#100, In Practice, Mar/Apr 2005

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE March/April 2005 * Number 100 www.holisticmanagement.org O n January 12-13, 2005, The Savory Center held its 2005 Holistic Management Rendezvous in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Approximately 100 people attended the conference including practitioners and Certified Educators from Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. All the participants expressed their enthusiasm for the opportunity to share ideas and information with each other through informal gatherings as well as the presentations at both the Rendezvous and the supplemental workshops. One enthusiastic response that sums up the experience for many participants was from Seth Wilner, a New Hampshire Cooperative Extension educator who has just completed the Savory Center’s Certified Educator Training Program. He noted, “I recently attended the Savory Center’s Holistic Management Rendezvous and had a great time. It was really the first time I met other Holistic Management folk from outside the northeast U.S. I truly enjoyed hearing all the different perspectives and learned a great deal about what other people are doing and about the resources and materials and skills that exist within our network. Many cool people are doing some great stuff. “As I had never attended any other Holistic Management type of gathering, I was surprised Holistic Management Rendezvous by Ann Adams a publication of the savory center INSIDE THIS ISSUE I N P RACTICE I N P RACTICE Savory Center Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . .14 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 FEATURE STORIES NEWS & NETWORK Management Clubs-- Supporting & Sustaining Change Dick Richardson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Power in a Holistic Goal Len Pigott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A Working Vacation— Testing the Decision Vivianne Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Vivianne Holmes has discovered, like many Holistic Management practitioners, the power of testing her decisions toward her holistic goal. Read about her experience of testing a decision about a working vacation on page 8. LAND & LIVESTOCK Microorganisms in the Rumen— Indicators for Veld or Range Management Decisions Willem Schultheiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Blue Skies for the Gray Family John King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 A Collaborative Solution— Profile of G R Farm Fred Hays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 at how much I learned and how inspirational it was for me. In some ways, I found my knowledge of Holistic Management affirmed; in other ways I learned things and saw them quite differently than before. I also learned about different applications for Holistic Management and different ways to effectively teach it, especially to diverse audiences.” The other conference evaluation forms offered similar feedback regarding the need for these gatherings. Bill Burrows, rancher and Certified Educator from northern California, entertained workshop participants with his confession of a deep love for yellow metal (heavy equipment). Don and Jane Schrieber presented The Savory Center with a check for almost $2,000 in appreciation for the help they received on a cooperative project with the Bureau of Land Management and Burlington Resources on the reclamation of gas well pads in the Farmington, New Mexico area. Community Projects The first session of the Rendezvous began with a presentation by Jody Butterfield, co- founder of The Savory Center. She started by showing the new Africa Centre video that describes The Africa Centre of Holistic Management’s projects, and then she discussed how the Africa Centre is currently addressing the issues of high inflation within their village continued on page 2

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Transcript of #100, In Practice, Mar/Apr 2005

INS IDE THIS ISSUE

March/April 2005 * Number 100 www.holisticmanagement.org

On January 12-13, 2005, The SavoryCenter held its 2005 HolisticManagement Rendezvous in

Albuquerque, New Mexico. Approximately 100 people attended theconference includingpractitioners andCertified Educatorsfrom Australia, SouthAfrica, Mexico, Canada,and the U.S. All theparticipants expressedtheir enthusiasm for theopportunity to shareideas and informationwith each otherthrough informalgatherings as well as the presentations atboth the Rendezvousand the supplementalworkshops.

One enthusiasticresponse that sums up the experience for manyparticipants was from Seth Wilner, a NewHampshire Cooperative Extension educator who has just completed the Savory Center’sCertified Educator Training Program. He noted, “I recently attended the Savory Center’s HolisticManagement Rendezvous and had a great time.It was really the first time I met other HolisticManagement folk from outside the northeast U.S. I truly enjoyed hearing all the differentperspectives and learned a great deal about what other people are doing and about theresources and materials and skills that existwithin our network. Many cool people aredoing some great stuff.

“As I had never attended any other HolisticManagement type of gathering, I was surprised

Holistic Management Rendezvousby Ann Adams

a p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e s a v o r y c e n t e r

INS IDE THIS ISSUE

IN PRACTICEIN PRACTICE

Savory Center Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . .14Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

FEATURE STORIES

NEWS & NETWORK

Management Clubs--Supporting & Sustaining Change Dick Richardson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4The Power in a Holistic GoalLen Pigott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A Working Vacation—Testing the DecisionVivianne Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Vivianne Holmes has discovered, like manyHolistic Management practitioners, thepower of testing her decisions toward herholistic goal. Read about her experience of testing a decision about a workingvacation on page 8.

LAND & LIVESTOCK

Microorganisms in the Rumen—Indicators for Veld or RangeManagement DecisionsWillem Schultheiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Blue Skies for the Gray FamilyJohn King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11A Collaborative Solution—Profile of G R FarmFred Hays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

at how much I learned and how inspirational it was for me. In some ways, I found myknowledge of Holistic Management affirmed; in other ways I learned things and saw them

quite differently than before. I also learnedabout different applications for HolisticManagement and different ways toeffectively teach it, especially to diverseaudiences.” The other conferenceevaluation forms offered similar feedbackregarding the need for these gatherings.

Bill Burrows, rancherand Certified Educatorfrom northernCalifornia, entertainedworkshop participantswith his confession of adeep love for yellow metal(heavy equipment). Don and Jane Schrieber presented The

Savory Center with a check for almost $2,000in appreciation for the help they received on a cooperative project with the Bureau of LandManagement and Burlington Resources on the reclamation of gas well pads in theFarmington, New Mexico area.

Community Projects

The first session of the Rendezvous beganwith a presentation by Jody Butterfield, co-founder of The Savory Center. She started byshowing the new Africa Centre video thatdescribes The Africa Centre of HolisticManagement’s projects, and then she discussedhow the Africa Centre is currently addressingthe issues of high inflation within their village

continued on page 2

Ongoing Support

In several sessions, the needfor effective support mechanismsto help people in their practiceof Holistic Management was alsoa key discussion point. In BrianMarshall’s presentation about theHolistic Management movementin Australia, he discussed howthe Certified Educators there

move people from a training relationship, in which they are dependent on a trainer for motivation and learning, to that ofsupport groups or management clubs incommunities where club members canprovide ongoing support.

This focus on the importance ofmanagement clubs was reiterated by JudyRichardson in her presentation (see thearticle on page 4 for further information onmanagement clubs). Her key point was that

2 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

SavoryCENTER

TheSavoryTHE SAVORY CENTER is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The Savory Center worksto restore the vitality of communities and thenatural resources on which they depend byadvancing the practice of Holistic Managementand coordinating its development worldwide.

FOUNDERSAllan Savory * Jody Butterfield

STAFFShannon Horst, Interim Executive Director

Kelly Pasztor,Director of Educational Services;

Constance Neely, International Training Programs Director

Ann Adams,Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Director of

Publications and Outreach Terri Telles, Finance Coordinator

Donna Torrez, Administrative Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORSRon Chapman, Chair

Terry Word, Vice-ChairJody Butterfield, SecretaryRichard Smith, Treasurer

Ben BartlettClint JoseyJim ParkerSue Probart

Judy RichardsonBruce Ward

Jose Ramon Villar

ADVISORY COUNCILJim Shelton, Chair, Vinita, OKRobert Anderson, Corrales, NM

Michael Bowman,Wray, COSam Brown, Austin, TX

Lee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZGretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Cynthia & Leo Harris, Albuquerque, NMClint Josey, Dallas, TX

Krystyna Jurzykowski, Glen Rose, TXGuillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico

Jim Parker, Montrose, COYork Schueller, El Segundo, CA

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

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

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Savory Center, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: [email protected].; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2005.

AD DEFINITUM FINEM

CENTER

The Holistic Management Rendezvous continued from page 1

banking system. In the discussion following the video, the idea of using livestock as acurrency to address this issue was of greatinterest to a number of the participants.Likewise, another point of discussion was the issue of empowering women within apatriarchal culture as part of the efforts forrevitalizing the villages’ economies.

Seth Wilner’s presentation followed next,and he shared his experience in the recentefforts to build a strong Holistic Managementpresence in the northeastern U.S. One of hiskey points, which was reiterated by a numberof the presenters throughout the day, was the need to meet people at their point of interest indiscussing Holistic Management.

Seth noted that the biological components ofthe Holistic Management® framework were not asmuch a draw for many of the people he workedwith in the Northeast. He noted that it was thedecision-making component as part of a whole farm planning approach that was of interest to his clients. Likewise, the possibilities for using theholistic decision-making framework to address such issues as obesity and teenagepregnancies is an area that he feltneeded to be explored. In themeantime, one of the key foci for the educator group in theNortheast is the development ofHolistic Management decisioncases (case studies framed withinthe context of specific decisions in which people use the HolisticManagement® Decision-Makingframework) as a teaching tool tohelp people better understandholistic decision-making.

Banquet conversations were an integral part of the Rendezvous experience.

Everyone enjoyed the delicious and tendergrassfed beef donated by the Weaver Ranchin Causey, New Mexico.

Savory Center founder Allan Savory received astanding ovation after his speech, “Being the Change You Expect.”

these meetings had to be perceived as valuableto all club members or there wouldn’t be thecommitment necessary to keep the club vibrantand ongoing. She was able to provide concreteexamples of club activities, challenges andlearning from her experience with a variety ofmanagement clubs throughout southern Africa.

Leadership Challenges

Likewise, Bill Burrows, a Certified Educatorand rancher from northern California, talkedabout how having fun was a key piece of anyeffective ongoing community project. Bill’senthusiasm for the Sunflower CRMP(Coordinated Resource Management Plan)project in which he was involved was evident to the audience. His presentation suggested thatcommunity projects, like the management clubs,need someone taking a leadership position todrive the project and work with the variousparties to achieve tangible results, or people will not remain committed to the project.

One of the keys to making sure that thereare enough leaders within communities thathave some grounding in a holistic approach toresource management is to develop that capacityin the natural leaders within a community. DonNelson, a Certified Educator and professor ofAnimal Science at Washington State University,discussed how he had developed several capacitybuilding projects to integrate and teach a varietyof capacity building processes to projectparticipants. He noted that they were able tocontinue to build momentum because theseprojects built off of each other and manyparticipants participated in more than oneproject because they functioned as ongoinglearning and support for what they had learned in previous projects.

Likewise, a number of offshoots or smallercollaborative projects emerged from the initialprojects as that capacity developed, thusspreading the circle of influence to others whohad not attended the projects. Another presenter,Ben Bartlett, an educator from Michigan StateUniversity, also stressed this issue of capacitybuilding in his presentation as he reflected onthe learning that educators and practitioners hadgained as part of their experience in the NorthCentral SARE-funded program he has overseen.

Engaging Your Community

The last key issue that was discussed as partof this session was the need for practitioners toengage their communities in a non-threateningmanner in the effort to build trust among

Number 100 * IN PRACTICE 3

Shannon Horst, the newInterim Director of TheSavory Center, welcomedparticipants to theRendezvous and shared her enthusiasm for the workof The Savory Center and the role that founder Allan Savory has played in those efforts.

neighbors and to gain their support in thedevelopment of new resource managementpractices within the community. Peggy Maddox,co-manager and Director of Public Relations forthe West Ranch in Ozona, Texas, shared whatshe and her husband, Joe Maddox, had learnedin managing the West Ranch for The SavoryCenter for the last two years. Peggy noted theimportance of engaging the community at everylevel and encouraging collaborative projects withgovernment agencies as well as neighboringranchers from a position of asking them for help rather than telling them the “right way” of managing (a mistake that new practitioners

sometimes make). She also brought all themonitoring data for The West Ranch so peoplecould see what had been accomplished and

what we are learningfrom this learning site asThe West Ranch engagesoutside help to monitorchanges in the land thatare a result of HolisticManagement.

The last session ofthe Rendezvous includedPeggy Sechrist andAndrea Malmbergdiscussing creative andeffective marketing. Bothof these women areeducators as well asproducers and had avariety of experience inmarketing not only themeat from their ranches,but also retreats andcatering. They, too,mentioned the need

to engage with your local community, but theirkey message was that you really have to be clear about what you are selling, and what isunique and valuable about it, in order to priceand market your products and serviceseffectively. They both admitted to mistakes they had made that reinforced the importance of that perspective.

After the Rendezvous

Following the Rendezvous many of theparticipants attended the Quivira CoalitionConference across the street from the hotelwhere The Savory Center conference waslocated. It was exciting to see the number ofpeople at the Quivira conference, who hadreceived Holistic Management training as part oftheir efforts to improve their land stewardship,share the importance of Holistic Management intheir efforts. We will be developing some of thepresentations from both conferences to share inIN PRACTICE throughout the year.

Everyone agreed that these types ofgatherings, particularly when connected with other events such as the Quivira Coalition,are critical for bringing new people into theHolistic Management network and provideongoing learning and support for those already involved. Please contact us [email protected] with ideasfor conference topics, locations, or collaborations.

Peggy Sechrist, rancher and CertifiedEducator from Texas, shared herexperiences of wholesale and retailmarketing as part of her efforts to

sell organic beef andpastured poultry.

Ron Chapman, a nationally knownmotivational speaker and the new chair of The Savory Center Board of Directors,shared many entertaining stories as part of his speech “Mythperceptions.”

will need some sort of support mechanism for thisflux or they tend to fear what is different and goback to what they know. This is often disastrous—like taking your sword to a gunfight because youare unsure of the value of the gun!

Steps of Change

Robert Fritz in his book, The Path of LeastResistance, identified three stages in the creativeprocess from inspiration to the desired result.1. Germination—one thrives on the energy of discovery2. Assimilation—solidify one’s understanding• Here people make mistakes• People must incorporate the skills/learning

until they become natural• This is the weak link stage—feelings of

discomfort, frustration and disappointment canforce one to lower one’s expectations. Thus, thecreative tension is reduced, as people no longeraspire to what they truly want.

3. Completion—practical application becomes fullof confidence. Mistakes will still be made, but itwill not shatter confidence.

Handling the Assimilation Stage

Look again at the difficulties that one will faceduring the assimilation stage, and you realize thata huge amount of support is required if you wishto handle it. Not just “Yes, you’re doing the rightthing,” but deeper discussion, understanding,compassion, reassurance, knowledge of thesituation, experience and even advice.

The role of the management club is to helppeople successfully negotiate Fritz’s assimilationstage, without losing heart, reducing their targets,or giving up. Thus, the management club becomesthe sounding board, support group, shoulder tocry on, and Board of Directors for each other’ssituations. The members of the club obviouslythen become close, reliant on each other, and verymuch part of the direction for each member. Forthis to happen, the dirtiest word in relationshipbuilding then has to come to the top: TRUST. Yes, it is all built around trust.

There seems to be no real recipe for thesuccess of management clubs. But the followingideas and recommendations come from theexperiences of eight people interviewed from sixdifferent management clubs throughout SouthAfrica. The results of these interviews follow.

1. What positives do/did people get out of yourmanagement club?• Motivation. It is especially a boost to anyone

who is battling.• Enthusiasm• Every meeting a high• Knowledge• Interaction• Keeps you going and doing what needs to be

done (Holistic Management® plan-monitor-control, etc)

• Support with problems and questions. Analysisof problems with the group as a whole.

• People who know your situation and can seeyour business from a different perspective.

• One may feel on the day the management clubmeets that is the very last thing on earth youneed that day. Yet, when it’s over, and youreflect on it, you realize how much poorer you would have been without it.

2. How many members should clubs have?Most clubs are now at three or four

businesses. We originally suggested three as theideal number. Although having said this, three ofthe clubs interviewed indicated that they werestill running with seven businesses. One that hasincreased over time to seven reckons that thedynamics are just perfect; things were a little flatwith less!• Many started much bigger and came down in

numbers over time. • Another started with six families, two dropped

out and another came in. Now it is down to

4 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

Management Clubs—Supporting & Sustaining Change by Dick Richardson

At the 2005 Holistic Management RendezvousJudy Richardson talked about how much themanagement club she and Dick belong to hashelped them.

The management club is the most effectivetool I have experienced for supportingand sustaining change and for supporting

and sustaining the practice of HolisticManagement. The theme of this conference (theMarch 2004 Southern Africa Holistic ManagementConference) is “Handling Change” and all the talksand discussions have focused on aspects of thisissue. So it is imperative that the concept ofmanagement clubs also be considered as an optionto supporting and sustaining the changes that takeplace with a shift to a holistic approach.

More Than A Study Group

For those that have not been exposed tomanagement clubs yet, and for those who haveforgotten, a short description is necessary. Amanagement club is a small group of businessesthat opt to work in tandem with each other. Theyhave planned meetings where all members of theclub get involved in the management of eachindividual or business situation. This is not a studygroup. A study group looks primarily at figuresimpersonally, not the broader situation, and studiesthe figures anonymously and generally. In studygroups, the individuals must extract informationwhich is pertinent to their situations on their own.In management clubs, on the other hand, personalinput and personal scenarios are studied. In otherwords, the club works as a type of Board ofDirectors for each business. Each business doestheir own planning, but it is then assessed as agroup and recommendations and suggestionsmade. This way, individuals feel more secure andincluded, and are motivated and gain support.

The Role of the Management Club

Besides the initial change that occurs whenpeople begin to practice Holistic Management,Holistic Management itself remains an ever-evolving science. Likewise, with a holistic approachwe come to understand that nothing ever remainsstatic or absolutely predictable. In other words,people will always be in a state of flux or changein daily management just by definition, evenbefore they have to come to terms with a worldthat changes daily due to new developments.

Likewise, people will always be in a state ofdiscovery and testing. (Every action has a reaction,and you must always assume you may be wrongwhen dealing with the land!) So in the end, people

two families.• It seems that for a club to truly fulfill its role,

the number of businesses involved must below and few enough for people to build trustand have enough personal input to feel trulypart of it.

• One club includes one person who is notrelated to Holistic Management or farming inany way, and they feel they gain hugely out ofthis person’s fresh and objective viewpoint.

3. How far apart can people be based, or howclose should they be?

There seems to be no consistency with area. In other words, coming from a wider or closerarea has no specific bearing on success.

What is clear, though, is that the level ofcommitment is what makes it a success orfailure, not distance.• Our Management Club ranges from Ghanzi

to Kimberley, which is a distance of 1100 km (660 miles).

• Others include distances of 140km (84 miles),228km (137 miles) and 350km (210 miles)without problems.

4. How often do you meet?Our own management club meets ten times

a year still.• One club meets every six weeks nowadays,

but originally started as only four meetings per year, and the club is getting stronger andmore valuable.

• One used to meet every second month, thenevery third and slowly meetings have becomeless frequent. In fact, this management club isreally at a low, in terms of value, for theparticipants at the moment.

• One management club comes together fourtimes per year only. It would be more often;they all need it, but do not have the time. Thismanagement club is battling with commitmentand people issues.

• Another club, which meets only four times per year, meet for a day and a half each timeand has been running very well for over 12 years now.

• One management club that is now simply atwo-family occasional visit, as the need arisestype of club, started with frequent meetings(probably every two months) that were well-structured.

5. What do management clubs do?• Those that meet infrequently seem to only

come together to address specific problems or to share something new.

• Those that have a more structured approach

with few meetings definitely have a financialsession and then address pertinent issues.

• Those that are structured and meet morefrequently or regularly have specific agendasfor certain times of year and keep a few openfor other situations. The list of agendas usedfollows my original list to a greater or lesserdegree: financial planning, financial actuals andanalysis, growing season grazing planning andnon-grow actuals, non-grow grazing planningand growing season actuals, biologicalmonitoring analysis, social issues (holistic goal,labor, club objectives and planning, etc.), and atotally social get together.

• Almost all the management clubs keep to ascheduled tour to someone or somewhere,conference, training program or anything thattakes them away to a learning and teambuilding experience.

• A management club can quite happily start asalmost a social club, visiting each other’s places,but it has to move beyond that or there will beno perceived value, and it will fold up.

• Some management clubs pass through a phase of always having an outside speaker to having one only occasionally. This seems to be something that happens while themanagement club is still trying to really find its role for the group. Once the club becomescommitted and the planning is well structured,then the group moves to a later phase of morework and less listening to outsiders.

• All the clubs seem to rotate the meeting placefrom one business to another, and most clubsseem to have a situation where each host ischairperson for the meeting.

• Some extend the above point so that theprevious chair has to play the role of secretaryat the following meeting.

• The club that meets for one and a half dayseach time has visitors sleep over at the hosthouse, and they hold a bit of a party. This is an essential part of their success.

• One club starts with a feedback session andends with a commitment session to cover whatindividuals will do! They then also hold agrounding session in terms of what they feltwent well and what could have gone better.

6. What makes management clubs work?• The crux is ownership in one’s own holistic

goal and, therefore, desire to practice HolisticManagement. This desire to practice thenbuilds a need for the management club and,thus, the motivation to participate and work toachieve the objectives of the club as a whole.

• An individual who has leadership skills, desire,

and enthusiasm that rubs off and drives thegroup is essential. This person must never doeverything, or even organize it, just drive theprocess. This seems to work in the situation of someone who really has different opinionsand pushes and shoves to get people thinking,or a live wire who is always stretchingparadigms. This role of the main instigator orinstigators seems to be crucial—first, during theshift from social club to work group and thento keep momentum.

• One club in particular, now eight years old,would no longer be around if it wasn’t for the fact that they hold a weekend social triptogether. This trip really helped them all tofind the common ground and common needthat once again gave the group the reason topush on.

• Matching up skills and experience tocompliment and fulfill each other is anotheressential component; weaknesses are matchedby another group members strengths.

• Everybody puts in and takes out. No one is arug ryer (a back seat rider).

• When there is confusion, conflict, or inertia, ithelps to stop what you are doing and go backto the Holistic Management basics. This actionleads to success for some clubs.

• The 12-year-old club works because of itshistory! All of them are very interested andmotivated about veld (range) improvementand management. They all got a similar levelof training, besides the one non-HolisticManagement trained person. All of them areseriously committed, and only once did onemember miss half a meeting, in the 12 years.

7. Any peculiar thing that your managementclub does?• One group has a specific weekend social

outing, previously held at a beach house, andmore recently camping at the coast, with therealization that the place must changeregularly to develop shifts and get people outof their comfort zone. This builds the trust anddevelops the bonds in the group.

• I’ve suggested bringing your own food, and thisritual seems to be an integral part of involvingthe whole family.

• A bring and braai (potluck cookout)afterwards is used extensively. Some clubs dothis infrequently, but may actually be sufferingbecause of it. The overnight group also has agood social session the night before. The ladiesall bring the food, but the host arranges it andthere is limited disruption from this.

Number 100 * IN PRACTICE 5

continued on page 6

• One club runs a travel fund. This is paid on amonthly basis to organize a learning tripsomewhere. In fact that particular group took atrip to the U.S. and really learned a lot.

8. Are the spouses involved?• In one group, the ladies have not always been

involved, but the club has always been awareof this and is working on it. Currently thereare always wives present, but seldom all ofthem. All the members’ businesses are run bythe couples together and include lots ofspousal input.

• The one group forced the women to becomeinvolved with very negative effects. Later,however, they held a weekend away duringwhich each partner had to write up what theythought the other wanted. This lead to hugediscoveries and involvement. Now there is ahostess time slot on the agenda, and she bringsup issues specific to her.

• The spouses have been fully involved from thebeginning in some of the other managementclubs, while some have never had or hardlyever have spouses participate. Some of eachtype have been successful, and some of eachhave failed.

• Generally there has been a huge effort toinclude spouses. Where efforts have been lesssuccessful, participants mention that theyperceive it to be a weakness for their club.

• In every case, the feedback has been thathaving women participate has made a hugedifference to the value of the managementclub. One interviewee even went on to pointout that most women underestimate thepositive effect that they have on management clubs.

9. What hints do you have for a managementclub that is starting up?

• Start off with a group of people with similarvalues. Don’t battle with people who havedivergent basic values. People underestimatethe power of values!

• Be sure everyone is committed to HolisticManagement and the management club.

• Try to include some long-term practitioners ofHolistic Management in the club right from the beginning to help reduce the headbumping or school fees to be paid.

• Try to start off with an honest andstraightforward discussion as to where peopleare and what their needs are. This will help to

establish commitment. Then, work only withthe committed and leave the rest behind orthey will hold you back.

• Try a fixed program, like every second Tuesday of every month, to help with thecommitment issue.

• First work on each individual’s holistic goal,then on the group’s vision and plans to clearlydevelop commitment.

• Try to get every one to actively becomeinvolved from the beginning and each takesome form of leadership role to help developleadership skills and equality in the group.

• Watch out for really high points; plan up frontfor activities to occur beyond them, or the clubseems to collapse after reaching a high point.

• Select your management club partners to fill ineach other’s strengths and weaknesses andcreate a complimentary team.

• Don’t try to stick to everyone having identicalbusinesses from the same area with all thesame problems. Diversity will pay more thanyou think!

• Work on actual issues as well as structuredmeeting plans. Doing only one or the otherwill lead to failure.

• Only go to the veld (range) in the afternoon so that there is definitely time for the mentalwork to get done.

• Or, do not go to the veld at all until the club isactually going. Two new clubs we know failedas they looked only at the veld and wastedeveryone’s time.

• Hold only short meetings to start with, andstick only to the principles of HolisticManagement.

• Definitely try to use a mentor or mentors froman existing and successful club to help you getgoing.

• Dick emphasized the importance ofmanagement clubs, but we had no idea justhow valuable it would be until we got going.

10. Are there any drawbacks to managementclubs?

• One “prick” (as in dysfunctional person) willpop the balloon, so avoid dysfunctional peopleor the whole club will battle forever. Anegative person in a group really pulls it downand weighs down everyone’s creativity.

• Like all relationships, the life span depends onthe effort made by the participants. So justremember you have to keep working at it anddeveloping it. If this does not occur, it will fallapart when the novelty wears off.

• A perspective, which some people can have, isthat comparison within the group can be a

competition. This is highly destructive toefforts of the club and work must be done toavoid this happening.

• A group that gets to know each other too wellcan stagnate. Keep looking to invigorate theclub somehow if this is happening.

• Be very wary of a club project, as it can distractthe club to the point that the project becomesmore important than the individuals’ needs.

• People who talk the talk, but do not walk thewalk, will be a drain on the others.

Management Club’s Basics

• A management club must concentrate onbeing personal, individually relevant, inclusive to the whole management team, participatory, and relevant.

• A management club must be structured interms of what, when, who, how, where, why, andwhat to do next.

• The club must be reliable as a group and asindividuals to build and sustain trust.

• All members of the club, therefore, need tobe committed, personally, to the goal of their ownwhole, and this commitment needs to then extenditself to the need for participation (give and take)in the club.

• The club as a whole then needs to nurturetrust, experiment, and keep adapting theirprocesses to ever address the changing needs of the members.

The management club is the most effectivetool I have experienced for supporting andsustaining change and for supporting andsustaining the practice of Holistic Management.Every individual I have spoken to about clubs iseither hugely motivated, supported or sustained bytheir club or would dearly love to be part of one.So it seems that although each club needs and willdevelop its unique formula for success; the basicprinciple remains. It is the strongest and most cost-effective vehicle for supporting change. It isimperative, therefore, that every individual orgroup practicing Holistic Management needs tomake a serious effort to create and sustain amanagement club to support and sustain themthrough the changes that take place when shifting to a holistic approach to life.

Dick Richardson is a Certified Educator from Vryburg, South Africa. This material waspresented at the 2004 South Africa HolisticManagement Gathering and is part of WholeConcepts training materials. Dick can be reached at: [email protected].

6 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

Management Clubscontinued from page 5

Number 100 * IN PRACTICE 7

In 1988 I attended an OrganizationalDevelopment Course facilitated by DonGreen for The Savory Center. This eye-

opening experience helped me to discover thepower of my holistic goal. First, I wanted toshare Holistic Management with everyone in myworld which led me to become a HolisticManagement® Certified Educator. Anotherdecision that influenced my quality of life was to go back to my roots, the land. In the year 2002 my dream came true. Myfamily and I purchased 11 quarters ofland (707 ha) in the rolling hills ofDysart, Saskatchewan.

Family Ties

The location of our land was ofprime importance and, of course, had topass “the tests.” The mother of my twogirls and I separated when my girls werevery young. They moved to Ontario andseeing them on special holidays and forsummers just wasn’t enough for me. Iwanted to see more of them and mygrandchildren. Fortunately for me, bothof my girls returned to Saskatchewanand married, giving me a total of sevengrandchildren to date. In 1998 I marriedmy lovely wife, Janet, with whom Iwanted to share my dream of getting back onthe land. At this time we lived in Kindersleywhich was four hours from my eldest daughter,Lorran, and six hours from my youngest, Melonie.

The testing questions confirmed for me thatmoving to the rolling hills of Dysart was theright decision, including bringing me closer tomy family. In fact, Lorran and her husband, Mike,purchased adjoining land and cattle; and thoughthey still reside in the city, they now spend alarge amount of their summer and weekendsout on the ranch. Melonie and her husband, Bob,have invested in some cattle and have takenquite an interest in the marketing end of ourbusiness. They have just set up a web site for usat www.wholebeefranch.ca to market our grass-finished beef. Lorran and Mike have alsoestablished direct contacts with people in thecity handing out flyers to consumers as well as

leaving them in health and organic food outlets. Our children play a very important part in

strengthening our marketing conversion weaklink and each day brings us closer as we learn towork as a team. I love being back on the land.The sense of peace and accomplishment I feel asI watch the water and mineral cycle improve,see the wildlife return, and, most of all, see mygrandchildren playing in a safe and lovingenvironment, is a balm to my soul and enriches

my quality of life!

Sowing Succession

The power of a holistic goal was a drivingforce in our being here today, but it has alsoguided our decisions concerning the land. Themajority of the thirteen quarters was cultivatedand required the big decision: Do we seed grassor do we let “succession” proceed naturally? We decided to let succession to proceed becauseI have seen a lot of tame seeded lands thataccording to my holistic goal does not have ahealthy water and mineral cycle—there is toomuch bare soil. Perhaps it didn’t fill in becauseof the way it was being managed, but I amskeptical of the effectiveness of seeding. Perhapsif managed according to the “principles” ofHolistic Management it would eventually fill in. I have just not seen it. I don’t think anyone hasbeen in Holistic Management long enough toknow if “tame” forages ever fill in, and if they

The Power in a Holistic Goalby Len Pigott

do, how long does it take. If it does fill in, I thinkthe tame forages would have to die backallowing the native species to take over.

We knew that by allowing succession toproceed, it might take longer to reach theproduction we needed or expected from ourland, but it would be worth it. It is one of thenice things Holistic Management has given us—the knowledge and faith that eventually our land will be covered through the process ofsuccession with proper management. I don’tthink many conventional managers know thisvery important fact. It is a freeing thing toknow—it gives us options.

I was fortunate that I learned much of thisworking with friends back in Kindersley. Ritzand Bev Reynolds from Kerrobert, Saskatchewan

allowed succession to proceed on most oftheir land. Succession was proceedingslowly, but it appeared it was going tocompletely cover the soil—I liked the look of that.

The Big Picture

I also learned from various people thatmanaging holistically requires dedicationand discipline. It is often easier to focus onthe “production” part of one’s holistic goal.For example, in Ritz and Bev's case, theycould have seeded tame forages, but theystuck to the force of their holistic goal. Inanother example, Bob and CharleneSiemens from Fiske were grazing theirforage once a year, unheard of in theseparts. Grazing more often would havegiven them more animal production, but

in my opinion it would not have been conduciveto encouraging native species to re-establish.They stuck to it because the bigger picture was a“healthier” water and mineral cycle which waswritten in their holistic goal.

While energy or resource conversion is ourweak link, and we are devoting energy andmoney resources to this, our next weakest linkwill be marketing conversion. We are attemptingto market our grass finished product directly tothe consumer. We are finding this takes a lot ofenergy, time and new knowledge. Like managingholistically, this strategy also takes determinationand discipline. But with our holistic goal beingthe driving force, it seems easier. We knowmanaging holistically is the right thing to do.

Len Pigott is a Certified Educator fromDysart, Saskatchewan, Canada. He can bereached at: [email protected] or 306/432-4583.

A trio of Len’s grandchildren enjoying life in the country.

8 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

In the past, I made decisions by creating a listof pros and cons for the decision I wasmaking. In essence, decision testing was just

a brainstorming of what I could think of in themoment for or against the decision I was making.It was only as good as my creative thought wasin the moment. It was not always thoroughenough and sometimes decisions proved faultybecause I didn’t think of everything. Also, I didn’thave a monitoring system to identify whenthings were going wrong.

Now that I’m using the Holistic Management®

testing questions, I feel I’m making solid,informed and better decisions. The questionsprobe all areas of possible concerns around adecision. It is a more structured process, and I’mnot depending solely on my trying to think upevery possible contingency on my own.

Office with a View

I assessed my holistic goal the other day anddecided that work wasn’t nurturing like I hadwritten I wanted it to be in my quality of lifestatement. So I began to think about taking aone-week mini-sabbatical. I had planned avacation on an island 10 miles off the coast, andnow I considered bringing all the things that Ineeded to finish, start or think about with me. Icould then hike to the “office”—a cliff 50 feetabove the crashing surf. After testing thisdecision, that’s what I did, and I was able tofinish projects, start new ones, write two grantsand do all kinds of Holistic Management stuff! Iaccomplished in five days what would havetaken four weeks at the office, or I would havejust given up on doing it at all. It was awonderful feeling of accomplishment! And itbrought the joy back to my off-farm work.

And, the only interruptions were sealscavorting for hours in front of me or anoccasional whale surfacing on its way south.

It is amazing how being attentive to logjamsthat get in the way of our holistic goal is soimportant. I had been getting more and moreangry and frustrated about work and feeling likethe next three years to retirement were going tobe hell. But I identified one of the logjams in mywork life and addressed it. The result, as far as I’mconcerned, was spectacular and very productive.

Defining the Action

Normally the week on the island is atraditional vacation week for me. But . . . theatmosphere at work and the constantinterruptions at the office were just aboutpushing me over the edge. It was causing mywork to back up along with making me angryand frustrated. To get the work done wouldhave normally meant giving up my vacationweek. I skipped straight to the “Society andCulture” testing question and decided that givingup my vacation was totally unacceptable. So thequestion I posed was “Do I go to the island and

take the work with me?”

Cause & Effect

Does this action address the root cause of theproblem?

Problem=Not being able to complete work. Theatmosphere and interruptions at work haveproven to be non-fixable in the past, and I’m notwilling to put energy/time into them again tohelp fix the situations. Therefore, taking thework with me would give me the chance toenjoy the island when I wasn’t doing work stuff,and, even when I was working. And, I got to bein a place that rejuvenated me. The action passed

the test.

Weak Link

Social—For some, this action should not passbecause organizational attitudes and beliefs wouldnot see this as work time or the location as a“proper” office. It goes against the grain of “whatwork is” for most people. But, this action passedfor me because I knew I’d get the work done. Theresults would address any social concerns.

Biological—Really this test isn’t applicable tothis situation. But in playing around with theconcept, I felt that this biological organism (me)would have crashed and burned if I didn’t getmy time on the island and get my work done so the action passed.

Financial—Again, this test isn’t reallyapplicable. But, as I looked at the financial realityof the situation, I thought work got more thantheir money’s worth. I had already planned thecost of vacation into my finances over a yearago, so the action passed.

Marginal Reaction (Comparing two or moreactions)

Which action provides the greatest return, interms of my/our holistic goal, for the time andmoney spent?

• Not going to island—unacceptable• Going on vacation only—mostly

unacceptable. Not getting work done wouldhave destroyed the enjoyment of being there.

• Going to the island to work—passed—because it was an attractive alternative anddoable, the best of both worlds.

Gross Profit Analysis

Not applicable.

Energy/Money Source

Is the energy or money to be used in thisaction derived from the most appropriatesource in terms of my/our holistic goal? Will theway in which the energy or money is to be usedlead toward my/our holistic goal?

• Work energy—excellent. I was refreshed,left all distractions at office, and had quality timeto think creatively and do good work.

• Personal energy—excellent. I was able to dothe things on the island I enjoy when work wasdone for the day, and I made my own schedule.

I thought it would be a great use of money(already budgeted), both personal and work, sothe action passed.

Sustainability

If I/we take this action, will it lead towardor away from the future resource basedescribed in my/our holistic goal?

Here, I realized I needed to adjust my forms ofproduction and future resource base to include:“Work environments that are flexible, healthy andproductive and not defined by a physical space.”With that in mind, the action passed.

Society and Culture

Considering all the questions and my/ourholistic goal, how do I/we feel about this action now?

What a neat process! I felt great about mydecision. My decision to go to the islandsupported my quality of life, and it did notadversely affect the lives of others so the actionpassed. In the past, I would have given up thevacation and would have lost on both counts.

Vivianne Holmes is a Certified Educator wholives in Buckfield, Maine. She can be reached at:207/336-2484 or [email protected].

A Working Vacation—Testing the Decisionby Vivianne Holmes

Number 100 * Land & Livestock 9

Microorganisms in the Rumen—Indicators for Veld or Range Management Decisionsby Willem Schultheiss

&L I V E S T O C K &The most important and accurate parameter by which beef cow-calf

herd efficiency is measured is the profit per hectare (acre) allocatedto the beef enterprise. This measure takes into account all the factors

that influence the profitability of a beef farming enterprise, notably: Grass,beef and income yield per hectare (acre) through pro-active pasturemanagement decisions

Rumen health is central to the desired outcomes for each of the threeabove named parameters—primarily because microbial protein produced in therumen has a near ideal amino acid composition that meets the requirement forbovine physiological functions that lead to an income. Some of these functionsare disease resistance, growth, lactation and reproduction.

Rumen pH

The rumen is a large fermentation vessel in which about 600 liters (156gallons) of gas (mainly methane and carbon dioxide) is produced daily by the3 to 6 kg (6.6-13.2 lbs) bacteria it contains. Apart from an approximate waterintake of 50-80 liters (13-21 gallons) per day, 100-190 liters (26-49 gallons) ofsaliva, containing bicarbonate and phosphorous, contributes to the fluid influxin the rumen. This is important to buffer the volatile fatty acids produced frombacterial fermentation.

Rumen pH is one of the critical factors affecting rumen microbial growth.The physical characteristics of feeds and how they affect stimulation ofchewing, rumination, and increased rumen motility, contribute to rumen pH.

The key to remember is that a relatively small change in rumen pH—forvarious reasons—constitutes an enormous change in hydrogen ionconcentration in the rumen fluid.

Unlike cattle fed on diets high in concentrates, the ones on naturalextensive pasture do not experience the same degree of fluctuation in rumenpH between meals. The average “normal” rumen pH of a grazing bovine isslightly acid, about 6.5-6.8, with fluctuations depending on the amount andtype of supplement eaten.

Fluctuations in rumen pH are usually the result of:• The level of DMI (dry matter intake)—a lower DMI usually leading to anincrease in rumen pH.• The interval between feed intake determines the magnitude of pHfluctuation between feed intake.

• The rate of fermentation, which is determined by the starch or sugarconcentration of the diet.• The water intake, which dilutes the rumen content and decreases theosmolarity (osmosis/transfer).

The Importance of Rumen Health

Rumen microbial health determines the efficiency by which grass cell wallmaterial is broken down in the rumen. This has an effect on passage rate ofingesta (food and water)—which also impairs daily DMI from pasture. Thisreduction in intake will lead to a lower gain per hectare/acre and erode thepotential to maximize profit per hectare/acre.

Rumen microbial health is determined by the balance between rumendegradable protein (RDP) and non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC—starches andsugars) of the diet ingested by the cow.

Excess RDP, or unutilized RDP through a lack of NFC, leads to a higherammonia delivery to the liver, which has to be removed through formation ofurea. This happens most often in winter, when cheap chicken manure is fedon dry, poor quality standing hay. The additional metabolic function by theliver to “clean up” the unutilized ammonia, is counterproductive and leads to aless efficient metabolism. Also, a more alkalotic (higher pH) rumenenvironment negatively affects DMI from pasture and the absorption ofessential nutrients like magnesium, which is necessary for energy and calciummetabolism.

Excess NFC leads to a fall in rumen pH, which is a less favorableenvironment for cellulolytic bacteria to function in. This may happen whencattle consume abundant amounts of carbohydrate-rich supplements or, forexample, soon after being turned out onto maize/corn lands where they pickup many cobs. This will lower neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradation(which is closely and inversely correlated with DMI), passage rate of ingesta,and DMI. If less dry matter is consumed per day, less beef will be grown –leading to a lower income.

Dormant Season Management

Nitrogen, more specifically rumen degradable protein, is the most limitingnutrient to the rumen microbes in winter— especially on sourveld (acid range).

continued on page 10

Apart from RDP, rumen bacteria need an adequate source of fermentablecarbohydrate to incorporate non-protein nitrogen into microbial protein. Microbialprotein is essential for the dry, mid-pregnant cow to efficiently regain body fatreserves that were lost during the previous lactation. This gain in body fat reservesshould take place well in advance of the last two months before calving.

Winter supplement intake must always be closely monitored. Knowing theaverage N concentration of winter pasture and the DMI within, one cancalculate the percentage of total crude protein (TCP) as well as the RDP intakefrom the total diet dry matter. Rumen bacteria will be compromised in theirfunction should the TCP of the final diet DM be below 70g/ kg or 2.45 oz/2.2lbs (7 percent). If winter supplement intake is excessive, it may be a result ofinsufficient pasture DM availability—i.e. the cattle are hungry. This may lead torumen alkalosis should RDP intake be too high. Fecal consistency is a handyindicator of rumen function, and fiber degradation with dry, hard feces isan indicator of poor microbial degradation of fiber—leading to a slowpassage rate of ingesta.

Growing Season Management

To be able to efficiently utilize pasture, one should take into account thefactors that affect the non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentration ingrasses. The balance between photosynthesis (during periods of sunlight) andrespiration (during dark and overcast periods) determines accumulation of NSCby plants. Absolute NSC concentrations are dependent on plant growth ratesand developmental stage, and on prevailing environmental conditions.

On average, over 40-60 percent of NSC produced by photosynthesis isconsumed by respiration. Most of the NSC is found in the bottom 5 cm (2inches) of the grass plant. This, however, does not mean that one should allowthe plant to be grazed at this length. Above optimum temperatures for grassgrowth, provided there is sufficient moisture and nutrients to sustain growth,will lead to an increased rate of respiration resulting in lower NSCconcentrations. But, if grass growth is retarded during hot weather, less NSCwill be consumed by respiration.

During cold weather when there is below optimum temperatures for grassgrowth, this weather generally increases NSC concentrations, as growth andrespiration are both reduced. Following 6 days of cloud, NSC concentrationsin perennial rye grass were almost down to 50 percent of the originalconcentration. The rate of NSC accumulation during daylight is about a onehalf percent increase per hour. Following extended periods of overcast weatherwith much rain and grass re-growth, observant stockmen have noticed that therate of intake was slower—as if the grass was not as palatable as usual. Thismay well be due to the lower NSC concentration of the pasture.

Studies have found, in both northern and southern hemispheres, taking allclimatic factors into account, NSC levels are highest in winter—provided there issunshine. NSC concentration is also higher in more mature plant tissue (tillerand leaf bases) compared to younger plant tissue (tiller and leaf tips). A four-fold increase in NSC concentrations has been noted from the one-leaf stage tothe three-leaf stage in perennial rye grass within a growth cycle. High pressuregrazing during the preceding dormant season, by promoting plant growth,initially lowers plant NSC, but this is reversed as the larger leaves produced bythe added N (through feces and urine) are capable of producing more NSCthrough photosynthesis during daylight. Given the factors that affect NSC ingrass, one may conclude that maximizing the intake of NSC from pastureand using an energy supplement in a strategic way early in the growth

season, will optimize production from pastures. The ultimate objective is to achieve a synchronicity between energy (NFC)

and non-protein nitrogen (NPN) intake—resulting in the maximum rumenmicrobial protein delivery to the small intestine for efficient beef production.Movement to new pasture should, in my opinion, preferably take place in theafternoon, not in the morning; with a second grazing cycle on the samepasture the following morning.

When To Move Cattle

Several criteria may play a role in making the decision to move cattle tonew pasture. • For an indication of rumen fill, observe the left paralumbar fossa (the groovebehind the last rib on the left side of the bovine), during the early morning,before cattle lie down to rest and ruminate. As soon as this appears to becomehollow in the majority of cattle in the herd, it is an indication that DMI is notsufficient on the particular pasture anymore. The herd should then be moved tothe next planned camp or paddock.• Cattle waiting at the gate is a sure sign that the decision to move them shouldhave been taken much earlier. The degree of trampling and number of pioneerspecies—relative to the rest of the camp—around gates gives one an indicationof the stockmanship on a particular farm. • Take the urine pH—in the morning—of several cows after cattle have been on aparticular pasture for at least 12 hours. This may be considered the “normal” forthat type of pasture. Use these values as the baseline to compare further pHmeasurements (preferably from the same sentinel cows) later on in the grazingperiod on that camp. A rise in the pH values will be an indication that more ureais being excreted through the urine, which shows that ammonia is no longerefficiently incorporated into microbial protein. This phenomenon may also be as aresult of over-intake of N-supplements (winter licks) due to a shortage of grazing.

Changing To A New Supplement

You should change to a new supplement when:• The first frost leads to accelerated lignification of grass and sudden fall indigestibility. • There is an increase in the fecal consistency (fecal condition score), which isa diagnostic for a lowered passage rate of ingesta and a lower herbagedigestibility, both caused by insufficient rumen degradable protein availability tothe rumen microbes. This is perhaps the most accurate indicator. • When the body condition falls. However, using this indicator is not the correctapproach, as lost fat reserves need to be replenished after weaning of calves at acost during the dormant season.

The challenge is how do we maximize herbiage, non-fiber carbohydratesconcentration through proper pasture management? From my thinking, theanswer in order of importance is that healthy soils, healthy grass roots, and ahealthy grass foliage will lead to the most efficient rate of photosynthesis andNFC synthesis.

It is here that timely movement of cattle to new paddocks—especiallyduring the growth season—becomes the most important decision on a beefranch. Move the large herd to a new camp in the afternoon when starchconcentration in the plant is highest and pasture intake rate (bites per minute)is expected to be high. The ultimate challenge is to maximize rumen microbial protein yield from pasture.

Willem A. Schultheiss, Schering Plough Animal Health, can be reached at:(tel) 011-922-3434; (cell) 082 323 7019; (fax) 011-922-3439; [email protected]. This article is an excerpt from a paperdelivered at the Holistic Management Conference, Vryburg, South Africa.

10 Land & Livestock * March / Apr i l 2005

Microorganisms in the Rumencontinued from page 9

fter four years of practicing Holistic Management, Phil and Viv Gray have seen the health of their stock, land, bank account, and

relationship improve. The North Canterbury couple overwinteraround 2,600 mixed-age ewes and hoggets and 50 rising, two-year-old bulls on 300 ha (750 acres) of rolling hill country near Waiau, New Zealand.I trained this couple in 2000. Although initially sceptical, their experiencesusing the decision-making framework have taken them from strength to strength.

Soil Solutions

Under intensive farming, the Grays focused too much on lambproduction. “Getting the lambs up to weight was our sole focus,” saysPhil. “As a result, the ewes’ health packed up and their performancedropped. We went from a lambing percentage of 146 percent to 110percent in two years.”Despite two difficultseasons, both scanningand lambingpercentages have risenalong with ewe weightsand overall health.Ryegrass staggers arealso now less of anissue, a situation Philand Viv put down topastures that are morethan just ryegrass andwhite clover.

With the focus on planned grazing and the emphasis on pasturerecovery, pastures are regenerating. “We tried spending our way out ofdebt with an extensive pasture renovation program, but just dugourselves in deeper,” says Phil. “With the planned grazing, we are seeingred clover and timothy establish themselves in the paddocks.” Becausetheir pastures were regenerating, Phil and Viv decided to leave the localmachinery syndicate (cooperative). This was a difficult decision as Phil’sfather, Hugh, had helped set it up 25 years earlier.

Although no longer cultivating, the soil is becoming of increasinginterest to Phil. “A couple of winters ago we lost 60 ewes over night. Ithen read Percy Weston’s book about superphosphate poisoning pastureand that got me thinking. Since then I’ve found out a great deal moreabout the minerals in the soil, and we are now applying more limebecause of the multiple benefits it brings.” The Grays are experimentingwith a range of biological fertilizers, but Phil feels the chemical make-upof their soil is the limiting factor.

Improving Profit

What has really pleased Phil and Viv is how their financial situation hasturned around. Their net profit has tripled in four years. In 2001 their netprofit/ha was $108/ha (US$30.24/acre). In 2003 that had grown to $252/ha

(US$70.56/acre), and they achieved $289/ha (US$80.92/acre) for the 2004season, despite a rising New Zealand dollar and the weather extremes theyexperienced in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. They expect this profit to levelout in 2005 at $267/ha (US$ 74.76/acre). Total expenses, including interest,have dropped from 71 percent of income in 2001 to 48 percent in 2003 to 40percent in the 2004 season. Their growth in net worth has also climbedfrom 1 .3 percent in 2001 to an estimated 5 percent in 2004 season.

Phil and Viv are the first to say their returns are not overly spectacular,however they are happy with the trend. The predicted 2004 profit is almostdouble the prediction for the Canterbury/Marlborough area by the Meatand Wool Innovation Economic Service. One realization that has influencedPhil and Viv’s management is that stock policy has a greater influence onprofitability than pasture renovation. A readiness to drop store lambs mid-spring and pick up stock early in the autumn to overwinter has given themthe flexibility to utilize pasture better and be in sync with their climate andlandscape. As a result they have become more entrepreneurial. Key to theirsuccess is the ability to take advantage of the stock price cycle rather thanworrying about which species to plant.

One Step At A Time

Phil and Viv have taken their time to incorporate Holistic Managementpractices. Yet as certain pieces have fallen in place, their enthusiasm hasgrown stronger. The decision testing was the first thing they beganmastering followed by the planned grazing. They have since worked ontheir wealth/financial planning. They find the decision testing down toearth as it simplifies their lives and business in a very practical manner.They are making a greater conscious effort with their spending and feelthey are no longer tipping money into a pit trying to spend their way outof debt. They have gained better financial scrutiny and control with theirpersonal and farm spending.

Like many farming families, they dabbled with one partner holdingdown an off-farm job. Viv returned to nursing after a three-year break in1999. “We had this extra income, but we weren’t saving anything,” shestresses. “It was like the money simply disappeared.” Viv felt she lost touchwith the daily happenings on the farm and wasn’t as involved in the farmbusiness as she is now. With the birth of their third son, Hamish, in 2001,Viv remained on the farm. With the two older boys at school, Viv is nowlooking to have a greater role in the farm business. Last spring, they tried anurse cow enterprise, and Viv will continue developing it this spring.

As their communication improved so has their relationship. As Phil says,“I used to keep the financial situation to myself, and Viv would get upsetbecause there wasn’t any money for the house. Now we work throughthings together.” Viv added, “I know that when we go into a drought, Philwill keep me informed about the situation. He doesn’t crawl into his caveand stop talking if we haven’t had rain for three weeks.” As a couple theynow experience less stress communicating to one another. They value openauthentic communication as they juggle their business with raising threeboys: Keagan (8), Liam (6), and Hamish (3).

Despite their initial scepticism, Holistic Management has helped Phil andViv Gray bring order to their situation. They feel they are now focusingwith greater clarity on what they need for the longer term rather thanswinging from one short term crisis to another. As a result, their stock,pasture, financial, and relationship improvements are a testimony to theirpractice of Holistic Management despite the current challenging climate.

John King is a Certified Educator in Nelson, New Zealand. He can be reached at: [email protected].

Number 100 * Land & Livestock 11

Blue Skies for Gray Family—Tripling Farm Profitby John King

A

Phil and Viv Gray

Editor’s Note: This article was first printed in Improving Whole FarmPlanning Through Better Decision Making (which is available for freedownload on The Savory Center’s website). In this particular case study,Fred used the Holistic Management® structured diagnosis of one of thenatural resource issues to determine the best way to collaborate with “G,” a West Virginia farmer with whom he was working as part of hislearning community for the Holistic Management® Certified Educatortraining program within which he was enrolled.

Glives on a 50-acre (20-ha) tract of land with his wife, Mary, andteenage daughter, Stephanie. G, like me, was used to less rolling land and steep hills, ridges, rivers, and woodlands. He found himself

on this 50 acres of land, which is still quite hilly by other standards, but,nonetheless, has about 40 acres (16 ha) of relatively flat land along a creekbottom. G works full time at a chemical plant that makes agriculturalchemicals. He expresses concerns about his health and the dangers ofworking in such an industry, but likes the income and believes in whatthese chemicals represent for agriculture. His wife and his daughter likehorses, so they have two horses.

A Creek Runs Through It

G wants to do something with this land to earn some income. He hasexplored a number of options. He was interested in raising fish inpartnership with me at one point, but obstacles to this included groundwater that is heavily polluted with arsenic from years of tobacco and pig farming. These lands have been in agricultural production with wide scale problems resulting from 100 years of general abuse fromovergrazing, over tilling etc. such that sedimentation in streams and thesoils’ inability to control water cycling has also resulted in rendering his farm under flood waters an average of six times per year. Some ofhis land is forested, but this too has little value as trees tend to bedegraded, malformed, and specie-limited to mostly weeds. G eventually settled on the idea of raising a few cattle for market sales and sought public assistance through the NRCS (Natural ResourcesConservation Service).

He first wanted to establish some ponds for surface water and wastold he would have to have livestock in order to get assistance, so heobtained the two horses. He has since constructed several ponds withNRCS assistance, and he now has a water source away from the streammost of the time that he can use without polluting the stream. The NRCS also paid for fencing on his property, and it would seem he was ready.

Exploring Options

G wants to get rid of the horses because of their expense and thefact that they produce no income. His wife and daughter want to keepthe horses. The horses are also pastured in one area where they arenever moved and are creating another environmental disaster on hisproperty. While we are very close as friends, G is reluctant to consider

any alternative suggestions since the NRCS pays some bills and isconsidered correct on many issues.

Where the horses are not, G is considering creating hay fields alongthe river bottom. He purchased an old tractor and a number ofimplements for making hay. G considered that he would pay off thisinvestment by selling hay his first year. He spent a lot of time cuttinghay last summer, but did not get any that was not moldy because ofcontinual rainfall. On one occasion he got it baled and floodwaterscarried it away. What he did get stacked in the barn was also eventuallyruined as the water came four feet up on the barn walls. G also foundthat his hay had as many weeds as grasses in it and set out to herbicidethese areas, also under the recommendations of the NRCS. The plan wasto use the herbicides and then seed followed by applications of urea. Ginvested yet more money: both his and the government’s. While G hadno animals on this bottomland, around fifty deer were grazing it nightly as the hay would grow.

We have had numerous conversations about markets, production,conservation and other general subjects in which he has confinedhimself to certain standards. He has viewed a video about HolisticManagement and has listened to explanations of how ecosystems operate as one whole. My burden with getting him to try somethingdifferent continues to be the fact that NRCS will pay him to do it their way.

Collaborative Solution

I have taken him through the structured diagnosis process on his hay field problems several times. I believe he understands that he couldimprove this situation at this time, and that he understands where manyof the critical problems are. However, following a government-subsidizedformula is much easier and perhaps more cost effective since he has noon-the-ground examples to look at that demonstrate how a holisticallymanaged operation like his can be successful.

Given the circumstances, I decided I would create an example forhim. I have proposed that I would buy a half-dozen feeder calves andrun them on the open areas of my land and demonstrate HolisticManagement® Planned Grazing. My first order of business has been toinclude this in my land planning. I am currently working on fencing so I can move animals easily and can come up with seventeen smallpaddocks, which would allow for reserves during a dry period ofsummer and would get me up into December at least before running out of food.

G would simply need to make his hay operation work well enoughto feed these animals after the forage is gone during the winter since wewould need two seasons to get these animals to a size to earn reasonableprofits. If he fails to raise sufficient hay, I may have to sell the cattleearly. On my plan, I will not use any NRCS assistance because I believeour profits will be greater if we are free to operate the way we want.

As you can see from the structured diagnosis that follows, he will be growing the hay while he works to address his natural resourceproblem of weeds in his hayfield and flooding through allocating his

12 Land & Livestock * March / Apr i l 2005

A Collaborative Solution—Profile of G R Farmby Fred Hays

land differently to maximize productivity and using animal impact toincrease soil fertility and breaking sediment cap and generally improvethe water cycle efficiency on his land. Our partnership is an incentive for him to do things differently. The idea is to eventually get him tomove from haying to a forage-based operation as he will have wetterareas that can carry him through the summer and drier areas that he can use when the floods come. But until he sees it’s possible, he won’t try it.

While G presently has a job, which pays a good salary, he finds

himself in a situation where his plant could be closed at any given time.G is also deeply in debt with his farm and equipment and may need tofind other income whether his job is lost or not. It is my hope that if we can make a small cattle operation work during the next couple ofyears that G may be more open to looking at Holistic Management in a more serious way at least in areas of his life where benefits mayexist. To demonstrate sustainable practices is something I have beendoing for years, but never with large domestic herbivores on limitedresources so it will be a learning process for me as well.

Number 100 * Land & Livestock 13

Tools

FireRest

Technology

Animal Impact

Grazing

Living OrganismsAs a Tool

Application Style (circle one used most)

None Early Burn Late BurnNone Partial Rest Total Rest

Chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, tillage on a regular bases.High Impact/

High Impact/ Low Impact/Short Time Long Time

Regenerative Over GrazingGrazing

Not applied

Tendency to Affect Ecosystem ProcessAt This Level of Brittleness

Partial rest has always been a normal practice in thisarea and tends to maintain diversity

This has been the most used tool. Decreases biodiversity

Tends to promote diversity

When grazing has been used it has always beenovergrazing with the same plants continuing to begrazed repeatedly by both deer and horses without aproper chance for root recovery.

Tendency to Affect Problem At Hand

It could encourage weeds.

The tendency for these applications to affect the problem isstrong considering the chemicals not only kill unwantedorganisms but life in the soil, and plants above ground. Thisleaves room for opportunistic species, tolerant of poorconditions, to dominate. The water cycle and the mineral cyclewould tend to be impaired in this situation.

Would exacerbate weeds coming in.

The tendency for this to further promote the problem sincethis practice can lead to bare spots or less vigorous grass plants,which leave openings for tap-rooted plants to move in.

Holistic Management® Natural Resource Diagnosis Worksheet

Issue/Problem Being Diagnosed: _Weeds in hay________________________________

1. Two Alternatives (circle one): Human Natural 2. Brittleness (circle level): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10to consider as probable Root cause Rainforest Desert

3. Which Ecosystem Process (circle one): Water Cycle Mineral Cycle Community Dynamics Energy FlowTo focus on

4. Discuss the widespread use of tools over recent years and the tendency to affect ecosystem processes and problem at hand:

5. What is the probable root cause of problem? The probable root cause is human management. The impaired community dynamics are directly linked to the describedpractices above which leads to bare ground with weeds coming in to fill the spaces. 6. Assuming that your diagnosis is wrong, how could you field-test your diagnosis quickly (i.e. test plot)? What are the earliest indicators for monitoring?The hillside land where the horses are located could be rested on a small portion by fencing the horses and the deer away from the area. This will allow for monitoring todemonstrate the regeneration of plants and soils. Once it is rested for a year, then he could try planned grazing to build up organic matter in the soil which is currentlypoor. The area would have to be monitored to gain knowledge about the timeframe needed for these areas to repair themselves. If this works as a field test then the rest ofthe land could be treated in the same way. The earliest indicators will be greater plant coverage with reduction in bare spots, increased plant health, and increased organicmatter.

A separate diagnosis of the flooding that also affects his hayfield would reveal that flooding is a regional problem that he cannot control, and so he can only changemanagement practices to mitigate the effect the flooding has on his production. The flooding has a tendency to displace or cover plants with sediment while permittingnew plants of various origins to develop, a cycle repeated over and over. The area is perhaps useless as a hayfield except in the higher portions where the flooding is lessfrequent. It is these areas where animal impact for short duration might be tested to perhaps break up the sediment layer and get some air into the soil. His forty-acre hayfield may become a twenty-acre hay field without addressing greater policy issues for the entire watershed. A small portion of one of these higher areas might be fencedoff to use the horses to bust up the sediment cap. It is also likely that seeding will be required on this site to get desired species developing. Two sites could be set up onewithout seed and the other with seed to compare results. The lower more frequently flooded sites could be used for some planned grazing during dry periods whenhillside sites become less productive. In this way he may begin to maximize his land use. Again, earliest indicators would be healthy plant coverage in those areas.

14 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

Meet our New Board Members

Five new members were elected to TheSavory Center’s Board of Directors last

December, and we introduce them to you below.New board officers were also elected: RonChapman, Chair; Terry Word, Vice Chair;Richard Smith, Treasurer; and Jody Butterfield,Secretary. We’d like to thank outgoing members,Manuel Casas, Leslie Christian and Rio de laVista, all of whom gave generously of their timeand expertise in moving the Center and itsprograms forward.

Ron Chapman isfounder and principalof Magnetic NorthLLC, an Albuquerque-based consulting firmspecializing inorganizationaldevelopment andpersonal andprofessional growth.He has come toknow the Center well over the past five yearsthrough a series of consulting engagements andas a mentor to several staff members. Uponreading the textbook, he became convinced thatHolistic Management would serve him well inhis consulting relationships with otherorganizations, which include the World HealthOrganization, Habitat for Humanity, the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention and theHealthSouth Corporation. “They’ve been gettingregular doses of Holistic Management,” says Ron.“They just don’t know it.”

Ron is also a motivational speaker, author,and an award-winning public radiocommentator, whose accolades include the BestRadio Feature award of 2003 from the NewMexico Broadcasters Association for an interviewhe did with Allan Savory. He holds a MastersDegree in Social Welfare from the University atAlbany (New York), a Bachelors Degree inBusiness from Valparaiso University, andToastmasters International’s highest recognitionof Distinguished Toastmaster.

From the Executive Director

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In December, the Center’s Executive Director, Tim La Salle, opted not to renew his contract to continue his work with

the Savory Center. Shortly thereafter, the Board of Directorsinquired whether I would be willing to return to fill that roll until a new search could be made for someone who wished totake it on permanently.

I am pleased to let you know that I have agreed to return—temporarily—and am enjoying, already, contact with many of youagain. This last year brought clarity about the Savory Center’sdirection, core values, and mission, and we are looking forleadership that will help move us toward our holistic goal. As you can see from theannouncement in this issue, we have already begun our search for a new Executive Director.Please review that announcement and send us recommendations. Through all of us workingtogether, we can more effectively take the next step in getting the word out about HolisticManagement and the results people are achieving.

In the coming months, the Savory Center staff and Board will build on the good work done in 2004 in implementing our strategic plan through expanding our training programoptions, developing support mechanisms in our collaboration with Certified Educators andstrengthening our certification requirements, developing expanded curriculum opportunities,engaging more deeply with Holistic Management practitioners, and continuing our outreach,informational, and referral services.

In regards to our learning sites, we will be establishing intern and other educationalprograms at the West Ranch and creating a long-term facility upgrade and renovation plan.Likewise, at the Africa Centre, we will continue to strengthen our programs with the Wangevillagers, and help them improve their land and their quality of life despite the struggles theyface with food shortages and hyper-inflation.

In our training programs, we will also be celebrating the graduation of 18 Certified Educators from the North Central training program who will strengthen the HolisticManagement presence in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas, Maine, and Australia. In the meantime, we will continue to complete our Certified Educatortraining programs in Mexico and Africa, as well as our Ranch & Range Manager TrainingProgram here in the U.S.

As always, we encourage all our readers to contact us with ideas, concerns, and questions.Your input makes us a stronger, more effective organization to achieve our mission of advancingthe practice of Holistic Management and coordinating its development worldwide.

Shannon HorstInterim Executive Director

T h eGRAPEVINE

news f rom t he savo r y cen te r * peop le , p rog rams & p ro jec t s

Shannon Horst

Ron Chapman

Number 100 * IN PRACTICE 15

Ben Bartlett servedas Principal Investigatorfor the 2002 NorthCentral SARE grant thatfunded The SavoryCenter’s HolisticManagement CertifiedEducator Trainingprogram in that region.He will be completingthe program himself inApril and become a Certified Educator. Hereceived a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine andbachelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry fromMichigan State University, and since 1983 hasserved as a dairy and livestock extension agentwith the university. He also owns and managesa farm near Traunik, Michigan where he grazessheep and cattle. Ben lectures frequently onanimal handling and grazing management atconferences across the U.S. and Canada, and wasan Eisenhower Exchange fellow to Argentina.He holds the 2001 Michigan State UniversityDistinguished Extension Academic Staff Awardamong numerous other awards.

Clint Josey is apetroleum engineerbased in Dallas, whoalso has a cattle ranchat Leo, Texas. Clinttook a HolisticManagement coursein the early 1980s andquickly saw the valueof The SavoryCenter’s work. In 1984he was among the original group of ranchers,farmers, academics and others who formed theCenter and served on the original Board ofDirectors. He has served on the Center’sAdvisory Council since its formation five yearsago. Clint currently serves as a director for theNative Prairies Association of Texas and of theDixon Foundation, which funds watershedconservation efforts, and which Clint will soonlead as Board Chair and CEO. Clint also serveson the advisory boards of the North TexasUniversity’s environmental science departmentand HRM of Texas.

Sue Probart, is a Holistic Management®Certified Educator who also serves as ExecutiveDirector of Tree New Mexico, a nationally-recognized, community-based nonprofit engagedin tree-planting and environmental outreach

programs. Sue is alsoa founder and pastboard member of theNational Alliance forCommunity Trees,and a founder andcurrent chair of theNew Mexico UrbanForest Council. Sheworked with SavoryCenter staff inplanning programs for our La Semilla learningsite, and remains actively involved with the LaSemilla Institute. She brings to the board close tothree decades of experience in developingpartnerships with diverse groups includingNative American tribes, and urban and ruralcommunities in the American Southwest, and inlocal, state and national advocacy campaigns onurban forestry issues.

Jim Parker is arancher/investor,who served a priorterm on The SavoryCenter’s Board in thelate 1980s and hasserved on theCenter’s AdvisoryCouncil for the pastthree years. Originallyfrom Parkersburg,West Virginia, he and his wife, Carol, have madetheir home in Colorado since the late 1970s.“Sixteen years ago,” says Jim, “two importantevents occurred. My second child was born, andI attended my first Holistic Management course.Life on our Colorado ranch was never again thesame, and that was a good thing. HolisticManagement also began to change the way Iinteracted within other diverse businessinterests and my participation on several nonprofit boards.” Jim served two terms on theColorado Agriculture Commission, bringing aperspective shaped by Holistic Management,served as president of the Colorado RiverWatershed, and has been active and heldleadership positions in various livestock andconservation organizations.

Creating Successful Projects

Nonprofit organizations strive to createprojects in line with their missions that

serve their stakeholders and achieve the projectaims. But in many instances, the projects fallshort of expectations, either because the

problem the project was striving to prevent orovercome was misdiagnosed, or the project itselfled to problems they couldn’t foresee. As someof you know, the Holistic Management®decision-making framework can be used as atool to develop policies that have a reasonablechance of succeeding. So it isn’t a big stretch tosee that it can also be used in developing soundprojects, since a project, just like a policy, willalways be addressing or preventing one kind ofproblem or another.

In December last year, Allan Savoryfacilitated the Savory Center’s first workshop onproject development for nonprofit andfoundation leaders in California’s Bay Area:“Ensuring Your Projects are Socially,Environmentally and Economically Sound.” Itwouldn’t have been possible without thesupport of the Arntz Family Foundation, whosemembers were captivated by the possibilities forthemselves in determining which new projectsto fund, and the value it might have for theorganizations they have funded over the years.Arntz Foundation Program Director Nancy Rosa

put together a group of participants whom sheknew would be eager to learn, ask penetrating

Executive Director Search

In late January The Savory Center’sBoard of Directors established an

Executive Director Search Committee toidentify the ideal candidate to lead us intoour next phase of growth anddevelopment. The Committee is lookingfor a person who not only practicesHolistic Management, but is passionateabout it and committed to its extensionand development. Non profit managementexperience is essential, as are team-building, communication, financialmanagement and leadership skills. If youor anyone you know is interested inlearning more about the position andwould like to receive a detailed positiondescription, please contact CommitteeChair Jody Butterfield [email protected], 505/842-5252, 1010 Tijeras Ave NW, Albuquerque,NM 87102. Applications will be acceptedthrough March 15.

Ben Bartlett

Clint Josey

Sue Probart

Jim Parker

continued on page 16

16 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

questions, and help us make this workshopeven better the second time around. And thatthey did.

They represented organizations workinglocally, nationally and internationally throughprograms involving coral reef protection,microlending, rural development, greenbeltcreation, and alternative education, amongothers. The diversity in their projects onlyadded to the richness of the learning for all.From the feedback we’ve received since, it doesappear that most if not all of the participantswill use what they learned in creating newprojects and in evaluating current ones. “I don’tthink any of us can look at projects anddecisions and not realize they lead back to theland,” says Nancy Rosa. “That in itself shouldhave a large impact.”

Vermont Graziers Conference

Frigid temperatures didn’t stop close to 300members of the Vermont Grass Farmers

Association from gathering on January 22 for anannual conference entitled “Thinking Globally—Grazing Locally.” It started off with a keynoteaddress by Allan Savory who put grazing in thecontext of global issues, such as the restorationof biodiversity and the slowing of global climatechange. A series of workshops followed,including a standing-room-only session led byVermont Grass Farmers President (and soon tobe Certified Educator) Abe Collins on HolisticPlanned Grazing. Dairy farmer Teddy Yandow

gave the afternoon keynote outlining a numberof innovative practices he’d put into place andgiving a heart-rending account of how HolisticManagement® Financial Planning had enabledhim to turn a heavily debt-ridden operation intoa profitable one.

The next day, Abe facilitated an introductoryHolistic Management seminar for about 30 NewEngland grass farmers, assisted by two of hiscohorts in our Northeast Certified Educatorprogram, Phil Metzger, of New York, and Seth

Wilner, of New Hampshire. Allan Savory wasalso on hand, but the show was theirs, andjudging by the participants’ responses, theysucceeded in creating an awareness, in an areaof the country rapidly losing its family farms,that a turnaround is possible.

Kirk Gadzia WinsAward

At the AnnualQuivira

Coalition Conferenceheld on January 14-15,2005 in Albuquerque,New Mexico,Certified EducatorKirk Gadzia fromBernalillo, NewMexico, was one of the winners of the QuiviraCoalition’s Clarence Burch Award. He waspresented the award by the Quivira Coalition, aSanta Fe-based non-profit, along with Jim andJoy Williams, John Pierson, and other U.S. ForestService (USFS) personnel for their collaborativeefforts restoring Largo Creek, and the watershedsurrounding it, in Catron County, located insouthwest New Mexico.

Catron County is known as being acontentious area when it comes to resourcemanagement issues. Through the help of theKirk Gadzia, working for the Quivira Coalition,ranchers Jim and Joy Williams and John Pierson,the district USFS range conservationist were ableto use a planned grazing approach to increasethe health of the land about which they wereall concerned.

Congratulations, Kirk, for all your hard work!

Australians Win Awards

Management. Megan was runner up in the 2003 Rural Women’s Award from a field of 150 highly motivated women, and Andrew was a runner up in the 2004 inaugural NewSouth Wales Young Farmers Award forexcellence in farming. The Moselys run a White Dorper and Boer goat operation on70,000 acres near Cobar, in the semi-arid western division of New South Wales.Congratulations, Andrew and Megan!

Prather Ranch Wins Award

Jim and Mary Rickert of the Prather Ranch innorthern California, recently was among thewinners for the Governor’s Environmental andEconomic Leadership Award (GEELA). ThePrather Ranch is a vertically integrated,agribusiness on 15,560 acres. The cattle and hayranch is a self-sustaining operation thatpromotes strong environmental philosophies,Holistic Management practices, and the humanetreatment of livestock. Several hundred acres areoperated as a wildlife preserve. The ranch alsosupports one of the largest certified organicbeef herds in the country and is a producer ofhigh-quality organic and conventional hay. Theranch is also actively involved in theendangered species recovery of the WillowFlycatcher and the Shasta Crayfish.Congratulations, Jim and Mary!

Richards Ranch Wins SRM Award

The 15,000-acre Richards Ranch in Texasreceived the “Outstanding Rangeland

Management Award” from the Texas Section ofthe Society for Range Management in October2004. The ranch received the award for theirexceptional land management and conservation.The individuals who contributed to thatmanagement were Henry Richards, Brent

Hackley, and long time Savory Center and HRM of Texas member, John Hackley. Johnnoted that “sustainability of our grazing land is crucial to the continued success of our familybusiness… We are striving to maximize the useof the land, including diversification in huntingand tourism, as well as maximize amounts of forage per acres, thus creating real wealth. In order to achieve our quality of life andproduction goals, we are working for prairieswith a variety of high quality forage,dependable and ample water supplies, and a proper balance of timber and wildlifepopulations.” Congratulations, John, Brent, and Henry!

Kirk Gadzia

Andrew and Megan Mosley

T h e

GRAPEVINE continued from page 15

Andrew and Megan Mosely, Holistic Managementpractitioners in New South Wales, Australia, havebeen recognized at the highest levels for theirwork with and involvement in Holistic

Number 100 * IN PRACTICE 17

ARIZONA

Kelly MulvilleHC1, Box 1125, Sonoita, AZ 85637520/[email protected]

CALIFORNIAMonte Bell 325 Meadowood Dr., Orland, CA 95963530/865-3246 • [email protected]

Julie Bohannon 652 Milo Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90042323/257-1915 • [email protected]

Bill Burrows12250 Colyear Springs Rd.Red Bluff, CA 96080530/529-1535 • [email protected]

Richard King1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954707/769-1490 • 707/794-8692 (w)[email protected]

Tim McGaffic13592 Bora Bora Way #327Marina Del Rey, CA 90292310/741-0167 • [email protected]

Christopher PeckP.O. Box 2286, Sebastopol, CA 95472707/[email protected]

COLORADOJoel Benson P.O. Box 2036, Buena Vista, CO 81211719/395-2468 • [email protected]

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

Rio de la VistaP.O. Box 777, Monte Vista, CO 81144 719/852-2211 • [email protected]

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

Chadwick McKellar16775 Southwood Dr.Colorado Springs, CO 80908719/495-4641 • [email protected]

* Cliff MontagneMontana State University Department of Land Resources &Environmental ScienceBozeman, MT 59717406/994-5079 • [email protected]

NEW MEXICO* Ann AdamsThe Savory Center1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102505/[email protected]

Amy Driggs1131 Los Tomases NWAlbuquerque, NM 87102505/[email protected]

Mark Duran58 Arroyo Salado #B, Santa Fe, NM 87508505/422-2280; [email protected]

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

Ken Jacobson12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste AAlbuquerque, NM 87112; 505/[email protected]

* Kelly PasztorThe Savory Center1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102505/[email protected]

Sue ProbartP.O. Box 81827, Albuquerque, NM 87198505/265-4554 • [email protected]

David Trew369 Montezuma Ave. #243Santa Fe, NM 87501505/751-0471; [email protected]

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

NEW YORKKarl North3501 Hoxie Gorge Rd., Marathon, NY 13803607/849-3328 • [email protected]

NORTH CAROLINASam Bingham394 Vanderbilt Rd., Asheville, NC 28803828/274-1309 • [email protected]

NORTH DAKOTA* Wayne BerryUniversity of North Dakota—WillistonP.O. Box 1326, Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/[email protected]

OKLAHOMAKim BarkerRT 2, Box 67, Waynoka, OK 73860580/824-9011 • [email protected]

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

GEORGIAConstance Neely1160 Twelve Oaks CircleWatkinsville, GA 30677 • 706/[email protected]

IOWABill Casey1800 Grand Ave., Keokuk, IA 52632-2944319/524-5098 • [email protected]

LOUISIANATina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535phone: 337/580-0068 • [email protected]

MAINEVivianne Holmes239 E. Buckfield Rd. Buckfield, ME 04220-4209207/336-2484 • [email protected]

MASSACHUSETTS* Christine Jost Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine200 Westboro Rd.North Grafton, MA 01536508/887-4763 • [email protected]

MINNESOTATerri Goodfellow-Heyer4660 Cottonwood Lane NorthPlymouth, MN 55442763/559-0099 • [email protected]

MISSISSIPPI

Preston Sullivan610 Ed Sullivan Lane, NEMeadville, MS 39653601/384-5310 [email protected]

MONTANAWayne BurlesonRT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001406/328-6808 • [email protected]

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

Certified Educators

U N I T E D S T A T E S

* These educators provide Holistic Management instruction on behalf of the institutions they represent.

To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help others learn topractice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assistance when necessary. On ayearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with the Center. Thisagreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek outopportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management and tomaintain a high standard of ethical conduct in their work. For more information about or application forms for the U.S., Africa, or International Certified EducatorTraining Programs, contact Kelly Pasztor at the Savory Center or visit our website atwww.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_certed.cfm?

Certified Educators

18 IN PRACTICE * March / Apr i l 2005

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

TEXAS

Christina Allday-Bondy2703 Grennock Dr., Austin, TX 78745512/441-2019 • [email protected]

Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549806/237-2554 • [email protected]

Jennifer Hamre602 W. St. Johns Ave., Austin, TX 78752512/374-0104; [email protected]* R.H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Department of Integrative BiologyAustin, TX 78712512/471-4128 • [email protected]

Peggy Sechrist 25 Thunderbird Rd.Fredericksburg, TX 78624830/990-2529 • [email protected]

Liz Williams 4106 Avenue BAustin, TX 78751-4220512/323-2858 • [email protected]

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

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

* Don NelsonWashington State University P.O. Box 646310, Pullman, WA 99164509/335-2922 • [email protected]

Maurice RobinetteS. 16102 Wolfe Rd., Cheney, WA 99004509/299-4942 • [email protected]

Doug Warnock151 Cedar Cove Rd., Ellensburg, WA 98926509/925-9127 • [email protected]

WISCONSINElizabeth BirdRoom 203 Hiram Smith Hall1545 Observatory Dr., Madison WI 53706608/265-3727 • [email protected]

Larry JohnsonW886 State Road 92, Brooklyn, WI 53521608/455-1685 • [email protected]

WYOMINGTim MorrisonP.O. Box 536, Meeteese, WY 82433307/868-2354 • [email protected]

AUSTRALIA

Helen CarrellP.O. Box 1263Warwick, QLD 437061-7-46617393 • 61-7-46670835 [email protected] Hailstone5 Lampert Rd., Crafers, SA [email protected] Hand“Inverary”Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 330261-3-5578-6272 • [email protected] Mark GardnerP.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW [email protected] MarshallP.O. Box 300, Guyra NSW 236561-2-6779-1927 • fax: [email protected] WardP.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 156561-2-9929-5568 • fax: [email protected] Wehlburgc/o “Sunnyholt”, Injue, QLD 445461-7-4626-7187 • [email protected]

CANADA

Don and Randee HalladayBox 2, Site 2, RR 1, Rocky MountainHouse, AB, T0M 1T0403/729-2472 • [email protected] McNaughton5704-144 St., Edmondton, AB, T6H 4H4s780/432-5492 • [email protected] PigottBox 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 • [email protected] SidorykBox 374, Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4403/875-4418 • [email protected]

MEXICOIvan AguirreLa InmaculadaApdo. Postal 304Hermosillo, Sonora 83000tel/fax: [email protected]

Elco Blanco-Madrid Cristobal de Olid #307 Chihuahua Chih., 3124052-614-415-3497 • fax: [email protected] Casas-PerezCalle Amarguva No. 61Lomas Herradura Huixquilucan, Mexico City CP 5278552-55-5291-393452-55-54020090 (c)

Jose Ramon “Moncho” VillarAv. Las Americas #1178Fracc. Cumbres, Saltillo, Coahuila 2527052-844-415-1542 • [email protected]

NAMIBIA

Gero Diekmann P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 9000264-62-518091 • [email protected] Nott P.O. Box 11977, Windhoek264-61-228506 • [email protected] Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi, [email protected]

NEW ZEALAND

John King P.O. Box 3440, Richmond, Nelson64-3-338-5506 • [email protected]

SOUTH AFRICA

Sheldon BarnesP.O. Box 300, Kimberly [email protected] BlomP.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 628027-49-891-0163 • [email protected] Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 290027-36-421-1747 • [email protected] Neave P.O. Box 69, Mtubatuba 393527-084-2452/62 • [email protected] Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 [email protected] ToddP.O. Box 21, Hoedspruit 138027-82-335-3901 (cell) • [email protected]

SPAINAspen EdgeApartado de Correos 19, 18420 Lanjaron,sGranada(0034)[email protected]

ZAMBIAMutizwa MukutePELUM Zambia OfficeP.O. Box 36524, Lusaka260-1-261119/261124/261118/[email protected]

ZIMBABWE

Liberty Mabhena Spring CabinetP.O. Box 853, Harare263-4-210021/2 • 263-4-210577/8fax: 263-4-210273Elias NcubeP. Bag 5950, Victoria [email protected]

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

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