If we look objectively at modern agriculture,

we do not see a pretty picture. While many

people are concerned about the degradation

of natural resources in developing countries

because of agricultural practices, we have only

to look at the U.S. to see that such degradation is

not a matter of lack of knowledge or money.

Although America has the greatest concentration

of environmental and agricultural scientists ever

enjoyed by any nation, we now annually export

more eroding soil, by both tonnage and value,

than all other combined exports—grain, beef,

timber, commercial and military products, or

intellectual property.

This loss of topsoil is a loss of natural

capital—water and mineral cycles, community

dynamics, and energy flow are all diminished.

Therefore, we are breaking the most

fundamental rule of capitalism—eroding our

capital. And there are other costs involved.

A recent report in the New Scientist states that

conservative estimates of those costs previously

treated as externalities by economists show that

modern agriculture in the United Kingdom is

costing annually almost as much as the industry is

worth. Costs associated with air pollution, food

poisoning, drinking water, soil erosion, and

biodiversity loss alone were calculated. Do you

suppose that America is any different?

To any intelligent human, all this information

spells deep trouble and looming disaster on a

worldwide scale, especially as America now

controls, or influences, the world as no empire

in history ever has. America’s leadership

tragically offers no long-term hope for humanity

despite our largesse, good hearts, and well-

meaning. I believe this realization is slowly

entering the debate in the corporate, academic,

and government domains due to the persistence,

efforts, and writings of people like Paul Hawken,

Hunter and Amory Lovins, Hazel Henderson,

Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry, and many others.

The Future

How will this yet unwritten chapter of

history evolve? Will it be the finest chapter in

civilization, enabling us to realize our full

potential as humans in space travel and all the

other exciting possibilities before us? Or will it

be the closing chapter of a killer ape who

possessed amazing cleverness, but lacked the

wisdom to realize that it could not defy nature?

Although this chapter has still to be written, I

do believe we could at least draft it today. I

would like to have a shot at it based upon the

in t h is I s su e

Of Microsoft and Dung Beetles

Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

The Quality of Farming

Mary Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

LAND & LIVESTOCK—A specialsection of IN PRACTICELow Stress Stockmanship—An Old

Art Rekindled

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Grazing in Nature’s Image—Part II

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Savory Center Bulletin Board . . . . . . .14

Development Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Readers Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

The New Agriculture requires a mix of

new and old technology, and a lot of

creativity, flexibility, and willingness to

learn. Karl and Jane North help people,

like this intern, learn how to farm

sustainably as part of their work on

Northland Sheep Dairy. Read their

story on page 5.

The New Agricultureby Allan Savory

Future IssuesTell us what themes you’d like

us to cover, and we’ll find the

stories. Send in suggestions

and comments to:

Ann Adams

IN PRACTICE,

1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Phone: 505/842-5252; Fax: 505/843-7900

Email: anna@holisticmanagement.org

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 NUMBER 75

HOLISTICMANAGEMENT IN PRACTIC EP r oviding the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy

continued on page 2

One tenet Holistic Management practitioners espouse is that while civilization is city-based b y

definition, it was made possible by the development of agriculture and can only be sustained b y

agriculture. Thus, our collective knowledge of what has happened in the history of agriculture and

our vision of a new agriculture that will sustain humanity is essential for all civilization.

As Holistic Management practitioners, whether as agricultural producers, agency emplo yees who

help those producers, or agricultural consumers, we know agricultural business as usual must change

for our health and the health of the planet. But there are many out there who don’t see the connection

between agriculture and their own lives, or feel too uninformed or disempo wered to make any changes.

Those of us involved with such people know the power that Holistic Management of fers to all of us who

are concerned when we focus on what will move us in the direction we all want.

The following is an excerpt from a keynote speech Allan Savory presented at The Agriculture

Vision 2000 Conference—Sustaining the Agricultural Community in the New Millennium on

January 11, 2000 in Great Bend, Kansas. In his speech, Allan points out some of the key principles

upon which this new agriculture must rest to get those results. In turn, the stories in this issue

demonstrate how some farmers and ranchers have begun putting those principles into practice.

—Editor

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #75

The Allan Savory

Center for Holistic Management

The ALLAN SAVORY CENTER FOR

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT is a 501(c) (3)

non-profit organization. The Center

works to restore the vitality of

communities and the natural resources

on which they depend by advancing the

practice of Holistic Management and

coordinating its development worldwide.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lois Trevino, Chair

Rio de la Vista, Vice Chair

Ann Adams, Secretary

Manuel Casas, Treasurer

Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD

Ron Brandes, New York, NY

Sam Brown, Austin, TX

Gretel Ehrlich, Santa Barbara, CA

Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR

Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico

Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX

STAFF

Shannon Horst, Executive Director;

Kate Bradshaw, Associate Director;

Allan Savory, Founding Director;

Jody Butterfield, Co-Founder and

Research and Educational Materials

Coordinator ; Kelly Pasztor, Director

of Educational Services; Andy Braman,

Development Director; Ann Adams,

Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and

Membership Support Coordinator

Africa Centre for Holistic Management

Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

tel: (263) (11) 213529; email:

rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw

Huggins Matanga, Director;

Roger and Sharon Parry, Managers,

Regional Training Centre; Elias Ncube,

Hwange Project Manager/Training

Coordinator

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INPRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is publishedsix times a year by The Allan SavoryCenter for Holistic Management, 1010Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102,505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email:savorycenter@holisticmanagement.org.;website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2001.

Ad definitumfinem

The New Agriculturecontinued from page 1

lessons of history, what we know about the pre-

historic environments that produced us as a

species, and the latest developments in ecology

and science in general. We can outline some

principles that will pertain no matter what

phenomenal advances in technology might arise.

Our future, I believe, lies in applying sound

principles and using all our cleverness and

technology as it develops to work within those

principles. Principles will stand like the rock of

Gibraltar while technology, as it has done over

the last million years, will keep changing.

The key principles are:

■ Decision-making and management will need

to be holistic to address the root cause of

biodiversity loss, desertification, global climate

change, and the failures of agriculture (organic

and modern) in all regions. This means all

decisions on which management is based

will need to be socially, environmentally and

economically sound both short- and long-term.

(Many people ignore the reality that many

failed civilizations had nothing but what some

today are calling sustainable or organic

agriculture. They had not yet discovered oil

and coal, nor developed any of today’s

agricultural machinery, fertilizers and pesticides

or pollutants from fossil fuels.)

■ Agricultural management will need to be

based on “a holistic decision-making and

management process” as opposed to the present

“management systems” approach where we

prescribe practices, rules, regulations, laws, and

more. Sound holistic decision-making will need

to replace such well-meaning but misguided

ideas as “best management practices.”

■ The new agriculture will need to embrace

the best of the old (organic) and the modern

(technological) ideas.

■ The new agriculture will need to involve

large herbivores in carbon cycling in croplands,

forests, and rangelands. Neither fire nor any

known or envisioned technology can perform

the role played by large herbivores and the

microorganisms in their intestinal tracts in

breaking down plant lignin. It is currently not

conceivable that any form of technology could

do this on the scale required while feeding

people and sustaining biodiversity and living

soils. Large herbivores will have to largely

replace the present biomass burning on

croplands, forests, and rangelands.

■ The new agriculture will need to remove most

large animals from factory confinement (where

they produce unhealthy food and pollutants) and

return them to the land where they can produce

healthy food and curb pollution.

■ Monoculture cropping will need to give way

to polyculture cropping combined with animal

use in most environments.

■ We will need to decrease the exploitation

levels, or drastically change the forms of

exploitation, of humid environments, rivers,

lakes, and seas.

■ We will need to increase the level of

utilization and production of the world’s brittle

environments—about two thirds of the earth.

■ Farms and/or fields will need to become

smaller to be ecologically manageable (not to

be confused with ownership).

■ Ranches will need to become larger to be

ecologically manageable (again not to be

confused with ownership—owners can

cooperatively manage larger land units).

■ Economies will need to be consciously linked

to their ecological base (the need to practice

natural capitalism) and not float on thin air as

they currently are. There are no true

“externalities.” All costs have to be born

ultimately by the people.

■ Answers will be developed from a combination

of ecological principles (our knowledge of which

is expanding) and high technology ideas—not in

some magical silver bullet high tech solution

alone, as so many scientists predicted at the

beginning of this millennium.

Fortunately, a lot of what I have outlined is

already beginning to happen. Many minds are

independently beginning to acknowledge the

need to shift from a linear and systems-based

world view to a holistic world view. And many

also acknowledge the need for management

by process rather than prescribed systems.

Fortunately, this is not just being acknowledged

in theory but also in practice as many farmers,

ranchers, academics, and corporations are

beginning to demonstrate in a number of

countries.

Such fundamental change never comes

from governments, universities, or institutions.

Throughout history it has only come from

people. Change in society is to me just like

floods. They start as little drops of rain hitting

dry earth and spattering dust. Then the drops

hit damp soil, then wet, and so on, until trickles

start to flow and combine to become mighty

floods. This is the way it has to be to change

to the new agriculture.

The leaders will have to be you, one by one

leading the way and joining those already on

the right path trying to do the right thing in

their own self interest and ours jointly as the

last human species alive.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 3

Lusk, Wyoming might be off the

beaten path for those with a touch

of bi-coastal arrogance, but it’s on the

cyberspace highway thanks to Microsoft’s

largesse and marketing forethought. And

who better to play the poster child role for

them in their series of commercials than

Dan Henry Hanson, son of Dan and

Donna Hanson.

Dan Henry had been busy researching

on the Internet for his 4-H project on dung

beetles, so Microsoft thought he was a

good example of how a rural community

could benefit from being hardwired for the

future. In the meantime, the Wyoming

Stock Growers were just as impressed by

the Hansons’ ability to increase biodiversity

on their ranch. In 1999 they awarded the

Hansons their State Environmental

Stewardship Award, and in 2000 they

awarded them the National Cattlemen’s

Beef Association Region V Environmental

Stewardship Award.

Those awards, as well as Microsoft’s

interest in the Hansons’ Generation X, are

examples of what happens when people

start managing their lives to achieve what

they want instead of clinging to outworn

notions of how life must be.

Healthy Habitats and Economies

Dan Hanson was first introduced to

Holistic Management when he went to a

neighbor’s barn in 1991 to hear Allan Savory

present a slideshow. Right then the ideas

made sense, and he knew he needed to

learn more. The “Meeting of the Minds”

Club (a group of local ranchers who

weren’t afraid of new ideas) got the Soil

Conservation Service involved to help bring

more training to Lusk. In the following years,

Holistic Management™ Certified Educators

Miles Keogh and Roland Kroos facilitated a

series of workshops.

Dan applied the principles he learned in

those workshops to his ranch. The results

were remarkable. The first change was an

increase in his stocking rate. When he began

managing holistically, he needed 50 acres per

animal. He now only needs 24 acres, thus

doubling his stocking rate over the course of

In turn, increased soil fertility and

improved functioning of all four ecosystem

processes led to an increase in the diversity

of grass species, which led to a longer

growing season. With more species, more

plants are likely to be growing at any one

time. In this case, Dan increased his growing

season by two to three weeks. Combined

with his increased stocking rate, Dan saw

an increase in profit. He increased this

profit even more when he was able to

reduce his supplemental feed and mineral

expenses from $50 per head to $22 because

of increased and improved forage.

He was able to reduce more expenses by

getting rid of unnecessary machinery (he’s

down from 10 pickups, 9 tractors, and a

couple of semis to 4 pickups, one tractor,

and no semis) and reducing the number of

people working for the family. (He had five

hired men but is down to one hired man

who helps the family—Dan, Donna, Dan

Henry, 15, and Ben, 10.)

R ewarding Live s

Of course, this increase in production

and profit has led to more rewarding times

for the Hanson family. In 1989 they had just

bought more land for the ranch and were

9 years. As this change occurred there were

other improvements.

Because of his planned grazing he no

longer continuously grazed the riparian

areas on his property so more willows and

cottonwoods grew along his streambeds.

Likewise, because of the healthier riparian

areas, the increase of grass, and the

decrease of bare ground, his wildlife habitat

improved, and he saw more sharptail grouse,

turkeys, and Hungarian partridges. But what

he was most excited about was the dung

beetles. While many people are concerned

about the loss of “bigger” animals, Dan knew

that the absence of dung beetles indicated

major problems with the mineral cycle and

soil fertility.

As a boy, Dan had seen dung beetles at

work rebuilding the soil. But by the time he

was an adult, the dung beetles were gone. In

1993, prompted by his training in Holistic

Management, Dan stopped spraying the

cattle for flies and the beetles began to

flourish. Combined with increased animal

impact and planned grazing, Dan’s practice

of Holistic Management led to ever-healthier

soils, the foundation of all habitats. In fact,

Dan said he put 500 yearlings in a 20-acre

pasture and within a couple of hours you

couldn’t find a remaining cowpie because

the dung beetles had buried them all.

Of Microsoft and Dung Beetlesby Ann Adams

School buses and cattle exemplify the Hanson's ranch where the land and livestock of fer learning

as well as profit. These buses carry spectators for the 1999 Livestock Stewardship Tour.

continued on page 4

4 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #75

wondering how they would pay for it and

make the necessary improvements for the

ranch. Dan admits that if he had continued

operating the way he had been before his

training in Holistic Management, he

wouldn’t have been able to accomplish

what he has.

In the late ‘70s they were borrowing

money just to pay the interest on their

loans. Dan was working 12 hours a day

just to get basic chores

done. Worse yet, he wasn’t

even making minimum

wage. There was no future

in the ranch as it just wasn’t

economically viable.

Dan recalls, “I was

ranching with my body, not

my mind. I had sorted the

cattle by age group and

didn’t have more than 200

in a herd. I spent all day

checking on them or

moving pipelines and

checking pumps. Now I’ve

put the cattle together and

there are fewer things to

focus on. That means I

have more time for family

and community work that

I didn’t have before. I can

be a better member of the

community because I am a

rancher now, not a mechanic fixing all the

machinery we had. Our family is reaching

goals we thought were unattainable in the

1980s and the kids are more involved with

the ranch.”

Dan can bring that new enjoyment of

his work to those who can learn from his

experience. He and his family are actively

involved in 4-H, community politics, and

environmental education. The Hansons are

also part of a voluntary water quality

monitoring project established by the

Niobrara Conservation District, and are

involved in Agriculture in the Classroom,

a program through the local elementary

school that allows children to visit

the ranch.

Dan finds particular pleasure in helping

and paying attention to the plants and soil.

They’re looking over the fence and seeing

that what we do makes the grass better.

They see that it’s greener longer and more

lush. They know they need to do something

different too, and they’re beginning to

experiment.”

“New Zealand is us 30 years from

now. Their agriculture used to be highly

subsidized just like American agriculture is

now. But the government

couldn’t subsidize them

anymore and cut them off

completely. That will happen

here too.

“Agriculture must be self-

sustaining. We can’t accept

money from the government.

As a producer, you’ve got to

figure out how to earn the

profit you need. You’ve also

got to treat the soil and grass

right. If you don’t, you are

just borrowing away from

the future.

“Holistic Management can

help people make that shift.

They need to think of the

whole and create a goal that

addresses that whole. All of

these new management

processes and systems are

all just off shoots of Holistic

Management, and it is influencing

sustainable agriculture this way. It really

is how you look at something and what

you think you can do about it.”

The Hansons were between a rock and

a hard place in the late ‘70s. Some people

might say it was a sign of the times with

farmers and ranchers going belly up in

droves. And some people might say that the

agricultural picture is even worse today, but

not for the Hansons. They looked at what

they wanted to accomplish (healthy land,

animals, and finances and rewarding work)

and opened their minds to the possibilities

of how to achieve it.

Dan Hanson can be reached at

307/334-3357 or luhanson@cof fey.com

children see the big picture about

agriculture. “They come out here thinking

that ranchers are bad people who hurt the

land. That’s what they’ve been told. But we

show them another truth. They can see

what we’ve done for the land, how it has

regenerated. They see where the cattle have

been and how the plants are healthy. They

also see the places we’ve kept cattle out of,

for several decades and how there are fewer

species, and those are dying, and the

ground is bare.”

B eyond Issues to Resources

In many ways the Hansons’ story is the

story of the new agriculture. Born out of

desperation, this movement towards an

agriculture that is responsive to the needs

of the land, the consumer, and the producer

must arise for a truly sustainable agriculture.

Dan believes that shift is occurring in small,

often unnoticed ways.

“Take Holistic Management. Back when

I first learned about it everyone thought it

was a communist plot and few of us were

willing to try it. But people are shifting. The

Savory Center has done more good than

they realized. People are moving cattle more

The future is much brighter for Ben Hanson (forefront), son of Dan and

Donna Hanson, now that the Hansons have more leisure time to devote to

family and community while producing a handsome profit from their ranch.

Ben is pictured here with spectators for the 1999 Livestock Stewardship Tour

as they gather at the ranch house.

Of Microsoft and Dung Beetlescontinued from page 3

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 5

In late October, I was traveling with

John Ball (an applicant for the upcoming

Certified Educator Training Program)

and his son, Jacob, to the Grasstravaganza

Conference in Syracuse, New York. We had

arranged to visit with Jane and Karl North

who own and operate Northland Sheep Dairy

in Marathon, New York.

As we turned in the lane to the North’s

farm, their two Haflinger horses greeted us.

The mid-afternoon sun illuminating their pale

golden manes and thick velvety coats brought

a somewhat magical quality to their presence.

Later, when I commented on how beautiful

the horses were, it became clear that in

addition to the synergy the horses provided

between the various components of the

farm, Karl and Jane decided to acquire these

particular Haflingers because of their pleasing

dispositions, quality, and visual beauty.

Quality and beauty are embodied

throughout Jane and Karl’s farm and lives—

in the grace of a curved stone window arch,

an inviting path into the soft woodland just

beyond their house, the flowers in the

greenhouse, the placement of Karl’s Cuban

drums in the main room, their choice of

livestock, their livestock handling, their

products, and how they market those

products. These are the values of Northland

Sheep Dairy and reflect how Jane and Karl

work with their natural resource base to

farm in a manner that is sustainable and

fulfilling to them.

A Matter of Choice

Karl and Jane began the design and

development of their farm in the 1980s.

The land had been long abandoned and

there were no buildings on the property.

They had recently come from years of

“homesteading” in France, where small dairy

farms and weekly local farmers markets are

old traditions. Karl and Jane applied much

of what they had lived and learned in France

to the design of their New York farm.

During the development of their farm,

Karl read Holistic Resource Management

and found a great deal that deepened his

understanding of the benefit of farm diversity

and of building synergy between the farm

components. In 1995, Karl organized the first

recover, then the sheep are put in. This allows

for a break in the parasite cycle of the sheep

and complementary grazing patterns by the

two species.

The land has also improved through the

application of rock phosphate and composted

manure and bedding. Karl puts the rock

phosphate right into the sheep’s winter

bedding—and spreads that on the previous

year’s hayland. The hayland moves into

pasture rotation and is harvested for

hay again in two years. The pastures

(including hayfields) are limed every year.

The quantity and quality of the forage

has improved greatly since 1980. Because

of the improvement in the forage, the

North’s have been able to focus the sheep’s

feed mainly on grass and decrease the

corn input. They are also selecting sheep

that perform better on grass. Karl and

Jane think the most sustainable way to

make milk is from grass and that sheep

are well suited to this sort of dairy

farming. Also, sheep graze and spread

their manure evenly.

Other reasons why the Norths chose

sheep were because the milking parlor and

other handling machinery are economical

and small. A lactation period of less than

six months mirrors the grass season length

in their climate, making seasonal dairying

a natural choice. Likewise, the Norths time

lambing for the beginning of grass in May

with the lactation ending in early fall, and

the flock finishing stockpiled pasture by the

end of December.

Another emphasis from the outset was

to maximize independence from a wholesale

agricultural marketplace they experienced

as generally predatory toward family

farmers. They feel they have achieved this

independence as a result of: (1) their choice

of sheep as the dairy animal with the most

product diversity potential; (2) on-farm

cheese-making that aims for artisan quality

dairy products; and (3) their involvement

in building an attractive local farmers market

in order to sell all their products (dairy, meat,

yarn, sheepskins, and apple cider) direct to

consumers in retail form.

course in New York State on Holistic

Management because he wanted to share

this holistic way of thinking and looking

at the world with other farmers.

As Karl and Jane developed their farm

in 1980, one of their greatest concerns was

energy efficiency and they have achieved

this not only in solar building design but

also in the general farmstead layout.

Over the years they have been able to

minimize off-farm inputs of fuel, fertilizer,

feed and machinery. The Haflinger horses

have helped with this goal as they are used

to make hay and they are fed by the land.

Most of the machinery Karl has purchased

is used, horse-drawn, and considered

obsolete. He offers as an example a hay

rake he purchased for $15 that he has been

using now for 15 years.

The horses are also able to maneuver

well in two to three feet (0.8 -1 m) of snow

and are flexible in small places for logging

in the woods and working around fields

(particularly in a wet season) where a tractor

would be cumbersome and damage the

terrain. In the grazing plan, the horses move

in a unit separate from the Norths’ sheep.

Pastures are grazed by the horses, allowed to

The Quality of Farming: Northland Sheep Dairyby Mary Child

Karl North

continued on page 6

6 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #75

Karl acknowledges that the sale of cheese,

lamb, yarn, and tanned skins from a base

flock of only 50 ewes barely provides a

livable income, and then only because they

enjoy considerable self-sufficiency in food

(vegetables, meat, and dairy), energy (solar,

wood heat, and draft horses), and, of course,

fertilizer. He thinks a younger couple could

operate the farm with 100 ewes and bring in

a net cash income of close to $20,000 without

a great deal more capital investment.

Expanding the Picture

As the Norths’ understanding of Holistic

Management grew, their awareness sharpened

of the wholes they felt they needed to take

into consideration in decision-making on the

farm. One example Karl gives concerning this

increased understanding was when he read

about managing sheep and apples together as

a way to use the diversity potential of the

farm more efficiently.

He happened to have both (sheep and

apples), and he looked at how he could

strengthen the community dynamics of the

apple orchard. When growing and marketing

organic apples, one must consider ways to

manage the biological life cycle of organisms

that can damage apples. These organisms

frequently winter over in windfall apples

and the apple leaves.

Karl knew that a decision to incorporate

the sheep into the orchard would not only

build the overall community dynamics on

their farm, but also address the need to break

the biological cycle of organisms that would

negatively impact the overall apple harvest.

This decision passed the cause and effect test,

addressed the biological weak link, and when

compared to manual removal of windfall

apples, passed the marginal reaction test.

Karl explains that the sheep become a

tool to manage apple pests by cleaning up

the windfall and also changing the habitat at

ground level. The trees are spaced far enough

apart so the sheep congregate under the trees

for shade. In this way, there is an immediate

increase in manuring and fertilizing of the

tree. In time, the soil in the orchard supports

earthworms that will surface and eat the

dropped leaves in the orchard, which also

can harbor organisms detrimental to the

apples. The sheep are in turn provided with

and farm discredits our best intentions, and

amounts to an intergenerational tyranny.”

Niche Marketing as a Short-Te r m

Solution

While there are organizations and

agencies and farms working towards a truly

sustainable agriculture, Karl notes there is

also a great deal of encouragement for farms

to produce value-added, direct-marketed,

and exotic products. Certainly this niche

exploitation alternative does offer a breathing

space because it shelters farmers from the

predatory market forces shaping commodity

farming and provides time

to test, refine, and slowly propagate

sustainable practices. But, it fails to directly

address core issues of ecological sustainability.

For that reason, he believes that a focus

that primarily develops products for niche

markets will fail because the focus is on

marketing. Once the niches become

successful enough, they are taken over by

corporate culture—swallowed up—as is the

case right now with small producers of

organic milk throughout the Northeast.

And where does that leave those producers?

To explore another niche market ?

Karl notes that the development of

niche markets does not necessarily include

addressing what happens to the soil, the

biodiversity, the water, or ecological issues of

sustainability, or of society and culture. It’s

about marketing, not about how the farming

gets done. It’s chiefly concerned about

making money on your product.

But Karl sees Holistic Management

as a catalyst that can help people from the

isolated subcultures of research, education,

outreach, marketing, and farming begin to see

the bigger picture and move together toward

long-term solutions. If they learn together the

practice of holistic decision-making, they can

go on to create permanent networks and

organizations whose work moves us toward

sustaining our civilization and farming in

a manner that is rewarding to all.

Karl is applying for the Holistic

Management Certified Educator Training

in 2001. He serves as an advisor, member,

and is on the board of directors for

numerous sustainable agriculture groups in

the Northeast. Jane and Karl North can be

contacted at: Northland Sheep Dairy; RD 1,

Box # 107 B; Marathon, New York 13803;

607/849 -3328; E-mail: northsheep@juno.com

shade and fed by the windfalls and the

forage in the orchard.

Jane and Karl say their quality of life is

excellent. They are free of much of the

cost/price squeeze and resultant debt that they

see destroying family-scale dairy farming, and

they enjoy their diversity of work: milking,

processing, marketing, haying and logging

(mostly with the Haflingers), sheep and horse

husbandry, composting and spreading, sheep

dog training, gardening, and building and

repairing simple structures and equipment

with simple tools. Their work gives way to

semi-vacation when the grass season ends.

Karl and Jane’s farming practices bespeak

a passion for the work they do and further

supports their values, philosophy and the

concern they share for future generations.

This concern is evident in Karl’s comments.

“The amoral nature of our chosen economic

system is such that it mainly rewards short-

term gain, and considers only local, immediate

costs. It allows us to pass on the heavy

ecological and social costs of our economic

behavior to future generations and other

remote peoples. In effect, the ways we

have chosen to maximize our present

standard of living constitute a theft from

future generations. Few of us would deny

that we love our children, but the way we live

Jane North making top-quality cheeses that

sell for up to $13/lb.

The Quality of Farming:

Northland Sheep Dairy continued from page 5

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 LAND & LIVESTOCK 7

L ow Stress Stockmanship—

An Old Art Rekindled

by Jim Howell

The new agriculture, by necessity, will incorporate the hoove s ,

mouths, and rumens of large grazing animals. From small

i n t e n s i vely managed farms to huge tracts of public rangeland,

animals will play a role, and for the new agriculture to truly mimic

natural processes, this role will have to increase.

U n fo r t u n a t e l y, as ranches have been sold and sliced into smaller

chunks, and as fences have sprouted to crisscross the globe, our original

herds of livestock have tended to fragment and shrink in size as we l l .

Most modern day ranchers are highly adept fence builders and

haymakers, but the original skills of gathering, shipping, and branding

large bunches of livestock on vast, ex t e n s i ve ranges are rare in today’s

rangeland industry. The modern crutches of fences, small pastures,

corrals, squeeze chutes, semi-trailers, four wheelers, pick-ups, and eve n

helicopters, have allowed us to get lazy and lose the skills that we r e

once second nature. To d a y, cattle working days are often characterized

by frustration, vulgarity, and chaos, and the connection between many

ranchers and their animals has grown strained and tense.

T h a n k f u l l y, a few rare practitioners of these ancient skills have

bucked the trends and survived to the modern era. For the successful

d evelopment of the new agriculture, these skills must once again

become the norm, rather than the novel exception. Three of these

modern practitioners of the “old ways” were interviewed for this article:

Tim McGaffic, of Ignacio, Colorado; Guy Glosson, of Snyder, Texas, and

S t eve Cote, of Arco, Idaho. Each of these guys is a “disciple” of one or

more of the surviving gurus of low-stress stockmanship—legends like

Bud Williams, Ray Hunt, and Tom Dorrance. Each of them also has

valuable insights, observations, and experiences to share with those of

us struggling to reestablish this stress-free connection with our animals.

The Importance of Attitude

The nuances of these skills are very difficult to put down in black

and white. Like flying a plane or riding a bike, you can’t read about

l ow-stress stockmanship and expect to know how to do it. It takes tons

of practice, lots of patience, hours of observation, and more than

anything else, the right attitude. “Attitude is everything,” says Guy.

“When you go to work animals, if you have something else to do,

forget it. You can’t be pressured by something else, because that will

t r a n s fer to the animals.”

Tim emphasizes that “you must remember that the animal is alwa y s

right. If the message you’re sending isn’t getting the result yo u ’ r e

looking for, you have to realize yo u are the cause and change. The

ability and desire to change and to admit you are the problem, and the

skill of observation that translates into immediate action, combined with

a cheerful and good attitude, are essential to being able to handle stock

in a stress-free wa y, especially in large numbers.”

S t eve says it in another wa y. Your attitude, or frame of mind, has to

be geared toward “helping the stock do what they naturally want to do.

That means you often will have to put yourself in a position that is

against your instinct to get the right response. You have to make up

your mind that these techniques will work, and in order to do that,

there is nothing more important than your (the handler’s) attitude.”

Pressure Release

All three men emphasize the critical importance of similar basic

principles, most notably the concept of pressure release . Steve states

that if we expect the animals to learn, we have to “set it up so that the

LAND L I V E S TO C K& A Special Section ofIN PRACTICE

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 #75

Tim McGaffic: “The animal is always right. If the message you’re

sending isn’t getting the result you’re looking for, you have to realize

you are the cause and change.”

continued on page 8

8 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #75

l i vestock c a n learn.” To do that, we have to understand how they

learn, and that comes down to the key principle of release. “The

animal must realize that if it does what I’m asking, I’ll quit asking,

which means I will release my pressure. For example, if you want

an animal to move out straight, and you then initiate that move m e n t

through pressure directly into the side, you have to immediately

release that pressure when the animal responds. If you continue

the pressure, which is what most people tend to do, the animal will

assume that moving out straight must not have been what you

wanted, so it’ll start to turn, run off, spin to face you, everything but

what you wanted in the first place.”

Guy states the same thing but in a different wa y. “The biggest thing,”

he says, “is being able to handle them without the use of fear. They ’ r e

bigger than we are, so we think we have to scare them into doing what

we want. That’s why we jump up and down, holler, and chase them all

over. A cow runs away because she’s scared. Instead of developing a

relationship of fear, it has to be a relationship of trust.” From the

animal’s point of view, trust develops when a release of pressure (by

the handler) fo l l ows the right response (of the animal) to the pressure.

“Fences gave herders a better quality of life,” says Guy. “And with

lots of fences, you didn’t have to know much about handling. Small

farms in Mississippi with all their fencing are a lot different to work

than ex t e n s i ve, minimally fenced ranches in West Texas. If you work

by yourself in a place like West Texas, which I usually have the pleasure

of doing, you have to do things right. But even in Mississippi, since yo u

probably will be handling your critters all the time, animal production

will still be a lot better with low-stress handling, plus you won’t get

kicked and hurt near as bad.”

Positioning for Control

According to Tim, one of the biggest differences when handling

larger herds is position. “Of course this matters in all situations, but with

large herds with only one or just a few people, it becomes critical. In

c o n ventional stock moving it is common to have a large number of

people per number of livestock. Eve r yone has seen the local rancher

m oving his 100 head of cattle with five to ten people or even more.

Position matters less, because they build a human fence and almost

n ever have to be in the right place because they have surrounded the

herd. These cattle seldom get a release of pressure and the driving

comes from the back of the herd. This is the blind spot of the herd,

so pressuring from that point creates stress, since prey animals alwa y s

seek to know where you are. In a situation like that,

trust is never built, and the stock at some point will

just want out of it.”

S t eve sheds further light on this subject of positioning

for control. “To train livestock, you must get good

m ovement first,” he says. “Good movement is when they

are all moving at a comfortable walk and staying together.

The herd has to be worked from the side, sensitive l y, on

the edge of the flight zone, because that is where they

can see you. By entering the flight zone a g a i n s t the flow

of the herd, movement is sustained. Doing the same but

w i t h the flow of the herd slows it down. Once all the

stock move together, at a comfortable pace, straight ahead,

and you see them all just watching and waiting for what

you want next, go on to asking for direction. They trust

you at this point. Now build on it.”

The Challenge on Public Lands

S t eve has been intricately invo l ved with public

lands grazing associations in Idaho, and has been highly

instrumental in putting these techniques to work in real

world situations with large numbers of animals on va s t

tracts of land. The pressure to keep cattle out of riparian

zones and in the uplands is tremendous. In fact, says

S t eve, the survival of these grazing associations depends

on it. He claims it has been challenging to get the stakeholders—the

g overnment agencies, the permittees, the interested public from the

environmental community—to reach consensus on where they need

to go, but that challenge has paled in comparison to the task of actually

accomplishing what eve r yone has agreed needs to happen. With Steve ’ s

help, that tide is now starting to turn.

There are several facets to the basic training of the animals that lead

to success once the animals are in the mountains. Some of the training

points mentioned above, plus a whole list of others too detailed and

Grazing in Nature’s Imagecontinued from page 7

Steve Cote riding parallel down the side of a longhorn and her calf. This maneuver

speeds up animals or gets them going if they’ve stopped.

Handling Large Herds

Those of us managing holistically in a rangeland or grassland

setting have set ourselves the task of accomplishing what most

c o n ventional managers would regard as an impossible load of wo r k .

By bunching cattle into ever larger and more concentrated herds and

m oving them at increasingly frequent intervals, we necessarily have to

be better handlers than outfits that only gather twice a year to brand

and ship. The larger the herds and areas we are managing, and the

more scarce our labor resource, the more this is true.

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 LAND & LIVESTOCK 9

numerous to cover here, have to be ingrained in the animals while they

are still in a fairly easy environment. “If you wait to start training once

the animals are turned out and scattered through the mountains, it’s too

late. Also, since these associations include

animals from several owners, they have to be

combined and trained together prior to

turnout. Otherwise they all go their separate

ways once in the hills.” With the right basic

training in the right environment, Steve claims

“there is nothing that can’t be done.”

One association runs 1600 pairs, and only

t wo skilled cowgirls keep things running

smooth. Because riparian zones are such a hot

issue, their main job is to keep the herd out of

the creeks and bunched and moving according

to the grazing plan. Says Steve, “the reason

cattle loiter in the creeks is because those are

usually the areas where they last felt safe

and comfortable. If they can be made to fe e l

that way outside the riparian areas, that’s

where they’ll go.” When trying to locate

cattle away from water, the key, according to

S t eve’s experience, is “feeling when the move

is out of ‘em.” There are some keys to making

that happen.

“First, the only way they’ll stay put is if

t h ey were comfortable on the way there. The

cattle must have calm, responsive attention on

the handler all the time they are being driven, and a solid base of trust

has to exist. That’s 90% of it. Once you get to where you want to be,

s l owing down and eventually stopping is an issue of backing off the

pressure. That will usually require going up the side of the herd within

the flight zone in the direction of movement, which should slow and

even stop movement, and then zigzagging back and forth in the front

of the herd if necessary. If that still doesn’t stop movement, you might

h a ve to go take another trip before the cattle are ready to stop.

When the cattle do stop, make sure the animals in the front are

turned around and facing toward the back, and that all the rest of

the herd is facing in all directions. If they start to bed down within

20 minutes, it’s a good sign they’ll stay put. If they stand grazing or

looking like there is no place else to go, that’s also a good sign. When

the animals go down to the creek to water, instead of relocating, they

go back up to where they were carefully drifted to a stop, because

that is where they feel most comfortable.” It sounds simple, and the

principle is simple, but making it happen takes lots of careful

o b s e r vation, combined with the conviction that you will be successful.

Heading off Wr e c k s

S t eve claims that instead of being physically exhausted after a day

of moving cattle, he now expects to feel mentally exhausted, since he

n ow spends a lot more time paying close attention to what’s going

on, and a lot less time trying to head off wrecks. Speaking of wrecks,

t h ey’re pretty commonplace for lots of us, whether we’re trying to

get through a tough gate, cross a creek or bridge, corral the herd fo r

branding, or wean this year’s calves. In fact, we expect wrecks to

happen. This isn’t good for family life or labor relations. When they

don’t happen, we breathe a sigh of relief, thank God, and count our

blessings. It doesn’t have to be this wa y. Guy talks about shipping day

as being “an absolute nightmare” before he learned about low - s t r e s s

handling. Now, he says, “we’re so relaxed and

things work so easy. Nobody gets mad, and

we’re laughing and joking the whole time

we’re shipping two or three thousand calve s .

E ven when my kids were pretty small and

i n experienced, it didn’t really matter if things

started to deviate from the plan. It was

n ever a big deal, because the cattle we r e

n ever scared.”

Indebted to Holistic Management

Guy emphasizes that the guys without

the fancy credentials, like Bud Wi l l i a m s ,

probably would have never received a

broader audience without Holistic

Management. In 1991, after one of Bud’s first

seminars (which Guy attended), Guy says,

“I just went up to Bud and started to ask all

kinds of questions. After it was over and we ’ d

all gone home, Bud showed up at the ranch

and ended up staying for four months. We

worked on Bud’s teaching skills over that

time, trying to figure out how to present

these things so people could understand.”

Almost ten years later, lots of us are on our

way to understanding, thanks to Bud’s commitment to becoming an

e ffe c t i ve teacher, combined with the willingness of a lot of Holistic

Management folks to listen.

There is no doubting the value of these skills as we strive to

d evelop a new agriculture. Currently, the problem is realizing that

value in real dollars. Tim talks about one of his early cow b oy jobs as

being a great learning experience. He goes on to qualify that “at the

time I had other sources of income and didn’t have to depend on

those cow b oy wages and was just passionate about what I did. To d a y,

if you asked me to do the same thing for that wage and I had to

depend on it for a living, I would probably get a good laugh out of it.”

If we’re going to reverse desertification over the world’s va s t

expanses of brittle environments, the awareness and the will to

make it happen have to be in place. The more we can spread the

importance of making decisions holistically, the quicker local

communities all over the world will continue to gain this awa r e n e s s

and develop this will. As Steve emphasizes, the trick then is to get it

done. To that end, these skills are probably more important than just

about anything else, and their value will eventually be recognized

a c c o r d i n g l y. Until then, it’s up to passion and love for the land to

keep these skills alive and grow i n g .

Guy Glosson, a Holistic Management™ Certified Educator, can

be reached at 806/237-2554, or gglosson@caprock-spur.com. Certified

Educator Tim McGaffic can be reached at 970/883-2672 or

t m c g a ffic@mho.net. Steve Cote is a District Conservationist with

the Natural Resources Conservation Service and can be reached

at 208/527-8557 or stev e . c o t e @ i d . u s d a . g ov .

Guy Glosson: “They’re bigger than we are, so

we think we have to scare them into doing

what we want . . . but it has to be a

relationship based on trust.”

solid understanding of the brittleness scale is critical to

regenerative land management. The degree of brittleness

indicates the range of responses we can expect as we steward

our landscapes through the careful selection and application of tools.

However, in the course of working and traveling in a broad range of

brittleness around the world, I have realized that environments we place

at similar points on the brittleness scale often need significantly different

management.

Cattle ranchers in high rainfall, hot

tropical savannas have to approach their

management of the ecosystem processes

differently than a sheepherder on the

edge of the cold temperate Gobi Desert,

even though both environments are very

brittle. Although broad principles still

hold, physical and biological traits, as

well as the dynamics of nature’s model,

vary as we travel from the tropics into

colder temperate regions.

This article will focus on the

management of very brittle landscapes

in three of the world’s major latitudinal

zones, or ecozones—tropical, mild

temperate, and cold temperate . The

intent is to bring a new level of practical

insight to the challenge of imitating

nature in our highly brittle savannas and

steppes, but not to prescribe recipes.

The Tr o p i c s

In the tropical zone, day length and

the angle of the sun change very little

throughout the year. Temperature

fluctuations are thus minimal as the

seasons progress, and the primary factor

determining the level of biological

activity is the distribution of humidity,

just as Allan Savory has always

emphasized. Regions in this zone can

vary from tropical rainforests to hot true

deserts. In between lie the savanna

grasslands and woodlands, most of which

lie on the brittle side of the scale due

to the extreme seasonality of the

precipitation; rainy seasons, in general,

last four to five months, the remainder

of the year being completely dry. These

savannas can range from very low to

very high rainfall. At both ends of the

precipitation range, the absence of large

herbivores results in an accumulation of undecayed organic matter by

the year’s end and, over time, in dead perennial grass plants, bare ground,

and movement from grassland to woody plants.

• High Rainfall Brittle Tr o p i c s

The higher the rainfall, the greater the accumulation of forage and

the lower its quality. This presents a major management challenge, but

also a great opportunity because this mass of forage is a fantastic source

of soil covering litter—a resource most brittle environments outside the

tropics don’t enjoy in such abundance. These high rainfall tropical

savannas combine abundant precipitation and plant production with a

high level of brittleness. Except for extremely degraded areas that have

reverted to bare ground, the challenge in

these areas is not so much the production

of forage and litter-making material, but

the efficient utilization and cycling of it

without animal performance wrecks.

Even areas of bare ground heal quickly if

animal impact is high enough to break

the thick, algae-covered mature caps that

tend to develop with rest. With that

accomplished, the typically closely-

spaced, abundant consecutive rains of

the growing season allow for the easy

germination and subsequent

establishment of new perennial grass

plants in most situations.

In the wild state, elephants were

critical to initiating this breakdown

process. Once opened to a certain degree,

other bulk foragers such as buffalo and

zebra would show up, and finally the

smaller, more selective grazers requiring

the most opened forage would move in.

By the end of the dormant season, the

result was a well-grazed landscape and a

covered soil surface, perfectly prepared

to receive the new season’s rains.

Wild animals in these environments

tend to be residential species, and usually

don’t migrate out of localized areas. Large

concentrations of animals thus tend to be

present year round. With healthy

predator populations, they stay bunched

and moving, but areas usually aren’t

vacated for extended periods by the

majority of the large mammal biomass

migrating elsew h e r e .

Now we’re trying to perform all of

these roles and create the same

conditions with primarily just one

species, domestic cattle. That’s not easy

on the cow. To meet the needs of both

the cattle and the land, pioneering

ranchers in this zone of Zimbabwe (the Zietsmans, O’Neills, Wehlbergs,

and Campbells) have resorted to stock densities of 3,000 to 5,000 animals

per hectare during the dormant season, moving nearly continuously

10 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #75

Grazing in Nature’s Image—Part 2 by Jim Howell

Brittle environments span a number of ecozones. These

three photos depict the growing season in: a mild

temperate steppe—Arizona (top); a cold temperate

steppe—Colorado (middle) and a high rainfall tropical

savanna—Zimbabwe (bottom).

A

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 LAND & LIVESTOCK 11

during the daytime grazing hours. From the land’s point of view, these

extreme densities make the cycling of the accumulated organic matter

much more efficient and uniform, since the very high densities closely

approximate herd effect. From the animal’s point of view, the very short

grazing periods and constant moving onto fresh, unsoiled patches of

forage allow performance to be maintained at acceptable levels.

Depending on the time of year,

protein, energy, and mineral

supplementation is usually

necessary as well. To cover their

entire properties with this

treatment, these ranchers have

had to dramatically increase

stocking rates, because so much

forage, which was previously

being wasted or burned, can now

be utilized with their livestock.

Rainy seasons, though

variable from year to year in

range and amount of

precipitation, usually can be

expected to bring generous

moisture (i.e., 20 to 35 inches/

500-900 mm). Because

temperatures are warm and

atmospheric humidity is high,

plant growth rates are often rapid. Short recovery periods (and therefore

short grazing periods) are thus necessary to keep the plants in as

vegetative a state as possible. The more vegetative and leafy they can be

kept in the growing season, the less fibrous they will be throughout the

dormant season.

• Low Rainfall Brittle Tr o p i c s

As we move into rangelands in the more arid, very brittle tropical

environments, the focus of management gradually shifts from cycling

the organic matter and keeping it vegetative to growing the organic

matter in the first place. The more arid the region, the more erratic and

less reliable the precipition. In the tropics, these arid environments still

have the advantage of having a fairly concentrated rainy season. If the

rain is going to come, it will come over the course of a few months,

usually in the summer. The likelihood that consecutive rains will build

on each other is therefore much higher than in the temperate, arid, very

brittle steppes, which are covered below. Nonetheless, depending on how

arid, years can pass with limited significant precipitation and thus little

new plant growth.

Because these environments are very brittle, the animal impact—

dunging, urinating, trampling, etc.—and grazing activity of large

herbivores remain critical to the cycling of organic matter, and the

restoration and maintenance of high biodiversity and effective water

and mineral cycling. However, because productivity is so much lower,

stocking rates have to also be lower. In addition, the lower rainfall and

typically more fertile soils (that usually are also less prone to mature

capping) result in a lower quantity of higher quality, less-fibrous forage

with better curing properties. The more arid the region becomes,

therefore, the less necessary are the high density/quick moves of the

high rainfall savannas. In addition, as these areas experience more

erratic precipitation with frequently long intervals between periods

of significant growth (even in the summer growing season), it is

generally advisable to incorporate much longer recovery periods into

the grazing planning.

Longer recovery periods automatically increase the length of grazing

periods, unless there are many more paddocks, but the economics of

lower stocking rates do not always allow for the installation of many

paddocks, and great distances may preclude extensive use of portable

fencing. In areas where herding, rather than fenced paddocks, is

traditional, this dilemma can be overcome by very tight herding in many

small areas. With more paddocks (or tight herding) and quick moves,

animals will be confined to smaller and smaller areas per grazing period.

The more degraded the range, the more difficult this is to do and still

maintain animal performance. Where neither fencing nor tight herding

is an option, the most effective way to achieve animal impact, and still

maintain animal performance, is through the formation of larger and

larger herds, thus greatly increasing herd effect. However, this larger herd

would of course have to move over much larger areas to achieve the

desirable recovery periods. These concepts will be covered in more detail

below in the discussion of brittle steppe environments, where their

relevance to management is also important.

The Mild Temperate Zone

As opposed to the tropics, where plant growth and decay are

primarily a function of the presence of soil moisture and atmospheric

humidity, growth and decay in the mild temperate zone is strongly

influenced by both soil moisture and temperature. Brittleness can range

from 1 to 10 in this zone too—temperate rainforest to mild temperate

grasslands/woodlands to mild temperate steppes to mild deserts. I will

concentrate on the management of brittle, mild temperate steppes.

• Mild Temperate Steppes

These are arid to semi-arid grasslands and shrublands that receive

their scant precipitation over an extended period of the year.

Consecutive rains are frequently weeks or months apart, unlike the

tropical arid savannas described above, where the rainy season is usually

confined to the summer months. The large basins and valleys of the

American West, which typically don’t expect over 12 inches (300 mm) of

annual precipitation, can receive little bits of that moisture each month

of the year. As a result, abundant growing seasons tend to be fewer and

farther between than in the tropical savannas with their more

concentrated rainy seasons. The more degraded the ecosystem processes,

the more this is true, since any precipitation that does come tends to

be ineffective. Most of the American Southwest is characterized by

degraded mild temperate steppes with ineffective water cycling.

Because precipitation can fall over most of the year, and winter

temperatures are mild, plants can grow over much of the year in the

temperate steppes. Depending on how the moisture comes, areas in the

Southwest may experience a cool growing season through the winter

or spring, and/or a summer growing season. Some years bring neither.

Because water cycles tend to be so ineffective, rainfall has to be

unusually generous to result in good growth, and such events are

unpredictable. The little bits of moisture that do come between the

erratic heavy rains tend to do little good. This is the reality around

much of the Southwest.

In their pristine state, these mild temperate steppes supported an

array of animals difficult to imagine today. Horses, camels, mammoths,

bison, sheep, goats, and up to eleven species of pronghorn (all extinct

‘One of the greatestchallenges in lo wrainfall brittle

environments, in the tropics or in

temperate regions, is getting adequate

growth on grass plants to provideabundant litter

each year.’

continued on page 12

but one) combined to maintain healthy ecosystem processes. Some of

these original species were probably highly migratory due to the north-

south axis of the West and the range of complimentary growing seasons

and snow-free feeding grounds provided by the high altitude Rockies.

If the relatively intact herds of large mammals in other parts of the

world that survived to modern times are any indication (wildebeest in

the Serengeti, caribou in the Arctic, bison in the Great Plains), these

migrating species probably comprised the

majority of the large mammal biomass,

according to Peter Lent in Muskoxen

and Their Hunters . The periodic

disturbances and grazing activity caused

by the huge migrating herds were

probably crucial factors in maintaining

healthy ecosystem processes.

Today, the highly erratic and spotty

precipitation, exacerbated by ineffective

water cycles, combine to create a

challenging management scenario. One

of the greatest challenges in low rainfall

brittle environments, in the tropics or in

temperate regions, is getting adequate

growth on grass plants to provide

abundant litter each year.

At times, due to erratic precipitation

over large areas, and largely non-effective

water cycles, the desired growth to both

feed animals and cover the soil is only

achievable by recovery periods long

enough for the likelihood of significant

rainfall to occur. Can the original

behavior of the migrating herds help

guide our management in the present,

as we attempt to recreate effective

ecosystem processes? I think they can.

Allan Savory repeatedly emphasizes

the necessity that ranches become larger

and larger—as ecologically manageable

units, not necessarily as units of

ownership. In this way the many small

herds that currently continuously graze

most of the West can be combined into

massive moving herds. This would allow long recovery periods—

exceeding a year, if necessary—and greatly increase our ability to create

herd effect over vast areas. To create this herd effect, stock densities

don’t necessarily have to be high, the herds just have to be much larger

to get the behavior change. With larger areas and larger herds you

generally have more flexibility, including the ability to keep animals off

areas that experience no, or low, growth in some seasons. Larger herds,

regardless of stock density, tend to provide higher animal impact at some

point on the land daily. The animals also tend to go places and behave in

ways that small herds never do.

Many people don’t at first see how large and small herds differ. Allan

likes to describe it this way: “If you take a stocking rate of 1:50 acres, and

ranches are 50,000 acres in size, the herds will be 1,000 head. If, on the

other hand, 20 of these ranches are amalgamated and the herd becomes

20,000 head, it now moves over 1 million acres. A herd this size is always

providing higher animal impact somewhere. With very large herds, even

when spread out to graze, it is amazing how animals go places they

won’t in smaller herds—through denser brush, over fallen trees, up

steeper slopes, and so on. With 20 times the area available for grazing,

and because the large herd will tend to take up less area on a daily basis

than 20 smaller herds, grazing planning becomes far more flexible as

well. In particular, the long recovery periods often needed in these arid

regions become more feasible than on smaller ranches.”

We have to work toward this ideal

situation, but huge herds at present are

precluded in most areas by water

restrictions, although solutions do exist.

To implement them, increased awareness

and a collective will must develop which

presently only exist in isolated pockets.

In the meantime, those of us on the

land have to do the best we can to

mimic nature under our current set of

circumstances. The smaller the ranch in

an arid temperate steppe or arid tropical

savanna environment, the more difficult

this becomes. To achieve long recovery

periods and effective animal impact, small

herds on small ranches have to be

confined to very small areas during the

grazing period. This reduces the animal’s

ability to graze selectively over a broad

range of plants, and increases the need

for supplementation. The more degraded

the range, the more this is true.

But no matter how small the ranch

and how far we are from this ideal

scenario, the principle to work toward is

a high graze/trample to recovery ratio.

This means grazing and trampling for

the shortest time on the smallest area

practically feasible, and providing a

recovery period long enough to ensure

plants have fully recovered before

returning with the herd. It’s up to you

to figure out how to do it, since these

dimensions of time and area will be

highly variable depending on the practical

realities imposed by every ranch. That’s why recipes can’t be prescribed,

and holistic grazing planning is essential. Allan Savory states, “If you can

economically achieve high enough animal impact with paddocking

(assuming a high amount of fencing is acceptable from other points of

view such as wildlife and aesthetics) or herding smaller herds, and

adequate recovery to measure improvement, that is the yardstick. If not,

then larger herds covering larger areas need consideration.”

The Cold Temperate Zone

The high latitude temperate zones are characterized by long, cold

winters, and thus a temperature-imposed dormant period, as opposed

12 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #75

Grazing in Nature’s Image

continued from page 11

Well above average stock densities (relative to

conventional management) on properties under

Holistic Management™ planned grazing:

Cold temperate steppe—400 yearlings on 35 acres

(14 hectares) for 2 days.

High rainfall tropical savanna—300 dry cows on 1/4 acre

(1000 square meters) for 30 minutes.

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 LAND & LIVESTOCK 13

to the moisture-imposed dormant

period in the tropics. Some decay

continues to take place, but the rate

of decay in the cold months slows

down significantly. Nonbrittle

environments in this zone include

regions such as the wet northeastern

forests of the United States.

Environments midway on the

brittleness scale are represented by

the productive northern grasslands

and woodlands. Very brittle

environments include the cold

temperate steppes and cold deserts.

Here I’ll focus on cold temperate

steppes, which include much of the

northern Great Basin, vast areas of

central Asia, and southern Patagonia (Argentina).

• Cold Temperate Steppes

Like the mild temperate steppes, precipitation here tends to occur

throughout the year, but any given year can be very erratic. Because of

very cold temperatures, small amounts of winter precipitation can add

to a moisture bank that creates a reliable, but short, spring

growing season when that moisture melts and saturates the

soil. This contrasts with the mild steppes, where meager

moisture received through the winter tends to evaporate,

seldom contributing to plant growth.

Even though it is reliable, this spring production is often

variable in terms of total forage growth. On our ranch, in a

high altitude cold steppe environment of Colorado, the

presence or absence of late spring rains and snowstorms

following the spring thaw can mean the difference between

annually producing 50 stock days/acre or 15. One to three

or more years (depending on how arid a region) of

predictable, but variable, growth may therefore be necessary

before perennial plants have fully recovered from a severe

grazing and accumulated enough volume to provide a

source of new litter. Without animal impact and litter,

perennial grass seedlings have a difficult time establishing here as well.

My observations on my own ranch in Colorado are that one-year-old

growth actually helps the plant, resulting in quicker and more vigorous

spring green-up. When grazed at this stage, the animal (with its muzzle

as well as its hooves) will push much of the old stem and leaf to the

ground as it selects the new season’s growth, thus adding to the critical

bank of litter. The year-old leaves and stems that do end up being

consumed contribute to a better energy-to-protein balance as well, since

the protein content of new leaves tends to be excessive and dry matter

tends to be low, especially early in the growing season.

Like the mild temperate steppes and arid tropical savannas, the

cold temperate steppes can’t support high stocking rates due to low

productivity. In terms of animal impact, the native herds of horses,

camels, bison, mammoths, sheep, goats, and pronghorn nonetheless

would have existed in massive concentrations due to pack hunting

predators, and some of these species were also probably highly

migratory, just as the elk remain today. This is speculation, since no

literate human beings were around to write down their observations,

but I suspect their grazing patterns would have periodically avoided

specific areas for entire seasons (both growing

and dormant). On our ranch the only way I

can see to approximate this type of pattern

would involve a reduction in stocking rate.

We run a summer yearling operation that

could either go to every-other-year grazing, or

to grazing half the ranch one year (with half

the number of animals) and the other half the

next year—or some variation on that theme.

The aim would be to give plants a year or

more to regrow roots and to accumulate older

material to serve as a source of litter. As the

ecosystem processes improve on the ranch,

time on the land and numbers of animals is

likely to increase. I can’t be certain, of course,

so I’ll be monitoring very carefully, modifying

my plans as needed. In our case, we are

currently running twice our traditional stocking rate, and this reduction

would mean going back closer to the conventional stocking rate for our

area. That, of course, will translate into less income, but it’s up to us to

figure out how to make up for it. We’re thinking, for instance, of owning

intead of custom-grazing our yearlings, direct marketing more animals,

and adding archery hunts to the rifle hunts we currently offer.

In both the mild

and cold steppes, the

more we can imitate

a migratory grazing

pattern and the larger

we can get the herds,

the better. Both areas

need periodic long

recovery periods. In

the mild steppe, this

will be correlated with

the “typical” length of

time most likely to

result in at least one

episode of abundant

growth. In the cold

steppe, it will become more of a function of the number of short, but

reliable, spring growing seasons needed for plants to fully recover their

vigor and volume (both root and leaf) after a severe grazing. As the

ecosystem processes improve, the frequency and length of these

recovery periods should gradually reduce.

C o n c l u s i o n

Environments tending toward the very brittle end of the brittleness

scale need the time-controlled presence of large grazing, browsing,

herding animals but, depending on the ecozone, the details of their

management may vary significantly. The guidelines above are only

guidelines. It’s up to you, through sound decision-making (toward the

future landscape described in your holistic goal), intelligent and creative

grazing and land planning, careful monitoring (always assume you’re

wrong), and an in-depth familiarity with your land’s unique

characteristics, to gradually refine the details.

Jim Howell can be reached at 970/249-0353 or

howelljd@montrose.net.

High rainfall tropical savanna in the growing season. Left

side of fence was grazed at extreme density for a very

short time in the dormant season. Right side grazed year

round at very low density. Chivu, Zimbabwe.

Low rainfall tropical savanna in Namibia to ward the

end of a very tough drought.

14 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #75

viewing drives, elephant-back safaris, mountain

bike safaris, lodging/accommodation, etc). Roger

worked as a wildlife manager for 10 years in

Zimbabwe’s Department of National Parks and

in the last six years as a professional guide and

safari lodge manager. He’ll be drawing on this

experience to present Bush Skills and Awareness

Courses as one of our newest ecotourism

enterprises. Sharon is a professional caterer and

has served as Roger’s co-manager in the safari

lodging business. She has already earned a solid

reputation for her culinary prowess among the

tourists visiting Dibangombe. They have two

school-aged children who also live on site.

Africa Centre Update

Anumber of you have asked for news of the

Africa Centre for Holistic Management and

our staff based in Zimbabwe. Despite the current

political and economic upheaval the country is

experiencing, neither our property, Dibangombe,

near the Victoria Falls, nor our staff have been

harmed. Most of the violence is occurring

elsewhere in the country. However, with tourism

down by 80%, and inflation over 70% and rising,

we’re just barely keeping our heads above water.

We are indebted to a number of contributors

here in the U.S. who have made it possible for

us to continue in these very difficult times.

Our staff and the Africa Centre’s Board of

Trustees have continued to press forward. Early

last year, we closed down our office in the

capital city, Harare, and moved the staff

members based there to Dibangombe—finally

uniting all our staff under one roof. In

September, the Trustees appointed Huggins

Matanga Director of the Africa Centre. He had

served as Acting Director for over a year, and

prior to that had served four years as the

Centre’s financial administrator while also

training to become a Holistic Management™

Certified Educator. His wife, Jepina, and their

twin toddlers have joined him at Dibangombe.

In May, Roger and Sharon Parry joined our

staff as managers of Dibangombe Ranch and our

ecotourism enterprises (bush walks, game-

S a vory Center Bulletin Board

New Development Director

The Savory Center is pleased to announce

that Andy Braman has joined us as our

Development Director. Andy comes to us with a

broad background working both in the non-

profit and for-profit arenas. He is a native of

Colorado and has called the Southwest home

for 28 years.

After earning a BA in Outdoor Recreation

Management from the University of New

Mexico, Andy started his professional non-profit

work with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in

northeastern New Mexico. He then spent the

next thirteen years working in numerous

positions for the BSA in New Mexico, Southern

Colorado, the Navajo Reservation, and West

Texas. He has worked the last four years with

two developmental disabilities service agencies

in New Mexico as their Director of

Development/Community Relations.

When Andy is

not working at

the Savory Center

he spends time

with his Boy

Scout Troop,

helping out on

Rotary Club

projects, or with

wife, Geni,

remodeling his

home. Andy and

Geni have three

children: a son,

Orlan, who is in

the Navy, and two daughters, Amanda, a college

freshman, and Ina, a junior in high school.

If you have questions or suggestions for

Andy, please contact him at:

andyb@holisticmanagement.org or 505/842-5252.

Changes in our Training Program

The new year brings a number of

changes to the Savory Center’s

Certified Educator Training Program. To

better serve the diverse people seeking this

training and to meet the growing demand

for training from a larger geographical base,

we’ve added an International Training

Program (ITP).

Like the U.S. and Africa Training

Programs, the ITP will cover all the same

material, but will be held in a different

country every other year, thus addressing

the need for “regional” training until each

country or continent has its own regional

training program such as the Africa Centre

for Holistic Management now provides for

Africa. Australia will host the ITP in 2001,

and Mexico is slated for 2003.

The U.S. Training Program (USTP) is

also changing. Instead of holding the

training sessions in New Mexico every

year, we’ll hold them in one of seven U.S.

regions. The 2001 Training Program will be

held in New York State as a collaborative

effort between the Savory Center, the

South Central Regional Conservation

District, and the Natural Resources

Conservation Service. We’ll be working

together to fund a project effort that will

bring ten government agency and five

non-profit employees into the 2001 U.S.

Training Program.

Moving the training program to a new

region each year also addresses the need for

regional training in the U.S. and helps build

a large support base for a region that can

continue in that area as we move on to

other regions. We’re exploring the feasibility

of holding the U.S. 2002 Program in the

Southeast.

Due to these changes, the application

deadline for all of the training programs

has been extended to February 15, 2001.

Information about the training programs

and the application form are available on

our website at www.holisticmanagement.

org/wwo_certed.cfm. For more information

about any of the Savory Center’s Certified

Educator Training Programs, or information

on applying to those programs, contact

Kelly Pasztor at 505/842-5252 or

kellyp@holisticmanagement.org.

Andy Braman

Africa Centre Director Huggins Matanga

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 15

areas that surround us, and for developing

wildlife-based tourism in the Hwange

Communal Lands. Holistic Management

would of course be the cornerstone of the

curriculum. The rest of the Board was

enthusiastic about the idea and we are now

moving forward to develop it.

In the last year we’ve added five new

members to our Board of Trustees, all of

whom reside in the Hwange Communal

Lands, which neighbor Dibangombe: Chief

Shana III, Abraham Nyoni, Ignatius Ncube,

Lot Ndlovu, and Emeldah Nkomo. In

September, the Trustees elected Abraham

Nyoni Vice Chair to Allan Savory, who

currently serves as Board Chair. The 12-

member Board has become increasingly

active in their support of the Africa Centre.

In August they hosted a “Trustees’ Open

Day” at Dibangombe, mainly to acquaint

people in Victoria Falls with what we are

doing. Over 400 people showed up for the

day and Sharon Parry and her staff managed

to feed them all.

Last summer, Abraham Nyoni wrote to

Allan Savory suggesting the Africa Centre

develop a wildlife management institute that

could provide the kind of practical training

needed for employment in the parks and safari

Managers Roger and Sharon Parry

Four of the Africa Centre’s ne west Trustees: (Left) Lot Ndlovu,

Chief Shana, Abraham Nyoni and Emeldah Nkomo

Betty Nlovu. Married with five children, she

uses her funds to travel to Victoria Falls

where she buys fresh vegetables for resale in

her village, and wool for knitting clothing.

Biggest benefit: “I can feed my children no w

and pay the fees so they can go to school.”

Lucy Mangoma. A wido w, with three

children, she uses her borrowed funds to buy

wool for knitting baby clothes and peanuts

for making peanut butter, which she sells in

the village. Biggest benefit of village banking:

“I’ve learned how to save money.”

Village Banking

Our village banks, run by and for the

women in the Hwange Communal

Lands, continue to be an enormous

success. We created one new bank in

November, bringing the total to nine,

thanks to the efforts of two 75-year-old

women in Salt Lake City, Betty

Greenhalgh and Joyce Osborne. After

visiting Dibangombe in October and

meeting some of the women bankers,

they vowed to raise US$1,000 within 30

days to start another bank. And when

they got home, they did just that.

The women borrow small amounts

(based on what they are able to put aside

in savings) over a 16-week cycle, repaying

the funds at a modest (for Zimbabwe)

interest rate. The micro-enterprises they

develop with these funds are tested to

ensure they are in line with their village’s

holistic goal, but they generally benefit

the village as well—e.g., making fresh

vegetables available. They benefit

individual families even more.

The photos shown here are of two

bankers from Mpumelelo village. They

and the other 15 or so members refer to

themselves as the Sizimisele Bank, meaning

“we are determined.”

Note: If you would like to contribute

to our village banking program, please

make checks payable to Zimbabwe

Community Lending Fund and send

to the Savory Center at 1010 Tijeras NW ,

Albuquerque, NM 87102.

continued on page 16

16 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #75

Washington Farm Program

Goes Holistic

Sandra Matheson, a Holistic Management™

Certified Educator, has been named Education

and Outreach Coordinator for the Puget Sound

Farm Trust’s (PSFT) Washington Farm

Assistance Program. This statewide program is

designed to help keep farmland in production

by keeping farmers on the farm.

The purpose of Washington Farm Assistance

is to protect farmland by helping new and

established farmers, their heirs, and

replacements become more successful. Sandra,

and others on the team, will use a holistic

approach to guide potential farmers through

the processes of self-assessment, goal-setting,

decision-making, and consensus building, as

well as finding resources, land, credit, and

mentors. Established farmers will have the

opportunity to develop or revisit their holistic

goal, review their business plan, and consider

some new ideas.

Using the principles of Holistic Management

in this program, the Farm Trust hopes to

improve social, ecological, and economic

conditions in the state of Washington. For more

information or to sign up for the program,

please contact The Puget Sound Farm Trust at

206/767-7334 or email Sandra at smm1@gte.net.

Bernalillo County (the county in which

Albuquerque is located) on a two-year contract

to manage and plan county open space in the

South Valley of Albuquerque. The two open

space sites are currently used for agricultural

production. The Savory Center’s role is to keep

them in production and to facilitate the long-

term planning for them.

The Savory Center will help develop a long-

term use and development plan, using Holistic

Management as a framework to engage the

local residents, youth organizations, and

neighborhood associations in the planning

process. For more information about this

project, contact Shannon Horst at 505/842-5252

or shannonh@holisticmanagement.org.

Wyoming Rendezvo u s

Acarefully selected group of just over 50

people from across Wyoming—ranchers,

environmentalists, teachers, extension agents,

and more—traveled to Big Piney on October 31

to spend a day with Allan Savory. The event,

organized by Gary and Nancy Espenscheid and

members of their management club, was aimed

at updating folks who have been practicing

Holistic Management for some years, or perhaps

fallen by the wayside, and re-igniting everyone’s

enthusiasm. It certainly did that.

The Charlie Reed Memorial Scholarship

“Never underestimate the power of giving. Itshines like a beacon throughout humanity. Itcuts through the oceans that divide us andbrightens the lives of all it touches. One of life’sgreatest laws is that you cannot hold a torch tolight another’s path without brightening yourown.”

If Charlie Reed were alive today, he would

readily concur with the sentiments of this

quote. While, Charlie passed away earlier

this year at the age of 80, his legacy lives on

through his daughter, Jane Reed (a trainee in

the Certified Educator U.S. Training Program).

Charlie, an attorney, was a partner in one of

the largest law firms in Virginia, but devoted

much of his later life to charitable work. He

influenced Jane greatly, instilling in her a strong

work ethic, a sincere love for the land, and a

good sense of humor. She brought these skills

to the work she has done

as an artist for such

companies as Celestial

Seasonings. Today her love

and talent for art has made

her a full-time artist, and

she credits Holistic

Management for “bringing

me back to what I love most—painting.”

Jane’s enthusiasm for Holistic Management

also stems from her ownership in Cloudgate

Ranch near Cotopaxi, Colorado. She is exploring

ways to heal the land and would like to use the

ranch as a place where hospice patients can

come and enjoy the serene beauty for a time

during their transition stage.

Jane firmly believes that Holistic

Management can help make the world a better

place, and sees the Savory Center’s Certified

Educator Training Program as the best way to

get more people trained in Holistic

Management. For that reason,

Jane is making a generous

annual memorial contribution

in her father’s name to the

Certified Educator Financial

Assistance Fund at the

Savory Center.

With her contributions, Jane

will help fund individuals who

have already applied and been

accepted into one of the

Savory Center’s three Holistic

Management Certified Educator

Training Programs. In this way,

Jane’s gift will multiply as these Certified

Educators train others in their communities.

Charles Reed left behind a legacy of

philanthropy and caring for others. Jane

continues that tradition today. We encourage

others to follow Jane’s lead and offer a gift

or bequest to the Savory Center’s Financial

Assistance Fund.

For more information about this fund or

the many ways to contribute, please contact

me at 505/842-5252 or

andyb@holisticmanagement.org.

Military Land Reclamation

Through its subsidiary, Land Renewal, Inc.,

the Savory Center is working with New

Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces

to assist the U.S. Army in the cost-effective clean

up of soils contaminated by heavy metals left

from the Army’s munitions. Our primary

responsibility in this effort is to use the Holistic

Management™ decision-making process to assist

the larger team in looking at all technologies

and methodologies (including plants used,

inputs, costs, and remediation activities)

recommended and developed on this project to

make sure they are sustainable. We will also

assist with developing a planning process for

overall management of the range resources. For

more information about this project, contact

Shannon Horst at 505/842-5252 or

shannonh@holisticmanagement.org.

Open Space Planning

The Savory Center is working with

D evelopment Corner by Andy Braman

Jane Reed

S a vory Center

Bulletin Boardcontinued from page 15

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2001 17

Transitions to Purpose

We received the following letter in

response to a question we asked when

preparing the last issue of IN PRACTICE.

That issue dealt with transitions people

have faced at dif ferent points in their

lives and how Holistic Management has

affected their ability to move through

those transitions. —Editor

My wife, Hazel, and I lived in the

Northern Suburbs of Sydney from

the late ‘70s to 1993. We had a pleasant

large house and a good circle of friends.

Where we lived was close to shops, trains

and, in essence, city life was good.

So why move?

We’d sort of been thinking

about it for several years. Our

plan had been to see if

we could buy a property in

northeast Victoria for Hazel to

do the grazing thing and for me

to carry on consulting and work

on the property (get physical

and all).

By early 1993 we had found a

place, Brookvale, which seemed

ideal. After much financial

juggling we managed to move

onto the property in January

1994. In late 1995, I came across

Holistic Resource Management

and read it three times or more.

Hazel and I trotted around to various

introductory talks (including Allan Savory

in Wagga Wagga), and, eventually, went

to a course in Yarrawonga with

Holistic Management™ Certified Educator

Bruce Ward (we’ve since joined the

Yarrawonga Holistic Management

Support Group).

We broke a lot of rules at that time.

We were well-acquainted with how to

determine the right sort of farm/enterprise,

but we chose this place from the heart.

Once we got there we started to behave

as if every night was a party or we were

permanently on holiday. We still worked

hard, but it really was the work of a couple

R e a d e r s fo r u m

of headless chooks [chickens].

No matter how much I did all I could see

was the mountain I had to do. I found it

very difficult to pay attention to the

consultancy—the temptation of practical

outdoor work was too great. We were lucky

to get only mildly depressed. After all, we

had abandoned our home, our friends, most

of our family, our way of life. We had even

changed climates.

Since then, we’ve been endeavoring to

do things like set a holistic goal together,

monitor progress, make decisions, and do

land and financial planning. Certainly we

aren’t any good at everything—but there

are people in the Yarrawonga Support

Group who are pretty outstanding in at

least one thing.

Anyhow, we’re now getting it together.

I am really excited about Holistic

Management because making good

decisions in a complex environment is

extraordinarily difficult, and it makes those

decisions so much easier.

Last year we broke even on the farm,

and we may have picked up a big consulting

client. We commenced six years ago with a

messy rundown farm and 21 head of cattle,

and about 7 paddocks. Now we have 50

breeding cows, 175 ewes, and 30 paddocks.

The aim is 600-800 ewes.

We have a holistic goal and an effective

support group. We have overcome our

general headless chook approach to our

domestic life. We run the farm and

our personal lives through a weekly

meeting through which we coordinate

our actions and focus on our priorities

and divide the workload on the farm

more comfortably.

Doing the Holistic Management course

was spectacular in a number of ways. Allan

Savory’s books made sense to me and quite

a lot of the information slotted into my

belief systems anyway. The people in the

course were different to those we met in

our district. The Holistic Management

course by its very nature attracts thinking

people and people who are very likely to

take “the road less traveled.” By the end of

the course, we had some real friends,

whereas I found many of the locals either

too busy or 20 years behind on

certain ideas. The support group

has been extremely important.

It is the one place we can say

what we think about farming

and not be thought of as city

slickers. That acceptance has

been the biggest bonding and

trust building factor for our

group (our humor has also

added to that).

Our support group tends to

affect change rather slowly. We

call it “our feet in clay.” Because

of this, we decided that we just

had to be really boring and go

over and over and over the

information and exercises. That was why

many in the group bought At Home with

Holistic Management.

Overall I would say that this transition

gave me a plan for the latter half of my life.

The first half was good, but there was

always a sense of really not knowing quite

what I was supposed to do. I loathed

offices—where I spent most of my working

life. I had little respect for corporate culture. I

knew living in the country was important. I

knew farming was important, but once I got

there I couldn’t see the trees for the forest.

Now I have clarity and a sense of purpose.

John Brister

Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia

John Brister and his wife, Hazel Wann.