holistic management 126julyaug

We’ve Come a Long Way!25 Years of Holistic Managementby Kirk Gadzia

JULY / AUGUST 2009 NUMBER 126 WWW.HOLIST ICMANAGEMENT.ORG

healthy land.sustainable future.

PBS Documentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17From the Board Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

NEWS and NETWORK

Making the Case for Soil CarbonFRANK ARAGONA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Beyond Conflict to Consensus—Addressing the Social ‘Weak Link’JEFF GOEBEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Holistic Management in the NortheastANN ADAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Practicing What You Teach—Livestock Treated Cropfields SENANELO MOYO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

LAND and LIVESTOCKCocktail Mixes & Integrating LivestockNO-TILL FARMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Daily Monitoring—Holistic Planned GrazingGRAEME HAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Voisin’s Vision—Better Grassland SwardJOHN KING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

FEATURE STORIES

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

COCKTAIL SEEDING

Using a “cocktail” mix of seeds (oftenmore than 11 different types of seeds) can fix nitrogen, extend the growingseason, improve soil fertility, droughtproof your cropfields, and much more.

Learn about how Gabe Brown is using this practiceeffectively on his farm in North Dakota on page 8.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

This article was excerpted from a presentation by Kirk Gadzia at the Society for Range Management Holistic Management Symposium in February 2009.When asked to speak on 25 years of history of Holistic Management, Kirk decided

the easiest way was to just tell his own story, which spans that entire time.

Ijoined Society for Range Management(SRM) back in 1976 and attended my first SRM meeting in Portland, Oregon inFebruary 1977. After graduating with my

MS in range science in 1979 from NMSU, I eventually took a job as a rangeconservationist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque in 1980.

In the early ‘80s the Savory Grazing Method or SGM was a big buzz with lots of controversyand even conflict—something I had never seenin the range profession to this degree. And, I wasvery interested in learning more to see for myselfwhat this was all about. I eventually attended theSGM training in Albuquerque in 1983 and gotvery excited about all the information. Weimmediately began building grazing cells onSandia Pueblo grazing areas just east of I-25.

As a young man with lots of energy and drive,I grew less excited about my agency job and moreexcited about the prospects of working in mychosen field within the private sector. In 1984, asmy first daughter was born, my wife quit her jobto stay and take care of our young family, and I quit my job—to start my own consultingbusiness. I took out my small retirement savingsfrom the Federal service, took stock of whatsavings we had, and jumped off into the deep end.I have never regretted that decision.

A New OrganizationI began attending most of the SGM week-long

schools and helping there during and after the

courses. My travels took me to many areas of thewestern and mid-western United States, Canada,and Mexico. Throughout this time I followed upwith alumni and began a consulting business tohelp people implement the things they hadlearned at the courses. I still have my coursenotebook from that first course, and although myinterest was primarily the grazing managementside of the equation, the decision-making processthat is today known as Holistic Management wasalready being formed.

A short time later, in 1985, I took a positionwith the newly formed Center for Holistic ResourceManagement (CHRM) in Albuquerque.

This new Center was the shift away from aprivate ranch management consulting agency, to a non-profit 501c3 which occurred in 1984.

2 IN PRACTICE � July / August 2009

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

STAFFPeter Holter, Chief Executive Officer

Tracy Favre, Senior Director/ Contract ServicesJutta von Gontard, Senior Director / Philanthropy

Kelly Bee, Chief Financial OfficerAnn Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and

Director of Educational Products and Outreach Maryann West, Manager of Administration

and Executive Support Donna Torrez, Customer Service ManagerMary Girsch-Bock, Educational Products

& Outreach AssistantValerie Gonzales, Administrative Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORSBen Bartlett, Chair

Ron Chapman, Past ChairRoby Wallace, Vice-ChairGail Hammack, SecretaryChristopher Peck, Treasurer

Sallie Calhoun Mark GardnerDaniela Howell Andrea MalmbergJim McMullan Ian Mitchell Innes

Jim Parker Sue ProbartDennis Wobeser Jesus Almeida Valdez

ADVISORY COUNCILRobert Anderson, Corrales, NM

Michael Bowman,Wray, COSam Brown, Austin, TX

Lee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZGretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Dr. Cynthia O. Harris, Albuquerque, NMLeo O. Harris, Albuquerque, NMEdward Jackson, San Carlos, CA

Clint Josey, Dallas, TXDoug McDaniel, Lostine, OR

Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, MexicoSoren Peters, Santa Fe, NM

Jim Shelton, Vinita, OKYork Schueller, Ventura, CA

Africa Centre for Holistic Management Tel: (263) (11) 404 979 • [email protected]

Huggins Matanga, Director

The David West Station for Holistic Management

Tel: 325/392-2292 • Cel: 325/[email protected]

Joe & Peggy Maddox, Ranch Managers

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 © 2009

healthy land.sustainable future. We’ve Come a Long Way

continued from page one

It represented a fundamental shift in thedevelopment of Holistic Management from theprivate sector alone, to include governmentagencies, other non-profits, and diverse groups of like interest.

In 1985, I, along with five other trainees,would become instructors at the Center andeventually employees and regional directors indifferent areas of the country. Initial funding forthis was provided by the Noble Foundation inOklahoma. Our training at the Center was muchbroader than just grazing management or cellgrazing. We focused on human resources to agreat degree and working and understandinghuman resources, planning models, and the newwave of focus in corporate goal setting processes.We also developed financial planning skills and amuch deeper understanding of ecosystem processesand function. I read on many of these subjectsvoraciously and have kept up that habit still.

The following year, 1986, we had an inter -national group from Zimbabwe and the NavajoNation join our team for six months. Followingtheir training I had the opportunity to join Allanand Jody Savory in Zimbabwe and see firsthandthe origins of his theories and ideas on the ground.In 1987 another international group from Tunisia,Morocco, Algeria, and Jordan came to train at theCenter. I also followed up on with visits to all theprojects in their countries and learned muchabout the Arab cultures and the history of resource management in an ancient setting.

In terms of learning, this cemented in me the fact that resource management is as much a people issue as it is anything else. Also myincreasing international experience and work in such different environments as those justmentioned plus Canada in the north, Mexico inthe South, California and Hawaii to the west andFlorida and Virginia in the east really made mefocus on indicators of ecosystem processfunctioning rather than species composition orother common measures of land health.

This focus on “universal” principles in regardsto ecosystem functioning has been a central thesisof the Holistic Management approach from itsvery beginning. Understanding the basics of waterand mineral cycling, community dynamics(succession), and energy flow were always givenprimary attention in the courses.

This focus eventually helped lead to my beingselected as one of 14 members of the NationalAcademy of Science Committee on RangelandClassification. Our meetings in Washington D.C.and field trips around the country werefascinating exercises and very mentally

stimulating. In 1994 the book Rangeland Healthwas published by the National Research Counciland represented the body of our work andthinking, and our recommendations to theprofession on how to improve our methods toclassify, inventory and monitor rangelands.

I must say I am very gratified today to seesome of the influence that work has had inshifting the thinking and focus about rangelandhealth. Publications, such as InterpretingIndicators of Rangeland Health, some aspects ofThe National Range and Pasture Handbookand many others, represent a fundamentallybroader shift in how we look at rangeland health.

The PractitionersMy work at the Center was very rewarding in

many ways. I had the opportunity to work withsome of the most amazing ranches I could haveever imagined and amazing people I have evermet. I remember visiting the Deseret Ranch inUtah under the management of Gregg Simonds atthat time. The improvement of land and resourcesthey documented and that are still continuingthere today are truly remarkable.

So, too, is Gene Goven’s story. Gene ranchesand farms southwest of Bismarck, North Dakota ata place called Turtle Lake. The first time I visitedhim was back in the late ‘80s, and I rememberwell how vibrant and healthy the land lookedunder his management using HolisticManagement principles. The HolisticManagement® framework had by that timereally emphasized the importance of forming aholisticgoal—one that has three interdependentelements of the quality of life they are seeking,stating the forms of production necessary toachieve it, and then describing the futureresource base that will be necessary to ensureboth are achieved and sustained.

Gene always emphasized that the decisions

Kirk Gadzia

made on the farm were always in reference andtested toward their holisticgoal. At the time he wasone of the only people in the area who had givenup feeding hay and had switched to later calving,bale grazing, and planned winter grazing todramatically cut his costs of production.

The EvolutionThe Center for Holistic Resource Management

also focused on the development of thisframework that influences and directs howdecisions are made. I would say that most peoplewho have only heard about “HRM” or “HM” and not read more widely or attended a training,probably do not have a good understanding that it is this decision making process, condensed intoa framework for ease of use, that is the real workof Holistic Management—not a grazing rotationor planned grazing, which it has often beensimplified to represent.

Moreover, holistic planned grazing hasprobably been the most misunderstood andmisrepresented aspect of Holistic Management.Since my first SGM training in 1983 until today,the process has always used a very detailedplanning regime that is often never mentionedand bears almost no relationship to the grazingrotations and experiments purported to representthe methodology.

In my extensive consulting work with rancherspracticing holistic planned grazing, I can say that it has been my experience universally thatthose who create and manage with the grazingplanning process outlined in the training andHolistic Management Handbook, are successfulin moving towards their goals.

I would also reiterate that the grazing planningprocess has changed little over that nearly 30 yeartimeframe, while the Holistic Management®Frameworks has changed a great deal with the allthe input and development focus of so many whoare working to continually improve it.

The grazing planning process is a procedurewhich involves a rigorous step by step method -

ology. The process helps focus the planners’attention on meeting a variety of goals that are influenced by grazing livestock. The key as issuccinctly expressed in the Holistic ManagementHandbook: putting animals in the right place at the right time for the right reasons.

I have been involved in this grazing planningprocess with many private and public landranches over the years. It starts and ends with nopreconceived rotational system boundaries as iscommonly believed. The people who are makingand will implement the plan are responsible tothink through all the factors that will influencethe plan including wildlife, people, nutrition,recreation, watershed, riparian drought, etc. thatany manager will encounter.

Holistic planned grazing provides a step bystep procedure to focus the users’ concentrationon one factor at a time and get that on to theplan. The next factor is focused on and thisprocess is repeated with each category of factorsuntil all potential problems and items are catered for. It is then time to draft a plan to have animals in the Right Place at the RightTime for the Right Reasons.

When I use the word drafted, I mean the plan is done in pencil with the expectation thatcircumstances will likely change from the point at which the plan was made until itsimplementation. This means that aspects of the planned grazing will also need to change to best compromise with the needs of people, land, and animals.

Furthermore, the process has always andconsistently warned of fixed rotational approaches

and ample evidence as exhibited by Briske et al—that these approaches will fail. I have alsoobserved that the planning process with its goal-oriented approach is always precisely what is leftout of designs for experimental tests on grazingcomparisons.

My JourneyI continued my work within the Center

until 1992 when I again decided to go back toindependently work within my own consultingfirm. From that time until now, over 16 years, Ihave continued my independent work withHolistic Management practitioners and been aCertified Educator with the organization. Icontinue to work with many organizations thatfocus on land health and human relations,including the Quivira Coalition.

I have created many lasting friendships andworking relationships with colleagues in manyagencies and on the land as managers andbusiness owners. One of the favorite aspects of my work is to visit the land with ranchers and see the changes and improvements that havehappened over time. Normally we do this in apickup or on four-wheelers and I have neverceased to be amazed at the ingenuity of ranchersin finding new ways to latch a gate! In fact, I amoften asked when I am going to write a book onmy experiences. My reply is that I know the book I should write, but the one I probably will write is “Gates I Have Opened”!

Although like many people in their mid-50s, I am slowing down a bit; but, the thought ofretirement is far from my mind. My world ofexperience keeps expanding and the excitement Iget to experience when I am involved with all thegroups I’ve worked with is infectious. There are somany positive things going on out there, and Iam thrilled to keep being a part of the continueddevelopment and progress that is happening.

One of the things I have seen happen over thelast 25 years is the expansion of the role of groupslike HMI, The Quivira Coalition, and others I haveworked with in creating new opportunities forimproved rangeland management and practicesthat support it. I think we should all be pleased atthe opportunities this expansion has provided.

Kirk Gadzia can be reached at:[email protected].

Number 126 � IN PRACTICE 3

Gene has found that the brix reading on the grasses in the bale grazed areas are two times higher than in surrounding areas.

With bale grazing and planned grazing Gene Goven of North Dakota has been able to produce 300 percent more pounds of beef per acre as much as 180 pounds/acre.

His stocking rate is 230 percent more than when he started 20 years ago.

Carbon is the hot topic that everybody istalking about these days. For themanagers of our natural resources, thereare many pressing issues related to carbon

that require urgent attention: cost-effectivecarbon measurement methodologies, scientificdata on managements impact to soil carbonstocks, greater access and inclusion tolegislation and treaty debates, and a fair sharein the emerging carbon commodity market.Fortunately, HMI has been working with otherpartners to address some of these concerns.

In early December 2008, with a grant from theBlackstone Ranch Institute, HMI and theLos Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)convened the Grasslands Carbon WorkingGroup (GCWG), an ad-hoc group of experts in thefields of soil carbon science, farming, carbontrading, and policy development. During a three-day intensive seminar, this working group discussedmany of the key issues related to climate change,grasslands, soil carbon, and carbon trading.

In that time, the GCWG articulated itspurposes in the following terms:

The purpose of the GCWG is to providescience- and market-based information forland managers, scientists, developmentpractitioners, traders and policy makers insupport of sustainably managed grasslandsas a means to adapt to and mitigate theimpact of global climate change.

The Scoop on Grassland CarbonGrasslands are one of the most important

biomes on Earth; indeed, they represent 50-60percent of the ice-free land base on our planet’ssurface. Native and cultivated pastures represent 8percent of temperate grasslands and 17 percent oftropical grasslands. According to Ratan Lal,temperate grasslands control a significant portionof the potential flux in global carbon cycles. Soilcarbon in improved pastures and healthygrasslands, moreover, is significantly higher thansoil carbon in forested ecosystems.

Grasslands and livestock are also critical to thewell-being of people around the world. 200million pastoralists and 240 millionagropastoralists depend on grasslands for their

livelihoods, and 70 percent of 880 million ruralpoor are dependent on livestock for food andsecurity. In some nations, up to 80 percent of GDP comes from livestock activities.

The effect that climate change will have ongrasslands, and consequently on the people whodepend on them, is still poorly understood. Wedon’t know, for example, how soil carbon stockswill respond to warmer climates. We do know,however, that there is a clear relationship betweenthe loss of biodiversity, desertification, and globalclimate change. We also know that soil organicmatter can help to regulate greenhouse gasemissions. Some believe that soil carbon is socritical that is should become the de factoindicator for climate change.

We can say with great certainty that byrestoring degraded lands we can sequester carbon in the soil. In particular, grasslands havesignificant potential to sequester large amounts ofcarbon. A global strategy with a key focus on soilcarbon could transform our world, and the lives ofthe rural poor, on multiple levels. If successful,such a strategy would have the obvious benefit ofa significant reduction in greenhouse gases in theatmosphere. Securing access to carbon trading forrural farmers and pastoralists would also improvetheir economic well-being. A number of otherbenefits come from improved soil carbon stocks.Often referred to as “co-benefits”, these include:

• Improved water resources• Improved soil quality and agricultural production

• Improved habitat for wildlife• Increased biodiversity

• Reduced vulnerability to drought, flooding and fire

• Greater food security and sustainabletraditional lifestyles

The good news in all of this is that, in theory atleast, it is doable. Grassland pastoralists andfarmers have access to many of the tools they needto make this possible: animal herds, technology,human creativity, and labor. But a number ofcomplex and unanswerable questions lurk beneaththe surface: Can our policy makers be made awareof the importance of soil carbon? And if so, willthey include sufficient provisions in policy andlegislation to allow for inclusion and successfulmanagement of grasslands and soil carbon stocks?Is our current policy framework and process evencapable of dealing with such a complex andinterconnected web of land degradation, climatechange, soil health, human decisions and resourcemanagement? And in the presence of good policy,will our institutions and communities be able toeffectively implement that policy at the massivescale required and in the nick of time?

Again, these are questions that don’t haveclear-cut answers. The Grasslands CarbonWorking Group is now attempting to formulate aclear and authoritative message for our policy-makers and institutions. In so doing, we hope toget soil carbon included in national andinternational debates, with the ultimate goal ofinfluencing policy so that that the trueimportance and potential of grassland soil carbonis reflected in any national or internationalclimate change agenda.

In addition, the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) has expressed a willingness to assume the role of facilitator to the GCWG. It is our belief that this transition to a broader and more inclusive platform will bring greatersupport and exposure to our activities andrecommendations. In the future, look for morenews on the Grasslands Carbon Working Groupand its activities at http://agroinnovations.com/hmi, my HMI Research Blog.


The GrasslandsCarbon Working Groupin Santa Fe,New Mexico

Making the Casefor Soil Carbonby Frank Aragona

This was not an isolated case. Checking withmy colleagues in the field, I found themgrappling with the same frustratingly long startup period, and the same shockingly frequent“recidivism” once consultants had delivered theirservices in complex organizational settings.

My holistic expertise had run into a snag: the “weak link” and, in particular, the humanelement as the weak link. We had achieved muchduring the three years. We had effectively stoppedsuperficial erosion after storms, so that the oceanaround the extensive Hawaiian property was nolonger red with soil runoff. We made significantcuts in costs of production and actually doubledrevenues. Using biological processes, we reducedpests and we increased productive, more valuable,“higher” successional species. We also improvedrelations among management, owners,employees, and neighbors, shifting them to arespectful footing.

Even with this impressive list of successes,however, I was convinced that much more couldhave been done—and that our successes couldhave been better anchored in the past and thefuture. On the one hand, in the process oftransitioning from the “old” way of doingbusiness to the new, we lost a number of keyplayers. This, I realized, translated into a loss of historical memory, critical in “reading” anddiagnosing current conditions. We also lost thevaluable experience of old hands, who often had a storehouse of skills, practical wisdom, andtraditional lore acquired through generations of tilling and grazing and foresting a particularsegment of land. On the other hand, although our new holistic protocols delivered concrete,positive results, these did not systemically graftinto existing attitudes, prejudices, and thepowerful force of “human inertia.” Oneconsequence of this was that the gains we hadachieved were not secured for the long run forcomplex organizational settings.

Finally, because it lacked a specific protocol foranticipating the “human variable” of distrust of

innovation, fear of outsiders, and attachment toterritoriality (interest in maintaining the existingpower hierarchy among the players), the holisticprocess required a disproportionate amount oftime and energy be invested in building trust, and inculcating accountability once my directparticipation ended. The painful anddisappointing experiences of those years set me on a search for a more effective set of tools. CouldI come up with a set of tools and protocols thatwould reduce the start up process to a matter ofdays, and that would simultaneously “lock intoplace” the successful behaviors and outcomes forsignificant extents of time—decades rather thanyears? Could these skills be replicated by themembers of the groups and communities workingindependently of the consultant? Could they betaught to newcomers into the system?

Integrating Holistic Decision MakingI turned first to the work of Don and Betty

Green. The Greens, family business consultants,had been affiliated with the Center for HolisticManagement in the early days of its existence and had explored many of its conflict resolutionstrategies. They opened my eyes to the potentialproductivity of non-conventional protocols. I embarked on an ambitious research program

to learn about both traditional and scientificmethods, on the premise that what is new that is good is always, in some way, also old. Myanthropological studies spanned native HawaiianHoo’ponopono, Native American intra- and inter-tribal protocols; traditional Africanapproaches to reconciliation and conflict; andAboriginal intercultural dispute resolution. Among contemporary, Western models, I explored the work and experience of the very besttheoreticians, and sought out formal training.

As my theoretical knowledge grew, I tookadvantage of every consulting project to apply, test, and refine my protocols. My most productiveexperiences included work in northern Californiawith Frances Moore Lappe and in north centralWashington State, with the Confederated Tribes ofthe Colville Reservation. At the ColvilleReservation, I was given the authority and scopeto fully integrate holistic decision-making into thetribal government, which comprised 250programs and a budget of $55 million. In thecourse of my first year with the Tribes, I trained200 people in holistic decision-making. However,as far as Holistic Management was concerned, wewere making little headway. The community wasconsumed with talk, with endless discussions thatseemed to only augment anxiety and demoralize,demonstrating a reluctance to embrace systematicproblem solving. There was positive interest inholistic solutions, but a resistance to take action.

Creating CommitmentIt happened that just about that time, in 1993, I

traveled to a workshop in Burns, Oregon, with BobChadwick, an old family friend, who had made hisreputation as a specialist in conflict resolution. Bobwas meeting with a group of ranchers, governmentemployees, and environmentalists, who were poisedfor conflict. Instead of the confrontationalatmosphere I had come to expect in such multi-agenda groups, Bob had created what seemed aremarkably “happy” and respectful rapport among

the participants. Yet, oddly enough,nothing concrete seemed to come of thesession. When Bob asked my opinion ofthe process, I remember suggesting hetry adopting a more holistic decision-making model. He agreed that I mightbe right, and we left it at that.

Back at the Colville Reservation,however, I just could not put Bob’s


Jeff Goebel has worked in a numberof African countries including Malito address issues of scarcity andpower through consensus building.

Beyond Conflict to Consensus—Addressing the Social ‘Weak Link’by Jeff Goebel

While overseeing the Texas and Hawaii ranching operations for a large family corporation, I encountered a broad range of challenges, some more interesting and resistant to change than others. The thorniest involved three ranch managers who were unwilling to consider holistic decision-making. Their distrust infected the union employees under

their supervision, so that the initial stages of the project consumed valuable months in struggle and negotiations before we could turn to doing the job I had been hired to do. Eventually, we didmanage to achieve some striking results by using the Holistic Management decision-makingframework, but, once I left, the management slipped back into old patterns of doing business.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

process aside. I decided to invite him to help meresolve an ugly conflict over clear-cutting that wasbuilding up between the elders and the foresters.The unresolved question of whether or not toremove all the trees from the multiple sites wasparalyzing timber sales, shrinking revenues, andthreatening jobs. The session was marked bygenuine and deep sharing of feelings, thoughts,and perceptions. The foresters expressed pride infilling up logging trucks and seeing them movingtimber to the mills to create jobs that supportedthe community. The elders, on the other hand,decried the abuse wreaked on “Mother Earth” and compared the loggers’ projects to “rapingtheir mother.”

The session, like the Burns workshop,concluded on a note of solid respect and theparticipants were deeply satisfied. But once again,no concrete actions had taken place and I againthought to myself, “What a waste of time andopportunity.”

On the other hand, I had a deep trust in Bob, so that I did not hesitate when, two months later,he had me bring together the elders, foresters,biologists, and the logger on a gravel road next to aproposed clear-cut. We walked the forest and cameback to a circle of folding chairs set up on the roadto talk about how we felt about the future outcomeof the forest and what we could learn from theexperience we had just had to help us be successful.

To my utter astonishment, after listening to the foresters and the elders, the logger said, “I would be fine with cutting the forest to meet the silvicultural prescription and leave five toseven big pumpkin pine trees for the benefit of the elders.” That’s all it took! The result was aconsensus of agreement with behaviors thatworked for everyone!

Immediately, the timber sales stalemate endedand a solution was put in place that met the needsof all parties. The three-day workshop, which inmy view, had ended inconclusively, turned out tohave been the pivot point, the dealmaker, inshifting the participants. In the interim betweenthe harmonious, respectful listening and talkingthat had gone on in the workshop, and themeeting in the forest, the participants hadprocessed the lessons they had learned. The resultsof this shift were dramatically manifested in themeeting in the forest. All the parties in the conflicthad witnessed the powerful change: shift happens!

Moreover, from this moment on, the entirecommunity of diverse interests and backgroundsmanifested a unanimous “consensual”commitment into the process and the work. Holisticdecision-making took a strong hold

reduced the tribal budget without losing any jobs,passing the budget three months early with 100percent agreement at the Department and Councillevels. This vote of confidence soon took on aconcrete reality in the land, the forests, the water,the natural resources, and the cultural andmaterial wellbeing of the Tribes.

Concrete ResultsThis “experiment” proved to me that the

combination of holistic decision-making andconsensus building tools allowed us to moverapidly, confidently, and respectfully toward theTribe’s holisticgoal that had involved over 700tribal members using the consensus process.

The Tribe continues to move toward their“living holisticgoal,” to this day. The rigor ofpracticing the formal holistic decision-makingthrough the testing guidelines has long beendropped. Even though power struggles periodicallysurfaced within the leadership of the group andthe original training team was dismantled, apractice of self-government that combinedtraditional values with the new protocols remainedin place. The changes which the original membershad implemented—including preservation ofthree native languages; Washington stateaccreditation of elders as certified teachers;acquisition of over 100,000 acres of new triballands; adoption of international legislation in U.S. environmental law to enforce pollutioncontrols in Canadian factories—all these changeswere part of the living reality of the Tribes andserved as daily reinforcements for the validity andefficacy of the methods that had been adoptednearly two decades earlier.

Since that time, I have refined mycombination of tools to accomplish enduring,

seemingly impossible, outcomes. In a West Africanproject, I helped villagers significantly increasefood production with their own resourcesfollowing a workshop that asked them to addressthe question, “How to increase food production 50 percent without Western technology?”

In another context, I was able to help alagging national forest end the year attaining 126 percent of the annual objectives. The keycomponent in my success is addressing the socialand psychological weak links through an array of exercises in respectful listening; diagnostic toolsfor identifying, mapping, and defusing unresolvedand often repressed conflict; and activitiescentering on expressing fears that paralyze action.

I use a Five-Module Paradigm for theConsensus Process. These modules include: an introduction to conflict resolution; managingchange; overcoming scarcity; harmonizingdiversity; and mediating power. With a diversegroup, I often use this approach to help theparticipants develop a consensual holisticgoal,and to generate the motivation to take action toovercome obstacles in achieving their holisticgoal.I have incorporated elements of the consensusbuilding process into the introduction to HolisticManagement (change issues), financial planningprocess (scarcity issues), and policy analysis(power issues).

I have taught the full series of five three-dayworkshops numerous times. My own observationsof results and the feedback of participants, haveconfirmed that the process is best learned throughexperience and that it is highly transferable. Alearning manual is available for each independentmodule. I have found this approach to be the mosteffective and efficient method for overcoming avariety of social “weak links”—includingunresolved conflicts, lack of committed goal,scarcity issues, fear of transition, power imbalancesand fear of losing control, or lack of knowledge.

Using the new beliefs and behaviors that areidentified, defined, and designed to be responsiveto the specific issues, the specific context, and the specific strengths, weaknesses, fears, andaspirations of the participants, the individuals,groups, and communities with whom I haveworked have found their way to make conflict an opportunity for productive, harmonious, and sustained growth.

Jeff Goebel of Goebel and Associates, thetrainer of the Five-Module Paradigm for theConsensus Process, is a facilitator offeringtraining and consulting services nationallyand internationally, and can be contacted [email protected] or 541/610-7084.For more information, see his website atwww.aboutlistening.com.


“This ‘experiment’ proved to me that the combination of holistic decision-making

and consensus building tools allowed us to move rapidly, confidently,

and respectfully toward the Tribe’s holisticgoal that had involved over

700 tribal members using the consensus process.”

Beyond Conflict to Consensuscontinued from page five

at the Tribes. By the end of another year, we had succeeded in doubling land treatment whilevoluntarily cutting the budget in the NaturalResource Department. It turned out that we actuallydid not need all that money to do a better job!When the Tribal Council heard this, they asked if Icould apply the same approach to the entire Tribalgovernment. Six months later, we significantly

Seth has co-written four grants exceeding$246,000 to fund Holistic Management programsand offset costs to participants. In addition to the farm families and communities he hasworked with, he has also conducted trainings for agency staff in New Hampshire andthroughout the Northeast.

To date over 220 participants have beentrained and over 28 farm families in NewHampshire have developed and implemented a whole farm plan as a result of this program.Below are some examples of impacts measuredfrom this program:

• Farms hold weekly meetings tocommunicate about major issues and decisionsand have increased their farm efficiency, savingthem valuable time as a result.

• Farmers have said that their decision-making has changed and is more inclusive and positive. Specifically, wives and kids havebeen able to share in major decision making and farm risks.

• Farmers have said that this processsignificantly increased the quality of their lives on their farms and/or in their families. They havedocumented a reduction in conflicts, less stress,improved and open communication, increasedtime spent as a family, and greater happiness.

• Farmers learned about farm employees’skills they had not previously known of andchanged their management to take advantage of these skills.

• Participants have developed family budgets and monitor these regularly, reducingoverspending and debt levels.

• Farmers have increased their knowledge abouteach others’ skills and desired quality of life andused this to change their management practices.

• A land trust consisting of 5 farm familiesand a 12 member Board of Directors used thisprocess to construct new governance proceduresand as a result significantly reduced conflictsbetween Board members and also reduced theaverage meeting time by an estimated two hours per meeting. They also used this process

to identify the locations and extent of logging in their woodlands, as well as how to lowerenvironmental impacts of the logging.

• Farm families learned about members’hopes, dreams, and fears for the first time.

• Farmers cited increased confidence to tackle on-farm problems.

• Farm youth reported that it increased theirself-confidence, understanding of their familydecisions, and also said it would likely reduce any risky behaviors they might engage in.

• Farmers have adopted financial recordkeeping systems and monitor these regularly.

• Farmers reported that the plan increasedthe effectives of their communication, improvedthe quality of their lives on the farm, and broughtfamily members closer together.

Demonstrating how valuable this program is,Lockwood Sprague from Edgewater Farm, one ofthe largest and most profitable farms in Seth’scounty wrote the following: “Seth came to ourcounty pretty green in the areas of horticulturalsciences. Needless to say we were initially somewhatdisappointed. But in truth, he has done more forthe profitability of this farm than if he had been anational fruit or vegetable specialist. When firstapproached by Seth to engage in HolisticManagement, we were concerned about its “touchy-feely” content, a perceived impression on our part.We resisted for a year, but then the family agreed tosit down and find out what it was all about late in

2006. Much came out of that meeting. “For the first time we talked about what we

liked about our work, what our individual longterm goals were, and how to address our short termneeds and approaches to our problem solving. Werealized how important it is that we keep an eyetoward the business end of things even though weremain at the core a family farm comprised offarmers with non-business inclinations.

“The Holistic Management process hasaddressed this as well as made us all think aboutand work towards improving the quality all ourlives as well as all who work here. We truly feel thatwe are on the right track as we look to the future.”

Another farm couple wrote about theirexperience with Seth and his HolisticManagement program. They wrote, “Seth hasrepeatedly helped us focus to include both of us in defining our goals and values, and to work toward creative ways rather than emotionalways to resolve differences. When we’ve beenstuck, Seth has been able to help us refocus onwhat we were aiming toward and to identifyoptions for action.

“Seth has opened our eyes to understandingthat we are primarily running a business. Wethought we were farmers and farming was whatwe did. A business was not of interest. Through aHolistic Management workshop, Seth raised ourawareness of the importance of managing ourfarm as a business. One outcome is that we nowsee the farm as a set of systems that need to beidentified and managed productively whether it’screating planting schedules or hiring farm help.

“As a result of Seth’s help, our annual grosssales have increased from $5,000 to $37,000 infour years. We have learned from Seth to evaluateeach new enterprise before implementing it onour farm. We write down our goals, what will beachieved, and projected costs and income. It has all been helpful. I’m not sure that eitherthe farm or our relationship would have survived without Seth.”

Congratulations, Seth!


Seth Wilner

Holistic Management in the Northeastby Ann Adams

Farm youth reported that Holistic Management increased their self-confidence, understanding of their family decisions, and also said

it would likely reduce any risky behaviors they might engage in.

In April, Seth Wilner won the prestigious New Hampshire Menard and Audrey Heckle Extension Educator Fellowship for his work in Holistic Management. This award recognizes one individual each year for exemplary program accomplishments achieved through innovative and creative approaches.

8 � July / August 2009Land & Livestock

For North Dakota no-till farmer Gabe Brown, failure isn’t an option—it’s a requirement. That’s because Brown believes constant changedrives an ever-improving system. “We want to fail at something on this farm every year,” says the

Bismarck-area producer who crops 1,500 acres (600 ha). “If I don’t fail atsomething, I’m not trying enough new things.”

And try he does. Brown’s acres have a research farm feel. A trip up thedriveway treats visitors to more than a dozen different crops from corn toradishes spread through only a few fields. Calling his cropping system diverseis an understatement.

Brown raises alfalfa, peas, corn, sunflowers, barley, turnips, radishes,lentils, hairy vetch, red clover, sweet clover, sugar beets, buckwheat, oats,cowpeas, millet, sorghum and sudan grass to name a few. These crops aremixed together in complex polycultures that Brown has created through trialand error for maximum benefit to soil health, production and his bottomline. But city-raised Brown didn’t come by his adventurous agronomic spiriteasily; nature gave him a not-so-gentle push in the right direction.

Brown and his wife, Shelly, purchased their farm from her parents in1991. The land was conventionally tilled and produced small grains. After

reading about no-till farming, Brown decided it made sense and jumped inwith both feet. In 1993 he sold all of their tillage equipment and bought aJohn Deere 750 15-foot no-till drill and went completely no-till. He also tookhis first foray into diversification, seeding field peas.

In 1995 Mother Nature dealt the Browns a nasty blow, hailing out 1,250acres (500 ha) of spring wheat the day before harvest. The next year they had100 percent crop loss to hail again.

“Two years of crop failure hurt,” says Brown. “We started thinking abouthow we could cut back on our inputs because you can’t keep putting moneyin without getting something back.”

That’s when Brown started to experiment with crop combinations. Heplanted peas and hairy vetch or barley paired with red clover in an effort tohelp fix nitrogen for their main commodity crops. But the weather wasn’tgoing to cut them any slack. In 1997 severe drought resulted in not a singleacre being combined. In 1998 it was more of the same. The Browns onceagain lost 80 percent of their crops to hail. But for Brown that wasn’t the end,it was just the beginning.

“Four years of crop failure was the best thing to ever happen to us,” saysBrown. “It made us realize that we had to focus on soil health, soil structureand improved infiltration. If we did that, the soil would provide us what weneeded to produce crops efficiently. We also realized over time that we had todiversify the cropping system to make it more sustainable.”

Brown’s cropping system now mimics native prairie plant composition.They have a diversity of warm and cool season grasses and broadleaf plants.In the years since their dramatic crop failures, the Browns have managed tomake great strides in reducing input costs.

“We’ve been able to reduce commercial fertilizer inputs by more than 90percent and herbicide inputs by 75 percent. At the same time we have seen

our yields increase,” reports Brown. Brown doesrotate in a few monoculture crops, including alfalfa,corn and sunflowers, but he has started addinglegumes as companion crops in the corn andsunflower fields as well.

Monocultures are the exception, however, not therule. A peek in Brown’s seeder reveals a concoctionthat more closely resembles a bird seed mix than aplanned crop. But looks are deceiving because a lot ofplanning goes into Brown’s planting scheme. Here’s aglimpse at a “typical” year on the Brown farm.

Brown starts seeding in mid April with cold-

&Cocktail Mixes & Integrating Livestockby the No-Till Farmer

Complex polycultures are used to address soil needs,including nutrient inputand infiltration. Brown has planted seed cocktailsthat include 11 or moreplant species.

This cover crop mix was plantedthe end of May 2006. This

picture taken the end of July2006 during which less than

one inch (25 mm) of rain fell.There was also less than three

inches of rain that fell that yearprior to this picture.

Number 126 � 9Land & Livestock

tolerant crops such as a field pea/radish/turnip combination.Those crops are seeded into the remains of heavy residue-typecrops such as corn. They are planted without any herbicide orfertilizer inputs.

“We usually put radishes or turnips on most of the croplandto help infiltration,” says Brown. “Even after 15 years of no-till you can see the old tillage layer. The deep-rooted plants help break up the compaction.”

After planting peas, Brown starts on the small graincombinations. He’ll seed a barley/red clover mix, anoat/pea/turnip/radish combination and then will move on to the corn and sunflowers.

The peas are harvested as forage, haylage or dried hay, so there is no need to separate out the different crops. In yearsthat the peas are combined the seed is easily separated.

“In most of our seeding combinations the companion cropstays beneath the canopy and doesn’t take off and grow rapidlyuntil the other crop is harvested and the canopy is removed,”explains Brown. “Then that companion crop serves as a cover crop.”

Double CroppingBrown heavily utilizes cover crops, or double cropping,

to keep his acres producing, tackle specific soil management challenges and integrate his farm.

“As soon as we get one crop off the field we’re seeding in another crop,”says Brown. Upon harvesting peas, Brown immediately seeds a nine-crop seedcocktail for cover. “In July we’ll seed warm season cover crop mixes like pearlmillet/sorghum/sudan grass/ cowpeas/soybeans/radishes and sunflowers.”

These crops can withstand the soaring July and August temperatures. “People say they can’t use cover crops because it’s too dry or the growing

season isn’t long enough. But they’re doing it in Canada and that’s 300 milesnorth of here and they’re doing it in regions of Africa where they only get twoinches (50 mm) of rain per year,” says Brown. “If Canada and Africa canproduce cover crops in those growing conditions, anyone in the United Statescan do it. It’s simply a mindset.”

Brown says the purpose of cover crops goes beyond just covering theground. They increase organic matter, which increases the water holdingcapacity of soils and lowers soil temperatures. Deep rooted cover crops also canbring deep nutrients to the surface to be recaptured by a more valuable crop.

“You might as well use the moisture to grow a cover crop and increaseorganic matter. It’s a good way to help alleviate water problems in an aridenvironment,” says Brown. “Our crops are able to withstand drought muchbetter because we have increased the water holding capacity of our soils andwe get much higher utilization of the moisture we do have. We lose muchless to evaporation because the soil surface is covered with residue and soiltemperatures are cooler.”

Brown uses cover crops to address problems specific to each field. Ifinfiltration is a challenge, he uses deep-rooted, taproot-type crops, such asradishes or turnips, to break up hardpan soil and improve infiltration. If thefocus is on lowering inputs, he plants a legume-type crop to help fix nitrogen.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Gabe is constantly trying new plantmixes in small-scale plots to hone inon the combinations that best suithis specific growing conditions. Some of these mixes have shownsurprising results, with plantsforming symbiotic relationships thatresult in amplified crop yields andimproved quality. This picture is of amix of radishes, hairy vetch, sudangrass, sugar beets and much more.

Gabe hopes to pass the farm—along with his tradition

of constant change andimprovement—to his son,

Paul, who is currently workingtoward a degree in range

management at North DakotaState University. He jokes thathe’ll take the farm back if he

doesn’t see evidence of change.

Gabe uses the following cover crop mix diversity applied at 70 pounds/acre (79 kg/ha)

CORN RADISHES RED LENTIL SOYBEANFLAX PEARL MILLET MANTA MILLET MUSTARDPEA SIBERIAN MILLET SUNFLOWER PINTO BEANS

GARBANZO BEANS WESTERN WHEAT

The Four-Legged FactorCover crops also allow Brown to further bring his operation together.

Brown runs 250 head of Balancer, Gelbvieh and Angus cows on 2,000 pastureacres (800 ha).

“One thing we’re doing with cover crops is integrating crop and livestockproduction,” says Brown. “Instead of harvesting by mechanical means, weuse our cow herd to harvest for us.”

The cattle graze the cover crops from September through January 1.Besides saving in might-as-well-be-made-of-gold fuel, Brown has discoveredthat getting cattle on cropland has a wide variety of benefits. The hoof traffichelps get crop litter in contact with the soil surface; fecal matter serves asfertilizer; the livestock get higher nutritional value forage, which relates tobetter rates of gain; and soil health is improved through increased organicmatter, better infiltration and moisture conservation.

“Too many people look at livestock separate from cropping. On ouroperation we look at the system as a whole. It’s about what is best for thelivestock and the crop,” says Brown. “For example, hairy vetch is tremendousfor grazing and it fixes 100 to 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Plus, thecattle provide the phosphorus needs.”

His livestock operation also weathers drought better thanks to this system. “When we purchased the farm we could only run 65 cows, now we

easily sustain 250 head and leave more forage than ever even grew beforebecause we are able to graze cover crops and rest our pastures,” says Brown.“When drought hits we can easily sustain because we have a good supply of grass to fall back on.”

Water ManagementFollowing low organic matter, water infiltration was one of Brown’s

biggest challenges. When he started no-tilling, an NRCS water infiltration test on his fields showed that if it were to rain one inch 25 mm), only.4 inches (10 mm) of rain would infiltrate in the first hour and only


.25 inches (6 mm) per hour in the second hour. “In 2006 we had a four-inch (100 mm) rain and it infiltrated so well that

the agronomy center was able to get in the field and spray our corn the nextday. Our neighbor had water sitting in his field for more than six weeks,”recalls Brown. “Our soil now can infiltrate several inches per hour.”

Improving infiltration helps with extreme water situations, includinggetting more production with less precipitation. In 2005 Brown had a drylandcorn field that received only 12.5 inches (313 mm) of moisture that year andit averaged 177 bushels per acre (443 bushels/ha) at harvest. The countyaverage on a good year is around 80 bushels per acre (200 bushels/ha).Brown regularly averages 127 bushels per acre (318 bushels/ha).

Team WorkBrown is the first to tell that his farming practices are not a product of

his invention alone. Brown works extensively with scientists, researchers,conservationists and community groups to uncover better practices and help other area farmers put those practices to use. For example, Brown worksclosely with Jay Fuhrer, the Bismarck NRCS district conservationist, to bringno-till and polycultures to other producers in the county and serves as asupervisor himself on the soil conservation district board.

Brown also has teamed with Kris Nichols, a soil microbiologist at the ARS research center in Mandan. They are looking at some of the secondarybenefits of the polycultures that populate Brown’s fields including how theplants interact, build better soil structure, make the soil more efficient atmoving nutrients and water and more.

“One thing that we’ve found is that with the polycultures we get a lot of mycorrihzal activity and symbiotic relationships among the plants,” says Brown. They also look at the role soil organisms play.

“When we started our soil organic matter was 1.7 percent to 2 percent on most of the fields. Today we’re consistently 3.7 percent to 4.3 percent,”explains Brown. “But just because you have organic matter doesn’t mean it’s available to the plants right away.”

One year Brown soil tested and had 14 pounds of available Nitrogen. He applied 50 pounds, planted corn and ended up with 200 pounds available nitrogen because of microorganism activity.

“When you have organic matter you need bacteria to consume theorganic matter and protozoa to consume the bacteria and excrete nitrogenthat is usable to plants,” explains Brown. “Focusing on organic matter,improving soil health and creating an environment conducive to bacteriaand protozoa health allows you to use fewer commercial inputs.”

Accidental ProofCommercial sprayers joke that it’s good business to leave some skips in

the field so producers know how good the control really was. In similarfashion, Brown was able to see the advantages of his production system.

In 2006 hairy vetch seed was hard to come by. Due to the shortage, Brown didn’t have enough seed to cover the whole field he was planting, so he seeded part to triticale/vetch and the rest to straight winter triticale. In spring of 2007 he topdressed the straight triticale with 100 pounds (45 kg) of urea. When they harvested the field in June, Brown recorded some surprising data.

“The triticale/vetch mix yielded 11 tons per acre (27.5 tons/ha) while the straight triticale with the commercial fertilizer yielded only 8 tons (20 tons/ha). The combination tested 19.5 percent crude protein while the triticale alone tested 12.9 percent crude protein,” reports Brown. “It cost me the same for 100 pounds of urea as it did for the hairy vetch seed, so why not just plant triticale and hairy vetch together?”

Brown can’t explain the differences in production and quality, but he’s seen it time and time again.

“We are seeing tremendous crop response from these and othercombinations in many situations, and we don’t really know why,” says Brown. But he’ll use the combinations to his advantage.

Income versus ProfitOne thing Brown has had to do to succeed is to think about profit

differently. Some crops are not as profitable as others, but are needed to helpthe system as a whole. Peas, for example, aren’t overly profitable, but havethe benefit of lowering input costs for subsequent crops. Also important toBrown are the long-term benefits he can leave for his son, Paul.

“I’m a conservationist first and a farmer/rancher second,” says Brown.“We need to improve the resource for future generations. Fortunately, if youdo that it also will improve your bottom line.”

And that’s one thing he knows from experience. “We were on the verge of going broke after those four years of crop

failure,” recalls Brown. “But through the changes that situation brought on I’ve seen the profitability that can come from improving the soil health.In 2007 it cost us only $1.19 to produce a bushel of corn. Farming is muchmore profitable for us today.”

Brown continues to work to further develop his farm and help those in his community. He is a supervisor on the Burleigh County Soil ConservationDistrict, a North Dakota Grazing Land Coalition board member, a supervisorfor the Area Four soil conservation district research farm, a member of the ag advisory board for Bismarck State College and brings in thousands to tourand learn from his farm. In the past two years he’s had visitors from 42 states

and 14 countries.“The profitability that can arise from focusing

on soil health and sustainable systems isunbelievable,” says Brown. “With input costs risinglike they are, producers need to focus on their soil resource and become least-cost producers.Nitrogen is free. You just have to plant crops thatproduce it. Don’t complain about input costs—do something about it. Diversify.”

This article was first printed in the No-Till Farmer (www.no-tillfarmer.com) as “No-Till Farming for the Future.” Gabe Brown lives in Bismarck, North Dakotaand can be reached at: 701/222-8602;[email protected].

Gabe uses cover crops to integrate livestock and crop production, grazing cattle on cover cropsfrom September through January 1. The system benefits his cattle, helps him continue productionon his acres throughout the year, serves to improve soil quality and allows him to rest his pastures.

Cocktail Mixes & Integrating Livestockcontinued from page nine


As a trainer/coach for agricultural producers, my role is to make them more successful using the Holistic Management®framework. Producers generally define success as being financiallystable, with their land regenerating, while at the same time

enjoying their work. This definition of success has led me to modify the way I have been presenting planned grazing. The following is anattempt to explain how I have modified the planned grazing training to improve success.

As we all know the key to success is to start regenerating our land. The first step in regeneration is stopping erosion which I have beendescribing as stopping the bleeding. This analogy clarifies that there is nopoint worrying about other issues such as weeds, fertilizers, stocking rate,etc. while your land is bleeding to death. The first step must be to stop thebleeding. With land management this means covering the soil with plantsand litter and managing the litter to ensure it is composting—litter in brittle environments requires monitoring and management tocontinually promote active composting.

We have been trialling simplifying the planning part of HolisticManagement planned grazing and then providing simple monitoring tools to help keep on track with land regeneration and animal health and performance. Monitoring has shown that a greater percentage of people trained are using grazing chartsto plan recovery. More important thoughis that they are reporting that their landis improving.

The planning simplification is basedon a combination of Sam Bingham’swork in Grassroots Restoration: HolisticManagement for Villages through to thecomplexity of the holistic grazingplanning in the Holistic ManagementHandbook. The simplification allowsproducers to decide if they want to usepins or pebbles to determine actualgrazing time in a paddock through to themathematical rating system used in theHandbook. Many producers favor aminimal mathematical variation thatuses their knowledge of their land.

A major struggle that we all havewhen shifting to planned grazing is landand animal performance. There is also atendency for initial success to declineover time. It was only when I was tryingto explain to our children and someinternational exchange students workingon our property that I realized that muchof the “art of grazing” was not readilytransferable. This realization was alsoassisted by my wife, Susie, exclaimingthat “no one knows what you are talkingabout!” The daily monitoring sheet

Daily Monitoring—Holistic Management® Planned Grazingby Graeme Hand

evolved from this assisted realization.I have found that by placing a score on some monitoring point’s

results in a greater connection to the land and animal performance which increases our success and the people we have been working with. This “language” also gives a quick summary of the planned grazing. A typical response when the management is on track will be the indicators are all score 4’s and 5’s.

Acknowledgements: This material is based on material developed from many sources including Allan Savory, Sam Bingham, Mark Bader, Jerry Brunetti, Joel Salatin, etc. As we all know, we need to be exposed tomaterial three to four times before we absorb and process it.

This article is an excerpt of a presentation on a simplified approach to holistic planned grazing Graeme presented in Abilene, Texas in March 2009. The Gut Fill photos are adapted from the UK Dairy website: http://www.delaval-us.com/Dairy_Knowledge/EfficientCowComfort/Feeding.htm.

Graeme Hand is a Holistic Management® Certified Educator who lives in Branxholme, Victoria, Australia. He can be reached at:[email protected].

This is a picture of the Hands’ property in a drought year. They carried 2/3rds of the district stocking rate without feeding. Large properties nearby lost approximately $30 per sheep or $300 per cow that year with purchased feed costs.



Daily Monitoring continued from page eleven

Ground Cover

Score 1: Bare ground between plants whichshows plant recovery is too short.

Score 3: Approaching 100 percent groundcover but lack of stable composting litter layerpossibly due to plant recovery too short andplants not producing sufficient litter. Lack of trampling to push litter into contact with soil may also be a related cause.

Score 5: 100 percent ground cover with stable/building composting litter layer showing recovery and trampling adequate. Also demonstrates patience of border collies

Dung

Score 1: Grass plants far tooyoung with excess non-proteinnitrogen (NPN) which will resultin animal health/ metabolicissues. Animals will be in negativeenergy balance and need oldergrass or hay/ straw/ energysupplementation.

Score 3: Grass plants too young(NPN) or mismatch betweenrumen flora and level of proteinand fiber which if not correctedwill result in animal health/metabolic issues such as calfscours, lameness, mastitis, poor fertility etc.

Score 5: Good match betweenrumen flora and protein/ energy/fibre. Animal health andperformance balance optimized

Score 10: Feed low in protein/energy and high in fiber. Animal performanceusually low.

Where To Look What To Look For

PADDOCK ANIMALS ARE LEAVING • 100% ground cover with a stable litter layer between perennial grasses. • Composting litter • Ground Cover scored from 1-5 – See Photos

PADDOCK THE ANIMALS ARE IN • Dung consistency scored from 1-10 – See photos• Clean tails and rumps• Gut fill—left-hand side paralumbar fossa scored from 1-5 – See photos• Water drinking—no snuffling or walking away• Electric Fence—Voltage checked

NEXT PADDOCK ANIMALS ARE GOING INTO • Highest successional grasses recovered—bunch grasses contain fresh dead/dry leaves or litter• Multiple layers of plants—grassland community with structure and function• High mass or volume—increasing overtime—Scored from 1-5 – See photos


Plant Recovery

Score 1: Plants have regrown some leaf but arelight green in color and have square tips.

Score 3: Plants have regrown leaf, which are dark green in color but do not contain fresh litter.

Score 5: Plants have fully recovered and contain fresh litter which ensures plants recovered while building ground cover and litter stocks.

Gut Fill

Score 1: The cow has eaten little or nothing,which could be due to sudden illness,insufficient feed or a mismatch between rumen flora and feed available.

Score 2: This is a sign of insufficient foodintake, or a rate of passage that is too high.

Score 3: This is the bottom score for cows on well recovered grass.

Score 4: This is the correct score for a portion of the mob on well recovered grass.

Score 5: This is the correct score for cows on well recovered grass and show a good match between rumen condition and food available.

Score 1 Score 2 Score 3

Score 5Score 4


Voisin’s Vision—Better Grassland Swardby John King

Holistic managers celebrate Andre Voisin for discovering thesignificance of time when planning grazing. His masterpiece Grass Productivity lays the foundation for grazing planning fromthe soil up. The book explains the ecological relationships between

grazing animals, plants, and soils and the resulting pastures farmersobserve in the paddocks of northern Europe.

Throughout Grass Productivity Voisin mentions another book focusingon pasture ecology. That book is Better Grassland Sward. It explores pasture sward composition resulting from various grazing, fertilizer, andcultivation practices.

Grazing Influences Sward CompositionWithin this book is a striking graph (Fig. 1) from 1930s German research

highlighting the impact of grazing frequency (recovery period) on pasturespecies. Sheep grazed one pasture weekly over 4 years, the other every 3 weeks forthe same period. Both show a very different sward at the end of the experiment.

Which one is which? Such questions challenge farmers to reflect onoutcomes of their own grazing practices. These graphs record the evolvingsward composition when rigid grazing management ignores both seasonal

growth patterns and the changing ratios of pasture species. A similar spectacular graph in Grass Productivity demonstrates the

dynamic sward changes from another 1930s German study with cattle (Fig.2), showing preferred pasture species increasing. This research highlightshow sound pasture management improves pasture diversity and quality. Theresearch conducted four different grazing regimes and followed the swarddynamics of a range of plant species. While there is little information on thenature of the grazing regimes, the shift to intensive grazing managementreveals how greater control over recovery periods and stock density producesbetter pastures.

The trials regenerated long abandoned grazing commons and the siteswere modestly fertilized. What surprised researchers was the emergence ofbetter quality species without sowing. The range of grazing regimesdemonstrates:

• Controlled passage of grazing animals through paddocks changes the diversity of pasture species.

• Weeds and undesirable grasses disappear under intensive grazing and moderate fertilizer levels.

• Seeds are often already there, they germinate and establish in the sward as volunteers.

• Partial rest in temperate climates without fertilizer reduces diversity and quality of feed.

• Productive pasture swards can become incredibly diverse.• Animals are tools to create diverse swards through disturbance.Figure 3 shows the flora changes over the three-year period from the

rotational grazing with small paddocks (2.5 acres or 1 hectare) in Figure 2.Voisin provides no information on the number of grazing animals and theirstock density, yet the results show grasses like sweet vernal, crested dogstail,meadow grass, red fescue, and creeping soft grass succumbing to Kentuckybluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and cocksfoot proving that higher fertility androtational grazing favored particular species. While there is no doubt aboutthe relationship between pasture composition and grazing, the lack ofgrazing details muddies the connection.

The Timing of Spring Grazing is CriticalVoisin coined the phrase “Comparative Phenology,” the science of timing

farming operations with the development of wild plants. Examples he gavewere planting beets at the spring burst of chestnut buds, or sowing oats aswild primroses flower. With grazing, he suggested starting the spring rotationwhen wild cherry trees blossomed.

However, if farmers want diverse pastures, they need to think carefully

Figure 1: Which Pasture has the Shortest Recovery Period?

Figure 2: Changes is Pasture Flora on Old Pastures after 3 Years of Grazing TreatmentsFigure 3:Changes inFlora UsingRotationalGrazing with SmallPaddocks


about when they execute their grazing plans. Martin Jones, a British pastoralscientist demonstrates the key to changing pasture composition is the timingof spring grazing (Fig 4). His 1930s research highlights the need for someforethought about a paddock’s productive role over the summer monthswhen determining the nature of grazing in the spring.

Figure 4 shows how two years of changing old sward (OS) grazing timingof spring grazing with sheep influences the presence of pasture species overthe summer. Want high clover? Set stock all spring (A). Want ryegrass? Then,allow the pasture to recover over the first six weeks of spring and then graze(B). Want cocksfoot? Hammer the ryegrass for the first month, then let thepasture recover when cocksfoot is at its most aggressive growth phase (C).The timing of grazing when emerging from drought also provides similaropportunities to influence pasture swards.

The New Zealand practice of set stocking at lambing during the springmonths (A) creates ideal conditions to overgraze many emerging grasses.This practice leads to the dominance of clover, essential to maximize lambgrowth rates, but reduces overall pasture production. The result is thecommon sight on New Zealand sheep properties of very short pastures andgrasses with short root systems prone to summer drought.

The danger of grazing paddocks at the same growth stage each year isdecreasing plant diversity, pasture quality, and animal health issues. In NewZealand, high clover rates lead to high blood urea levels, lower liveweightgains and milk production over the summer, higher animal health costs, andcompromising the performance of breeding stock as young stock are carriedlonger to finish. Voisin warns that clover should only be between 15-20percent of pasture species as excess protein reduces animal performance. He examines the impacts of pasture nutrition on animals’ health in greaterdetail with his two other books, Soil, Grass, and Cancer, and Grass Tetany.

Recovery Period and Harvesting Not only is the timing of grazing important, Voisin also reviews the

frequency and method of harvesting grass. More German research from thelate 1930s (Fig 5) illustrates how summer cutting and grazing pastures withsheep (dung and urine was removed immediately) produces notably differentswards when applying the same treatment over four years from sowing.Grazed pastures had greater diversity and balance of species than cutpastures, especially as recovery periods lengthened. However, the trendemerging from the longest recovery periods of both methods were similar in that cocksfoot was beginning to dominate pastures.Cocksfoot enjoys longer recovery times and the fact it survivedso well under sheep grazing was surprising to Voisin.

Ryegrass and white clover remain relatively stable undergrazing but almost disappear under cutting. Voisin states thestudy proves light is essential for white clover to survive,therefore it prefers short pastures. Ryegrass, too, likes shorterpastures as it declines under longer recovery times. Elsewherein Better Grassland Sward, New Zealand trampling andexcreta studies establish sheep at high stock densitiesinvigorates perennial ryegrass.

The German study shows annual meadow grass almostdisappears under longer recovery reflecting its growth habitcannot compete with year round perennials. Kentuckybluegrass grass likes intense grazing with short recovery timesbut meadow grass (rough bluegrass) did better on longergrazing recovery than cutting. Tall oat grass likes longerrecovery times and thrives in permanent hay paddocks.Birdsfoot trefoil likes longer recovery times and why it fades inshort, intensively grazed sheep pastures. While other speciesemerged, none thrived under the cutting and grazing methods.

The results clarify how populations of grass species change due to thefrequency and nature of grass harvesting. They demonstrate that too muchdisturbance can lower pasture diversity, whereas Figure 3 shows not enoughdoes the same thing. Holistic managers understand this balance due to thephrase “a species only invades an area when the conditions are right for it toestablish and thrive, and leave an area when the conditions prevent itsreproduction.” It is the principles embedded within this phrase that driveholistic planned grazing by having animals at “the right place at the righttime for the right reason.” Monitoring pasture species provides directionwhen planning the movement of grazing animals across a landscape wherepasture diversity is the focus.

However, changes in grazing practice alone may not account fortransforming pasture, especially in newly sown pastures. In HolisticManagement, we talk about bottlenecks when managing ecologicalpopulations and with pasture plants—two important factors are soil function and fertility.

Cultivation Reduces Pasture ProductivityBetter Grassland Sward reveals a phenomenon that farmers are aware

of but few can prove. Voisin was deeply concerned with the decliningproductivity of cultivated and sown pastures, a concept he called “years ofdepression.” After sowing, the pasture is a blaze of growth for the first twoyears, then its performance decreases over eight more years compared tounplowed pastures. This is why conventional practice accepts the ongoing use


Figure 4: Changes in Flora of a Three Year OldSward after Two Yearsof Spring GrazingTreatments

Figure 5: Pasture Composition after Four Years of Summer Grazing or Summer Cutting


of chemical fertilizers and renewing pastures every few years.Voisin found a rare example of research focusing on sward changes in

newly sown pastures. Using the means of three different grazing regimes andmown like a lawn (Figure 6) a 1930s German study shows the decline ofdesirable pasture species over four years thereby hinting something otherthan grazing as the cause. Four years after sowing, these pastures wereaveraging production at 80 percent of that recorded in their first year.

Researchers noted the smothering action of newly sown species reducedplants per area. Furthermore, tillering of these plants also reduced over time (the complete opposite of what plant breeders were trying to do) leading to patches of bare soil and reducing pasture productivity in a non-brittle environment.

The Germans called the areas depression spots because soil life dies tosuch an extent it cannot maintain the soil structure. These patches stayed insome pastures for over 12 years and were particularly visible during drought.White clover and lower fertility grasses such as bent grass and sheep’s fescuecovered these areas. These species signify ecological succession was revertingto a pioneering stage primarily due to the decline in fertility.

Voisin believed sowing new grass cultivars did not reduce thisphenomenon because plant breeders didn’t look beyond establishment andproduction characteristics. As he often observed, cows preferred indigenous tocommercial varieties of the same species, a result of plant breederssystematically ignoring the preferences of the supreme judge of pasturemanagement—the grazing animal. Furthermore, Voisin reports farmerssaying their animals were more prone to health problems on the newly sownpastoral lays than old permanent pasture, testifying that animals avoidednew commercial species for good reason.

Voisin links years of depression to soil compaction from cultivation (Fig7) and shows how organic matter, soil aggregates, and soil moisture arenotably lower after plowing compared to permanent pasture. The extent ofdepression is more marked with years of cropping between pastures. Farmerseasily notice the difference when walking across newly sown pastures. Thesoil feels like concrete compared to the sponginess of permanent pasture.

Higher organic matter, soil aggregates, and soil moisture are the reasonspermanent pastures hang on longer in drought primarily due to the rootmass and the associated soil life living there. This is where advances in

biological farming could shorten the recovery time for soils that undergocultivation and stimulate the soil activity of worn out permanent pastures,especially if combined with soil aerating technologies like Keyline ploughingor the practice of pulse grazing.

The Plow or the Hoof?While much of this research is 80 years old, Voisin’s books demonstrate

two things: animals can heal the land and the plow is a poor substitute forgrazing management. Influencing the dynamic nature of grassland ecologyrequires insight when managing the intensity, frequency, and timing ofgrazing. Pastures are not static entities. The growth phase, whether duringspring or following a drought, is especially sensitive to grazing timing andinfluences the sward composition over the entire season. Coupled with thefertility status of the soil, particularly soil structure through good organicmatter, Voisin showed these factors strongly influence pasture performance.

For modern farmers it highlights a long history challenging the mantrapasture renovation must involve plow. Voisin’s work highlighted the need fordiversity and variety in grazing regimes and pasture swards to maintainpasture health. Many modern practices do the opposite because the farmingindustry ignores ecological principles for short term profits leading to pastureburn out and the need to resow. The evolving professional image ofsustainable farming requires biological monitoring for farmers to optimizethe benefits of disturbance and diversity. Observing and monitoring thelandscape are strong themes throughout Voisin’s work.

For holistic managers, Voisin clarifies how the use of tools influencescommunity dynamics in non-brittle environments. As with fire andtechnology, consistently repeating too much or too little of rest, grazing, and animal impact reduces pasture diversity and performance. His focus on newly sown pastures illustrates how the soil’s living organisms influencethe pasture sward when cultivating and disrupting the mineral cycle. As thebackbone to the holistic planned grazing procedures, Voisin’s insights provide the foundation for holistic managers to create Voisin’s vision; a better grassland sward.

Note: Figures 3, 5, 6, & 7 are adaptations from Grass Productivity andBetter Grassland Sward.

Figure 6: Evolution of Pasture Species Four Years after Sowing “Years of Depression”

Figure 7: Characteristics of Soil under Pastures of Different Ages

Better Grassland Sward continued from page fifteen


PBS Documentary —Debut in Wyoming

On May 6th and 7th, high schoolstudents from Gillette and Wright(Wyoming) were introduced toissues of land health and animal

impact through clips from “The FirstMillimeter: Healing the Earth” and talksby John Flocchini, long-time bisonrancher, Holistic Management practitioner,and—now—a local celebrity. John wasjoined by Chris Schueler, the film’sdirector/producer, who talked to severalgroups of students about film making. Agroup of these students got to visit theFlocchini family-owned 53,000 acre(21,500 hectare) bison ranch just outside Wright, where John and Certified Educator RolandKroos followed the previous day’s teachings with on-the ground demonstrations of animalimpact on different sites on the ranch.

On the evenings of May 6th and 7th, John had arranged for screenings of the film for the whole community. The Gillette screening took place at the local Cam-Plex theatre andattracted an enthusiastic crowd of 130 people who stayed long after the screening for a lively Q & A period. The May7th screening brought together over 60 people at the Wright Town Hall and generated an equally animated response.

A big draw for both events was the fact that 18 Emmy award-winning producer ChrisSchueler had taken time out of his busy schedule to be there; Chris talked about the filming, the amazing people he met , and about his unequivocal commitment to helping spread the word about the importance of healing the earth so that future generations can survive. Those of us who know Chris know how contagious his unbridled enthusiasm can be.

John also took the opportunity to get the media involved and managed to get cover stories in both local newspapers just prior to the screening events. And, unbeknownst to him, the Colorado Wire Service picked up the story and it’s now spreading through Colorado.

Jennifer Womack, Managing Editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, who attended the Wright screening had a particularly interesting observation to share:

“I walked out the door of the Wright City Hall building glad I’d attended for yet a third reason, one that didn’t occur me until I visited with Mr. Schueler. I’ve long believedmainstream media too often portrays rural residents as naïve and simple-minded. By allowinglivestock producers to tell their stories and the planning and thought processes that go into animal husbandry, Mr. Schueler shone a light of sophistication and intelligence onthe people who make their living in agriculture around the world.”

And because of all the publicity and interest John has been able to generate in hiscommunities, the Wyoming PBS station will be broadcasting the film sometime this summer.(Please check our website www.holisticmanagement.org for broadcast schedules.)

Our heartfelt thanks go to John Flocchini and Chris Schueler for this well orchestrated series of events. Thank you, John and Chris!

What’s Next for the Documentary?Executive Producer Tony Tiano has pitched the film to over twenty-five PBS stations in

key areas of the country, including California (North & South), Texas, Arizona, Washington,Nebraska, Idaho, and Iowa. By the time you read this, you may actually already have seen it on your local PBS station. If not, call or e-mail your PBS station manager and ask that they“grab” it from the satellite feed (“bird” in TV parlance) and add it to their broadcast schedule; it won’t cost them anything! Also, keep checking our website for broadcast schedule updates atwww.holisticmanagement.org. And while you’re there, check out the invitation to host a houseparty to introduce your family, friends, and neighbors to Holistic Management and theimportance of healthy soil for the health of the planet! If you have any questions about hosting a house party, contact Mary Girsch-Bock at [email protected].

HMI and Holistic Managementby Ben Bartlett

While many of you understand therelationship between HolisticManagement International (HMI)and Holistic Management (HM), it is

important the relationship is kept in perspective.Holistic Management, first developed by AllanSavory and Jody Butterfield, is the practice ofmanaging your life, your land, and/or yourcommunities toward your holisticgoal. Allan and Jody are the Founders of HolisticManagement. HMI is the organization whosestatement of purpose is to “Advance the practiceand coordinate the worldwide development ofHolistic Management to heal the land whileimproving quality of life and creating healthyeconomies.” Both the practice of HolisticManagement (Holistic Resource Management)and the organization (Center for HolisticManagement, The Savory Center) have haddifferent names in the past, yet the relationshiphas remained consistently committed to thestatement of purpose.

HMI is a 501c3 non-profit organization basedin Albuquerque, New Mexico. The organizationhas a managing staff of 11 people. HMI gainsoversight and policy from the current Board ofDirectors of 12 domestic and four internationalvolunteer board members. USA board membersserve up to two concurrent, three-year terms andreceive no compensation for service and expenses;100 percent make donations to HMI. InternationalBoard members are non-voting members. Due totravel costs, these international Directors receivefinancial travel support to attend, in person, onemeeting per year. They participate regularly inemail and conference call meetings. Thisorganization of staff (management) and Board(policy and oversight) works to maintain, develop,and grow the practice for future generations. Thethird significant component of this effort is YOU,the practitioners and Certified Educators, theHolistic Management network. HolisticManagement, HMI, and the people within theHolistic Management network are woven together within this whole.

Changes in 2009The HMI organization celebrates 25 years

in 2009. That accomplishment speaks volumes



to the need and importance of the practice of Holistic Management. With six billion people in theworld, we have a way to go to reach the globalmarketplace, but the number of people and acresmanaged holistically continues to grow. Currently, we have close to 30 million acres across the globemanaged holistically! However, our challengecontinues. Just as the names of Holistic Managementand HMI have changed over time, the organization in the last two years has worked on a tighter marketfocus. HMI offers products and services to those clients and audiences who would be the most receptiveto Holistic Management and is establishingmeasurable outcomes so we can more accuratelymonitor our efforts.

The current economic downturn is a challenge for all non-profits and businesses, but since HMIpractices Holistic Management, the staff is busy re-planning and revising the financial plan to maintainour economic stability. A particular goal I have asBoard Chair is improved HMI communication of all things it is doing to advance and coordinate thepractice of Holistic Management.

In 2008, HMI had a key change in our IRS statusfrom a “public charity” to a “private operatingfoundation,” due to the changing income ratios. We still maintain a 501c3 classification, but there are different regulations for these different types ofnon-profits, and we are making sure we do everythingto be in compliance.

In early 2009, HMI completed another keycompliance effort towards HMI’s funding of the AfricaCenter for Holistic Management (ACHM). ACHM isnow its own international non-profit organization,able to receive funds from any entity. HMI continuesto fund ACHM and is working to build ACHM capacityso they can maximize their new status and solicitfunds from other entities to create sustainability forthat organization.

I am very pleased with HMI’s Board and staff andtheir commitment to the organization and to thepractice of Holistic Management. These big changesin status take a great deal of time and energy to workthrough all the ensuing details. Likewise, strategicfocus and policy are ongoing concerns within anyorganization wishing to keep current with the timeswhile keeping grounded in its culture and traditions.The HMI Board and staff appreciate the efforts of theHolistic Management network and look forward toworking with you to advance and coordinate thepractice of Holistic Management worldwide.

Ben Bartlett is the HMI Board Chair. He can bereached at [email protected].

Practicing What You Teach—Livestock Treated Cropfields by Senanelo Moyo

Nicolas Ncube joined the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in 1994 as avolunteer training to be a community facilitator in Holistic Management.Nicolas and his wife, Sithabisiwe, have three children—Privilege, Praisemore,and Petnetty. This family lives in an area governed by Chief Mvutu.

Traditionally the family grows millet, maize, round beans, groundnuts andpumpkins. They have been using an ox-drawn plow to till the land and never everused manure. The family owns six cattle and eight goats which they bought in 2007.

The family decided to change their farming methods after Nicolas saw that thelivestock treated crop fields as part of the USAID grant funded programs produce avery good yield. He saw this process used in Monde at Mpisi’s crop field last year. So Nicolas started talking to his wife about this farming method and told her hewanted to practice what he teaches.

“At first Sithabisiwe did not understand, and thought the work was tedious andlabor intensive,” says Nico. But his son Privilege helped Nicolas with this work bydigging the holes together that are necessary for forming the kraals (corrals) to keep the livestock in the crop field.

In normal circumstances the family harvests six 198–lb bags (90-kg) of maizeand two 198-lb bags (90-kg) of millet. But this year the family is expecting to harvest10 198-lb bags (90-kg) of maize. This is a 67 percent increase in productivity!Sithabisiwe is excited about the results and is already harvesting cow pea leaves,pumpkin leaves, and other traditional vegetables.

This year the family is planning to start crop field fertilization using livestock asearly as June so that a large area is fertilized. Their neighbors are planning to use thesame method too.

HMI and Holistic Managementcontinued from page seventeen

To the left is Nicolas’sfertilized field andthe control side onthe right.

The fertilized sidehas healthy crops

and no bareground.


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]

* Kelly MulvilleP.O Box 323, Valley Ford, CA 94972-0323707/431-8060; 707/[email protected]

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

COLORADO

Joel BensonP.O. Box 4924, Buena Vista, CO 81211719/395-6119 • [email protected]

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

Daniela and Jim HowellP.O. Box 67, Cimarron, CO 81220-0067970/249-0353 • [email protected]

Byron Shelton33900 Surrey Lane, Buena Vista, CO 81211719/395-8157 • [email protected]

Tom WaltherP.O. Box 1158Longmont, CO 80502-1158510/499-7479 • [email protected]

GEORGIA

Constance Neely635 Patrick Place, Atlanta, GA 30320706/540-2878 • [email protected]

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]

MICHIGAN

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

* Larry Dyer604 West 8th Ave. Sault Sainte Marie, MI 49783906/248-3354 x4245 (w)906/253-1504 (h)[email protected]

MONTANA

Wayne Burleson322 N. Stillwater Rd., Absarokee, MT 59001406/[email protected]

Roland Kroos 4926 Itana CircleBozeman, MT 59715406/[email protected]

* Cliff MontagneP.O. Box 173120Montana State University Department of Land Resources &Environmental ScienceBozeman, MT 59717406/[email protected]

NEBRASKA

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

Paul Swanson5155 West 12th St., Hastings, NE 68901402/[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 NWAlbuquerque, NM 87102505/[email protected]

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

NEW YORK

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

John Thurgood15 Farone Dr., Apt. E26Oneonta, NY 13820-1331607/[email protected]

North Dakota

Wayne Berry1611 11th Ave. WestWilliston, ND 58801701/[email protected]

OREGON

Andrea & Tony MalmbergP.O. Box 167, LaGrande, OR 97850541/[email protected]@LifeEnergy.us

PENNSYLVANIA

Jim Weaver428 Copp Hollow Rd.Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976570/[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 694, Ozona, TX 76943-0694325/[email protected]

UN I T E D S TAT E S

UN I T E D S TAT E S

TEXAS

Chandler McLayP.O. Box 1796, Glen Rose, TX 76043303/888-8799 • [email protected]

R. H. (Dick) RichardsonUniversity of Texas at AustinSection of Integrative BiologySchool of Biological SciencesAustin, TX 78712 • 512/[email protected]

WASHINGTON

Craig MadsenP.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008509/236-2451 • [email protected]

Sandra Matheson228 E. Smith Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226360/398-7866 • [email protected]

Doug Warnock1880 SE Larch Ave., College Place, WA 99324509/540-5771 • 509/856-7101 (c)[email protected]

Wisconsin

Andy Hager W. 3597 Pine Ave., Stetsonville, WI 54480-9559715/678-2465

Larry JohnsonW886 State Rd. 92, Brooklyn, WI 53521608/[email protected]

* Laura PaineWisconsin DATCP N893 Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925608/224-5120 (w) • 920/623-4407 (h)[email protected]

To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified indivi duals to help others learn to practice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical as sis tance when necessary. On a yearly basis, Cer ti fi ed Educators renew their agree ment to be affiliated with HMI. This agreement requires their com mitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Man age ment and to maintain a high stan dard of ethical conduct in their work.

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

Certified Educators

Certified Educators

I N T E RNAT IONA L

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, NSW61-2-9144-3975 • [email protected]

George Gundry Willeroo, Tarago, NSW 258061-2-4844-6223 • [email protected]

Graeme Hand 150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 330261-3-5578-6272 (h) • 61-4-0996-4466 (c)[email protected]

Helen LewisP.O. Box 1263, Warwick, QLD 437061-7-46617393 • [email protected]

� These educators provide Holistic Managementinstruction on behalf of theinstitutions they represent.

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


SOUTH AFRICA

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

Dick RichardsonP.O. Box 1853, Vryburg 8600tel/fax: 27-082-934-6139;[email protected]

SPAIN

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

UNITED KINGDOM

Philip Bubb32 Dart Close, St. IvesCambridge, PE27 3JB44-1480-496-2925 (h)44-1223-814-662 (w)[email protected]

ZIMBABWE

Sunny MoyoAfrica Centre for Holistic ManagementP. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls;[email protected]; 263-13-42199 (w)

KENYA

Richard HatfieldP.O. Box 10091-00100, [email protected]

Christine C. JostInternational Livestock Research InstituteBox 30709, Nairobi 00100254-20-422-3000; 254-736-715-417 (c)[email protected]

Belinda LowP.O. Box 15109, Langata, [email protected]

MEXICO

Arturo Mora BenitezSan Juan Bosco 169Fracc., La MisiónCelaya, Guanajuato 3801652-461-615-7632 • [email protected]

Elco Blanco-MadridHacienda de la Luz 1803Fracc. Haciendas del Valle IIChihuahua, Chih 3123852/614-423-4413 (h) • 52/614-415-0176 (f)[email protected]

Ivan A. Aguirre IbarraP.O. Box 304, Hermosillo, Sonora 8300052-1-662-281-0990 (from U.S.)[email protected]

NAMIBIA

Usiel KandjiiP.O. Box 23319, Windhoek264-61-205-2324 [email protected]

Wiebke VolkmannP.O. Box 9285, Windhoek264-61-225183 or [email protected]

NEW ZEALAND

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

SOUTH AFRICA

Wayne KnightP.O. Box 537Mokopane [email protected]

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

I N T E RNAT IONA L

AUSTRALIA

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

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

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

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

CANADA

Don CampbellBox 817 Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1Y6306/236-6088 • [email protected]

Len PigottBox 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO 306/[email protected]

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

SPEAKERS AND PRESENTERS INCLUDE:

John IkerdTerry GompertPam IwanchyskoDon CampbellAnn AdamsBlain HjertaasTony & Fran McQuailKelly SidorykAllison GuichonBrian LuceRalph & Linda Corcoran

TOPICS INCLUDE:

Finding Purpose in Peril,Building a New Economy, Profitable Farming,Cropping and Land Management,Financial Management,

. . . AND MORE!

For more information, call 206/622-2006 or go to

www.mbforagecouncil.mb.ca

Online registration will begin December 1, 2009.

Save theDate!

Western CanadianHolistic Management Conference

February 8-10,2010

RUSSELL,MANITOBA

Holistic Management® (Terry Gompert, Kirk Gadzia)Broadacre Permaculture (Doherty, Lancaster, Dolman)

Effective AID (Howard Yana Shapiro, Warren Brush)Soil Food Web (Dr. Elaine Ingham, Paul Taylor)

Pathways to Relocalisation (Joel Salatin)Natural Building (Jack Stephens, et.al.)

Fungi (Paul Stamets)ZERI, Pyrolysis, BioChar, Energy Systems & More...

Columbus, NM (20 day) – May 2009‘The Farm’ ,TN (20 day) – August/September 2009

Marin County, CA (26 day) – September/October 2009Santa Barbara, CA (43 day) – 0ct/Nov/Dec 2009


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PRINCIPLES OF SOIL FERTILITYUnderstanding Soil Tests and Nutrient Relationships

For consulting or educational services contact:

Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc.297 County Highway 357 Ph: 573/683-3880, Fax: 573/683-6227Charleston, Missouri 63834 Email: [email protected]

THURSDAY, JULY 30All-Day Farm Tour to farms using the program in Southeast MissouriCost: $125/person and includes motel room for Wednesday night and transportation from the

motel and return and lunch Thursday.

FRIDAY, JULY 30Soil Test Lab Tour and Lunch

Cost: $125/person and includes motel room forThursday night and transportation from the motel to lab and return. Arrive back at motel by 2:30 pm.

July 27-29, 2009TOPICS INCLUDE:

• SOIL TESTS AND THEIR USE• BUILDING SOIL LIFE• N-P-K NEEDS AND MATERIALS • LIMING AND PH• SULFUR, TRACE ELEMENTS, AND COMPACTION

COST: $650 per person, includes lodging (Sunday throughTuesday night and breakfast nextmorning), plus lunch each day. Dinner is not included.

FOR INFORMATION, COURSE REGISTRATION AND MOTEL RESERVATIONS, call 573/683-3880, or see the Courses and Meetings page at www.kinseyag.com.

—OPTIONAL TOURS—(REGISTER BY JULY 17 TO ASSURE LODGING, TOUR SEAT AND LUNCH)

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Program: Each day from 8:00 a.m.– 5:00 p.m. Holiday Inn Express,

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includes Natural Resource Structured Diagnosisas well as techniques on how to determine theroot cause of a problem the policy was designedto address. This is an experiential workshop sobring a policy you want to analyze or design.

H O L I S T I C M A N AG E M E N T ®

Policy Analysis and Design CourseSeptember 29 & 30, 2009

TO REGISTER, CONTACT: Knox County Extension, Center, NE

402-288-5611 • [email protected]

COST:

PER PERSON,FARM OR UNIT

$450

Knox County Courthouse Annex, Center, NE

INSTRUCTOR: JOEL BENSON



Let me get you the information you need

to improve the health AND productivity of your land.

• Over 40 years of experience with ranching and rangeland

• Public and private land experience

• 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back!

DON’T HAVE TIME TO MONITOR LAND HEALTH?

KELLY BONEY575/760-7636

[email protected]

The Land Clinic @Red Corral Ranch combines training or facilitation and sightseeing in a 3-day retreat

in the Texas Hill Country on demand. We work with you to schedule within your needs and plan in local sightseeing as work breaks.

— INITIAL OFFERINGS INCLUDE —

• Fundamentals of Holistic Management• Dollars and Sense: Holistic ManagementFinancial Planning

• Biological Monitoring

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please call:Christina Allday-Bondy, Certified Educator

at 512/658-2051 or email, [email protected]

the LAND CLINIC @RED CORRAL RANCH

Asesoría y capacitación para el desarrollo integral de empresas agropecuarias

rentables, ecológica y socialmente sanas

Contamos con ranchos particulares demostrativos, donde podrá observar los resultados del

Manejo Holístico en zonas áridas

CALLE 16ª N° 3200 • COLONIA PACÍFICO 31030CHIHUAHUA, CHIH. MÉXICO

Teléfonos: (614) 410 4642 • (614) 410 5363Fax. (614) 415 0176 • Celular: (614) 220 8019

[email protected]

Agro Cultura Empresarial SA de CV

CURSOS EN

ESPAÑOL

PARA TODA

AMÉRICA

LATINA

Elco S. Blanco Madrid,Educador Certificado

WAYNEBERRY

Boss Up Your Life!

� CERTIFIED HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT EDUCATOR

� RANCHER WORKSHOPS� GOAL SETTING� TEAM BUILDING� CONFERENCE /

MEETING PRESENTER

To learn more about workshop opportunities or trainings: Please call 866/938-6963 OR

[email protected].

POWERED BY WILLISTON STATE

COLLEGE

“Converted Grain Farmer to Grass Farmer”

Books & MultimediaHolistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making,_ Second Edition, by Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $39

_ Hardcover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $55_ 15-set CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99_ One month rental of CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35_ Spanish Version (soft). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25

_ Holistic Management Handbook, by Butterfield, Bingham, Savory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $27_ At Home With Holistic Management, by Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20_ Holistic Management: A New Environmental Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10_ Improving Whole Farm Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13_ Video: Creating a Sustainable Civilization—

An Introduction to Holistic Decision-Making, based on a lecture given by Allan Savory. (VHS/DVD/PAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30

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

TO ORDER

Subscribe to IN PRACTICE_ A bimonthly journal for Holistic Management practitioners

Subscribe for 1 year for only $35/U.S. ($40/International)2 years ($65/U.S.; $70/International) 3 years ($95/U.S.; $105/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

_ Policy/Project Analysis & DesignAugust 2008, 61 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_ Introduction to Holistic ManagementAugust 2007, 128 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25

_ Financial PlanningAugust 2007, 58 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_ Aide Memoire for Grazing PlanningAugust 2007, 63 pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

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

_ Early Warning Biological Monitoring—Rangelands and GrasslandsAugust 2007, 59 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_ Land Planning—For The Rancher or Farmer Running LivestockAugust 2007, 31 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION

Amount $_____________ Please designate program you would like us

to apply contribution toward _________________________________________

up to $15: add $ 5$16 to $35: add $ 6$36 to $50: add $ 8$51 to $70: add $ 9$71 to $90: add $10

over $91: add $12

Shipping & Handling

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT MAIL ORDER EMPORIUMHOLISTIC MANAGEMENT MAIL ORDER EMPORIUM

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

SoftwareHolistic Management® Financial Planning (single-user license) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $249 Please 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

a publication of Holistic Management International1010 Tijeras NWAlbuquerque, NM 87102USA

return service requested

please send address corrections before moving so that we do not incur unnecessary postal fees

NON-PROFITORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDALBUQUERQUE, NM

PERMIT NO 880

healthy land.sustainable future.

Printed on recycled paper

Indicate quantity on line next to item, make sure your shipping address is correct, mail this page (or a copy) and your check or money order payable in U.S. funds from a U.S. bank or your credit card number and expiration date to: Holistic Management International, 1010 Tijeras Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102.You can also call in or fax credit card orders. Phone calls to: 505/842-5252; Fax: 505/843-7900.

For online ordering, visit our secure website at: www.holisticmanagement.org.

Shipping and handlingcosts to the right are forU.S. media mail only.

Call 505/842-5252 forall other shipping rates.

holistic management 126julyaug

Documents

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