high production, very brittle environments have that nature’s model is dominated by these huge vegetation consumers. the capacity to produce a much higher volume of vegetation over They perform the bulk of the mineral and nutrient cycling, they create the course of a growing season than the low production, but still the patchiness and diverse vegetation structure needed by dozens of very brittle, areas, even when ecosystem processes in the latter are In this last article of his series, Jim, looks at the role migrating grazers have played in low-rainfall brittle environments, and at the end suggests how we might use that knowledge when planning livestock grazing. —Editor

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Bison were highly migratory on the central North American plains and throughout much of the northwestern cold steppe. This is a family unit in Yellowstone National Park.

other animals and plants, they keep perennial grasses from becoming overrested, and they maintain an open savanna landscape. In combination with all the other smaller herbivores of these regions, a disturbed, patchy environment with healthy ecosystem processes is maintained.

Migratory Herbivores How does this change as we move into the lower production tropical savannas and temperate steppe environments? In these areas, migratory herbivores tend to comprise the bulk of the mammalian biomass. The megaherbivores can still be present, but their contribution to the total mass of mammals becomes progressively less significant as environments become less productive.

Because of the lower total rainfall, and more fertile soils (due to less leaching), the vegetation in these regions, particularly the perennial grasses, tends to be much lower in lignin and therefore much higher in digestible energy than in the high production brittle environments.

As a result, ruminants, which require a higher quality diet than the hind-gut fermenters, are more adapted to the plant communities of these environments. Most of the migratory herds, in fact, are comprised of ruminants.

In their native condition, the numbers of large migratory herbivores in these low production environments greatly outnumber all other herbivore species combined, in some instances by an order of magnitude (i.e., ten times as many). In other words, low production brittle environments typically support many more migratory herbivores than resident or sedentary herbivores. Their role in creating disturbance and maintaining healthy ecosystem processes is therefore huge.

These herds still exist, or until the mid-‘90s did exist, in a few isolated corners of the globe. They include the wildebeest, zebra, and Thompson’s gazelle of the Serengeti/Mara region in Tanzania and Kenya; the white-eared kob antelope and kopi antelope of Sudan; the caribou all across the arctic tundra; the saiga antelope of southern Russia and Kazahkstan; the chiru antelope of the Tibetan Plateau; the Mongolian gazelle; and the dorcas gazelle on the edges of the Sahara Desert. Until the end of the 19th century, bison and elk on the Great Plains, pronghorn west of the Rockies, the springbok of South Africa,

and the guanaco of Patagonia (southern Argentina and Chile) constituted some other great populations of migratory ungulates.

Remnants of formerly large migratory populations still survive in many other areas, but due to overhunting, habitat fragmentation, and a lack of predators, they no longer interact with their environment as nature intended.

With the exception of the caribou in the arctic, all of these migratory herbivores are found in very brittle environments, most of which are low production. The northern range of the Serengeti is high production, but that’s where the elephants live, and they, rather than the wildebeest, cycle most of the vegetation. Toward the southern end of the Serengeti, where the wildebeest tend to spend a majority of the year, annual rainfall falls off to 15 inches (330 mm), with a consequent drop in vegetation production.

The high latitude arctic lies in the middle of the brittleness scale.

Due to extremely cold temperatures throughout most of the year, very little biological decay takes place outside of the wet summer growing season. Because this growing season is so short and nighttime temperatures remain cold, annual production of new vegetation is low. So they may not be very brittle, but they are low production environments with plant growth characteristics similar to cold steppe environments.

This means the plants need long recovery periods to regrow leaf material and root mass.

Migration 101 Now, what exactly did nature intend? How do these migratory The first Europeans in western South Africa behavior patterns described single herds of migratory springbok impact the plants numbering o ver a million animals. and the soil surfaces of these low production brittle areas? What makes them migrate in the first place? What does all this have to do with “managing for chaos” or even Holistic Management? First let’s try to answer why they even migrate in the first place. Scientists have been asking themselves this for a long time. The answers are many and varied.

For example, the migrations might enable the animals to utilize seasonally abundant ranges more efficiently, or they may revolve around seasonal supplies of surface water. Commonly, however, the migrations don’t seem to have any nutritional motivation at all, especially the spring migrations. The wildebeest of the Serengeti migrate much farther than necessary to partake of the higher quality short grasses during the summer rainy season, as do the white-eared kob of southern Sudan. The chiru migrate to calving grounds in the more northerly, drier, and colder part of their range, just when their wintering grounds are finally greening up in the spring. They actually migrate to poorer nutritional conditions right when their physiological status would indicate a need for a rising plane of nutrition. The continued on page 14

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patterns tend to be predictable on a broad scale, but very unpredictable on a more local scale. The less productive the environment, the less predictable the migratory behavior. For example, the wildebeest of the Serengeti (which are in an environment ranging from fairly low annual production in the south caribou do the same thing in the arctic, moving north ahead of the to fairly high production in the north) can always be expected to be in spring green-up. the northern woodlands during the middle of the dry season and in The answer seems to be tied to predation. Because most predators the southern plains during the middle of the wet season. The timing of are obliged to be fairly sedentary due to the long period of their migrations north and south, however, can vary by one or two dependency of their young and the necessity of remaining in the months. The actual migration routes can also vary from year to year, relative vicinity of their dens, as can the time spent on a given predators typically are unable to seasonal range. Over a 12-year follow the herbivores over their study from 1961 to 1972, the vast migratory routes. Predators wildebeest spent between 5 and consequently tend to congregate 32 percent of each year in the in areas with abundant resident northern woodland savanna, 12 to herbivores and year-round 40 percent in the western mixed supplies of surface water. The savanna, 7 to 15 percent in the migratory herbivores have central mixed savanna, and 22 to evolved behavior patterns of 60 percent in the open southern traveling over vast distances to plains savanna. remote calving grounds, Other observations of these Bighorn sheep may once have been migratory. In 1776, journal writers seemingly for the sole purpose populations tend to paint a similar in the Dominguez Escalante Expedition didn’t mention seeing any of avoiding areas of high picture.

Scientists studying the sheep until they reached the Four Corners Area (where Arizona, predator density during their chiru of the Tibetan Plateau were Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet) near Lake Po well. According to brief birthing seasons. unable to predict their seasonal one journal entry, “Wild sheep breed hereabouts in such abundance Scientists believe that this migration routes.

After setting up that the tracks look like those of great droves of game.” single factor is why populations their observation camps on the of migratory herbivores tend to route the chiru took the previous be so much more abundant than resident herbivores. The migratory year, these scientists were frequently disappointed to realize that the population numbers are not limited by predation, but by the quantity migration was passing dozens of miles away. The same occurs when of forage that grows on their dry season range. The resident species, trying to predict the exact migration routes of the caribou. on the other hand, are totally regulated by predation.

Variable migration routes then tend to lead to different areas of summer or winter ranges being used from one year to the next. The Migratory Variations 800,000 head George River caribou herd of northern Canada was observed to use the same summer range only once every six years.

So now we think we know why they migrate. But, how do these Depending on when the large lakes freeze over (enabling the caribou migrations vary from year to year? It turns out that most migratory to cross rather than travel around them), the migrations may end up in totally different winter range from one year to the next. Migrations of saiga antelope in Kazakhstan and Mongolian gazelles in eastern Mongolia are reportedly very erratic. Depending on snow and drought conditions, migration routes to and from calving grounds and seasonal use areas are highly variable. In the extremely harsh steppe-desert on the edge of the Sahara, the behavior of the surviving migratory dorcas gazelle is described as nomadic. There is no pattern to annual movements at all. Their grazing patterns are totally dictated by ephemeral rains that create the odd green spot in their austere landscape. As a result, they might not return to the same area for years.

Lessons from Nature’s Migratory Herbivores continued from page 13

Management Implications of Migratory Behavior

Elephants are one of nature’s most ef fective carbon cyclers and agents of disturbance in high production very brittle environments.

At one time they or their close relatives have occupied every habitable continent except Australia where the same niche was filled by a huge rhino-sized marsupial.

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All of these populations seem to be strong adherents to chaos theory. The lower the potential productive capacity of a brittle environment, the more erratic and seemingly chaotic the migratory movements of the associated herbivores seem to be. What does that mean for the plants and the soil surface condition? In practical terms, how does the erratic migratory behavior of huge herds of herbivores affect the timing, frequency, and intensity of plant defoliation and soil

surface disturbance? We know that wherever and whenever a migration travels, the animals will be grazing, trampling, defecating, urinating, rubbing, and scratching.

Because the commencement of a migration might vary by up to two months from year to year, the timing of all this grazing and disturbance in a certain area may also be variable. Also, a specific site might fall in the path of the spring migration this year, but next time the animals come through that spot it may be the next year on their fall return to winter range. Again, the result is variable timing of grazing. Because migration routes and specific localities of seasonal use change from year to year, frequency between defoliations might stretch out to several years. The lower the productive potential of an environment, the less frequent grazing periods tend to be. Because length of occupancy on specific ranges tends to vary from year to year, the degree of utilization, or intensity of overall plant defoliation, will also vary on an annual basis. What’s the result of all this variation?

The incredible chaos of nature.

How do we translate these lessons to a domestic scenario and manage for chaos? Luckily, we as land managers have lots of control over these three critical variables of timing, frequency, and intensity.

However, because most of us like routines, we tend to vary them only a little. We always turn out in the same pasture at the same time of year with the same number of animals and leave them there for the same amount of time. That’s not chaos, that’s an entrenched pattern and it’s not natural. Allan Savory developed holistic planned grazing for the very purpose of handling these multiple variables and to keep land managers from falling into damaging, thoughtless routines.

In most situations, our herds are small and/or our stock density is extremely low, which results in very uneven grazing and little soil surface disturbance. But the massive migrating herds don’t always bunch up in tight herds. In fact, they often are distributed fairly thinly.

The white-eared kob antelope seldom reach densities over 1,000 head per square kilometer, which works out to only four head to the acre.

But because the herds are so huge (especially relative to our domestic herds), by the time thousands of animals traveling in cohesive family groups pass a given area, the result is an extremely well-distributed pattern of grazing and animal impact. Depending on how fast the herd is moving, the intensity of defoliation may be light, moderate, or heavy, but whatever the case, it will tend to be uniform over the landscape the herd is traveling through.

By increasing stock density, through herding, fencing, and herd amalgamation to achieve large enough herds, we have the ability to mimic this even level of impact and grazing severity with our domestic herbivores. By controlling the time of our grazing periods, it is therefore easy to vary intensity. On my family’s ranch, we typically will have 400 yearlings grazing about 40-acre temporary pastures. A one-day grazing period will result in an even but light intensity of grazing and impact, two days a moderate level, and three days a heavy level of grazing and trampling.

From year to year, we can intentionally vary this level of utilization, or grazing intensity, by changing our pasture ratings in the Holistic Management grazing planning procedure. If we want to graze a pasture lightly one year, we’ll rate it low, which will result in a shorter planned grazing period, and vice versa if a pasture needs a heavy grazing. Because we can control exactly where we want the animals to be from the beginning to the end of the grazing season,

Uniformity of grazing intensity is easy to control with high stock density. On the left 400 yearling steers grazed a 40-acre temporary paddock for 3 days. Temporary wire has just been rolled up and animals have mo ved themselves onto new grass at right. The foreground is close to a riparian area, which is the reason for the close plant spacing and relatively high production.

we also have total control over the timing of grazing. In other words, we can always be sure to graze a certain area at a different time in successive years.

We also have complete control over the frequency of grazing. In our situation, we’ll seldom have a grazing period last longer than a week, so plants have little chance of suffering a second bite on regrowth. We can also plan to ensure plants are not regrazed in a subsequent grazing period until those plants are fully recovered from the previous defoliation. The migratory herbivores often stay out of areas for up to several years at a time, allowing for very long recovery periods and abundant vegetation accumulation. We’ve allowed for these long recovery periods (two full growing seasons) on some experimental plots, the results of which have convinced us that a periodic extended recovery period is vital to accumulating a source of older material to serve as a source of vital soil-covering litter. This seems especially critical the lower the inherent productive capacity of a range, such as the steppe environments of the western United States.

So, to summarize, we can deliberately vary the timing, the intensity, and the frequency of grazing on any given piece of ground. We can create the sort of chaotic conditions that nature would have produced with migratory herbivores. For example, one year we might plan to graze a pasture lightly in the spring, then heavily during the next year’s summer, then give it the following year completely off. With the Holistic Management ® grazing planning procedure, it’s easy to plan all of these various treatments while still minimizing overgrazing of individual plants. At the end of the season, the completed plan serves as a fantastic record of past events.

This record is critical to sound future planning. The management decisions we make for each pasture should be aligned with our holistic goal, and the results of these decisions have to be carefully monitored.

The importance of assuming we’re wrong when attempting to mimic the chaos of nature can’t be overemphasized. Do the planning, do the monitoring, adapt as needed, and be prosperous.

IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK

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Savory Center Supporters We’d like to extend a heartfelt thanks to those who made financial contributions to the Savory Center in the last year. Your support enabled us to enhance and expand our training programs in the U.S. and Africa, to create a national learning site in Idaho, to Savory Circle ($5,000-$100,000) The Arntz Family Fund, San Rafael, CA Sam Brown, Austin, TX Nancy Dickenson, Santa Fe, NM Harriett Dublin, Midland, TX Bud & Mary Lou Flocchini, San Jose, CA The Flora Family Foundation, Palo Alto, CA Cynthia & Leo Harris, Albuquerque NM M.A. Healy Family Fund, Taos, NM William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Menlo Park, CA J. Rukin Jelks, Jr., Elgin, AZ Clint & Betty Josey, Dallas, TX Doug McDaniel & Gail Hammack, Lostine, OR Kip Mortenson, Choteau, MT James & Carol Parker, Montrose, CO Jane Reed, Cotopaxi, CO Rosewood Corporation, Dallas, TX Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX The Tides Foundation, San Francisco, CA Terry Word, Albuquerque, NM Patrons ($1,000-4,999) Thomas W. Brown, Hershey, NE Leslie Christian & Heather Anderson, Portland, OR Michael J. Duncan, Denver, CO Thomas Eubank, Houston, TX Mark Gordon, Buffalo, WY Stephen Greenhalgh, Salt Lake City, UT William Jenkins, Goodlands, KS Larry Madge, Sweet Grass, MT Kim McDodge & Terence Dodge, Portland, OR John & Sandra McDonald, Brentwood, Essex, England Sue Mossman, Calistoga, CA Kelly Pasztor, Albuquerque, NM Risher Randall, Houston, TX Craig & Laura Risk, Sandia Park, NM Dean William Rudoy, Cedar Crest, NM Richard Smith, Houston, TX John & Cynthia Sparks, Albuquerque, NM C. Pat & Nancy Spurlock, Sun Lakes, AZ James Weaver, Causey, NM Peter Young, Plainfield, VT Benefactors ($500-999) Ken Alston, Earlysville, VA Andy & Geni Braman, Albuquerque, NM Don & Bev Campbell, Meadow Lake SK, Canada

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HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2002 17