#115, In Practice, Sept/Oct 2007

There’s no denying it, the globalenvironment is in crisis. Some folkshave been aware of it for years, someare just realizing it, but awareness of

global environmental challenges is finallygoing mainstream, and responsible peopleeverywhere are struggling for solutions. Themagnitude of the problems is overwhelming,and political institutions are doing little. Thiswon’t work, nor will relying on expensivetechnological quick-fixes applied piecemealwithout consideration of broader ramifications.A healthy, profitable and sustainable world ispossible, but requires immediate attention; wehave all the money in the world to address thisproblem, we do not have unlimited time. Wepropose that the further, extensive adoption ofHolistic Management in the years ahead canaddress critical parts of the problem not easilysolved by technology to build a sustainableworld profitably and quickly.

Global warming is getting all the pressthese days, but there are other equally pressingglobal environmental problems that if notsimultaneously addressed will make it impossibleto deal with global warming. We’ll discuss theproblem areas and then demonstrate how HolisticManagement can address these problems.

The Challenge of Legacy CarbonThere is considerable focus on how improved

technology can solve those aspects of globalwarming associated with carbon emissions fromfossil fuel sources. Technology can generate energyfrom wind generators, photovoltaic panels, ethanoland biofuels as well as save energy while lighting,warming and cooling our homes and workplaces.Mitigating the ongoing emissions of carbon fromfossil fuels necessitates technological solutions aswell as behavioral changes (turn off the lights!).

While technology can solve the problem ofending carbon emissions from fossil fuels, relyingon technology to save us is an expensive andinsecure solution for the many decades of carbonthat have built up in the atmosphere. This“legacy carbon” is where our biggest challengelies. The atmosphere today contains approximately750 gigatons of carbon (GtC). In pre-industrialtimes it contained only about 570 GtC,representing an excess of 180 GtC. That’s whatwe need to work on; no small feat!

The currently proposed high-tech solutionsare astronomical in cost, and appear doomed tofailure. One such proposal, injecting CO2 intosaline aquifers deep underground, is estimated tocost many billions of dollars and is certain to

INS IDE THIS ISSUE

GLOBAL CLIMATE

A Roving Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

NEWS & NETWORK

Hope for Hard Wheat—Holistic Research in Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4ANN ADAMS

HMI’s International Gathering 2007Five Reasons Why You Should Go . . . . . . . . . .5BEN BARTLETT

The Earth’s Breathing System at Risk—HMI on Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

For 24 years Holistic ManagementInternational has been working withstewards of large landscapes to improveland health. There is now over 30 millionacres under Holistic Managementthroughout the world. Holistic landstewards, like Ivan & Martha Aguirreof Sonora, Mexico, are improving theecosystem functions on the land undertheir management, thus addressing theissues of drought, flooding, erosion, noxiousweeds, wildlife habitat destruction, globalclimate change, and much more.

LAND & LIVESTOCKStock Density & Patchy Landscapes—Land Planning for Diet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . .8JIM HOWELL

9 Things to Stop Doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11WAYNE BURLESON

Creating a Sustainable Ranching Culture—Rancho de la Inmaculada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12ANN ADAMS

Resiliency Down Under—Planning through Droughtin New South Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14JIM HOWELL

January / February 2006 Number 105 www.holisticmanagement.orgSeptember / October 2007 Number 115 www.holisticmanagement.org

Moving the WorldTowards Sustainabilityby Allan Savory and Christopher Peck

healthy land.sustainable future.

continued on page 2

FEATURE STORIES

Editor’s Note: In this issue, we share with our readers some of Holistic Management International’scurrent thinking and outreach to our global audience. As the world begins to feel more deeplythe effects of our natural resource management, global citizens are looking for solutions to thecomplex problems of diminished biodiversity, rapidly increasing worldwide desertification, andglobal climate change. HMI is working hard to help people understand these three problems arethe three legs of a single stool—the malfunctioning of the earth’s ecosystem. The stories in thisissue explain more fully this concept as well as demonstrate how Holistic Managementpractitioners are using Holistic Management to address these issues.

2 IN PRACTICE � September / October 2007

Moving the World Towards Sustainabilitycontinued from page one

Holistic Management International works to reverse thedegradation of private and communal land used foragriculture and conservation, restore its health andproductivity, and help create sustainable and viable

livelihoods for the people who depend on it.

FOUNDERSAllan Savory � Jody Butterfield

STAFFShannon Horst, Executive DirectorPeter Holter, Chief Operating Officer

Kelly Bee, Director of Finance & AccountingJutta von Gontard, Director of Development

Constance Neely,International Training Programs DirectorCraig Leggett, Director of Learning Sites

Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE andDirector of Educational Products and Outreach

Maryann West, Executive AssistantDonna Torrez, Customer Service ManagerMarisa Mancini, Development Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORSRon Chapman, Chair

Ben Bartlett, Vice-ChairGail Hammack, SecretarySue Probart, Treasurer

Ivan AguirreJody ButterfieldDaniela HowellBrian Marshall

Andrea MalmbergJim McMullan

Ian Mitchell InnesJim Parker

Christopher PeckSoren PetersJim SheltonRoby Wallace

Dennis Wobeser

ADVISORY COUNCILRobert Anderson, Corrales, NMMichael Bowman,Wray, COSam Brown, Austin, TX

Sallie Calhoun, Paicines, CALee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZGretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Cynthia Harris, Albuquerque, NMEdward Jackson, San Carlos, CA

Clint Josey, Dallas, TXDoug McDaniel, Lostine, OR

Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, MexicoYork Schueller, Ventura, CA

Africa Centre for Holistic ManagementPrivate Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Tel: (263) (11) 404 979; email: [email protected] Matanga, Director

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

Holistic Management International, 1010 Tijeras NW,Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900;

email: [email protected].;website: www.holisticmanagement.org

Copyright © 2007.


experience catastrophic failure in the event of anearthquake or simply from leakage at various oldwell points. Other proposals include planting treesor genetically modifying various organisms toimprove their ability to sequester carbon. Thatwon’t be cheap, risks a host of unintendedconsequences and would not sequester the carbonfor centuries as is required.

Even among the technologically inclined,terrestrial sequestration is widely viewed as one ofthe most cost effective means of pulling carbonfrom the atmosphere. And storing it safely in thesoil is exactly where it should be. But is it possibleto do this on the scale necessary, and at what cost?

Biomass Gets BurnedAnother area that requires attention in the

coming years, immediately really, is the burning ofbiomass, the burning off of grasslands and savannasin Africa and America, the clearing of agricultural

wastes in crop lands and the slash-and-burn clearingof tropical forests. Burning creates a huge release ofcarbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitricoxide and other global warming gases into theatmosphere, and also releases other gases such asmethyl chlorine and methyl bromine, which pose aserious threat to the ozone layer. It is true that someof the carbon emitted from annual burning ofgrasslands is taken up in the following season as theplants re-grow; however the total amount of carbonstored is less over time as the mass of vegetation anddiversity of species decreases each year. Research hasalso shown that the release of excess nitric oxide andnitrous oxide, both potent greenhouse gases,continues to be emitted even months after the fire,at levels greater than during the burning.

The amount of carbon associated with biomassburning is staggering. Based on research by Andreae(1991 & 1995) the amount of carbon released justby burning savanna grasslands is estimated at 1.6Giga tons of carbon per year (GtC/yr). If we includethe amount from burning agricultural residues thetotal rises to 2.5 GtC/yr. Compare this with the 5.5GtC/yr from fossil fuel burning, and you can see theenormity of the impact of burning vegetation.

Organic Agriculture is Not Enough“Organic agriculture is not enough” is a

provocative statement. Many people pin their hopeson the continued growth of organic agriculture hereand abroad. The stunning 20% annual growth rateover the last ten years is encouraging, and thereduction in toxic material use and the increasein organic matter retention in cropland soils isimpressive, but much more is needed. The bookCollapse by Jared Diamond clearly makes the casethat many previous civilizations have overextendedtheir reach, degraded their ecosystem and died out,and each one of them had what we would considerorganic agriculture (no pesticides, no artificialfertilizers, etc). We need to go beyond organic, andwe need to think beyond the borders of the farm.If a disaster destroyed significant watersheds, andinsufficient fresh water was available for human usein drinking, irrigation, and industry, we would beclamoring for a solution. But even with organic

agriculture, which wasall that existed prior toour discovery andexploitation of fossilfuels, we are losingwatersheds, and the lossof the watershed hasbeen convincinglyrelated to the demiseof several humancivilizations over

the past 5,000 years (Ponting, 1991).It is estimated today that our crop and range

lands lose 4 tons of soil every year for every personalive! That’s 21 gigatons of soil lost to the sea, lost toproductive use on land and releasing vast amountsof carbon (New Scientist, December 2006). If globalsociety is going to meet the needs of an estimated 9billion people, most living in cities, by 2050, anagriculture that stores carbon, eliminates soil losses,and is close to the people is urgently needed.

Single Problem Decision MakingAs global warming garners the majority of the

world’s attention at the moment, well-meaningpeople propose solutions, touting the possiblesavings in carbon emissions. Nuclear power is oftencited as an example of an energy source that doesnot emit carbon. While this is true, we must look atthe whole picture. It takes an enormous amount ofenergy to construct and maintain a safe nuclearreactor, and that energy currently comes from fossilfuel, emitting huge amounts of carbon. There isalso a 250,000-year babysitting period for theradioactive wastes and the insurance and financingproblems related to disaster liability. Only after full

Even among the technologically inclined, terrestrialsequestration is widely viewed as one of the most cost

effective means of pulling carbon from the atmosphere.And storing it safely in the soil is exactly where it should be.

Number 115 � IN PRACTICE 3

Holistic planned grazing mimics this naturaldynamic with domesticated animals, bunchingthem into one herd, and timing their movements toeliminate overgrazing of plants, while providing thebenefit of dung and urine to the soil. Ranchersusing Holistic Management use high animaldensity applied in short pulses, and careful timing

of grazing and recovery matched to the features ofthe vegetation. Practice and experience around theglobe has demonstrated that mimicking nature inthis way works: rangelands regenerate, the diversityof plant species and their numbers increase, andthere is less soil erosion, fewer droughts. A highlybeneficial consequence of managing animals inthis way is the increase of soil micro-fauna,particularly dung beetles (see below). Imagine thebenefits to global carbon storage with billions ofdung beetles tunneling partially digested grass threefeet down into the soil!

The use of this tool can dramatically impact thefirst three challenges we mentioned above, legacycarbon in the atmosphere, the burning ofgrasslands, and the need to go beyond organicagriculture. Taking a more comprehensive, holisticview we can apply holistic planned grazing to everlarger tracts of land, feed animals vegetation insteadof burning it, restore watersheds to former states ofwater permeability, and store carbon in the soil.

The appropriate use of holistic planned grazingleads to increased organic matter in the soil. Moreplants remain healthy with the lack of overgrazing,

but more importantly, more soil is covered andbetter aerated, and more new plants establishbecause of the brief but intense cultivation providedby livestock hooves. Gardeners have used the sametechnique for millennia – mulch the soil (withlitter), add manure and you increase organicmatter. We’re greatly simplifying for the sake ofspace, but increasing organic matter on rangelandsoils by 1 percent is doable, and accomplished ona modest ranch of 5,000 hectares, can capture440,000 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.(Jones, 2006)

With 2,000 of these ranches or 10 millionhectares managed you could remove 880 milliontons of carbon. With total legacy carbon at 180gigatons, that 10 million hectares and its storedcarbon would represent about .5 percent of thelegacy load. Luckily there are 4.5 billion hectares ofrangeland, and if we confine ourselves to the 75percent or so that is considered degraded, a modest.5 percent increase in soil carbon would storeapproximately 150 GtC. That’s pretty close to ourtarget number, and the time frame to complete thismodest increase in soil organic matter is certainlywithin 15 years. The amazing thing is this would bedone by increasing the number of grazing animals,dramatically decreasing the amount of grasslandburning, and would increase the profitability ofranchers and pastoralists around the world.

The Holistic Management perspective issimultaneously the easiest and the most difficultchange. Seeing the world whole is an insight thatcould happen in an afternoon, though usually ittakes years or a lifetime to operate and makedecisions from this perspective. The HolisticManagement® decision making process doesn’tmake you wait for enlightenment, it’s a sturdyframework that ensures that all decisions you makeare comprehensive, big picture, and inclusive.Using our example, making the decision about theviability of nuclear power depends on many factors,being able to include the impact on human health,the complete carbon budget, property values (toname a few), is a useful perspective.

As a species we face many challenges. Ourability to meet and overcome these challenges isstrengthened by the use of Holistic Management.Please join us in our work to create a healthierand more prosperous world. We look forward tohearing from you.

Article originally published byGreenMoney.com as part of the special15th Anniversary expanded online edition(Summer 2007). For more information go towww.greenmoney.com. Christopher Peck is aprincipal with Natural Investment Services, LLC(www.naturalinvesting.com ), a HolisticManagement® Certified Educator andan HMI board member.

consideration of many facets can we determine thesoundness of any suggested quick fix.

If we look at one isolated factor, and try to solvefor that isolated factor, the usefulness of ourdecisions is questionable. The quality of thesolution will be limited, and, once in the complexreal world, will bear the weight of catastrophicunintended consequences that all too often lead tofixes of the fixes. A similar critique can be madeabout current proposals for the conversion of cornto biofuels. If they are to actually contribute to areduction in carbon emissions, then all phases oftheir production will need to be included in thecalculations. Additionally, as mentioned in theprevious section, an industrial agriculture approachto biofuel production will need to be similarly“beyond organic.”

Holism to the RescueHolistic Management uses a decision making

framework and set of tools that presents a “unifiedtheory” for solving these problems. Developed overthe last 30 years in response to real world demands,by farmers, ranchers, businesspeople and directorsof non-profits, Holistic Management has provenits applicability and strength. The HolisticManagement® framework has many layers andapplications, for the sake of brevity in thisconversation we will mention only two: one tooland one perspective.

Holistic grazing planning is a powerful tool ofHolistic Management. Based on three key insights itis classic systems thinking: what you thought wasthe problem is actually your most powerfulsolution. Conventional range management (andenvironmental theory) teaches that too manyanimals is at the root of rangeland decline. If welook at historic natural systems like the savannas ofAfrica or the Great Plains in the U.S. however, wesee that massive numbers of animals co-evolvedwith highly productive rangelands. As it turns outlarge numbers of grazing animals are essential tothe health of the grasslands, but they must be inlarge herds constantly moving as they once werewhen accompanied by pack-hunting predators.

Dung Beetles to the RescueDung beetles were worshipped by ancient Egyptians. When you learn of their power to sequester

carbon and reduce flooding and drought, you’ll see why! Dung beetles use the manure of largeanimals to create underground nests for laying eggs into. They can bury a manure patty in lessthan 24 hours, dramatically improving soil fertility, water infiltration and range health. Modernresearch on dung beetles and their preference for holistic planned grazing shows holism in action.For example, to summarize research done on a ranch in Oklahoma that uses holistic plannedgrazing, the dung beetles buried approximately 1 ton of wet manure per acre per day. Thisincreased water infiltration an average of 129% on studied plots. Each extra inch of water that isabsorbed into the soil adds almost 30,000 gallons of water per acre to the soil, reducing bothflooding and drought. (Richardson 2000).

Increasing organic matter onrangeland soils by 1 percent isdoable, and accomplished on amodest ranch of 5,000 hectares,

can capture 440,000 tons ofCO2 out of the atmosphere.

Hope for Hard Wheat—Holistic Research in Ohioby Ann Adams

Nestled in the rolling hills outside ofWooster, Ohio is Ohio State University’sOhio Agricultural Research andDevelopment Center (OARDC). This

research facility includes the Organic Food andFarming Education and Research (OFFER)program, established in 1998 in response torequests by organic producers and supporters toprovide science-based information to Ohio’sexisting organic farmers and to newcomers toorganic production and marketing.

Heading that program is Dr. Deborah Stinner,an ecologist and trained Holistic Managementeducator. She is one of the co-authors of the peer-reviewed paper “Biodiversity as an organizingprinciple in agroecosystem management: Casestudies of holistic resource managementpractitioners in the USA,” in Agriculture,Ecosystems and Environment, and she hasworked diligently to use Holistic Management inthe research mode at Ohio State University (OSU).From her perspective, Holistic Management haschanged the conversations and thinking of manyresearchers, faculty, and farmers in Ohio andhow OSU is engaged in research.

Systems ThinkingThe germination of that evolution began with

a series of brown bag lunches at the main OSUcampus in Columbus, Ohio. “Faculty andstudents who were interested in systems thinkingbegan to voluntarily gather for these lunches todiscuss how we could integrate systems thinkinginto our work,” says Deb.

Holistic Management was what Deb broughtto the table along with her late husband, BenStinner. They had been influenced by their workwith the Amish and had already seen the power ofconsciously integrating quality of life values withthe other aspects of management and decision-making. They saw Holistic Management as a wayof helping others do the same. In turn, theStinners helped shift their colleagues to moreintegrative and holistic perspectives.

“Ben and I and others had a whole farm-planning grant from the North CentralSustainable Agriculture Research and Education(SARE) program” says Deb. “I became a HolisticManagement® Certified Educator to help me inmy role. That project and the training was fundedin part by that grant. I can’t tell you how thattraining has helped me professionally, with my

leadership and facilitation skills.” Her trainingincreased her commitment to using her work atOARDC as a means of redefining how thisresearch center could serve the needs of thefarmers and the consumers/buyers withinsustainable agriculture. In fact, OARDC has alsobecome a liaison between the local farmers andother government agencies.

The Right Players at the TableThe Sugar Creek Watershed is one of the most

threatened watersheds in Ohio—right behind theCuyahoga River. After some initial research by theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) it wasdetermined that agriculture played a major role inthat pollution—Wayne County, one of the keycounties in the Sugar Creek Watershed, is thelargest dairy county in the state. However, thefarmers initially rejected EPA’s premise that theywere a major player in this pollution.

OARDC’s Agroecosystems ManagementProgram (AMP) had a relationship with thefarmers in the area and agreed to work with thefarmers to create research they felt would behelpful for them to see if they were causingpollution in the watershed. When the data cameback it confirmed what the EPA had originallyreported, but this time the farmers saw the valueof the data because they had been involved andwere therefore willing to look at how they could

change their practices to mitigate the situation.“Farmers are natural-born problem solvers,” saysDeb. “Once they accepted their responsibility, theywere eager to come up with solutions.”

Now the Sugar Creek Watershed RestorationProject includes farmers, other land owners,municipalities and industry within the watershedwho are improving their environmental qualityand resource base while creating a model systemfor community wide response to a majorenvironmental issue.

Local Bread and NoodlesThis same participatory approach also led to

one of the latest research efforts at OFFER on WestBadger Farm. West Badger Farm research plotsinclude: 15 certified organic fields that range from2–18 acres (1-7 ha) over about 50 acres (20 ha).The 18-acre plot includes six small gaugedwatersheds for measuring soil erosion and waterquality. Because synthetic fertilizers and pesticideswere used at West Badger Farm before OFFERgained control of their fields, the farm is ideal foraddressing questions about transitioning fromconventional to organic production.

A pet project of Deb’s is developing organichard wheat for local breads. When she startedthis project in 1999, everyone said the hardwinter wheat needed for making high qualitybread couldn’t be grown in Northeast Ohio.Deb began tracking down wheat experts whocould help identify a variety that might performacceptably in that climate. With higherpremiums for organic hard wheat ($7-10 abushel versus $4 a bushel for conventionallygrown), farmers would benefit greatly.

In the 1999/2000 season OFFER had a 60bushel/acre yield of the Karl (wheat) theyplanted. They have since experimented with afew other varieties and are trying to get fundingto evaluate many more. In 2003, an extremelywet year, they (along with conventional farmers)struggled with Fusarium head scab. This year,Powdery mildew and cereal leaf beetles wereearly season problems. “Clearly, there is a needfor organic management systems that will helpcontrol diseases and pests in this part of thecountry for both production and quality issues,”says Deb.

“But, they’re finding that there is abiological buffering mechanism inherent inorganic or sustainable agriculture, particularlyon long-term organic farms. It’s one of theecological services this type of agriculture offers.Pests may be present, but they are not usually atproblem levels. However, with global climatechange there are more factors at play and we areseeing more outbreaks of bugs or diseases whenthat buffer isn’t present or that may challenge

Dr. Deborah Stinner (standing withmicrophone) has made holistic research,with farmers as one of the stackholder, apriority at the OFFER program—a branchof Ohio State University’s research.


Anyone practicing Holistic Management knows that one of the keyelements is “testing” your decisions. Another powerful tool is using thefive “whys” to get to the root cause of a situation. By combining these twoideas, I have come up with five reasons why you should attend HMI’sInternational Gathering: Practical Solutions to Complex Problems inNovember.

#5—The WorkshopsThere are 30 parallel sessions with 41 speakers during this two-day

Gathering. If you are involved with the land, want to make a profit,network with a group of dynamic, forward thinking people from aroundthe world, and want to increase your Holistic Management skills, therewill be many sessions that will provide you with information and ideasthat can make a difference in your life and what you do.

#4—ExhibitorsWe always think of these people as someone with something to sell,

but they are really an additional level of educators. These tradespeoplewant to show you the latest ideas and equipment, tell you how to use itand demonstrate the value of their product to your operation. I can’t tellyou how many times, something I saw in a trade show has stimulated myproblem solving and moved my operation forward. I may or may nothave purchased the product, but I sure learned a lot.

#3—Keynote SpeakersThere are four superb keynote speakers (Joel Salatin, Temple Grandin,

Thom Hartmann, and Allan Savory) who many of us have heard or read

about but never have seen in person. These people are keynote speakersbecause they will not only give you information, but will inspire you tomove your operation to a new level. You can read their books or readtheir web pages, but there is nothing like hearing it live, getting yourquestions answered, and getting the cutting edge version of what thesegrand thinkers are feeling.

#2—The ParticipantsThis gathering is a chance to interact with, get to know, learn from,

and visit with people just like you who are on the land or work withpeople on the land and know there is a better way. We all believe andlearn best from our peers, people like ourselves. Great speakers inspire usto think differently, but it’s our peers who convince us that we can reallydo it. Your neighbors or friends may not think like you do, but otherholistic managers do, and the Gathering is where they will be.

#1—Making a DifferenceI hope you do chose to attend the Gathering because I am sure you

will gain a lot, but my number one reason is that if you don’t attend, whowill? We, the world, need holistic thinkers and doers. The land needshealing. People on the land need to generate a profit from harvestingsunshine not government payments, and we need people to makedecisions with the future in mind, not next quarter’s profit and lossstatement.

You can make a difference. Come to the HMI Gathering and shareyour wisdom, your perspective, and your vision of the future. Anavalanche starts with just a few snowflakes, and has a profound effect onthe landscape. Be a part of the HMI Gathering and create healthy landand a sustainable future.

Ben Bartlett is a stockman and HMI Board member. You canmeet him at the Gathering.


HMI’s International Gathering 2007Five Reasons Why You Should Goby Ben Bartlett

the existing buffering capacity.”More recently, Deb has received requests from

two local noodle companies and a local Amishfarmers’ organic marketing cooperative calledGreen Field Farms who would like to develop alocal organic noodle industry. “We are bringingtogether key players along the whole chain ofproduction—from farmers to millers, to noodleprocessors to consumers—including appropriatescientific experts along the way to develop thisexciting possibility,” says Deb.

This focus on biodiversity as the key indicatorof sustainability is at the heart of Deb Stinner’swork in the OFFER program—and that includesthe participatory nature of the research done withand for the Ohio farmers. “Holistic Managementreally demonstrated the importance of the wholefor me,” says Deb.

“Holistic Management is just a part of theway I think. Whether I’m working on a grant,a project, or a presentation, I’m constantlythinking of what the purpose is for this work,and that influences the direction and definitionof those things. For me, Holistic Managementis an optimization process.” And that’s why

Organic hard wheat is selling for $7-10/bushel compared to $4 for conventionally grown—premiums that make farmers in Northeast Ohio interested in growing it.

there is hope for not only hard wheat butbiologically active soils, engaged farmers,and a responsive university system.

To learn more about OARDC and theOFFER program, contact Deb Stinner at:330/202-3534 or [email protected].


HMI on Climate Change

These experts tell a much different story than the widespreadmedia reports about cattle that appeared in early 2007. Here aresome unsensationalized perspectives on cattle that suggestmethane research would produce different results if performedon land and cattle under Holistic Management.

“Better grazing management and dietary supplementationhave been identified as the most effective ways to improveefficiency and reduce emissions from this sector because theyimprove animal nutrition and reproductive efficiency...Improved livestock management can also reduce atmosphericconcentrations of carbon dioxide through the mechanism ofsoil carbon sequestration on grazing lands... The bottomline—improved livestock management—is good for theenvironment and makes dollars and sense.”

--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. March 21, 2007.

“Implementing proper grazing management practicesto improve the quality of pastures increases animalproductivity and has a significant effect on reducingCH4 emission from fermentation in the rumen.”

--DeRamus, H. Alan, Terry C. Ct, Dean D. Giampola, andPeter C. Dickison. “Methane Emissions of Beef Cattle on

Forages: Efficiency of Grazing Management Systems.” Journalof Environmental Quality Volume 32 (2003): 269-277.

“In many parts of the country, beef cattle are raised using a continuousstocking approach despite the numerous economic and environmentaldrawbacks of this technique. Continuous stocking is a management systemwhere cattle have uninterrupted use of a unit of grazing land throughoutthe grazing season.. Because controlled grazing leads to more productivecows and greater liveweight gains per acre, producers can benefit fromincreased profits while reducing methane emissions per pound of beefproduced. An additional benefit of controlled grazing is the increased abilityof the pastures to act as a sink for carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas.As pasture quality improves with controlled grazing, carbon builds up inthe soil and plant biomass, reducing the total amount of carbon dioxidein the atmosphere.”

--Agriculture Education, University of Missouri, comp. Global Climate Changeand Environmental Stewardship by Ruminant Livestock Producers. Missouri:

National Council for Agricultural Education, 1998.

“While methane emissions from enteric fermentation represent thetransformation of carbon already in circulation between the earth and theatmosphere, burning fossil fuel always results in a net increase in greenhousegases... In a high-forage system, you're fixing more carbon than you areleaching, so you're actually subtracting from the greenhouse effect... Bestefficiency is found in the compromise between utilizing the most energy-efficientfeed source (forage) while maintaining herd production high enough to gainreasonable feed conversion efficiency.”

--Michael Main, Research Associate, Nova Scotia Agricultural College

benefits of using Holistic Management® FinancialPlanning, Grazing Planning, Land Planning andBiological Monitoring for the problem of climatechange range from massively reducing carbondioxide in our atmosphere to ensuring foodsecurity to producing greater revenue than the costof implementation.

Already, more than 30 million acresworldwide are being managed holistically.

The earth’s dry rangelands alone are estimatedby some to constitute over 12 billion acres, andthe medium to higher rainfall rangelandsincreases this estimated area significantly. A smallincrease in soil organic matter over these billionsof acres would remove billions of tons of carbonfrom the atmosphere, store it, and go far towardrestoring and permanently maintainingatmospheric balance.

The earth’s ecosystem is stressed andmalfunctioning due to dramaticallydiminished biodiversity, rapidlyincreasing worldwide desertification

and global climate change. These are threelegs of a single stool, not to be separated. Thismalfunctioning ecosystem has put the earth’s verybreathing system at risk, among other adverseconsequences, leaving the planet covered withdamaged land that has lost its ability to removesufficient amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.

The Solution is Under Our FeetThere is a solution available to address the

problem, one that has been overlooked. Thissolution to the problem of the CO2 we have put inthe atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and cropand forage residue is low-tech, low-cost andrisk-free. It can be implemented with theresources we possess now. Most important, it issimple. By increasing rangelands and returningthem to health by managing them holistically,we can turn the tide and reverse much of theenvironmental devastation that has occurred.

Holistic Management, which works in harmonywith fundamental natural processes, is safe, secure,and offers great hope for a better future. The

Healthy Soils & CO2For the earth's soils to once more sequester

carbon as they formerly did it is essential to restoreliving soils with ever increasing organic matterand abundant life forms. When we accomplishthat, both rangelands and croplands will removebillions of tons of atmospheric carbon and store itin organic matter for ages.

RangelandsNon-cropland areas, commonly called

rangelands, include grasslands, savannas, man-made deserts, national parks, ranches, pastoralareas and deciduous forests. By using grazing andanimal impact on our planet’s vast rangelands torestore lands to health and increase organic matterin soils, we can reverse the desertification that hasoccurred. This has been demonstrated repeatedlyfor nearly fifty years in several countries.

CroplandsToday, most agricultural soils are far from

healthy, having lost much of their organic matterand structure due to the practices of industrialagriculture and other factors. Agriculturalpractices that mimic nature and restore soil healthwill remove and store carbon from the atmosphererisk-free. The knowledge to begin doing much ofwhat is required is already available.

What the Experts Say About Carbon and Methane

Biodiversity, Desertificationand Global Climate Change

are all Interconnected


Reduce Biomass BurningAccording to one NASA expert, every year, the

equivalent of half of Africa, is burned at somepoint. This is the biomass burning that occurs inforests and grasslands around the world undertraditional land management practices. Biomassburning releases CO2 into the atmosphere inamounts that may rival releases due to carsburning gasoline. In fact, 40 percent of CO2annual production is biomass burning.

Because Holistic Management vastly increasesthe productivity of land and almost eliminatesforage and crop residue, increasing rangelandsand managing them holistically can significantlyreduce the need for biomass burning.

The land on the right,is being managed byMichael Kiely, aHolistic Managementpractitioner in NewSouth Wales, Australia.The darker color of hisland, versus that of hisneighbor’s land on theleft of the photograph,is an indicator ofplant vigor, even in atime of drought.

Support Holistic Management International’s outreach efforts to educate others about the need for animals to improve land health and sequester carbon. Contribute to the AnotherGigaton of Carbon Campaign.

Buy locally grown organic produce and grassfed meat & dairy.

Buy carbon credits for all your personal fuel emissions.

Vote with your dollars. Invest in products that conserve resources (water conserving appliances, on-demand water heaters, photovoltaics, etc.)

Support low-tech solutions for getting carbon out of the air and high-tech solu-tions for keeping new carbon from getting in the air.

Reduce your ecological footprint. Learn how at: www.ecologicalfootprint.org

Increase your ecological literacy. Learn how we can develop symbiotic relationships with Nature so all may thrive.

Holistic Management makes it possible to use animalsto improve, rather than degrade, land. Grazing animals and grassland co-evolved. Domestic animals can be managed in ways that mimic nature: animals are concentrated and moved according to a plan (plannedgrazing) that causes the animals to till packed soil with their hooves, distribute fertilizer and seed in theirmanure and urine, and move from one area to another before they can overgraze any one spot. In fact, the animals help maintain the soil, rather than destroying it, and increase the amount of organic matter in the soil, making it function as a highly effective carbon bank.

CO2CO2

CO2

CO2CO2

CO2 CO2

More roots = morecarbon stored, less

carbon in the atmosphere

Less roots = less carbon stored, more carbon in the atmosphere

Ilove stock density. Apart from the aesthetic pleasure of watchinghuge numbers of herbivores grazing in a tight, cohesive herd, justthe way nature intended, high stock density is associated with a biglist of positives. Stock density refers to the concentration of a herd of

animals at a specific point in time. Stocking rate is the total number ofanimals a property carries over the course of a year. A herd of 1,000animals on a 100-acre (40-ha) paddock would be grazing at a stockdensity of 10 animals to one acre (25 animals to hectare). If those 1,000animals were living on a 10,000-acre (4,000-ha) ranch, stocking ratewould be one animal to 10 acres (4 ha).

High stock density motivates livestock to get up into nooksand crannies of pastures that they would otherwise neverventure into. In topographically difficult country, wherefighting gravity is a constant challenge, high stock densityresults in cattle walking to the top of the ridge on their ownfree will—no labor intensive herding necessary.

Historically, riparian corridors have been hammered, andthe high slopes and ridges barely touched. Merely pushingstock density up to a cow/calf pair per acre (.4 ha)—withsome strategically placed portable electric fence—results incattle taking a voluntary trek up the slope, as opposed to downthe creek. That level of density is still a long way from ideal(and is not meant as a benchmark), but compared to theprevious norm of season-long grazing at stock densities of onepair per 25 acres (10 ha), it makes a huge, huge difference.

Stock Density “Grows” More LandOf course, this modified bovine behavior means previously

overrested plants and soil surfaces now get the benefit ofgrazing and impacting. Dung, urine, tracks, and grazing arespread across the whole landscape, as opposed to concentratedalong creeks. It also opens up a whole bunch of landpreviously wasted, allowing for a big jump in stocking rate.The higher your stock density, the bigger your ranch.

Also, the higher stock densities climb, the proportion ofplants severely grazed lessens, but the proportion of plantsgrazed overall increases, with no greater total consumption.For example, assume total consumption by the end of the

grazing period works out to 30 SDA (stock days per acre) or 12 SDH (stockdays per hectare), and was harvested by 600 stock units grazing 100 acres for5 days. Compared to 600 stock units grazing 400 acres for 20 days (whichstill works out to the same 30 SDA), the former situation will result in thismore evenly spread degree of grazing intensity. This means more leaf tends tobe left in the pasture post-grazing, and less plants end up producing areproductive tiller and becoming stemmy. More leaf and less stem meansmore photosynthetic factory, which means more total forage production,which means higher stocking rates, which means more income.

Stock Density & Patchy Landscapes—Land Planning for Diet Selectionby Jim Howell

&&

This map represents an approximation of the land plan we developed on the portionof the ranch on the flat bottom country. This area of the ranch started with threepastures and ended up with 18, but many of those new pastures didn't end upcontaining enough plant diversity for the cattle to be able to adequately meet theirnutritional needs.

8 � September / October 2007Land & Livestock

Number 115 � 9Land & Livestock

Animal Performance & Land PlanningLastly, assuming good grazing planning, animal performance tends to

improve, because the higher the stock density, the quicker animals are able tomove onto new, recovered, fresh forage. Good grazing planning is a complexart that melds practical husbandry with sound science. At its core, wellplanned grazing ensures that animal demand and forage supply areoptimally matched, plants aren’t overgrazed, and a myriad of other factorsare accounted for (livestock working logistics, wildlife needs, poisonous plantproblems, family vacations, wife’s birthday, etc.) in the process of gettinganimals to the right place at the right time for the right reasons.

But if grazing planning and implementation is not skillfully done,animal performance can suffer as opposed to improve. On top of that, Icontend that poor land planning can also inhibit animal performance. Landplanning is the process of designing the placement of fencing and stockwaterinfrastructure that (among other things) enables us to move toward higherand higher stock density. Yes, good grazing planning is essential to goodanimal performance, but no matterhow well the grazing is beingplanned, if it is happening within apoorly designed land plan, it’s reallytough to achieve high levels ofanimal performance.

Sixfold Stock DensityThis lesson stemmed from my

early days of grazing planning,when my wife, Daniela, and I wereemployed as the on-site managersof the High Lonesome Ranch insouthwestern New Mexico. We hadsome great successes over the courseof that five-year experience, but alsosuffered some hard knocks that didn’tsink in until several years after thewhole experience was over.

We were highly motivated to pushstock density as high as we could, butit wasn’t an easy task, given that itwas just she and I, 35,000 acres(14,000 ha) of pretty harsh desertgrasslands and mountains, and awhole bunch of wild Barzona cattle (that had been very well trained to bargethrough/ignore electric fences). The previous owner had built a couple ofgrazing cells encompassing 16 pastures (and taking in about 40 percent ofthe ranch, including most of the mountain country), but had abandoned allthat fence after a couple of years. When Daniela and I arrived, the fences werestrewn out all over the place, and those skinny red cows were dragging themthrough the brush.

Over the course of our two years, we rebuilt all that abandoned electricfence, built about 40 miles (64 km) of new fence, and constructed a reallyfancy cell center with the county road running right through the middle ofit. We eventually got those Barzona cows gentled down and trained to a hotwire, and to a large extent had things running reasonably smoothly whenwe left for greener pastures.

Most of the fence we built on the High Lonesome radiated out from thatvery publicly visible split cell center on the county road. This was down onthe flat part of the ranch, which, compared to the steep, rocky mountains onthe ranch’s west side, seemed pretty straightforward to develop and manage,or so we thought. We built 12 nearly equal-sized pastures radiating off this

cell center, six on one side of the road, and six on the other. Another newseries of six pastures radiated off an existing watering/storage facility a fewmiles further east. We went from three big pastures in that part of the ranchto 18. When we had it completed, we were in the middle of a 16-monthdrought and knew all these new pastures were going to be pivotal to survivingtill the next possible monsoon season, which ended up being eight monthsaway. This part of the ranch had a significant amount of standing dormantforage, which we hadn’t touched since it quit raining.

Now we could increase stock density in this part of the ranch by sixfoldon average. Instead of grazing 3,000-acre (1,200-ha) pastures with our400 pairs, we were grazing 500-acre (200-ha) pastures. We knew that level ofdensity would get cattle to the back corners, up to three miles (4.8 km) fromwater—corners that we had previously barely touched. We needed that feedto make it to July. We also knew we could move cattle more quickly onto newground, and assumed this was going to help tremendously in maintainingcattle condition.

The Challenge of PatchinessTo a degree, it all worked as planned, but in about half of those new

pastures, the cattle just were not happy. For example, if we had an eight-daygrazing period planned in one of these pastures, by day two or three, thecattle wanted out, despite lots of remaining grass. They’d stand at the cellcenter and bawl like babies, their flanks sucked up with hunger. In otherpastures that seemed basically the same, the cattle were happy throughoutthe whole grazing period. We had to use the grass in these unfavoredpastures—either that or start buying hay. We were putting out amolasses/fat/alcohol/urea lick, and the cattle inhaled it when in thesepastures, but still weren’t at all happy. We made it, but it was stressful onpeople and cows. I suspected they were less biologically diverse pastures eventhough they contained as much or more grass cover as the “good” pastures.

In desert grasslands, vegetation patterns tend to be highly mosaic innature. This patchiness is tied to soil type, but I think is also largely a resultof their degraded state due to decades of partial rest and overgrazing. No

continued on page 10

If we had been more aware of the need to provide this diversity, some minor changes in our fence placementwould have greatly improved the ability of the cattle to more successfully select their diet. This is the same mapas on the previous page, but with the fences changed to take in greater diversity within each pasture.

most of their normal salad bar at the higher stock densities.Thinking back on it, if we had been conscious of this principle, it would

have taken just a little modification to our fencing layout to greatly improvethe diversity, and therefore the ability to select, in each of our new pastures(see accompanying maps).

Here in Colorado, the rangelands we manage, for the most part, have lotsof diversity, and this diversity isn’t patchy. It’s a well-mixed diversity. Eachacre tends to have lots of species. But even here, there can be a big differencein animal behavior depending on the types of range sites to which the

cattle have access. The ranch we lease is mostlycomprised of three canyons running north andsouth. For the most part, each pasture we’ve createdtakes in both the west and east facing slopes of thecanyon (each pasture is basically a cross sectionof the canyon).

The east facing, wetter slopes tend to havehigher levels of diversity—more grass species,and lots more forbs. The west facing slopes aredominated by a bunch grass of the Festuca genus.It comprises roughly 90 percent of the vegetationon these slopes. At reasonably high stock density,cattle will climb these west-facing slopes andconsume this bunch grass, and they do it without

complaining. But, they do complain if they can’t get to the other side of thecanyon. If they only have access to the west-facing slope, no matter howmuch grass is there, they just do not like it. They need to balance that bunchgrass with the diversity across the canyon. We have one pasture that is almostsolely comprised of one of these west-facing slopes, and it drove me crazy thisyear. Next year, I’m going to shift the fence around to include more diversity.

Big Herds are BetterA stock density of five stock units to the acre can be accomplished with a

herd of five animals on one acre, or 5,000 stock units on 1,000 acres. Due tothe behavioral changes that occur with ever larger herds, the effect on eachacre in both of these cases will not be the same. Despite the same level ofdensity for the same amount of time, the big herd will create a much morewell-disturbed soil surface and more evenly grazed landscape. Because of this,Allan Savory has long preached that ranches, as units of management, needto get bigger so that we can create these bigger herds.

But, in the patchy environments that characterize lots of the arid andsemi-arid areas of the world, there’s another big advantage to large herds.Take the extreme case above. If you’re out on the flat desert grasslands ofsouthwestern New Mexico, moving a herd of five head to a new acre everycouple days, the patchy nature of the landscape will result in drastic changesto the daily salad bar. The cattle would not be able to take it—not withoutlots of outside supplements. The 5,000 head herd, on the other hand, withaccess to a new patch of 1,000 acres every couple days, is far more likely tohave lots of choice on each 1000-acre block. So with bigger herds grazingbigger areas, providing a full salad bar becomes far more practical.

That’s why I love stock density. There is no more powerful means to cyclecarbon, plant seeds, break soil caps, and fertilize the soil than with bigherbivores grazing in big herds. But, this is not easy to accomplish, especiallyin low production, highly brittle landscapes, so whatever we can learn to helpus in this quest needs to be shared. The practical insights gained through theresearch of Dr. Provenza, combined with intimate knowledge of our specificlandscapes, can help ensure we not only heal our land, but our livestockstays healthy and we are profitable in the process.

Land Planning for Diet Selection continued from page nine

matter the cause, it’s reality across huge expanses of our western rangelands.On the High Lonesome, the “flat” country taking in our new grazing hubsdid have slight ridges and depressions. The depressions were really broaddraws containing about 95 percent tobosa grass (which passes as verymarginal cow feed when dormant, which it usually is), and the ridgeswere more silty rises dominated by bare ground, broom snakeweed, andburroweed. These two “weeds” are actually low growing woody shrubsthat are toxic to cattle. Sounds like paradise, doesn’t it?

Some of these ridges also contained a little black gramma grass(generally higher in quality than tobosa,especially when dormant), and soaptree yucca. Afew washes had dense thickets of mesquite andcatclaw (both leguminous shrubs), and fourwingsaltbrush, and scattered here and there were littlepatches of winterfat (a very palatable shrub).Other than the saltbrush and winterfat, I didn’tregard any of the rest of those species as cowfodder. Some years the mesquites produced a fewbeans, and in good springs, the yuccas sent up astalk that stayed tender and palatable for about10 minutes. The cows liked both of those, butthey were so seldom available, we figured themas insignificant. We nearly wrote the snakeweedridges off as useless, too, assuming we needed to greatly expand theirperennial grass cover before we could count them as significant contributorsto forage availability.

So, when we built all that new fence, we paid no attention to the type ofgrazing and browsing resources we were including in each pasture. We weremostly concerned with just getting our 18 new pastures built, and keepingthem roughly the same size so that stock density and frequency of moveswould stay reasonably constant. The result was unhappy, underperformingcattle about half the time.

Salad Bar RestrictionDr. Fred Provenza, from Utah State University (see “Cows Have Culture,

Too” in IN PRACTICE # 82), has done some great work in this area. I had thechance to attend a day-long course taught by Provenza several years ago.After he explained about how native animals learn what to eat (usuallyeating a little bit of lots of things), that toxic plants usually aren’t toxic ifconsumed only up to a certain point, and that animals need to be able toselect from a diversity of plants to meet their energy, protein, mineral, andvitamin needs, a lightbulb went on. My mind traveled back to those bawlingBarzona cows standing in shin-deep, dormant tobosa grass, looking acrossthe fence at that snakeweed ridge. The snakeweed ridge was comprised of adifferent soil type, so the plants growing on it had a different nutrient profile.The snakeweed itself, though toxic if consumed in abundance, actually hada little green in it, and these native cows knew they needed a bite.

Never in their lives had these cows been in the predicament of havingnothing to consume but tobosa grass. They knew how to make a living inthis harsh landscape, but if they were restricted to one little corner of theirsalad bar, they were immediately unable to meet their needs—especially inthe middle of a 16-month drought. It’s true that at the conventional lowstock densities these cattle were accustomed to, lots of country was underusedand overrested. But, on any given day, they had the option to graze tobosagrass, pick a few twigs off the winterfat and saltbrush, lick up a few oldmesquite beans, and chew on some prickly pear cactus. When we built allthat fence, we didn’t realize that they still needed to have the ability to access

My mind traveled back to thosebawling Barzona cows standing

in shin-deep, dormant tobosagrass, looking across the fence

at that snakeweed ridge.



In1995 the Quirk Cattle Company, a century-old family ranch nearEureka, Montana, was concerned about the future. The owners, Fayeand Leland Driggs, strived each day to take good care of their 300 cowson the 3,000-acre (1,200-ha) ranch.

However, there was a problem. Daily chores were becoming more than theycould handle. Operating costs kept rising, and the only solution seemed to be toimprove production. They had alfalfa to plant, cut, bale, and haul; calves topull, tag, and wean; cows to feed and pregnancy-test; fields to irrigate;equipment to maintain; and more.

Stressed to the MaxThey were stressed and

even thought of sellingthe ranch. Finally, theygot some inspiring adviceat a hands-on grazingworkshop. There they metDon and Cleo Shaules.The Shaules family calvea 680-cow herd plus280 replacement heifers,do most chores bythemselves, and still smileat the end of the day.

At the workshop theDriggs were introduced toa new way of making

daily decisions. They learned about a holistic way to operate their ranch, basicgrassland ecology, and land monitoring. They observed 1,200 animals movethrough a round wagon-wheel watering system to the sound of a whistle.

The Driggs went home and started questioning. They discussed the realpurpose of their ranch and set goals for quality of life.

They put down in writing what they wanted their ranch to become: “We wanta sustainable, profitable, family ranch. We want to enjoy our daily work with timeoff to get away, knowing the ranch is secure. We want our ranch to be peaceful.We want improved land, better soils, and healthier plants and livestock.”

Then with these goals in mind, they made a “To Do” list. Only this time itbecame a “Stop To Do” list. It contained these items:

1. Stop using fuel guzzlersThe Driggs sold their heavy equipment for farming and haying. Now they

buy their grain and hay from full-time growers. “It doesn’t pay to ownequipment for part-time use,” says Leland. “The only fuel we use now is fora 1-ton feed truck, pickup, car, and four-wheeler.”

2. Stop hayingThe Driggs experimented with not haying for a few years and kept accurate

financial records of all their expenses. They made a decision to buy quality hayfrom a neighbor and let him haul the hay to their place for winter feeding. Thehidden benefit is that a portion of the neighbor’s energy (organic matter) andbusy work (fertilizers, repairs, and so on) went into the Driggs’ soil, loweringthe need to replant and fertilize their hay fields.

3. Stop fertilizing hay fieldsInstead of commercial fertilizer, the Driggs now use manure from grazing

cattle. And the livestock recycle forage back into the soils by stepping on it,increasing soil fertility.

4. Stop pulling calvesThe Driggs switched from conventional bulls to Barzona bulls

(www.barzona.com), known for lighter calf weights. Now they no longer haveto get up at night to assist laboring cows.

5. Stop winter and early spring calvingOver several years the Driggs moved their calving dates later in the season to

avoid cold-weather calving. Now they calve in June on green grass. This givesthe family more time for winter vacations. It is much less work, which isespecially a benefit on cold nights.

For example, even with Montana’s current droughty conditions, the ranchcalved 284 calves from a herd of 287 cows last year. This was all done withoutwatching the cows or heifers calve-out.

6. Stop irrigating by handInstead of moving irrigation equipment by hand, Leland found a small

gasoline-powered, self-propelled ditch crawler that drags irrigation dams downa level ditch. This now self-irrigates his 300 acres of hay meadows.

7. Stop weaning calves in the fallWhen the Driggs stopped weaning calves in the fall, they reduced their

workload by only having one herd to feed through the winter instead of two.This resulted in 100 more pounds of beef per calf and much less work withthe same amount of hay.

8. Stop leasing public landsThis idea saved the Driggs both headaches and money. It stopped the

stressful phone calls about their livestock on open rangeland and placedanother $30,000 in total yearly expenses back into their pockets. It also gavethem more quality time to take better care of their home ranch.

9. Stop chasing livestockThe Driggs built a labor-saving grazing cell – a round doughnut-shape

corral system with gates designed to let livestock move themselves to differentpastures. You close the currently used water access gate, open a new side gateinto the adjacent ungrazed pasture, and then open that pasture’s water accessgate. The livestock must move into the ungrazed pasture to drink.

Saying no to old habits is hard. Leland has to force himself to walk past theswather when the alfalfa starts to bloom. Faye misses that great smell of fresh-cut hay. But they now enjoy a more profitable ranch that is less work and moremanageable to operate. They are making better decisions.

Faye and Leland Driggs can be reached at 406/889-3846. WayneBurleson is a Certified Educator and land management consultantfrom Absarokee, Montana. He can be reached at 406/328-6808 [email protected] or www.pasturemangement.com. This article isreprinted by permission from Successful Farming®, © 2007 MeredithCorporation. All rights reserved.

9 Things to Stop Doingby Wayne Burleson

The Driggs family now grazes their hay fields, using the cattle forfertilizer instead of making hay and buying commercial fertilizer.

Faye and Leland Driggs stopped doing someof their chores and changed their Montanaranch from one of daily drudgery to a highlyefficient cattle operation.


What would you do if your father had just died, your ranch wason the verge of bankruptcy, and your siblings were about toput you jail if you didn’t sign the sale of the family ranch?Most of us have never been in that tough a place, and we hope

to God we never are. But, Ivan Aguirre had to face that challenge. Out ofthe ashes of his father’s dream, Ivan has not only created a highlyprofitable ranch in Sonora, Mexico, but he is working with others to createa sustainable ranching culture—one based on Holistic Management.

Ivan and his wife, Martha, and their children, Dacia, Ivan Eusebio,Aurelio, and Marco, live outside of Hermosillo on their 25,000-acre ranch(10,000-ha), Rancho de La Inmaculada. Ivan’s father acquired the ranch in1974 and spent a great deal of money trying to make it “The New Ranch”by taking the advice of the leading universities and bulldozing the land,planting exotic buffel grass, and creating a huge irrigation system to waterit all. It was this unsustainable approach that led to the near bankruptcyof La Inmaculada.

When Ivan took over the ranch in 1983, he worked hard to get the ranchout of debt by selling off all the abandoned infrastructure of pumps, centerpivots, and machinery and taking in stocker cattle. But he still was missingsomething. He didn’t know what that was until he heard Certified EducatorKirk Gadzia talk about Holistic Management at a Mexican agriculturalconference in 1985. That talk gave him the inspiration to not only reclaimhis dream of a prospering ranch, but it also have a vision of his contributionto the world—sharing with others who want to ranch sustainably.

Profitable RanchingIvan devoted himself to understanding and practicing Holistic

Management. The ranch began to turn around as the family moved froma conventional management approach to the holistic, watershed approachinherent in Holistic Management. In the 20 years since he was firstintroduced to Holistic Management, Ivan has reduced mature cappedsoil from 53 percent to 3 percent. Likewise, he has more than tripled his

Creating a Sustainable Ranching Culture—Rancho de la Inmaculadaby Ann Adams

Aurelio Estevan on his blue roan is part of the next generationthat will continue on the legacy of sustainable ranching at Ranchode la Inmaculada.

stocking rate from needing 70 acres/SAU (28 ha/SAU) to 20-28 acres/SAU(8-11 ha/SAU).

But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ivan readily admitsthat he created some additional challenges for the ranch in the mid-‘90swhen he began to treat the ranch more like a system and not pay attentionto what it was telling him. As his stocking rate started to decrease, hewasn’t doing the monitoring or the analysis necessary to respond to thischallenge. By the late ‘90s, Ivan and Martha knew they had to make some

Photos 2-3. Sustainable ranching relies on biodiversity. La Inmaculada has plenty of biodiversity with grasses, forbs, and trees (left side of road).The other side of the road tells the story of much of Sonora—bare ground and mesquite (right side of road).


changes unless they werewilling to risk the ranchagain. This time theyknew where to turn—they returned to theirholisticgoal and beganto make decisions usingthe Holistic Management®decision-makingframework. By 2005 theywere debt free and feltconfident that they couldadapt to the challengesof their landscape andthe market.

La Inmaculada receives 11 inches (275 mm) of rain. So do theneighboring ranches. But where you see only mesquite and bare ground onthe neighbors’ properties, you find many species of trees, cacti, and grass onLa Inmaculada including ironwood, saguaro, cholla, senita cacti, needlegrama grass, baccaris grass, palo verde, and desert broom.

So why the difference? Ivan’s planned grazing has led to a moreeffective water cycle and mineral cycle which leads to increasedbiodiversity including a biologicallyactive soil. The difference in theeffectiveness of the water cyclemanifests itself in many ways.When the Aguirres hired amesquite consultant to determineyield projects, the expectation was.25 inch thick sapwood. But, theAguirres found they had a one-inchthick sapwood—similar to whatyou might find in a climate thathas four times the rainfall.

When Ivan first began holisticplanned grazing, the ranch hadonly one paddock. They now have49 paddocks with an average size of320 acres (128 ha) per paddock. Toincrease stock density, ranch handsherd the cattle daily working towardgrazing periods of a day or two.

The fenced areas range from25 acres (10 ha) to 1,500 acres(600). In paddocks smaller than 500 acres (200 ha), one or two of the ranchhands herd, graze, place/accommodate cattle wherever they want themwithin the potrero (paddock). In larger areas, two to four hands performthe daily task of herding. Says Ivan, “We have been learning, I wouldsay relearning, the old tricks, abilities and culture of spending lots of hourswith the animals, training them and ourselves to some day become fulltime herders.”

The Aguirres’ currently have 17 water points they have developed almostexclusively with their own income—up from the one water point that existedin the early ‘80s. Their land plan is to have at least one water point for every1,250 acres (500 ha) so they can continue to improve their stock density,herd effect, and gain: grazing ratio.

With the increased stocking rate, the Aguirres have been able to pay offtheir debt instead of being held captive by a debt ratio of 85 percent of

equity—the amount they had accumulated before learning about HolisticManagement. They are also increasing their net profit per acre throughadding additional enterprises to their ranching activities includinggenerating income from the plentiful resource of mesquite.

Instead of spending time and money ripping the trees, burning, andspraying herbicides, the Aguirres manage that resource as thoughtfully astheir grass. They have shipped 8,000 tons mesquite charcoal, and continueto do so with a rate of 40 tons per month, under a sustainable pruning andthinning with 12-16 year recovery period. They mill any log greater than5 inches (125 mm) in diameter and less than 13 inches (325 mm) to makehardwood flooring and high end furniture. The smaller diameter goes tomake charcoal. They also harvest the high protein mesquite pods and grindthem into flour to sell. In addition to these sources of income, the Aguirresalso offer mule deer, quail, and dove hunts, and training in sustainableranching practices so others can learn from them.

The Bigger PictureThe Aguirres are committed to improving the health of the land

and improving the habitat for cattle and wildlife. Their commitmentand the results they’ve achieved have been noticed by many conservationgroups including The Nature Conservancy. Joaquin Murrieta Saldivarat the Sonoran Institute in Tucson notes, "More than 80 percent of

the land [in the Sonoran Desert inMexico] is in private hands. Ifconservation is going to work, itwill have to happen on privatelands." The Aguirres are in theforefront of that work.

“My family is initiatinga national crusade for theconservation, restoration, anddevelopment of the ruralenvironment,” says Ivan.“In 2002-2003 we organizedourselves as a family ranchingentity, the constitution of theRural Association of Producers(Sociedad de Producción Rural).We decided to include a trans-generational tool in order to secureour long-term succession on theranch. We decided to develop aflexible legal document based onour holisticgoal (which includes

our ecosystem vision). In this way, this legal public document sustains ourreason for being, as well as the terms, clauses, laws, regulations, andspecific protocol.”

That’s the kind of forward thinking approach necessary to sustain notonly ranching in the Sonoran Desert, but a healthy, biologically diverselandscape. The Aguirres’ commitment to improving the health of the landand the economic and social viability of their community can be seen inthe increased number of employees, health of the land, and number ofMexican ranchers, university faculty, and extension agents learning theart of sustainable ranching at Rancho de la Inmaculada.

Ivan Aguirre is a Holistic Management® Certified Educator inSonora, Mexico. He can be reached at: 52-637-935-2804 or915/613-4282 or [email protected].

Cattle and horses find many food sources at Rancho de la Inmaculadalike this prosopis.

Cardinals are one of the many species thatenjoy the improved wildlife habitat theAguirres have created by improving thehealth of their land.

calves at side, no matter condition or price. They did feel they could affordto hold onto all of their yearling heifers. After culling just the bottom 5percent, the balance was put in with mature cows.

Property Swapping and Herd AmalgamationBack at the beginning of November, the Coughlans had done their

forage assessments and dormant (closed) season grazing planning. Theyknew how much grass they could count on until, at the earliest, thefollowing May (six months away), and made plans accordingly. Theyestimated that at Tarabah, they had enough feed for all of their cattle stillon hand (from both properties) to last the entire dormant season. Talkabout peace of mind.

On Moombril, things were looking tighter, but they still had enoughfeed to last the pairs at Moombril for the first 90 days of the dormantseason. After those first 90 days (now mid-Feb), calves were weaned onMoombril and sent to Tarabah. The cows were kept on for another 30days and then, with the exception of a small herd of 200 cows (and alltheir bulls) kept at Moombril, all the Moombril cows were sent to Tarabah(mid-March). All of these cattle—Moombril cows, Tarabah cows, weanedcalves from Moombril, and yearling heifers, were combined into onegiant herd on Tarabah—a whopping 4,880 head of cattle.

On November 28, just a month into the dormant season, a fire tookout 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) on Tarabah, which amounted to about 20days worth of grazing. That was a big chunk, and necessitated tighterrationing of forage in the remaining paddocks. The Coughlans refineddown to half day moves instead of one day moves. In general, 250 acres

(100 ha) represented one day ofgrazing for the big mob of cows. Intheir grazing planning, a 375-acre(150-ha) paddock would have beenslotted for only one day of grazing,after rounding down from 1.5 to oneday. Now, with half day moves, thecows were left in these paddocks for1.5 days. This enabled them to pickup these 20 lost days and make it tothe end of April.

Throughout the entire dormantseason, only one selection (or grazingperiod) was planned in each paddock.On both Tarabah and Moombril, theCoughlans have on the order of 90paddocks, which means that for thebulk of the dormant season, whenonly one big herd of animals wasbeing managed on each property,grazing periods were seldom longerthan two days.

Production ProtectedBy early April, feed conditions were

deteriorating, and the original


Resiliency Down Under—Drought-Proofing in New South Walesby Jim Howell

Asthe world’s most drought-prone country, Australia can be atough place to make a living from grass. The recent droughtacross winter-rainfall dominant, southern Australia has been sopronounced that most of the world has been aware of the dire

situation. When the world’s driest continent makes news for being dry,it’s really dry.

Conventional cattle and sheep farmers across New South Wales andVictoria have routinely spent on the order of $250/cow (and $55/sheep)on purchased feed to pull through the drought. Many sold out. Throughthe whole process, I periodically checked in with the Coughlan family(see “The Coughlans of Tarabah,” IN PRACTICE # 107). Their focus onfunctional cattle, healthy ecosystem processes, and diligent grazingplanning, I reasoned, was sure to give them a huge advantage insurviving this tough situation. Turns out that they not only survived,but thrived. Now, after having received reasonable moisture since April,they have more cattle than when the drought started, and they didn’tbuy in a pound of forage. It was a challenging experience, don’t getme wrong. Tough decisions had to be made, and decisive action hadto be taken.

Destocking EarlyThe Coughlans own two properties in southern New South Wales,

Tarabah (drier) and Moombril (wetter, rolling country in the foothills ofthe Snowy Mountains). In 2006, Tarabah received eight inches (207 mm)of the 17-inch (425-mm) average, and Moombril 10.5 inches (267 mm)of the normal 30 inches (750 mm). Much of the rain that did come cameoutside of its normal concentrated periodfrom May to November and was largelyineffective. In the 100+ years that rainfallrecords have been kept in New SouthWales, 2006 ranked among the poorest10 percent.

“We were getting nervous by the end ofJune,” said Michael, “and started to sellsurplus cattle in July and had them all offby the middle of August.” Most of thesecattle were yearling steers that would havebeen held over through the green seasonand not sold till October/November.Instead of the typical weight spread of 814- 1,012 pounds (370-460 kg) at sale date,the yearlings came in a little lighter, from704 – 898 pounds (320- 408 kg). But,getting those mouths off the farm early inthe growing season resulted in lots moreforage on hand when the sparse rains quitfor good in November.

By August, which should have been themiddle of the wet, the Coughlans wereunder no illusions that things were goingto turn for the better, and stuck to theirprogram of shipping all cows with no

After months of no moisture, a scant .68 inches (17 mm),the first to come as the drought gradually subsided, createdan immediate response on Moombril, the Coughlans' wetterproperty at the base of the Snowy Mountains. Moombril ison the right of the fence, the neighbors on the left. Note thedifference in cover, which was the key to the rainfall response.Toward the end of the drought, the Coughlans moved the bulkof the Moombril herd to their other property, Tarabah, beforedepleting their source of litter on Moombril. On the neighbor'sside, due to no litter, a severely damaged water cycle, and poorplant vigor, response to this first rain was negligible at best.


Tarabah cows were starting to slip incondition. These cows had had theircalves at side since June and July, nineto ten months earlier. On a bodycondition score scale of 1-5, they werefalling from a 4 to a 3, so thingsweren’t dire by any means, but actionhad to be taken, especially given thatthere was no guarantee that new greengrass was on the horizon. Playing catchup with cow condition is alwaysagonizing and costly.

So calves were weaned, and the cowsimmediately started to pick back up incondition, even without any rain or newgreen grass. On Moombril, it had startedto rain in early April. Because only200 cows plus the bulls remained onMoombril, and because the soil surface had been left in excellentcondition when most of the cows left in March, the grass on Moombrilsprang back to life immediately. So, to further relieve the pressure onTarabah, the 950 Moombril cows were sent back home to their first greengrass since November. Also, the drys were immediately sold and theTarabah cows were all preg tested—with a 91 percent birth rate includingthe coming two year old heifers!

Those three actions relieved a lot of pressure on Tarabah. If the rainsfailed to start in May, the Coughlans felt they still had two months worthof standing dormant forage. The mature cows would have done fine, butMichael says the yearling heifers would have battled to reach breedingweight. Most of us are worried about getting yearling heifers bred in thegood years, let alone in a year like this.

On April 28th it started to rain on Tarabah. As of July 15th, Tarabahhad received eight inches (195 mm), and Moombril 14.5 inches (360mm). The grass is growing like gangbusters, all the new babies are onthe ground, the yearlings are packing on the weight, and the cows arefat again. They made it.

Resiliency & Land HealthWith good holistic grazing planning, the land gradually becomes

more drought resistant. With a healthy water cycle and vigorousplants with deep root systems, dry years are a lot less dry, since watersoaks in more effectively, and healthy plants use what does soak inmore efficiently.

Also, with good graze/trample to recovery ratios and high stockdensity, grass plants have the chance to capture more sunlight, the grassthat does grow can be efficiently rationed with little trampling waste, andthe cattle can be maintained in good condition due to a steady plane ofnutrition and frequent moves onto fresh, unfouled forage.

Allan Savory rightly points out that most droughts are man-made.The Coughlans’ positive experience in surviving this drought is a strongtestament to Savory’s controversial assertion. Since 1997, when holisticgrazing planning commenced on Tarabah, ecological conditions have

improved immensely. Michael statesthat in normal years, Tarabah andMoombril now reach the end of thedormant season with 100 percentground cover, perfectly primed torespond to the new season’s rain.This year, he estimates that groundcover as of late April was closer to90 percent, and the cover itselfwas thinner than normal. But,considering the difficult year, he andAnna were satisfied with the result.Now, since the rains have commencedand the land has had the chance toreveal its resilience, the Coughlansare relieved to see that their dormantseason planning did its job from theland’s point of view.

However, there are differences across the properties. On Tarabah,Michael has noted a marked difference in response to rain in differentsized paddocks. The smallest paddocks averaging 250 acres (100 ha) haveresponded the best. Up to 1,000 acres (400 ha), the response has been“pretty good” overall. Michael feels that to go the next step and reallybuild in resiliency, they would like to develop to 180 paddocks on bothproperties.

How’d the Neighbors Fare?Certified Educator Bruce Ward, who works closely with the Coughlans

in the same management club, has noted that across much of drought-stricken Australia, the response to rain has been much less dramatic. Thewinter in general has been quite cold, and the generally bare landscapehas struggled to come away with new grass.

You might be wondering how heavily the Coughlans stock theirproperties. It’s easy to negotiate a drought if you’re stocked way belowyour carrying capacity. Admittedly, Michael acknowledges that theyhaven’t been pushing stocking rate, but are building their herd throughretaining replacements as their specific ecological conditions dictate. Inthe drier district where Tarabah is located, they are nonetheless stocked atabout the average of the district. But, although they don’t have hard data,they suspect that virtually no average farmer survived the drought withmore cattle than they started with (as the Coughlans did), especially afterhaving bought in no outside feed.

In the district surrounding Moombril—an inherently much higherproducing area—high input farmers are stocked roughly 30 percentheavier than the Coughlans. But these high input operations apply lotsof fertilizer and put up lots of hay, something the Coughlans have steeredclear of.

All things considered, excessive, untapped carrying capacity hadnothing to do with this success story. It was the result of a holisticallyresilient, pastoral model—solid ecology, adapted genetics, sound, timelydecision-making, and skilled, decisive action. Congratulations,Coughlans—your pastoral prowess continues to inspire.

These are the Tarabah cows on Sept. 1, 2006, after negligibleprecipitation through what should have been the heart of therainy season. Nonetheless, the grass is coming, due to Tarabah'snearly 100 percent covered soil surface. Enough grass ended upgrowing over the balance of the next two months (withcontinued way below normal precipitation) to carry all of theCoughlan's cattle straight through the drought, which (onTarabah) finally broke in late April, 2007. The mother cows hadcalves at side for 10 months, and bred up 91 percent straightthrough, including yearling heifers.

During the latter part of May,Community Dynamics hosted“A Roving Conference” acrossSouth Africa and Namibia, exposing

farmers, herders, workers, and others to brilliantexamples of Holistic Management in action andshowcasing low-stress livestock handling byGuy Glosson and his wife, Barbara, from Texas.

The roving began at Blanerne, the farm of Ian,Pam, and William Mitchell-Innes in Kwa ZuluNatal province and at the nearby farm of Ian &Rachael Riddell. Guy taught low-stress livestockhandling skills at the kraal stressing the positivebenefits: calm cattle, betterweight gain, improvedconception rates, betterquality meat and hides. IanMitchell-Innes gave tours ofBlanerne showing how theland has been transformedusing livestock for improvedland health. Stop Two wasAdelaide, Eastern Cape whereIan, Guy, and Barbara put ona show hosted by The FishRiver Management Club.

Stop Three was hosted by

Dickson Richardson at his farm, Brussels Estate, inVryburg. While Guy worked with a group of localranchers on low-stress livestock handling, Dickgave a powerful presentation on livestock’s role inveldt management and sustainable (and moreenjoyable) livelihoods. Stop Four was Mocopane,Limpopo, hosted by Wayne and Hilary Knight andtheir parents.

Stop Five was in the Kunene region of Namibiaand was hosted by the Herero and Himbacommunities through the efforts of Colin Nott,Assistant Director for Integrated Rural Developmentand Nature Conservation (IRDNC). IRDNC is

working with community-based conservancies toregenerate the land, bring back wildlife, andimprove livelihoods through livestock. This eventwas opened by the Governor of the greater Kuneneregion, who stressed the importance of the holisticrange management efforts.

The herders were fascinated by Guy’s work.They brought him 150 cows that had never beenherded and asked him to move them to the kraala kilometer away. When Guy completed that taskhe was invited to move a huge,16-year old oxenthrough a crush (chute)—an oxen that had neverbeen confined in a crush before. Needless to say,Guy handily did it.

Stop Six, the last stop, was a gathering outsideof Windhoek, Nambia of farmers, farm hands, andHolistic Management enthusiasts. Wiebke Volkmann

organized this event, withhelp from colleagues andboard members of theNamibia Centre for HolisticManagement, which includeda demonstration on perennialgrasses, a program onworking with horses, andlow-stress animal handling.

Congratulations toCommunity Dynamicsand all the people whohelped create thisextraordinary event!


Book Review by Tony Malmberg

Holistic ManagementHandbook: Healthy Land,Healthy Profitsby Jody Butterfield, Allan Savory &Sam Bingham • Island Press, 2006

2007 Southern Africa Conferenceby Constance Neely and Craig Leggett

Itwouldn’t be easy to write a book in the“how to” genre about Holistic Managementplanning. Most “how to” books dull thesense with rote recipes. But not the authors

of Holistic Management Handbook: HealthyLand, Healthy Profits, Jody Butterfield, SamBingham, and Allan Savory, who constantlyremind us to think and be creative.

Jody Butterfield finds an easy balance ofconversation, while remaining precise. Forexample, in the section “Mineral Cycle: AssessingIts Effectiveness,” there is no judgment,presumption, or condescension, but merely anudge for the reader to think it through.

Old hand’s practicing Holistic Management, will

appreciate the planning guides being cleaned upand in one book. But beyond convenience, thisbook is punchy and fresh. You will get new insights,like in the hard-hitting financial planningsummary: “…you really can bring people together,set a holisticgoal, and eliminate the no-man’s-landof silence, the planning won’t require any self-discipline at all.” Now, that makes me want to goback and see what I’ve been missing!

Boxes scattered throughout highlight clues tobetter planning practices. I wish I’d seen the onetitled “Selecting Appropriate Enterprises” beforewe decided to eliminate some of our marginalenterprises. Another box explains positive deviation,which will give you a fresh look at your ranch.

Of course, those of you just beginning willread it all, cover to cover, and get insights that theskimmers will miss. But take the repeated adviceto read the textbook, Holistic Management: ANew Framework for Decision Making, first.Ignoring this advice is like venturing into afrontier with a compass and no magnetic north.The Handbook can only guide us through our

planning after we have the fixed points of aholisticgoal, the key insights, understanding oftools and the ecosystem processes firmly grasped.

The desperate and the smart are the first toadopt the new and better way. This book is forthem, the Holistic Management practitionerslooking to improve their planning processes.Skeptics will not see themselves in the epilog,which states, “Too many people forfeit those[planning] benefits by clinging without reflectionto what always was.” Holistic Managementpractitioners have moved beyond what was.

A book on Holistic Management“ planningand monitoring silently screams for a socialmonitoring/planning process to round out thewhole of planning, which is not evident in thistext. While this is perhaps not in the scope ofthis book, it is a need nonetheless.

Allan Savory says practicing HolisticManagement is simple, but it’s not easy.With the Holistic Management Handbook,it just got a lot easier.

Tony Malmberg is a Certified Educator andrancher in Lander, Wyoming.

Guy Glosson taught many people throughout South Africa and Namibia the art oflow-stress livestock handling, including Herero and Himba herders.


CALIFORNIA

Bill Burrows12250 Colyear Springs RoadRed Bluff, CA 96080530/529-1535 • 530/200-2419 (c)[email protected]

Richard King1675 Adobe Rd.Petaluma, CA 94954707/769-1490707/794-8692(w)[email protected]

Christopher Peck6364 Starr Rd.Windsor, CA 95492707/[email protected]

* Rob RutherfordCA Polytechnic State UniversitySan Luis Obispo, CA 93407805/[email protected]

COLORADO

Joel BensonP.O. Box 4924Buena Vista, CO 81211719/[email protected]

Cindy Dvergsten17702 County Rd. 23Dolores, CO 81323970/[email protected]

Daniela and Jim HowellP.O. Box 67Cimarron, CO 81220-0067970/[email protected]

Craig Leggett2078 County Rd. 234Durango, CO 81301970/[email protected]

Byron Shelton33900 Surrey LaneBuena Vista, CO 81211719/[email protected]

Tom WaltherP.O. Box 1158Longmont, CO 80502-1158510/[email protected]

GEORGIA

Constance Neely1160 Twelve Oaks CircleWatkinsville, GA 30677706/[email protected] (Italy)

IOWA

* Margaret SmithIowa State University,CES Sustainable Agriculture972 110th St., Hampton, IA 50441-7578515/294-0887 • [email protected]

LOUISIANA

Tina PilioneP.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535phone: 337/[email protected]

MAINE

Vivianne Holmes239 E. Buckfield Rd.Buckfield, ME 04220-4209207/[email protected]

Tobey Williamson52 Center St., Portland, ME 04101207/774-2458 [email protected]

MICHIGAN

Ben BartlettN4632 ET Road, Traunik, MI 49891906/439-5210 (h) • 906/439-5880 (w)[email protected]

MINNESOTA

Gretchen Blank4625 Cottonwood Lane NPlymouth, MN 55442-2902612/[email protected]

MONTANA

Wayne Burleson322 N. Stillwater Rd., Absarokee, MT 59001406/328-6808 • [email protected]

Roland Kroos4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715406/522-3862 • [email protected]

* Cliff MontagneP.O. Box 173120Montana State UniversityDepartment of Land Resources &Environmental ScienceBozeman, MT 59717406/994-5079 • [email protected]

NEBRASKA

Terry GompertP.O. Box 45Center, NE 68724-0045402/288-5611 (w)[email protected]

NEW HAMPSHIRE

* Seth Wilner24 Main Street, Newport, NH 03773603/863-4497 (h) • 603/863-9200 (w)[email protected]

NEW MEXICO

* Ann AdamsHolistic Management International1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102505/[email protected]

Kirk GadziaP.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004505/867-4685 • (f) 505/[email protected]

David Trew369 Montezuma Ave. #243Santa Fe, NM 87501505/988-1508 • [email protected]

Vicki Turpen03 El Nido Amado SWAlbuquerque, NM 87121505/873-0473 • [email protected]

Kelly WhiteNo. 4 El Nido Amado SWAlbuquerque, NM 87121-7300505/873-1324 (h) • 505/379-1866 (c)[email protected]

NEW YORK

Erica Frenay454 Old 76 RoadBrooktondale, NY 14817607/539-3246 (h) • 607/279-7978 (c)[email protected]

Phil Metzger99 N. Broad St.Norwich, NY 13815607/334-3231 x4 (w) • 607/334-2407 (h)[email protected]

John Thurgood17 Spruce St., Oneonta, NY 13820607/[email protected]

NORTH DAKOTA

* Wayne BerryWilliston State College,P.O. Box 1326Williston, ND 58802701/[email protected]

UN I T E D S TAT E S


OHIO

Larry DyerOlney Friends School61830 Sandy Ridge RoadBarnesville, OH 47313740/425-3655 (w)740/425-2775 (h)[email protected]

PENNSYLVANIA

Jim Weaver428 Copp Hollow Rd.Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976570/724-7788 • [email protected]

TEXAS

Christina Allday-Bondy2703 Grennock Dr.Austin, TX 78745512/[email protected]

Guy Glosson6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549806/[email protected]

Peggy MaddoxP.O. Box 694Ozona, TX 76943-0694325/[email protected]

* R. H. (Dick) RichardsonUniversity of Texas at AustinDepartment of Integrative Biology,Austin, TX 78712512/[email protected]

Peggy Sechrist106 Thunderbird Rd.,Fredericksburg, TX 78624830/[email protected]

Elizabeth Williams4106 Avenue BAustin, TX 78751-4220512/[email protected]

WASHINGTON

Craig MadsenP.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008509/[email protected]

Sandra Matheson228 E. Smith Rd.,Bellingham, WA 98226360/[email protected]

Doug Warnock1880 SE Larch Ave.College Place, WA 99324509/525-3389 (w) • 509/525-3295 (h)509/856-7101 (c)[email protected]

WEST VIRGINIA

Fred HaysP.O. Box 241, Elkview, WV 25071304/[email protected]

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

For more information about or application forms for theHMI’s Certified Educator Training Programs, contactAnn Adams or visit our website at: www.holisticmanagement.org.

* THESE EDUCATORS PROVIDE HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTIONON BEHALF OF THE INSTITUTIONS THEY REPRESENT.

CertifiedEducators

CertifiedEducators


AUSTRALIA

Judi Earl73 Harding E, Guyra, NSW [email protected]

Mark GardnerP.O. Box 1395, Dubbo,NSW [email protected]

Paul GriffithsP.O. Box 3045,North Turramura,NSW 2074,Sydney, [email protected]

George GundryWilleroo, Tarago,NSW [email protected]

Graeme Hand150 Caroona Lane,Branxholme, VIC 330261-3-5578-6272 (h);61-4-0996-4466 (c)[email protected]

Steve Hailstone“Niwajiri,”5 Lampert Rd.,Crafers, SA 515261-4-1882-2212;[email protected]

Helen LewisP.O. Box 1263,Warwick, QLD [email protected]

AUSTRALIA

Brian MarshallP.O. Box 300,Guyra NSW 236561-2-6779-1927fax: [email protected]

Jason VirtueMary River Park1588 Bruce Highway South,Gympie, QLD [email protected]

Bruce WardP.O. Box 103,Milsons Pt., NSW 156561-2-9929-5568fax: [email protected]

Brian Wehlburgc/o “Sunnyholt”,Injune, QLD [email protected]

CANADA

Don CampbellBox 817 Meadow Lake,SK S9X 1Y6306/[email protected]

Len PigottBox 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO306/[email protected]

Kelly SidorykP.O. Box 374,Lloydminster, AB S9V 0Y4780/875-9806 (h)780/875-4418 (c)[email protected]

KENYA

Christine C. JostInternational LivestockResearch Institute

Box 30709, Nairobi 00100254-20-422-3000254-736-715-417 (c)[email protected]

MEXICO

Ivan A. Aguirre IbarraP.O. Box 304Hermosillo, Sonora 8300052-637-935-2804 (c) • 915/[email protected]

Arturo Mora BenitezSan Juan Bosco 169Fracc., La MisiónCelaya, Guanajuato [email protected]

MEXICO

Elco Blanco-MadridHacienda de la Luz 1803Fracc. Haciendas del Valle II,Chihuahua Chih., 3123852-614-423-4413 (h)52-614-107-8960 (c)[email protected]

Miguel Aguirre CamachoSAGARPA DelegaciónEstatal en Tlaxcala

Libramiento Poniente Número 2Colonia Unitlax,San Diego MetepecTlaxcala, Tlaxcala 9011052-246-465-0700

Adrian Vega LopezCalle Norte 80 #5913Col. Gertrudis Sanchez,2a. SecciónDelegación Gustavo A. Madero,México, D.F. 07890

Jorge Efrain Morales MartinezCalle Primero de Mayo #578-ACol. Centro Histórico,Morelia, Michoacán, 5800052-443-317-4389

Jose Angel Montaño MoralesCalle Samuel Arias #111FraccionamientoForjadores de Pachuca

Mineral de la Reforma,Hidalgo 42083

Alejandro Miranda SanchezCalle Cerro Macuiltepec No 23Col. Campestre Churubusco,Delegación CoyoacánMéxico, D.F. 04200

Jose Ramon “Moncho” VillarAv. Las Americas #1178Fracc. CumbresSaltillo, Coahuila [email protected]

Silverio Rojas VillegasSAGARPAAvenida Irrigación s/n,Col. Monte de CamargoCelaya, Guanajuato, 3803052-461-612-0305

NAMIBIA

Gero DiekmannEcoso Dynamics CCP.O. Box 363, Okahandja264-62-518-091 (h)264-612-51861 (w)264-812-440-501 (c)[email protected]

Colin NottP.O. Box 11977, [email protected]

Wiebke VolkmannP.O. Box 182, Otavi264-67-234-557 [email protected]

I N T E RNAT IONA L

NEW ZEALAND

John KingP.O. Box 12011,Beckenham,Christchurch [email protected]

SOUTH AFRICA

Jozua LambrechtsP.O. Box 5070,Helderberg,Somerset West,Western Cape 713527-21-851-5669;27-21-851-2430 (w)[email protected]

Ian Mitchell-InnesP.O. Box 52,Elandslaagte [email protected]

Dick RichardsonP.O. Box 1853,Vryburg 8600tel/fax: [email protected]

Colleen ToddP.O. Box 20, Bergbron 171227-82-335-3901 (cell)[email protected]

SPAIN

Aspen EdgeApartado de Correos 19,18420 Lanjaron, Granada(0034)[email protected]

UNITED KINGDOM

Philip Bubb32 Dart Close, St. Ives,Cambridge, PE27 [email protected]

ZIMBABWE

Amanda Atwood27 Rowland Square,Milton Park, [email protected]

Huggins MatangaAfrica Centre for Holistic ManagementP. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls263-13-42199 (w)263-11-404-979 (c)[email protected]

Elias NcubeAfrica Centre for Holistic ManagementP. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls263-13-42199 (w)263-11-214-584 (c)[email protected]


WISCONSIN

Heather Flashinski16294 250th St., Cadott, WI 54727715/[email protected]

Andy HagerW. 3597 Pine Ave.,Stetsonville, WI 54480-9559715/678-2465 • [email protected]

* Laura PaineWisconsin DATCPN893 Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925608/224-5120 (w) • 920/623-4407 (h)[email protected]

WYOMING

Andrea & Tony Malmberg768 Twin Creek Road, Lander, WY 82520307/335-7485 (w) • 307/332-5073 (h)307/349-8624 (c) • [email protected]@LifeEnergy.us

I N T E RNAT IONA L

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THE MARKETPLACE

Managing Change NorthwestA team of certified Holistic Management educators inWashington State who serve the Pacific Northwest,

helping people on their journey towardresource sustainability.

Presenting a series of workshops:

December 4-6, 2007 Creating Best Outcomes & Planning for Profit

January 15-17, 2008 Planned Grazing & Optimizing Forage

February 19-21, 2008 Animal Behavior & Grazing Management

March 4-6, 2008 Putting It All Together-Managing the Whole

Follow-up with participants is planned.Eastern Washington location to be determined

For more information contact:

Managing Change Northwest at 509-525-3389 or [email protected]

HANDS-ON AGRONOMYBASIC SOIL FERTILITY GUIDELINES

For consulting or educational services contact:

Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc.297 County Highway 357, Charleston, Missouri 63834

Phone: 573/683-3880; Fax: 573/683-6227, [email protected] CARD ORDERS (VISA, MC) CAN BE FAXED OR CALLED IN.

The Best Time to Takea Soil Sample

For best results, all pasture and hay producers should first consider that if ithas been several years since samples were taken, the best time to take new soilsamples is as soon as it can be correctly accomplished.

We have clients who prefer to see soil nutrient levels when they are at theirvery worst.This is generally just after a crop is harvested, or when the greatestamount of undecomposed residue is still present. Others want to see their soil at itsbest, which is the time when optimum temperature and moisture are present, themaximum amount of residue decomposition has occurred, and when any plantsgrowing there have not matured to the point that large amounts of nutrients arebeing removed. So once getting past any initial needs from a lack of sampling inthe past, choose a time that will be convenient. Each grower should plan to takesamples at the same time each year for the best comparison of fertility changestaking place in each field. All of this requires a management decision on the partof those concerned, and the other points that follow should be considered in orderto make better decisions.

Planning ahead to be sure the samples are taken in a timely manner forthe crop, sometimes even before the present one is harvested, can make a bigdifference.This is particularly true if lime or materials such as micronutrients mightbe needed that require a longer time in the soil to best benefit the next crop,especially if there may not be sufficient time to get everything done afterharvesting is completed.

But before taking action, consider a few other requirements.When droughtconditions persist to the point that grass will no longer grow, the soil is too dry

to sample. It will cause the pH to drop and the need for calcium and magnesiumlime will appear greater than is actually the case. Also, where significant amountsof nitrogen has been spread in the last thirty days, or sulfur in the last 60-180days, samples should not be taken for the same reasons. Anything that tends tomake the soil more acidic in the short term (temporarily drops the pH) should besuspect in such cases.

When sampling is properly done, the soil analysis will show which materialswork best. For fertilizer recommendations on permanent pasture and hay land,only take the top four inches of soil to make up the sample. If a report on fertilitydeeper than that is desired, pull that as a separate subsoil sample.

If soil samples are only occasionally taken it is always advisable to review theproper sampling instructions beforehand. Remember that the recommendation isonly as good as the sample taken and the information you can supply for makingneeded fertilizer recommendations.

Obtaining positive results depends on properly determining the fertility needsof the field.That job is not complete until all of the necessary information iscorrectly supplied on a worksheet and sent along with the soil test.Worksheetsand soil sampling instructions can be obtained from our web site, or along withsoil sampling bags, are available upon request from our office.

Or visit our website! www.kinseyag.com


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Ph: 505/867-4685 Fax: 505/867-9952

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P.O. Box 1100

Bernalillo, NM 87004

[email protected]

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Kirk Gadzia has over 15 years

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Holistic Management Courses in MontanaLearn on a holistically managed ranch in Montana from South AfricanCertified Educator Ian Mitchell-Innes!November 9-12 - Holistic Decision-Making & Financial Planning• Defining the Whole • Forming a Holistic Goal• Holistic Decision Making • Financial Planning

November 17-20Holistic Management Planned Grazing & Land Planning• Animal Behavior • Forage &Water Needs • Land Planning• Animal Impact • Herd EffectAll levels of management—new or experienced—are welcome.Discounts will be given for 2 or more people from the same familyand/or operation. Additional discounts will also be given toattendees under the age of 25. Participation will be limited tono more than 16 people.Contact: Zachary B. Jones of Twodot Land and Livestock Companyat 406.632.4496 or [email protected]

Books & MultimediaHolistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making,

_ Second Edition, by Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30

_ Hardcover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $55

_ 15-set CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99

_ One month rental of CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35

_ Spanish Version (soft) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25

_ Holistic Management Handbook, by Butterfield, Bingham, Savory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25

_ At Home With Holistic Management, by Ann Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20

_ Holistic Management: A New Environmental Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10

_ Improving Whole Farm Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10

_ Video: Creating a Sustainable Civilization—An Introduction to Holistic Decision-Making, based on a lecture givenby Allan Savory. (VHS/DVD/PAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30

_ Stockmanship, by Steve Cote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35

_ The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25

_ The Oglin, by Dick Richardson & Rio de la Vista. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25

_ Gardeners of Eden, by Dan Dagget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25

_ Video: Healing the Land Through Multi-Species Grazing (VHS/DVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30

TO ORDERIndicate quantity in box preceding item, print shipping address at right, mail thispage (or a copy) and your check or international money order payable in U.S.funds from a U.S. bank only to:Holistic Management International, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102Credit card orders: 505/842-5252, or fax: 505/843-7900.For online ordering visit our secure website at: www.holisticmanagement.org

Subscribe to IN PRACTICE_ A bimonthly journal for Holistic Management practitioners

Subscribe for 1 year for only $30/U.S. ($35/International)2 years ($55/U.S.; $65/International) 3 years ($80/U.S.; $90/International)

_ Gift Subscriptions (same prices as above).

_ Special Edition: An Introduction to Holistic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5_ Compact Disk Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14

_ Bulk subscriptions available.One year for $17 each/U.S., or $22 each/International______ Please indicate number of one-year subscriptions

_ Back Issues: $5 each; bulk orders (5 or more issues) $3 each. List

Please indicate issue numbers desired: ___,___,___,___,___,___,___,___,___,___

_ CD of Back Issues: #71 - 89 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25

Planning and Monitoring Guides

_Financial PlanningMay 2000, 44 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15

_Aide Memoire for Grazing PlanningMay 2000, 46 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15

_Early Warning Biological Monitoring— CroplandsApril 2000, 26 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14

_Early Warning Biological Monitoring—Rangelands and GrasslandsJanuary 1999, 32 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$14

_Land Planning—For The Rancher or Farmer Running LivestockJanuary 1999, 36 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

Planning Forms (All forms are padded - 25 sheets per pad)

_Annual Income & Expense Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 7

_Livestock Production Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_Control Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 5

_Grazing Plan & Control Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15

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Questions? 505/842-5252 or [email protected]

SoftwareHolistic Management® Financial Planning (single-user license) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $249Please specify PC or Mac, Office ‘95 or ‘97, 2000, XP, or 2003 and version of Excel you are using

Pocket CardsHolistic Management® Framework & testing questions, March 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$4

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Documents

#115, In Practice, Sept/Oct 2007