#080, In Practice, Nov/Dec 2001

s I began collecting stories for this issue,

the phrase “good ideas” kept running

through my mind. In search of a more

provocative title, I began to question what

made a good idea, good.

In pondering that question, I realized that

judging an idea is a very personal matter. I

suspect there are any number of ideas I’ve had

that I thought were good that others have

thought very poor. If I felt strongly that those

ideas would help achieve an outcome I desired,

without causing negative unintended

consequences, then they were good ideas to

me regardless of public opinion.

I also realized that ideas are really the

beginnings of decisions. For example, if you

have an idea for a carriage powered by a fossil

fuel engine (the automobile), you may decide

to create it, sell the idea, or tell no one about it.

Once you have an idea, you have to make a

decision. They are inextricably linked.

So what’s the moral of the story? Only you

can discern if an idea is good for you. People

will give you their opinion or even share their

own experience to keep you from repeating

the same mistake they feel they made, but,

ultimately, you make the decision about

whether an idea is good or not. And I think it

takes a tremendous amount of discipline to

really examine your ideas and make conscious

decisions about what to do with them. I also

believe your life is richer for having done so.

How do I know? I’ve read the stories in this

issue and looked at the common theme of

people assessing their situation, thinking about

what they wanted, and coming up with an

idea to create the outcome they desired. It

seems simple enough, but the path from want

or need to idea to action can be tricky if you

are on unfamiliar ground. It sometimes requires

some holistic tinkering.

Experimental Wi s d o m

Someone once said that there is no such

thing as a new story, just different variations

of the same old stories. I think the same can

be said of ideas. Ideas emerge because of

wants and needs. We build on the ideas

already out there and tinker with them to

address our needs. In tinkering we move from

an acceptance of outside knowledge to the

greater wisdom of experience.

Ironically, the word tinkering has negative

connotations because tinkers were itinerant

tradespeople who worked on household

utensils. Tinkering thus implies work done by

someone who isn’t an expert and is working

in an experimental manner. Compare this

work to that of scientists and engineers

working on important machinery or

technology in a very controlled environment.

Yet I would trust a local “tinker” whom I

knew and respected, and who was from my

community, to come up with an idea that

improved my life more than some expert who

lived far from me and whose motives I didn’t

know. I would trust such “tinkers” even more

if they were managing holistically.

Take a look at the stories in this issue.

Each one tells a story of holistic tinkering,

people improving their situations by a

willingness to learn and experiment, to gain

the insight of what makes an idea worth

pursuing. Moreover, because these people

have a bigger picture in mind that their

community can embrace, they have gained

allies who helped them achieve the outcomes

they wanted to achieve.

And while people like the Reeds, the

Howells, Wayne Burleson, and the Taylors

might not be considered experts in the

traditional sense of the word, they are

developing practical solutions to problems

that are currently stumping the experts in

areas of resource management, land-use issues,

community development, and sustainable

agriculture. Not bad for a bunch of

holistic tinkers.

in t h is I s su e

Hunting for Habitat Health

Jim Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Infinite Possibilities—The Savory

Center Website

Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

From Here to Eternity—Redefining

Conservation Easements

Jim & Daniela Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Clubs Are a New Neighborhood Glue

Wayne Burleson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

LAND & LIVESTOCK—A specialsection of IN PRACTICEBrush Fire and Grazing in the

Brittle Pampas

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Special Land, Special Wool,

Special People

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Savory Center Annual Report . . . . . . .15

Savory Center Bulletin Board . . . . . . .16

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

Necessity is the mother of invention, and

many Holistic Management practitioners

have found that their ability to address a

need has impro ved as they became

clearer about what they wanted to

achieve in the long run. This deer is part

of a herd on the Reed Wildlife Ranch

that is thriving because of sound

resource management and a focus on

habitat as well as economics. Read

about the Reeds’ successes and

learnings on page 2.

Holistic Ti n k e r i n gby Ann Adams

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2001 NUMBER 80

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

A

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #80

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

Gary Rodgers

Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD

Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM

Ron Brandes, New York, NY

Sam Brown, Austin, TX

Leslie Christian, Portland, OR

Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Clint Josey, Dallas, TX

Christine Jurzykowski, Glen Rose, TX

Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR

Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico

Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX

York Schueller, Santa Barbara, CA

Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK

Richard Smith, Houston, TX

STAFF

Shannon Horst, Executive Director; Kate Bradshaw, Associate Director; Allan Savory, Founding Director; Jody Butterfield, Co-Founder andResearch and Educational MaterialsCoordinator ; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Andy Braman,

Development Director; Ann Adams,

Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE andMembership Support Coordinator

Africa Centre for Holistic Management

Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

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

[email protected]

Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger

Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre;Elias Ncube, Hwange ProjectManager/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:[email protected].;website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2001.

Ad definitumfinem

Hunting for Habitat Healthby Jim Reed

I’m a third generation Reed family

landowner of the Reed Ranch in north

central Texas. When I became the sole

owner in 1998, I began making my plans for

diversification of the ranch assets and income

base because I could see that the way it had

been run wasn’t economically viable and

would eventually lead to the ranch being

sold. I wanted to make sure it was around for

a fourth generation of Reeds, and I don’t

think that would have happened if I hadn’t

learned about Holistic Management.

Search and Engage

When I first took over the family ranch, I

searched for an agricultural model that I felt

would work for me. I knew by talking to lots

of local people and family members that the

traditional agriculture model would not work!

In fact, most everybody I talked with advised

me to sell the ranch as quickly as possible

and enjoy the money. I almost gave up until I

learned about Holistic Management on the

Internet.

As I learned more about Holistic

Management, I contacted HRM of Texas (the

Texas branch), and then my wife, Judy, and I

enrolled in a Holistic Management class

taught by Certified Educator Peggy Sechrist.

Peggy’s introductory class was right on target

for us and we’ve been practicing Holistic

Management ever since.

Our ranch is about 1,780 acres (721

hectares) in size with about half the ranch in

wetlands and the other half in hill land. The

ranch had previously been primarily a

cow/calf operation with close family

members hunting recreationally for the past

60 years. Because of my primary interest in

whitetail deer, I began conducting deer

population census surveys back in 1993 with

the help of wildlife biologists from the Texas

Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

This relationship with the TPWD has gone

well over the years with many benefits.

While they have always been helpful, the

relationship deepened considerably when I

demonstrated that I had goals for my ranch

and that I was concerned about income and

habitat .

Back in 1994, we wrote a wildlife

management plan under the guidance of the

local TPWD wildlife biologist. This plan was

integrated with our holistic goal in 1997. Over

the years I think both the TPWD and we have

learned how our cow/calf operation can

complement our wildlife management

program and vice versa. I’m now aware that

income potential and habitat go hand-in-hand

on my ranch. Most of the ranchers I know

locally appear to feel that habitat

enhancement reduces rather than increases

income.

This cooperative approach with TPWD has

brought such things as extended hunting

seasons for my ranch because we conduct a

satisfactory number of habitat enhancement

initiatives and wildlife census surveys, keep

records, and report harvest numbers. My

season is about double the number of days of

what it is in other parts of the state, and this

extended season helps make my hunting club

popular.

We also received assistance from TPWD in

matching wildlife resources with available

food supply, special recognition (see Bulletin

Board, page 16 ), helpful publications on

management of wildlife habitat, forested

wetlands and deer habitat partnership grants,

and special help in determining herd sizes,

frequency of harvest, and what the harvest

mixture should be (i.e., how many buck and

how many doe should be taken each year).

The TPWD’s willingness to work with

private landowners may be somewhat

different from the wildlife department in

other states because a little over 95 percent of

Texas is privately owned. Because of this, the

TPWD recognizes how important it is to work

with private landowners, and they do an

excellent job at it.

But there was a tremendous jump with

“The changes in ranch

management practices

and quality of life are

directly related to having

created our holistic goal.”

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2001 3

this effort when we started managing

holistically. Our holistic goal really got the

TPWD wildlife biologists “turned on” and

their efforts to help us increased tenfold. Not

many landowners around these parts have

developed goals for themselves, so TPWD

saw our focus and objectives as an

impressive aspect of our ranch, and it

seemed they couldn’t do enough for us! It

was great! Of course, all we were doing was

using the ideas we had read about in Holistic

Management .

Using Resources Effe c t i ve l y

One of the biggest challenges early on

was to balance the needs of our wildlife with

our cow/calf operation. Although

cattle and whitetail deer do not

directly compete with one

another for food supply, there is

sufficient overlap (especially in

times of stress, which can be

caused by lack of rainfall or

overpopulation of a particular

species) that we have tried to

ensure adequate forage when

creating our grazing plans and in

developing our land plan.

For example, we do not allow

cattle in our forested areas during

late summer or the winter

months, because they would

compete directly with wildlife for

food. Although whitetail deer

make a lot of use of browse and

forbs, cattle do too at certain times of the

year (especially when grasses are not readily

available). However, because of the

disturbance and new-growth created by the

grazing cattle, the deer tend to follow the

cattle around, and are seen frequently about

two paddocks behind the cattle.

The situation gets even more complex

because we also have commercial hunting of

duck and feral hog as well as the deer. To

balance out the different needs we plan how

we can best use the impact of the wildlife

(as well as cattle) on the habitat we manage.

For example, we use special mowing

techniques to ensure an adequate cover of

grasses, weeds and other plants in key

fawning areas. However, we’re working on

getting away from mowing altogether as we

increase cattle numbers and decrease

paddock sizes.

We also plant and re-establish native

grasses for both cattle forage and wildlife

cover (many are coming back now that

Lastly, we’ve used other forms of animal

impact to initiate pasture improvements,

particularly feral hog rootings. Normally hog

rootings are cussed and discussed by locals in

these parts as a problem. But, we use their

“work” as an opportunity to plant seed in

these spots. I now call these spots my “hog

disced” spots.

Feral hogs can survive just fine in their

natural habitat and naturally disturb soil with

their rooting. I don’t ever have to gas ‘em up

and they never break down or have flat tires

like a tractor can if I were to use that tool

instead! We’ve now established some pretty

good areas of healthy switchgrass in the

areas the hogs have “disced” for us.

Listening to Nature

We conduct our census surveys

for whitetail deer using both night

and day observations to achieve a

more accurate count. The TPWD

uses these figures to make harvest

recommendations, and currently

they are suggesting that we

should be carrying less deer, so

we’re trying to reduce the

numbers.

We use the results of the night

deer counts to determine the

density of the herd. Back in 1994,

the population density was about

five acres per deer. Our most

recent surveys now put the herd

density at about 10 acres per deer,

which is more in line with what this

geographic area can support. Our current

plans are to decrease the deer population

even more to increase individual size, fawn

survival rate, and antler development

(important from both a species health

indicator and economics).

The results of the daylight observations

are used to calculate the buck/doe/fawn

ratios. In 1994, our results showed that we

were seeing about one buck to every 10 doe.

Now, this year’s preliminary figures are

showing about one buck to every two doe (a

sign of better deer management on our part).

We take our deer counts each summer.

We usually begin somewhere around the

middle of July and finish by the end of

August as this is the best time to achieve

an accurate count (fawns are big enough to

be seen and still have their spots so as not

to be confused for does).

we’ve stopped continuously grazing). While

we do some tilling and seeding, we plan to

run the ranch with no equipment by the end

of 2003, so we’re moving quickly to a point

where equipment won’t be needed to

establish more native grasses.

With these efforts we’ve been able to

move toward our future landscape

description by planned grazing that is

sensitive to both cattle and wildlife. With our

grazing planning we allow native grasses to

mature in some paddocks, use others for

wildlife cover, or create separate waterfowl

habitat areas to increase food supply at

certain times of year.

We’ve also used animal impact on the

marsh elder and ragweed early in the

growing season to control its presence. Young

marsh elder and ragweed provide good

protein for cattle in their early stages of

growth, but become unpalatable to cattle as

they mature. In this way animal impact

appears to be a better way to deal with these

problem plants than pesticides, which

damage our soil and water.

Through earth moving we’ve increased

waterfowl and migratory bird habitat by re-

establishing marshy, wet areas in pastures

that we previously used only for grazing.

Likewise, we created wildlife corridors by

noting where the animals normally

congregate and enhancing those areas. The

creation of wildlife corridors has worked

beautifully, especially for whitetail deer. My

feeling is that these corridors are also being

used by a wide variety of species such as the

cottontail and swamp rabbit, bobcat, ground-

nesting birds, and whole host of other

species that need cover from predators.

Judy and Jim Reed

continued on page 4


The number of twins born to each doe

has also increased. Back in 1994, for every

three fawns there were 10 does. Now, based

on this year’s preliminary figures, we have

six fawns for every 10 does. This increase in

the number of twins and the fawn survival

rate is a good indicator that the habitat is

finally catching up with the herd size.

Listening to what nature is saying is one

of the best ways I know to make good

decisions. Nature already knows what needs

to be done and will make decisions for us if

we don’t do our part. The

problem most of us have

(including me) is deciding how

to be quiet long enough, to

figure out what she’s telling us!

Hog Heave n

On our ranch, there’s always

been sufficient numbers of

migratory birds, including high

populations of duck. My place is

directly under a fly-by zone, and

the wetlands usually provide

plenty of water and waterfowl

habitat. Like the deer hunting,

the duck hunting is great!

We’ve had a hunting and

fishing club in operation on the

Reed Ranch since 1998. In the beginning, club

members usually focused on deer and duck,

although they occasionally took a feral hog.

Because of the increased number of feral

hogs on my place and the potential damage

they can cause, I started a hog trapping

program in the fall of 1998.

I soon learned that the feral hog could be

used in many ways other than just trapping.

Since that time, the hog hunting on the Reed

Ranch has become an asset. We usually don’t

have to trap now, unless there’s an area on

the ranch that is being damaged to the point

where we have to consider repairs (i.e.,

creating holes that will cause erosion or

damage vehicles).

We’ve now been able to balance the feral

hog population with hunting and trapping

opportunities as well as having the meat as

an excellent food supply. Hogs in Texas can

be hunted all the time, and we do!

The ranch has created a partnership with

a hog hunting website (www.texasboars.com)

that supplies many of the hunters who come

any other way! A section of our holistic goal

has to do with learning and sharing

opportunities, and studying wildlife habitat

has taught us a lot. Likewise, learning how

wildlife and cattle can be managed together

has definitely produced an economic return.

Wildlife is a part of all ranches. In order to

consider the whole, the wildlife must enter

into the planning and monitoring. When

testing an activity, we reflect not just on a

single species but take into consideration all

the species that live on the ranch.

This forces us to focus on the big picture,

and creates opportunities to listen to all points

of view, perceptions of what the real problem

is, and a sharing of the best solution for all

concerned. In many cases, the

activity tested becomes more

focused and sometimes even

changes in scope and content.

What better formula for

success and to shift the old

agricultural paradigm?

If I hadn’t been managing

holistically, I’d never have

thought of using hog rooting

spots for seed bed

preparation or seen the

benefits of diversity in

management of animal (cattle

and wildlife) habitat, native

grasses, and such. I also

would never have seen the

benefits of planned grazing

with cattle and its effect on wildlife (especially

on whitetail deer) or been nearly as creative

in seeing alternative ways to using machinery

and technology. With Holistic Management,

I’m now learning how to utilize animals,

nature, and grasses to do many of the jobs I

previously assumed could only be done with

equipment. Lastly, I’d still be using pesticides

and herbicides and decreasing the health of

the habitat by attacking the symptom and not

addressing the root cause.

These changes in ranch management

practices and quality of life are directly related

to having created our holistic goal and

following the Holistic Management™ Land

Planning and Grazing Planning processes. We

couldn’t have accomplished what we have

without Holistic Management.

Jim and Judy Reed operate the Reed

Wildlife Ranch near Corsicana, Texas. They

can be reached at [email protected]. The

ranch website can be found at

www.calsnet.net/jreed1.

out on our monthly (sometime more

frequent) hog hunts. These hog hunts are

conducted at night, and hunters will

regularly pull all-nighters in search of free-

roaming feral hogs.

Hog meat is excellent, the hunting is

excellent, and the income is excellent, and

the hogs help us re-establish some of my

native grasses by providing an excellent seed

bed. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Although I expect all the hunting income

to increase in future years, I figure the hog

hunting will exceed the deer hunting one

day, primarily because hogs can be hunted all

year round and the meat is easier to prepare

than venison.

I figure the hunting income makes up

about 25 percent of the ranch income. Of

this, most comes from whitetail deer hunting

(about 60 percent of hunting income), with

hog hunting second (making up about 30

percent); and the remaining 10 percent

coming from duck hunting.

A Learning Community

The ranch also maintains a ranch calendar

on our website, which is used by hunters to

schedule hunts and see when hunting

opportunities are available. People mostly use

the ranch calendar if they are involved with

my ranch in some way to find out what’s

being scheduled or what has happened

recently. This creates a community

atmosphere for them. I also don’t think I

could manage the ranch efficiently without

this community calendar. It’s an excellent

management tool that’s available to anybody

with Internet capability.

It has been an incredible experience

developing a wildlife ranch. I wouldn’t ranch

Hunting for Habitat Health

continued from page 3

Many of the ponds on the Reed Ranch show the Reeds’ success at

enhancing biodiversity .


Infinite Possibilities—The Savory Center We b s i t e

by Ann Adams

pproximately two years ago the Savory

Center invested in the development

of our current website:

www.holisticmanagement.org. Our old website

had the basic information about Holistic

Management, but we wanted to expand it

to reflect the evolving nature of Holistic

Management and the Holistic Management

movement. At that time we averaged about

50 hits a week.

Today we have one of the largest

educational websites for an organization our

size with a great deal of free information

about Holistic Management available to people

around the world. We average 885 hits a day

with many visitors coming back for more

information. From March through June of

2001 we averaged about 4,000 visitors of

which 957 visited more than once. While the

majority of our visitors were from the U.S.,

16 percent were international.

We are pleased that so many people have

found our website useful and informative.

We have received comments from many

practitioners that it is helpful to be able to

point their friends or colleagues to a spot that

offers such a wealth of knowledge for free.

For those of you who haven’t spent much

time visiting our website, I thought I’d give

you a little tour so you would know what is

available to you.

A Cyber To u r

Our homepage (www.holisticmanagement.org)

provides a link to each of the key areas on

our website: “About Holistic Management,”

“About the Savory Center,” “Products and

Services,” “Meet Our Clients,” “Projects and

Programs,” and “New.” There is also a button

for “Search,” which you can use to find

information about a certain subject quickly.

For example, you can type in the word

“brittleness” and the search engine will pull up

any links on our website where that subject is

discussed. The homepage also has a link to

our site map that shows the architecture of

our website.

Perhaps one of the most visited areas on

our website is the On-Line Library. This section

includes stories from IN PRACTICE, new

papers and presentations

that we produced for

current events and other

publications, articles about

Holistic Management, and

the reference library where you can follow

up references on such topics as setting a

holistic goal, ecosystem processes, tools,

testing questions, management guidelines,

and testing procedures.

In About Holistic Management you will find

much of the information we published in the

IN PRACTICE Special Edition . The graphics of

the water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow,

and community dynamics, as well as the

Holistic Management™ model are all in there

as well as explanations of the goal-setting

process, the testing questions, management

guidelines, and planning processes. This is the

place to send someone who wants a basic

understanding of how Holistic Management

works. There is even a brief explanation of

Holistic Management in Spanish.

In About the Savory Center you will learn

about our history, who is involved, and how

to contact them. Savory Center staff, Africa

Centre staff, Certified Educators, those in our

network, and links of interest are all in this

section. There is also information about our

for-profit subsidiary, Land Renewal, Inc, and its

services, as well as some color photos of land

reclamation projects. Because color doesn’t

cost any more than black and white on the

web, we are able to offer more color photos

than we can in our print material. We hope to

be adding more in the years to come.

Meet Our Clients offers some of the

testimonials we have collected over the years

on how Holistic Management has helped

people. We would love to expand this section,

so if you have a quote for us to include,

please send it to us. We also want to add

many more pictures, so if you have before

and after pictures of your land, please send

those in as well with information about how

you achieved the outcomes shown in the

photographs. We’ll scan the photos and

return them to you.

Projects and Programs provides an

overview of the past, current, and future

Aprojects including the Kellogg projects in

Washington and Colorado; the Matetsi Project,

the Village Banking Initiative, and the Wildlife

Management College in Zimbabwe; the

Holistic Management™ Certified Educator

Training Program; the National Learning Site in

Idaho; and the Global Climate Change Project.

If you want to keep up with what’s

happening around the world with Holistic

Management, then visit the New section. We

regularly update the online calendar that lists

all Holistic Management events in the world

that we are aware of. We also update our

announcements and Certified Educators’

listings bimonthly. If you have an event you

are sponsoring where you will be sharing

Holistic Management with others, please let

us know so we can put it on the Online

Calendar.

The last section of our website is our

Products and Services . This is where you can

learn about all our products and order them

online with our secure server. We also provide

information about some of our speakers, as

well as all the information about our training

program, and services like process consulting.

Upcoming Features

We are very excited about the possibilities

of getting more information out about Holistic

Management via our website. In particular,

we hope to transfer some of our new print

material to a PDF (Portable Document Format)

that people will be able to easily read with

the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

We also hope to have an online database

of Holistic Management™ Certified Educators

and practitioners in which people can input

their information and search other entries for

more information exchange. Numerous Savory

Center members have requested this service

and we are working to meet that need.

If you have ideas that you think we

should include in our website, please contact

me at [email protected] or

505/842-5252.


our land and what to do with it, using our

holistic goal, than anybody else on Earth (as

arrogant as that may sound). How could we

explain to this land trust that weeds to us

could be good; that cattle can heal the land;

that a trampled, severely grazed paddock could

be a sign of change towards more effective

ecosystem processes? Would they listen to us?

Would they allow us to do our thing? Would

they understand?

They did listen; and overall, we think they

understood. For example, they were willing to

word the easement in a way that would leave

ample room for us to do as we wished, to do

“our thing” without any hassle from them.

They also wrote the document with no

prejudices against any specific tool or land

management practice.

The land trust, however, had to have some

criteria to guide its monitoring and to ensure

its members we would be good stewards of

the land to which they were about to bind

their name and reputation.

To that end, and for a better understanding

of all parties involved of our commitment

to move the land to a healthier state, we

proposed attaching the future landscape

description of our holistic goal to the

conservation easement. The trust, surprisingly,

was very supportive of the idea. The

Our family’s decision to donate a

conservation easement on our

Colorado mountain ranch did not

come easily, but we were faced with the same

dilemma facing thousands of family ranches

across the West. Our land was valued way

beyond its agricultural productive potential,

and the estate taxes would have been

impossible for our family to pay.

We love our little piece of the world and

our hearts, history, and emotion are bound to

it. We didn’t want to sell and move somewhere

not pressured by urban development or

“burdened” by high-priced scenery. We knew

we couldn’t bury our heads in the sand and

ignore reality, but what were our options?

Holistic Negotiations

As we explored our options, we used our

holistic goal to help us test each option as

we discussed with family and met with

professional advisors. Although we still had

some reservations, we opted to donate a

conservation easement to our community’s

land trust, The Black Canyon Regional Land

Trust (BCRLT). With that in place, we have

a tremendous peace of mind regarding

estate taxes.

The BCRLT worked with us diligently, and

listened to our many questions and concerns,

even thought at times it seemed we were

speaking different languages, especially when

we talked and discussed issues related to land

management. But overall the dialogue was

fluid and the whole process evolved smoothly.

At the onset of negotiating the easement,

we knew we were going to face a challenge.

The challenge was to convey our values in

a clear way at many levels. We dreaded the

idea of having strangers, city-based

environmentalists and conventionally trained

agricultural professionals, telling us what to

do and how to manage our land, monitoring

in their own ways the outcomes of our

management. We felt our privacy and our

rights were somehow violated, like we were

going to be in a public land management

situation. We had been through that, and

we did not want even a taste of it again.

On one level we felt we knew more about

document doesn’t delineate any time frame for

achieving any landscape condition; it simply

says that our management will, over time, lead

to those conditions. With our biological

monitoring, we can prove that we are moving

in the desired direction or not. If not, we know

we have to make changes to get back on track.

We don’t need any policing, since we police

ourselves. We are planning, monitoring,

controlling, and replanning for ourselves, our

livelihood, our values, and our descendents,

not for the land trust. The future resource base

description keeps us all on the same page.

In our conservation easement we included

three development envelopes on each of our

two properties, in case we, or anyone in our

families, decided to build a house on the

ranch. We are glad we did that, although we

wonder if we should have allowed for more

development.

Since the signing of the document a

couple of years ago, we have maintained and

nurtured a good relationship with the land

trust members. We keep them informed of our

management decisions (usually by providing

them with long-term management plans for

our land as well as major infrastructure

developments (ponds, irrigation, buildings, etc).

We have cooperated with them in whatever

fashion they have needed, and in return, we’ve

experienced none of our feared invasion of

privacy and no land management restrictions

at all. Moreover, they have been supportive

and complimentary of our efforts.

A l ways Afterthoughts

We still question our decision now and

then. Will other more suitable options emerge,

leaving us with just a restriction in the best

case? Have we limited our children’s

opportunities and free will by exercising

ours? Will this document be respected in

perpetuity? Will future land trust members

and decisionmakers share and respect our

views, and behave in the same way current

members do? We may never have answers

to these questions,.

When in doubt we look back, and we

test our decision all over again. Ecologically,

economically and socially, with all its

unknowns, it still passes. It still takes us to

where we want to go. Hopefully time will

reassure us that we did the right thing for

ourselves, our children, and the planet.

Jim and Daniela Ho well live near

Montrose, Colorado and can be reached at:

[email protected] or 970/249-0353.

Jim and Daniela Ho well with their

daughter, Savanna.

From Here to Eternity—Redefining Conservation Easements

by Jim and Daniela Ho well


Clubs Are a New Neighborhood Glueby Wayne Burleson

Editor’s note: This article was first published in

the April 2001 issue of Successful Farming. While

Wayne presents a more open-ended version of

management clubs than those that focus on

people’s practice of Holistic Management, these

management clubs can be a way for Holistic

Management practitioners to not only strengthen

their practice of Holistic Management, but also

help others learn more about Holistic

Management.

As Wayne notes in his article, he learned

about management clubs from the Devon club, a

longstanding Holistic Management club started

by Savory Center members, Dennis and Jean

Wobeser. If you are new to Holistic Management

and there are no other practitioners around,

these types of management clubs can provide

you with an ongoing learning community as

you learn more about Holistic Management. If

you are joining a management club that has

already been formed, you will have to discern

if the members are open-minded enough to

incorporate your ideas into their structure.

We hope that urban dwellers, as well as rural

dwellers, make use of the ideas in this article.

Years ago, most agricultural endeavors

depended upon neighbors helping

neighbors. Nowadays, things like modern

independence, competition, a better equipment

line, off-farm jobs, financial stress, businesses, the

Internet, and simple pride are robbing us of some

of those old neighborly ways of helping each

other and sharing ideas.

But there is a refreshing new emergence of

like-minded folks who still want to get together to

learn more, share information, and help each other

out. They call their groups management clubs.

A management club usually is a local group

of folks connected to a common and shared

purpose. The focus can be selected by group

members. For example, the group may want to

develop a new beef marketing program, or a

neighborhood biological weed control effort.

Other groups may be interested in sharing

information about marketing wool, or growing

specialty crops like garlic.

Starting a watershed restoration project is

another idea. With all of the pressures for

environmental awareness, positive agricultural

groups are needed now more than ever. The idea

is not to fight these proposed changes (that’s the

blame-game way, which doesn’t work long-term),

but to work together with others to improve land

management, provide cleaner water, and maintain

profitable farm use.

Club topics may be diverse. The most

important concept is that members of the group

want to help each other in some way.

A Canadian Model

We started our club, called Beartooth

Management Club, six years ago. We patterned it

after a successful Canadian group, the Devon

Club. The Devon Club is composed of about 10

families (not all farmers) who have met once a

month for more than 10 years. They’re very

successful, offering a reliable support system

that strengthens individuals and even helps each

other out financially.

Beartooth Management Club has a broad

agenda: part friendship, part support, part family,

and part business. I think it works because we have

an informal structure. One person is designated to

keep us in touch, through phone calls, word of

mouth, or sometimes a one-page newsletter.

We’ve conducted monthly meetings on many

topics, including wolves in our backyards, beef

taste testing, a land monitoring contest, marketing

natural beef, beaver management, native plants,

financial planning, tax advantages, equipment

maintenance, goal setting, book exchanges, family

peacemaking, ostrich farming, horse herd grazing-

just to name a few.

Our club has the support of an organization

called Alternative Energy Resources Organization

(AERO). It helps Montana groups by providing

start-up grant funds, educational seminars, and

annual get-togethers.

Staying Power is Vi t a l

What keeps a management club going?

We have found from past experiences that the

following ideas work:

• A potluck meal each time is a big drawing card.

Our club’s host usually provides a main dish.

• Start each session with a grounding question,

answered by each participant. Go beyond talking

about the weather by asking, “What is new on

your place?” or “How are things going for you?”

• Sit in a circle if you can; that way, everybody

is of equal importance.

• Have the host present a topic of his or her choice.

• Rotate meeting places and help clean up after

the meetings.

• Brainstorm interesting, meaningful topics

Wayne Burleson

once each year.

• Bring the kids, but have a planned fun activity

for them.

• After the group is established, invite special

folks so you achieve diversity. Include folks in

banking, tax specialists, urban businesses, and

others whether they are connected to agriculture

or not. Our group even has its own certified

sleep therapist.

• Expect to receive the same energy and

enthusiasm from the club as you put into it.

• Delegate one or two motivated members of

the group to call folks and/or send out simple

newsletters before each monthly meeting.

We’ve also found a few other keys to

maintaining a successful management club. For

instance, ours has a simple, glue-type mission

statement. It simply says that we come together

to share new ideas and help each other.

Another key is to have one or two people

appointed to take on the leadership role with a

servant’s attitude. Without that person looking out

for others, things just don’t get done, and people

lose interest.

Sometimes the discussions that take place will

reveal personal situations. So by all means, respect

the confidentiality of all group members involved.

Finally, be sure to make your meetings fun, so it’s

worth the time and efforts of participants. Why

not start today?

Farm and rural lifestyles face daily challenges.

Don’t just wave at your neighbor as you drive

by. Stop in and share ideas. Starting a management

club could be just the uplifting action needed to

rescue a struggling family and help get a new

project off the ground, headed in the right

direction.

We need to get back to becoming more

neighborly neighborhoods and work together

for better solutions to the challenges we face.

Wayne Burleson is a Holistic Management

Certified Educator from Absarokee, Montana.

He can be reached at [email protected].

8 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #80

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

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2001 #80

The following is based on a report I recently wrote for Raul

Macko, manager of Estancia Hucal, in the province of La Pampa,

Argentina. In March 2001, during a ranch tour my wife, Daniela, and

I led to Argentina (see “The Nonbrittle Pampas of Argentina” IN

PRACTICE, July/August 2001), our tour group spent most of a day

with Raul, and we spoke in depth about the challenges of ranching

in the brushy calden zone of the Pampas. Calden is a brushy

legume, very similar to the catclaw so common in the southwestern

United States. There is a massive swath of calden-dominated country

running northwest to southeast across the semi-arid Pampas. It

grows primarily in coarse, drought-prone, sandy soils, and is

typically associated with a mix of palatable and very nutritious

perennial grasses, as well as an abundance of “paja” grasses.

The paja grasses are common throughout much of Argentina. In

Spanish, paja means straw. The pajas are bunch grasses, and as the

name implies, tend to be very low in quality and palatability once

mature. Typical of robust bunch grasses, they are susceptible to

overrest, eventually succumbing to a lack of sunlight reaching the

growth points at the plant base. Like all such grasses, once they have

a mass of old lignified material, they are less palatable than young

plants. Since animals tend to be on the land for prolonged times,

most shorter, less-fibrous grasses are overgrazed, leaving the coarse

pajas to dominate huge tracts of country.

Raul is battling with how to deal with both the calden brush

and the paja grasses that dominate his range. He is one of the most

sincere and caring land managers we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.

He’s operating from the fire paradigm, believing that, for lack of

anything else, fire is the only tool he has available to tackle these

“problems.” During our visit, we touched on a few things he might

be overlooking in his quest to improve his landscape. A few weeks

Overrested paja grasses with overgrazed, less-fibrous grasses in the

spaces between. Brush in the background is calden.

Focus on What You Want, Not What You Don’t Want

Brush, Fire, and Grazing

in the Brittle Pampas

before our visit, the ranch suffered a massive fire, which charred 60

percent of its 25,000 acres. Even though Raul is a believer in fire, he

was visibly stressed by the totally exposed soil surface left in the

fire’s wake, and the erosion starting to occur with the recent heavy

rains. He was open to our ideas, and requested that we write a

report describing our observations.

—Jim Howell

* * *

Raul, the following are just ideas and observations based on

my own experience in a variety of arid and semi-arid brittle

environments. Don’t take what I say as a recipe or the

truth—take it as some additional knowledge that may help you see

your own situation from a different perspective and may help you

meet your challenges more successfully.

Every ranch, family, and environment is different, and you

and your staff are the only ones truly familiar with the particular

features of Estancia Hucal, your culture, and what you value

most. I am an outsider without an in-depth knowledge of your

environment, but sometimes an outside perspective is necessary

to see beyond current paradigms.

First of all, you seem focused on dealing with the brush and the

paja grasses. You rightfully acknowledge that both, especially the

brush, are detracting from your production and potentially threaten

the viability of your entire operation. While I agree that they seem

to be a problem and need to be dealt with, it’s also important to

focus on what it is that you actually do want, instead of focusing

primarily on what you don’t want. You don’t want the paja or the

brush, but that’s where you’re focusing all your energy.

IN PRACTICE • NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2001 LAND & LIVESTOCK 9

Clarifying Priorities

What is it that you actually do want ? If you can clearly identify

that, your management decisions will take on a new focus. You will

begin to create what you want instead of fighting what you don’t

want. So before you do anything, you might examine your values

and priorities for your family and people and the ranch that supports

you. Describe how you want your lives and land to be, and base that

100 percent on what you do want and not on what you don’t want.

In Holistic Management we refer to this as a holistic goal.

This goal will then help guide you as you make management

decisions. For example, the decision to burn or to run as many herds

as you do could be weighed more clearly to see that both actions are

actually taking your lifestyle, production, and landscape in the

desired direction as described in your holistic goal.

Based on our discussions with you at Hucal, it seems that you

would need the land to look something like the following: open

grassland in a savanna-like setting with a diversity of warm- and

cool-season perennial grasses and forbs, and a covered soil

throughout the year leading to effectiveness of any rainfall you

receive. Although I have simplified this, it will be close to the

landscape you would begin to manage toward. The key to creating

this situation will be managing for healthy, vibrant, cool- and warm-

season grasses.

O vergrazing and Ove r r e s t

Currently, your native country is being used to hold your cattle

while your Pasto Lloron paddocks recover (Note: Pasto Llorron is an

introduced, very productive, drought-resistant perennial grass which

is commonly planted as a supplemental grazing resource on areas

that have been mechanically cleared of Calden brush ). Since you

have so many herds and so few paddocks per herd, the grazing

periods in your native paddocks are very long.

Perennial grasses are overgrazed any time that they

are exposed to grazing for too long and/or re-

exposed to grazing before the roots have fully

recovered following the previous grazing. This

appears to be happening to most of your lower

growing, less fibrous grasses. If the paja grasses are

mature, and thus very fibrous, very few of them

will be grazed. Most will be left ungrazed. If left

like that, they will tend to die prematurely since

they have to have leaves periodically removed to

survive. They, in fact, would be dying from an

excessive amount of rest, or overrest. If allowed to

die from overrest, they could provide ground-

covering litter, once trampled down, and improve

the land for nature to fill the space with less

fibrous grasses and forbs. So, if you can plan your

grazing so that the less fibrous grasses can thrive,

the paja grasses suddenly become a non-problem.

Instead, the soil covering material they provide is

actually an asset. If you allow your cattle to

overgraze less fibrous grasses, and then you burn

to keep the pajas alive, they will take over—just as

you are experiencing.

E f fects of Fire

To deal with the paja grasses and the calden brush, you have

been advised to burn every eight years. I believe this is only

addressing the symptoms of a deeper problem and in the long run

will only make your situation worse, especially if grazing

management does not change. You admitted that calden is fire

dependent. You also admitted (and showed us on the old aerial

photo) that prior to the highway construction through the ranch,

fires were infrequent, and brush density much less. Knowing that,

you can see that burning is not a lasting solution. Remember, your

focus is growing healthy, palatable perennial grasses, not reducing

brush. Brush reduction may indeed be necessary at some time, but

then it has to be done in conjunction with changes in management

that will strengthen the health of the grassland and encourage many

species of grasses and forbs. If paja grasses are not burned, I think

you’ll find they will decrease or even die out as they are so fire-

dependent. In short, because both calden and the pajas are fire

dependent, I don’t think fire is the appropriate long-term tool to

move your landscape toward your ideal.

You said that grazing soon after a burn will tend to weaken the

pajas, since at that point they are palatable to cattle. This is true, not

because you are grazing them at this time but because you are

overgrazing them by having the cattle there too long. This you

cannot avoid if you have many herds and few paddocks.

Overgrazing the fresh regrowth after the fire will draw from root

reserves, weakening the plant. While you may feel this is good in

terms of getting rid of paja grasses, remember you should not

manage for what you don’t want. In this case, not only will your

cattle overgraze the pajas, they will also overgraze the many other

grasses you are trying to encourage. Once again, by focusing on what

you don’t want (the pajas), you’re hurting what you do want (all the

other grasses).

Planning the Grazing

So, what can you do to foster a great variety of

grass species? The only thing I know to do is to

plan your grazing as we do with Holistic

Management. This means that you plan to have

the animals in the right area at the right time and

for the right reasons so you can move your

landscape and the ranch as a whole in the

direction you desire. Through this plan you will

ensure that you have sufficient paddocks per herd

to enable your cattle to graze plants without

overgrazing. This is done by having them on any

piece of land for a few days followed by plenty

of time for full recovery of all grazed plants. You

will also ensure that you are managing the soil as

well as the plants and that all areas get as much

animal impact (trampling, dunging, urinating, etc.)

as can be achieved, followed by good recovery

time. Soil is as much a living organism as is any

plant, and in environments such as yours, it needs

careful treatment to build up tight plant spacing

Raul Macko at home on

Estancia Hucal.

continued on page 10


and good soil cover—both from living plants and from dead

plant litter.

This means you need lots more paddocks than you currently

have, and that you probably also need to run fewer herds, so that

you have more paddocks per herd and larger herds. Since 60 percent

of the ranch recently burned, I wouldn’t worry about implementing

your controlled burning program on the other 40 percent yet.

I would focus on getting better

control of the grazing on that

60 percent that did burn and is

now more opened up. You

have a great opportunity to

manage the newly emerging

grasses for their optimum

health. Good planned grazing

will soon show that the brush

and paja encroachment, bad as

they are, were only a symptom

of too few animals for too

long a time on the land.

Throughout the world in

climates like yours this always

results in healthy grassland

shifting to woody plants

and/or highly fibrous grasses,

decreasing effectiveness of the

rainfall (often evidenced by

old timers complaining that

“the rain is not what it used to

be”), and increasing droughts

and/or floods.

Fencing Basics

You can probably increase

your level of paddocking

quickly and cheaply. First,

you need a very strong low-

impedance fence charger,

assuming you don’t already

have one. One of the stronger Gallagher models will work. When

building your fences, consider using the brush (live and standing

dead) as fence posts. Don’t worry about keeping all your fence

lines straight. The cattle won’t care, and the fence will hold

up better to wildlife pressure if it weaves in and out through the

brush. Where possible, use strong trees as corner posts, and in

your fairly dry country you probably wouldn’t need to use

insulators on the trees. A minimal permanent one-wire electric

fence layout would suffice. You could then use temporary electric

fencing to make smaller paddocks within each paddock. This

increase in paddocking would bring much more flexibility to

your grazing management.

First Steps

Before you build any fence, I would encourage you to go

through a detailed long-term land planning process, which will help

you design the most effective paddock and water system layout for

the ranch, and to make a construction schedule that will help

prioritize which fences to build first. The land planning process

developed by the Savory Center [for Holistic Management] is the only

one I am aware of that is

truly sound. It assumes

that the time animals are

on land is more crucial

than soil and vegetation

types, and it is tied to

Holistic Management™

Financial Planning and

Holistic Management™

Grazing Planning, both

of which, I believe, are

essential for sustained

high profits.

Before you start to

build any new fences, it

would probably pay you

to combine herds as

much as possible. You

already have quite a few

paddocks on the ranch,

and with fewer herds

you would go a long

way to being able to

increase animal impact,

shorten your grazing

periods and provide

adequate recovery

periods. I wouldn’t

commence with this

increase in grazing

intensity until you have

familiarized yourself with

the Savory Center’s grazing planning procedure. This procedure helps

ensure that the dozens of factors influencing your grazing plan

(growth rates and recovery periods of plants, livestock performance,

wildlife factors, cattle moving logistics, water restrictions, etc.) are

thoughtfully accounted for. If you attempt to increase the intensity

of your management without a procedure of this type, I warn you

that a wreck will be waiting to happen.

All this might run counter to prevailing paradigms in your area,

and you will probably find plenty of opposition. Please, just take

this as another perspective from our experience and that of many

progressive ranchers we visit around the world in environments

similar to yours. I hope it helps a little.

Brush, Fire, and Grazing in the Brittle Pampascontinued from page 9

Calden skeletons in an area that had burned several years prior—and is no w

full of invigorated paja grasses and re-emerging calden plants.


In one of Australia’s many native aboriginal languages, “Pooginook”

means “resting place.” Pooginook also happens to be the name of

David and Gillian Taylor’s 36,000-acre (14,400 ha) property in the

Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. But after

spending a day with the Taylors last April, it was hard to figure when

the Taylors managed to fit much resting into their full and rewarding

lives. David and Gill own and holistically manage one of Australia’s

most sophisticated and respected registered Merino sheep operations.

Their enthusiasm for the wool industry is founded on years of a

well-defined, careful breeding, and selection program that has placed

them in prime position to capitalize on the growing demand for high

quality wool.

They are equally excited about the changes they are seeing on

their land since managing holistically. The changes have been so

dramatic, in fact, that they hesitate to predict what the future may

hold. The following story delves into the details of the Taylors’ wool

and sheep enterprise, and highlights some of the ecological transitions

they’ve witnessed on their land, including the management shifts that

have led to those changes.

The Taylors trace their holistic journey back to 1995, when Holistic

Management™ Certified Educator Bruce Ward ran one of his very first

courses on Pooginook. The Pooginook story, however, goes back long

before that, to 1912, when David’s family settled on the same land

David and Gill manage today. Pooginook has always been devoted to

the production of medium wool Merino breeding stock. Instead of

selecting for fine wool animals, the fleeces of which fetch a premium

price per kg but produce only a third to a half as much total wool as

coarser-wooled animals, the Taylors chose instead to breed for an

animal that produced a medium quality fleece, but a lot more of it.

As the years have gone by, however, and as selection has become

more and more refined, the Taylors have arrived at the point where

they are producing wool of both exceptional quality and high

per-head yields.

The Wool Story

Prior to visiting the Taylors, my wife, Daniela, and I, our daughter,

Savanna, and our group of travelers had spent a week in New Zealand

(on our New Zealand/Australian Down Under Farm and Ranch Tour),

poking our heads into the woolsheds of some of the South Island’s

superfine Merino wool producers. We came away from that week

assuming that wool fineness, measured in microns, is the only

ariable of wool quality that matters. The finer the diameter of

individual wool fibers, the softer, stronger, and more luxurious the

garments manufactured from those fibers. Most of us hesitate to buy

woolen garments because they itch. That’s because those garments

are manufactured with low quality, coarse wool. Fine-wool garments,

on the other hand, are smooth and silk-like, and itching isn’t part of

the wool-wearing experience. Wool with a micron of 18 or 19 is

considered fine, and anything below that is superfine. We were at

one place in the South Island high country producing some fleeces

as low as 13 microns.

Once we arrived at the Taylors, however, our knowledge of what

makes a valuable fleece was greatly expanded. We learned that there is a

lot more to wool quality than just fiber diameter. First of all, on a sheep

whose fleece averages 18 microns, diameter of individual fibers might

range from 10 to 50 microns. On Pooginook, the focus has been on

breeding a narrow range, rather than a lower average. Given two fleeces

that average the same diameter, the fleece with the narrowest range will

be the superior performing fleece. For example, one of Pooginook’s

sheep may average 20 microns, but because its fiber diameter range is 10

to 25 instead of 10 to 50, that fleece will perform like wool with an

average diameter of 18. When sheep are selected for micron only, they

get smaller, less hardy, and less fertile. As a result, a superfine Merino

might only yield 2 to 3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 lbs.) of wool per year, whereas a

Pooginook Merino will yield 6 to 8.5 kg (13.2 to 18.7 lbs.).

To select for a narrow fiber diameter range, the Taylors take a close

look at several traits. One is depth of crimp. Crimp is the wave in the

wool fiber. The deeper the crimp, the narrower the micron range tends

to be. They also look at fiber alignment. The more aligned the fibers,

the stronger they are, the better they take dye, etc. It just so happens

that alignment is closely correlated with deep crimp.

The true measure of a quality fleece comes down to a value

known as “spinning fineness diameter.” When wool is spun out, how

does it perform? If it averages 20 microns, like much of Pooginook’s

production, but handles like 18-micron wool, its actual spinning

Pooginook - An Aussie Success Story

Special Land, Special Wool, Special People by Jim Howell

David and Gillian Taylor with their son Ro wan.



fineness diameter is 18, and it should be valued as such. Twenty-

micron wool with a spinning fineness diameter of 18 will have a

narrow micron range, deep crimp, and excellent alignment. As a result

of their education and marketing efforts, the Taylors are receiving a

premium for their product. At the time of our visit, run-of-the-mill

20-micron wool was bringing AUS$9/kg (US$2.25/lb.). Pooginook wool

of the same diameter brings a 10 percent premium, minimum, and

has brought up to a 30 percent premium. At 6 to 8.5 kg of wool per

head, and a 20 percent premium, that’s US$36 to $48/head gross

revenue.

Marketing the Wo o l

The western United

States might still be

full of sheep if we

could produce a

product like

Pooginook produces

and generate that sort

of money. The

Rambouillet, which is

a fine-wool Merino of

French origin, is the

dominant breed in the

arid western US. The

breed is valued for its

ability to survive in

tough conditions and

still raise one or two

lambs a year.

Pooginook markets 60

percent of its wool to

India, China, Japan,

France, Italy, and

Korea. I don’t know

much about wool

marketing, but I’m assuming the United States could market to those

countries as well, assuming we had the demanded product. With the

importation of the sort of genetics produced by the Taylors, and

with our base of Rambouillet sheep, it seems we could fairly easily

upgrade our sheep to the point where it was not only finally worth

it to shear them, it would be downright lucrative. I’m sure that’s

oversimplified, but when you go to Australia and see what’s possible,

it’s hard not to dream.

To assist their marketing efforts and to boost demand for their

rams, the Taylors formed a group of 120 Australian woolgrowers in

1995 to work to promote the Pooginook Merino genetic brand. This

effort was spearheaded by Gill and is called the Pooginook Wool

Initiative. The group works closely with wool processors to

differentiate the inherent characteristics of Pooginook-bred wool to

the end user. They conduct production trials to create demand and

establish alliances with manufacturers of woolen products, and

organize educational programs for growers that teach sound

management, breeding, and wool preparation practices.

In addition to the above marketing efforts, Gill has also

developed a line of special garments manufactured with Pooginook

wool. About five bales of their annual production, or about 950 kg,

go into this unique program, and it’s growing all the time. During

our visit, they just happened to have a few beautiful sweaters

available, and the women in our group snatched them up before

the men knew what was happening.

Lots of Sheep, Lots Less Bare Ground

Pooginook is home to 6,000 ewes, out of which they are currently

producing about 6,500 lambs, or a lambing percentage of 108. The ewes

are shorn once per year in October (late spring), and rams are shorn

twice per year. If wool prices keep rising, they may go to shearing the

ewes twice per year, since the increased production from twice-per-

year shearing would more than cover the increased costs.

Weaning takes place in mid-September when lambs are 15 weeks of

age. David makes his first cull at six months of age, and bands the culls

for castration. He makes a second cut at 9 months, then a serious and

final cut in August when the rams are 13- to 14-months old. He then

sells them in September and October at 14-15 months. Out of 6,500 total

lambs, half of which are rams, David sells 1,500 to 2,000 rams annually

as herd sires.

In addition to looking at the actual wool quality of each animal,

David looks for “a good soft face on the rams, and a nice straight

topline.” From 150 to 200 of their elite rams are auctioned at their sale

complex on the property, 120 more are auctioned on another property

in Western Australia, and 1,400 or so are sold by private treaty on

Pooginook.

Looking at the Land

Traditionally, all the stock on Pooginook were continuously grazed

on a year-round basis, and the deterioration of the property’s land and

forage base, due to partial rest of the soil surface and overgrazing of

plants, was gradual but incessant. David remembers significant areas of

bare ground and horrendous dust storms. When Bruce Ward opened

their eyes to the possibility that the degradation could not only come

to a halt but could actually reverse, the Taylors, being keen native

plant enthusiasts, were not just intrigued, they were genuinely excited.

They eventually went to visit some other Holistic Management

practitioners in wetter, northern New South Wales.

They came home impressed by what they saw, but also concerned

that all this planned grazing and animal impact stuff wouldn’t work

in their much drier environment. Only 13 inches (325 mm) of

precipitation falls on Pooginook in an average year. Usually a good

part of that comes in the winter, and with their relatively mild

temperatures, the resulting cool season annuals fill a big chunk of

their annual forage demand. It can also rain in the summer, but with

their extremely hot warm-season temperatures (commonly over 40 C,

or 104 F, for several months of the year), unless the soil surface is

well covered with litter, those summer rains often do little good

due to high evaporation rates.

Since embarking on the development of their land plan, the

commencement of well-conceived grazing plans, and the amalgamation

of many small flocks into fewer bigger flocks, the Taylors have come

a long way toward getting their soil covered and improving ecosystem

Special Land, Special Wool, Special People


Jim Howell, front, and Jaime Bermudez

examining the wool quality of some on

the Taylors’ elite herd sires.


processes. Our visit in early fall came after an exceptionally good

summer, and a pretty good winter before that. For being in a typically

semi-arid precipitation zone, the amount of forage they had on hand

was astounding. Dormant cool- and warm-season perennial plants were

literally everywhere, with the soil surface between them covered in

decaying plant litter.

As we toured the property, I told David I couldn’t imagine a more

ideal soil surface condition, and he commented that “I never would

have thought it was possible.” Skeptics would say it was just a result

of the above-average rainfall. There’s no doubt that had a lot to do

with what we were seeing, but all the rain in the world can fall on

a capped, exposed soil, and little or nothing will happen.

Favorable precipitation has to coincide with a soil surface well

prepared to receive those rains for ecological improvement to happen

in brittle environments. The

Taylors created that soil surface

condition, and planned their

grazing so that the released

grasses could thrive, through the

development of roughly 170

paddocks on their original 45,000

acres. They recently sold the

western end of their place, so are

now down to about 140 paddocks

on 36,000 acres, but still able to

run the same number of stock

due to more effective ecosystem

processes and increased forage

production. This level of

subdivision, combined with herd

and flock amalgamation and good

grazing planning, were just as

responsible for the results we

were seeing as was the good rainy season.

Bumps in the Road

This story isn’t all roses, however, and the land restoration efforts at

Pooginook are still ascending the learning curve. David and Gill were

initially so excited by the possibilities of holistic planned grazing that

they went full bore ahead in their original development phase,

determined to achieve high stock densities and eliminate overgrazing.

The three-wire electric fences went up fast and furious (120 km, or

about 75 miles of it, to be exact) and stock density boomed. But as

temperatures warmed up in the summer and as stock water demand

escalated, some major problems started to arise.

Their much larger mobs of sheep (up to 3,000 in a herd), of course,

had pretty substantial water needs compared to the former smaller

mobs. Much of the time, these larger flocks at higher density were

in paddocks radiating off of a common cell center containing the

watering point. In hot weather, David claims the sheep would cram

themselves into the cell center, drawn by the cooler air coming off the

water. That would, in turn, block the gate into the cell center, so the

rest of the sheep would form a tight bunch in the narrow strip of

pasture just outside the cell center, desperate to get a drink. Even as

the cooler afternoon and evening grazing hours came on, the sheep

would refuse to spread out to the back of the paddock, since they

remained so worried about being able to quench their thirst.

The consequences to animal performance were obviously not

acceptable under such a scenario, so David, Gill, and their staff had

to back off and reassess. Due to the crowding problem, they’ve

determined that they can’t have more than two paddocks on a

common watering point. They’ve also reduced flock size to no more

than 1,500 ewes in a mob. This has greatly alleviated the watering

problem, although it has reduced paddock numbers and stock density,

and increased the length of grazing periods.

They’re still miles ahead of where they started, though, with only

four mobs of roughly 1,500 ewes as opposed to 6,000 ewes spread out

over much of the property. They nonetheless are determined to get

back to the higher densities. At this point, the bottleneck is a still-to-

be-determined stock watering design that will accommodate big

flocks of fairly fragile Merino sheep. I’m sure they’d welcome

any suggestions.

Even with this reduced

intensity of management, the

Taylor’s overall stocking rate has

nearly doubled compared to the

average of the area. They are

currently running 3.8-5 DSE

(Dry Sheep Equivalent, about 10

of which equals a lactating cow)

per hectare (1.5-2 DSE/acre),

whereas the region’s average is

2 to 2.5 DSE/hectare. Those

farmers pushing a stocking rate

of 3 DSE/hectare are using high

levels of super phosphate

fertilizer, while the Taylors

apply none. So again, even

though they aren’t pushing

their densities to the extent

they would like, their per-acre production is nonetheless superior

relative to the area’s average.

They’ve also realized that they have to give preferential treatment

to their young sheep if they expect them to perform. Through the hot

summer months, from November to March, instead of concentrating

their weaners in large mobs out on the dry country, they are keeping

young stock flocks to no greater than 700 head, and managing them

in their 500 hectares (1,250 acres) of softer, flood-irrigated lucerne

(alfalfa) paddocks. Up until November, the weaned lambs do well

on the native pasture, but as summer advances, forage protein and

energy drop below levels adequate to maintain favorable growth on

the young animals.

Flock size is restricted to 700 head due to watering restrictions on

the irrigated country. They also have a problem with a stipa grass that

produces an incredibly annoying seed. The seed burrows through the

wool and into the skin. The sheep gnaw at the wound, creating an

open sore, which then becomes infested with fly larvae. Going to the

lucerne paddocks with the lambs keeps this from occurring.

The mature sheep are all put onto the third of the property that

doesn’t have the stipa grasses. They stay off the rest of the property

from the point that the seed starts to set and until a month after the

seeds fall. As a result, the stipa-free area gets grazed at the same time

The Taylors, through controlling the timing of their grazing, are trying

to encourage the return of palatable woody browse species, such as

these boree trees (dark clumps), and it’s working.


A Native Plant Comeback

The Taylors are involved with a group called Learning From

Farmers—12 producers spanning the vast Riverina region of the Murray

River Catchment. This group is especially interested in managing for a

diversity of native vegetation and fauna. The group formed with the

goal of encouraging other farmers across the Murray Catchment to

adopt sustainable native vegetation management by learning from the

network’s 12 case study sites. On Pooginook, native vegetation of

special concern includes a remnant 120-hectare (300-acre) patch of old

man saltbush, mixed in with native eucalyptus trees, thorny saltbush,

blue bush, lignum brush, and native perennial grasses. David says this

patch represents the diversity that this country is capable of sustaining,

and that it is indeed the native landscape of the region.

In addition to providing habitat niches for endangered Australian

marsupials and adding diversity and complexity to the overall

environment, these browse species are a valuable forage resource

during the extended droughts, which are common in this part of

Australia. The Taylors are therefore focused on managing for the

spread and reestablishment of these woodier plant communities into

their mostly open landscape. So far, the boree tree, a native acacia

readily browsed by the stock, is making a great comeback across much

of the property.

Pooginook—again, the aboriginal definition is “resting place,” but the

Taylors don’t seem to get a whole lot of rest. Their lives seem so full

of activities, work, projects, and plans that it was difficult to figure how

they could take a day off to spend with our tour group. But then

again David and Gill have a peace of mind that comes from knowing

they are on the right path, living their values, and doing work that is

meaningful and satisfying. They are genuine experts in their field, and

their expertise demands respect all around Australia. But they

simultaneously welcome any new knowledge that may help advance

their operation and lives toward greater social, economic, and

ecological health. I think this curiosity, open-mindedness, and

willingness to continue learning demand even more respect. I know

if I were David or Gill, I’d sleep pretty well at night.

David and Gill Taylor can be reached at www.pooginook.com.

Jim and Daniela Ho well plan to visit Pooginook again, during

their “Back Country Australia” ranch tour in March 2002. For more

information, visit their website at www.scranchtours.com or see their

ad in this issue of IN PRACTICE.


In the paddock with the remnant stand of old man saltbush and

other native woody plants and trees. David says this is how their

country looked before it was cleared by European settlers.

Current year’s growth of warm-season perennial grass, with a nearly

100 percent litter-co vered soil in between plants.

Special Land, Special Wool, Special People


every year, which is a problem the Taylors so far haven’t figured

out how to get around.

The Cattle Component

In addition to all these sheep, Pooginook also runs 2,000 head

of cattle. They own 400, and run the balance on adjistment (the

Australian term for custom grazing). Due to the highly mineralized

soils and the fact that the grasses never get excessively fibrous in their

fairly arid environment, cattle perform fantastically

on Pooginook. If the Taylors weren’t involved and invested in the

Merino seedstock business to such an extent, David admits that cattle

would be the class of livestock to use to move most effectively toward

their desired future landscape description. They’re a whole lot easier to

manage, better at cycling vegetation that has passed its most nutritious

stage, hardier overall, and they don’t have to be shorn, so are a lot less

work. The development of the Pooginook line of Merino seedstock

and wool, however, is an integral form of production leading the

Taylors toward their holistic goal, so they’ll be staying in the sheep

business for a while.

The 2,000 cattle are managed in four herds, and they usually follow

the sheep, cleaning up the ranker vegetation left by the more selective

ovines. The cattle on adjistment bring AUS$3/week for a pair, and

AUS$2/week for a yearling. Pooginook moves the cattle following their

grazing plan, and musters on shipping days, but the owners of the

cattle are responsible for everything else.

During the late winter/early spring lush (mid-August to mid-

October), when growth rates are at their peak, the Taylors plan

recovery periods of 50 days. As growth slows down into the summer,

recovery periods are extended to 140 days, and remain that long for

the rest of the year.

In addition to David and Gill, Pooginook keeps all these critters and

all this country efficiently operating with the help of one manager,

Robert Hughes, two station hands, and one sales manager, Pat Brown,

who helps with the wool marketing.


S a vory Center Annual Report

s you can see from the pie charts, the Savory Center came

pretty close to breaking even this year. What you might not

see is that we improved our bottom line substantially from

1999. We did this largely by cutting expenses across all program areas

to stabilize our finances. We also expanded the Savory Center's staff

and capabilities by adding an Associate Director to direct our financial

planning and budgetary compliance and a Development Director to

expand our effort to secure foundation grants and private donations.

Some of the other significant outcomes from 2000 include:

• We developed a very focused strategic plan for 2001.

• We shifted the Savory Center's Training Program focus to

increase revenues and provide more opportunities for regionally

funded training.

• Land Renewal, Inc. (LRI) secured more contracts and improved

the inter-organizational structure between LRI and the Savory Center

so that the Savory Center could begin receiving consistent income

from this for-profit subsidiaries.

• We secured funding from the following foundations: S.C. Johnson,

National Fish & Wildlife, William & Flora Hewlett, Wray Trust, and

The New Road Map Foundation.

• We received increased contributions from our annual

appeal.

• We continued to diversify our land management service

contracts to earn income for the Savory Center.

• We secured funding of more than $62,000 for the Africa

Center and continued to expand the Village Banking

initiative in Zimbabwe.

From our 2001 Strategic Plan, we have begun to

successfully complete the following key objectives for

2001 in key programs and services through monthly

monitoring of that strategic plan:

P h i l a n t h r o py

• Develop and nurture an Advisory Fundraising Board

to increase contributions.

• Implement an Annual Campaign to secure additional

private donations.

Training Program

• Seek and secure funding for the new regionally focused

Training Program.

• Establish a scholarship fund and develop a funding

strategy.

• Develop and implement the Ranch and Rangeland

Managers Training Program.

Regional Projects

• Increase current LRI contracts with New Mexico State

University

• Successfully fund and implement a holistically-managed

project on the Rio Puerco catchment.

A

Expenditures: $630,054

National and International Projects

• Seek funding and implement the Wildlife Management College

in Zimbabwe.

• Begin work on the National Learning Site in Idaho and secure

additional funding.

• Identify and secure new partners and collaborations for the

Global Climate/Carbon Sequestration Project.

Outreach/Educational Materials

• Develop and produce new marketing materials to support our

outreach efforts and our expanded public relations efforts.

• Begin revising the Holistic Management workbook (the new

handbook).

As you can see, we have set the bar high for 2001. We know that

we will achieve our objectives with your help and support. To our

members, donors, and other supporters, we thank you for the trust

you have placed in us with your commitment and money. We look

forward to continuing to serve you and thank you for your

continued support.

Training Education 27%

Unrestricted Philanthropy 30%RestrictedPhilanthropy 10%

Newsletter7%

Other4%

EducationalMaterials 6% Grants 7%

Overviews/Workshops

6%

LearningSites 3%

Administrative/Management 20%

Grants1%

Building/Office 8%

Other/Interest 7% Training Education21%

Educational Materials 8%

Philanthropy/Marketing

12%

Learning Sites 4%

Newsletter 6%

ProfessionalServices 3% Project

Management 10%

S a vory Center Annual Report

Fiscal Year 2000 (Audited)

Revenue: $623,400


Ranch and Rangeland Program

The first session of the 2001 Holistic

Management™ Training Program for Ranch

and Rangeland Managers was a great success

and we have begun plans for the 2002 Training

Program. This year’s program will be held at a

different holistically managed ranch in the

Western U.S. for each of the four content

sessions. A team of Holistic Management™

Certified Educators with ranching experience,

and other practitioners with expertise in areas

such as low-stress livestock handling, will

facilitate each session.

The response from this year’s participants has

been very encouraging and next year’s program

promises to be as exciting. To apply for the

2002 Ranch and Rangeland Managers Program

beginning August 2002, contact Kelly Pasztor or

Ann Adams at 505/842-5252 or visit our website

at www.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_rr.cfm?

There are limited seats available and qualified

applicants are placed on a first come, first

served basis.

Training Program at Full Capacity

The 2001 Holistic Management™ Certified

Educator Training Program is filled to

capacity and ready to begin on October 27 at

the White Eagle Conference Center in Hamilton,

NY. We selected 20 participants from a very

diverse pool of applicants including 10

Cooperative Extension (CES) or Natural

Resource Conservation Services (NRCS)

educators from almost every state in the

Northeastern U.S.

The Savory Center is especially grateful to its

partner on this effort, The South Central New

York Regional Conservation District and their

Executive Director, Phil Metzger. Together we

obtained funding from Northeast Sustainable

Agriculture Research and Education (NE SARE)

for the CES and NRCS positions, as well as

partial funding from the Cabbage Hill Farm Fund

for five non-profit agricultural support

representatives to train in this program.

We have begun accepting applications for

the Western Region Program beginning in

November 2002 and the North Central Region

Program beginning December of 2002. There

are limited seats available in these programs and

qualified applicants are placed on a first come,

first served basis.

You can find more detailed information

about the Holistic Management™ Certified

Educators Training Program and application

on the Rural Legacy Foundation (RLF) board

because other board members want to integrate

Holistic Management with the estate planning

they do to help ranch families.

RLF helps farm and ranch families purchase

additional land and transfer the land to younger

generations while establishing tax benefits

through the purchase. RLF was created by

agri-finance and agri-business professionals to

provide an alternative for families to expand

their operations and make it financially

rewarding to transfer the land to their heirs.

The process is fairly simple, but requires a

purchase by the Foundation and remainder

lease to the younger generation.

Because Rural Legacy is a non-profit

organization, the lessee creates a Conservation

Plan—with help from the Foundation—that

allows the Foundation to transfer the land over

time and produce the tax savings for the family.

These Conservation Plan guidelines were

designed with Holistic Management™ planning

and monitoring in mind.

RLF is looking for additional transactions in

Western states and eventually anywhere in the

U.S. If you have been thinking about buying

some more land for your farm or ranch, and

you would like to explore this opportunity,

contact Shannon Horst at 505/842-5252 or

[email protected].

Yuma Proving Ground Progress

During a blistering week in July, Land

Renewal Inc. (LRI), a for-profit branch of

the Savory Center, constructed 22 low-impact

rock and rock gabion dams in an arroyo in

Yuma, AZ. LRI is part of a team headed by

NMSU that is studying “Phyto Extraction

Technology in Arid Environments” at the U.S.

Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), and is

responsible for developing simple and

inexpensive sediment management technologies.

LRI’s overall goal is to develop and integrate

remediation technologies to produce conditions

for plant growth and to establish plants which

can reduce soil contaminants in a low rainfall

area (4 in/yr) by taking up certain elements

and holding them within the plant structure.

Potential plants for phyto extraction use are

being identified and tested with NMSU.

Along with testing various sediment traps

which it has designed, LRI is managing an

“Animal Impact Test Plot” at YPG to test the

feasibility of using animals to condition soils so

that they support more plant growth. Arizona

rancher and longtime Savory Center member,

Rukin Jelks, will bring fifty head of cattle and

fifty tons of hay to the one-acre test paddock

for twelve days. LRI Project Manager, Craig

process on the Savory Center’s website at

www.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_certed.cfm?

If you have any questions, please contact Kelly

Pasztor or Ann Adams at 505/842-5252.

Reed Wi l d l i fe Ranch Wins Awa r d

The Reed Wildlife Ranch owned by Jim and

Judy Reed recently was awarded the Texas

2001 Lone Star Land Steward Award by the Texas

Parks and Wildlife Division (TPWD) for their

conservation efforts. Historically, both the native

rangeland and valuable timber were depleted

due to non-sustainable grazing and logging

operations. Because the Reeds manage their

ranch holistically, they have reversed this decline.

As part of their Holistic Management™ grazing

plan, the Reeds manage their whitetail deer

population and preserve their bottomland

hardwoods using TPWD programs and services.

One of their long term objectives is to restore the

native hardwood diversity by reintroducing a

variety of oaks and other mast producing trees

following thinning of lower quality elms and ashes.

Carl Frentress, TPWD Regional Waterfowl

Biologist, reported the following land management

accomplishments on the Reed Ranch:

1) Native herbaceous vegetation has

flourished in the grazing paddocks. Several

species are appearing after a long period of

absence under previous land use. Other species

are increasing in abundance and biomass.

Benefits are realized in more abundant and

widespread forage for both livestock and deer.

Perhaps more importantly, the entire grassland

community seems to be prospering.

2) The organic component of grassland soils

is increasing.

3) Erosion from grazing lands is practically

nonexistent. Run off is affected both in terms of

reduced turbidity and better percolation.

4) The aesthetic qualities are being

enhanced. This is particularly noticeable in the

remarkable wildflower growth during spring

and summer.

5) Vertebrate diversity is becoming more

abundant and widely distributed because of

habitat improvements that increase the number

of niches and associated opportunities for food,

water and shelter.

For more information about the Reed Ranch,

see “Hunting for Habitat Health” on page 2.

Rural Legacy Foundation

The Savory Center’s Executive Director,

Shannon Horst, has been asked to serve

S a vory Center Bulletin Board


All the Time

in the World

Some people see things

randomly, some see the

pattern and the whole.

Some people live life

randomly, some have

a holistic goal.

Looking in your eyes,

I just think of how

All the time in the world and all we have is now.

The photosynthetic process is the source of all true wealth.

Seeing the land whole is the art of all true health.

The decision-making process is the key to knowing how


Read the land and dream on what you want to get to.

Read the land and scheme on as far as it will let you.

Make three wishes and they are already true somehow


What do you want? What do you see?

We will never understand the full complexity.

But this whole world is a process we all affect somehow


Be the change you’re seeking, discover dreams and sail

Beyond sight of the sure, undefeated when you fail.

The future’s like a tidal wave crashing across our bow,


This is the greatest battle ever fought, it might be the last.

Nothing else has ever been so important or so vast.

And who is the leader? Those who take this sacred vow.


Tim Casswell

Leggett will oversee operations. NMSU has set

up a weather monitoring station including soil

temperature and moisture meters to track

conditions inside and outside of the paddock.

The soil will be tested for any changes as well.

Strategic Planning Session

On September 10-11, 2001, a group of Savory

Center members, staff, Certified Educators,

Board of Directors, and Advisory Board met to

begin to develop a three-year strategic plan for the

Savory Center. Under the guidance of Executive

Director, Shannon Horst, and an outside facilitator,

Ron Chapman, this 35-member group worked both

in large and small groups to determine the most

effective way to spread the word about Holistic

Management, make use of resources, identify

markets and trends, and meet the current needs

of members and Certified Educators.

Holistic Management Sales

We just received a report from Island Press

that our book Holistic Management:

A New Framework for Decision-Making continues

to sell 150 copies per month routinely, while many

of Island Press’ other titles have dropped off in

sales with the economic downturn. Current lifetime

sales of this second edition are 7,722 softcover and

500 hardcover.

The Fundacion para Fomentar el Manejo

Holistico (The Foundation for the Promotion of

Holistic Management) in Mexico continues to make

headway on the preparation of a Spanish edition

of the textbook. Most of the final translation is

complete and is now in the hands of editors.

Holistic Management in the New s

An article about the Savory Center and Holistic

Management appeared in the July/August

2001 issue of the Lohas Journal, one of the premier

sustainable business magazines.

An article about Dick and Judy Richardson titled,

“Holistic Management: A way of life,” appeared in

the June 25-29, 2001 issue of Farmer’s Weekly, a

mainstream agricultural journal in South Africa.

An article by Allan Savory titled, “Drowning in

Albuquerque?” appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of

Range magazine, a special “Water in the West” issue.

Lastly, Sustainable Agriculture Research &

Education (SARE) recently published The New

American Farmer: Profiles of Agricultural

Innovation , a 160-page collection of in-depth

interviews with farmers and ranchers across

America. Included in this collection are a number

of Holistic Management practitioners including

Peggy and Richard Sechrist and Mark Frasier. You

can download stories from SARE’s website at

www.sare.org or you can buy it by calling SARE

at 802/656-0484.

More from the Colorado Gathering

The Colorado Branch asked us to thank all the people who attended the Whole Land:

Healthy People Gathering on July 27-29, 2001 at the Chico Basin Ranch near Colorado

Springs, Colorado.

We have included a collage of photographs that represent the enthusiasm and learning that

transpired over those three days, and the lyrics to a song composed by Tim Casswell to

commemorate the event, which he performed at the closing ceremonies. This song is available

on CD or cassette. See the back page for details.

Alan Carpenter

leads grass

identification

workshop

Duke Phillips leads

a tour of the

Chico Basin Ranch

Watt Casey, Jr.

Watt Casey, Jr.

Tim Casswell singing

his song at the closing

ceremonies

Watt Casey, Jr.

#080, In Practice, Nov/Dec 2001

Documents

Transcript of #080, In Practice, Nov/Dec 2001