Regenerative agricultural practices can be used at any latitude

By Tom Cherveny | West Central Tribune

Outside the Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar, howling winds ushered in sub-zero temperatures and stirred up the snow, which swirled against the church windows with every new gust.

Inside the church, a screen showed images of cattle chomping on cacti, a thermometer recording a 154-degrees Fahrenheit temperature on bare ground, and other scenes from the sun-seared landscape of the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, where an average year’s rainfall usually totals only 10 inches.

Eight inches has been the norm in the last two years on the Rancho Las Damas ranch, located in this desert about 150 miles south of El Paso, Texas.

The ranch belongs to Alejandro Carrillo, who brought the images to his guests at the Willmar church on Feb. 1. While the images of the 30,000 acres that comprise his ranch contrasted sharply with the world of his guests, it mattered not. What Carrillo is doing to raise livestock on the desert can be done on Minnesota’s landscape with the same results: More production per acre and a better environment for it.

The same principles of regenerative agriculture apply in livestock production no matter the latitude, according to Barbara Sogn-Frank, organizer with the Land Stewardship Project’s soil health program. She introduced Carrillo to an audience including area producers who graze livestock. Carrillo’s management strategy is all about improving soil health through regenerative agriculture. His operation involves no chemical or other inputs, with the exception of sea salt sourced in the region for its minerals.

Alejandro Carrillo has increased revenues more than three-fold by implementing regenerative agricultural practices on his 30,000-acre ranch in the Chihuahua Desert of Mexico. While the landscape and weather could not be more different than what we know, Carrillo and his hosts emphasized that the principles of regenerative agriculture are no different, and the rewards no less. Carrillo is shown as he spoke as a guest of the Land Stewardship Project at the Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar on Feb. 1, 2022.

Tom Cherveny / West Central Tribune

He began implementing regenerative agricultural practices in 2006. He’s seen revenues increase by 350%, according to information provided at the meeting, as the number of livestock on the ranch grew three-fold.

His father started the ranch in 1985, and followed traditional practices. In Mexico’s desert country, a rancher needs anywhere from 150 to 200 acres per cow-calf unit, and that includes the use of supplemental feed.

Today, Carrillo averages 42 acres per cow-calf unit. He relies entirely on the grazing land to feed the livestock. He keeps a herd of cattle, sheep and a few donkeys.

“There is no formula,” Carrillo told his guests at the onset. He began by adding fencing to divide the ranch from the original three large units — each grazed by separate herds — to many smaller units. He’s added permanent (one strand, high-tensile wire) fencing and portable cross fencing to divide the ranch into over 500 paddocks today.

Along with all the new fencing, Carrillo invested in upgrading the water infrastructure of the ranch. He developed 21 water reservoirs and 38 permanent troughs to make this approach work.

There is one larger herd today in place of the three smaller herds. The cattle graze intensively on a given paddock and are moved, or actually led, twice a day to as many paddocks.

“You have to work the grasses,” said Carrillo of the intensive grazing. “Take as much as possible.”

A local audience heard Alejandro Carrillo of Aldama County, Chihuahua, Mexico, (at right) describe how regenerative agricultural practices have benefited his ranch in the middle of the Chihuahua Desert. The Land Stewardship Project hosted his presentation at the Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar on Feb. 1, 2022.

Tom Cherveny / West Central Tribune

The cattle work up the soil, and the manure they drop is moved in a few days’ time into the soul by dung beetles. The dung provides the nutrients and water needed by the native, perennial grasses to take hold.

Each paddock is usually rested for as much as a year, but Carrillo insists on being adaptive, and not following a script. Never graze the same spot at the same time each year, he advised. Do not keep the same pattern every year.

He culls, culls and culls his herd to improve the genetics for his environment. He takes his bulls from the top 10% of the cows.

The rancher emphasized the importance of allowing the animals to adapt to their environment, in place of what he called “pampering” them with inputs such as hay. He said the reason his livestock can be seen chomping on cacti is because they’ve adapted. These animals have learned to rough the cacti into the soil to knock off the needles before devouring the leaves.

At the start of his presentation, Carrillo told his audience that regenerative agriculture can be as much art as science. It’s important to learn what works best on your landscape, he explained.

For him, the proof of the approach is the string of images he took over the years showing how the grasses on his ranch have taken hold as the soil improved. The photo of the 154-degree soil temperature came from the bare ground of a neighboring ranch. The more extensive spread of perennial grasses on his ranch minimizes the bare ground exposed to the hot sun.

Most important, Carrillo said healthy soil allows more water to infiltrate, which is critical. “It’s not really how much rain you get, but what you are doing with that water when it rains,” he explained.

Carrillo said his approach is focused on working with nature, rather than in competition. “We are mimicking nature,” he said.