MY 20 YEAR JOURNEY OF HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT - Gene Goven

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1 MY 20 YEAR JOURNEY OF HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT - Gene Goven

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10 THE EVOLUTION OF THE PEOPLE SIDE OF HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT- Allan Savory Holistic Management began as a serious quest to reverse land degradation and desertification, primarily using animal impact as a tool. As the movement grew and evolved, it became apparent that land ---and people making decisions about that land --- were more than linked they were interdependent. The way in which people made decisions about their land directly impacted the outcome. Hence, it became critical to the success of Holistic Management that new decision making tools be developed, enabling people to come together, form a holisticgoal, test their decisions toward it, then monitor implementation to ensure best outcomes.

11 INVOLVING THE NEXT GENERATION - Dennis Wobeser From first being introduced to HRM in 1978 and then becoming fully involved in 1987, the Holistic Management approach has been extremely important in how our families worked together and stayed involved in an ever changing role in agriculture in Western Canada. HM led us to move from the 1st to the 2nd generation and now includes plans for the 3rd generation. My presentation will talk about the members of our family and how Holistic Management has helped us to stay as a strong family farm unit.

12 PRINCIPLES OF GRAZING - Leonard Piggott I am assuming I am preaching to the converted. That is everyone here has taken the Holistic Management course. That is you know the difference between over grazing and severe grazing. You know that you cannot over graze a range you can only over graze a plant. That you know about recovery periods, grazing periods, stock density and use a grazing plan. Most important of all you have a HOLISTIC GOAL. The most important point I want to make deals with recovery periods. Starting with an ideal situation of all your land being in native grass what recovery period should you being thinking about? Well I went back and asked the cows ancestors the buffalo, what recovery period they used. They told me it was at least a year. They came and dunged and fouled up an area so bad that it took a year to recover. They told me that they had been doing this for thousands and thousands of years. I get concerned when I hear people talking about recovery periods of seventy and ninety days. I don t think you will get to your goal and more importantly, sustain a civilization doing it that way. That is if your goal is the similar to mine in that we want a diverse landscape. When can you vary from a recovery period of one year? If you have a monoculture or a biculture (two species), triculture (three species) or even a quadra culture (four species) or if you are just getting started practicing Holistic Management and are in a tough financial situation. These are probably reasons to consider a shorter recovery period. If you are starting out with a monoculture of quack or twitch grass or a biculture of alfalfa brome etc. and in a tough financial way then you might deviate from year long recovery period. Consider grazing these fields twice a year, once lightly in April, May or June and then again later in the year. This will keep most of the plants in a vegetative state providing sufficient nutrition later in the fall and winter. As a caution quack grass will dry up in the fall and may be low in protein and calcium. I have lost cows to milk fever ( lack of calcium) on dried out quack grass. Therefore you may need to supplement with calcium and protein. If you are in a tough financial situation you may need to graze twice a year to maintain your carrying capacity. This can be the case if you are just beginning to apply the tool of Grazing and are dealing with plants that have been overgrazed or on land that was recently under cultivation and production of forage (annual forbs and or grasses) is still low. In these instances it is difficult to maintain carrying capacity grazing it only once in a year. You need to move to yearlong recovery periods as soon as possible and this is why. Imagine grazing your stand consisting of alfalfa brome or any of the tri or quadra cultures for several years, litter is improving, bare soil is decreasing and the soil is ready for succession to improve when your monitoring shows a few young native plants such as Western Wheat grass beginning to appear. If you continue to graze that twice a year you endanger the establishment of this species and other native species. Succession will slow and perhaps stop. I look at my native grass and there is no way I can justify grazing it twice; it wouldn t tolerate it. So grazing twice a year initially succession will improve-as this is better than continuous or yearlong grazing but it will only proceed so far. The stand will not reach a climax of diverse species. Here is where you need to be tough mentally because grazing two or three times a year with a month or two recovery periods

13 is such a big improvement over continuous grazing that there is the tendency to think that this is going good. The fact is though is that you can do much better. Adding to this argument of yearlong recovery periods is the aspect of cool and warm season species. Grazing warm and cool season species in the same stand twice a year or more is going to harm one or the other of these species. They are just not going to be ready to graze at the same time. For instance if you are grazing the first time in early June the warm season grasses will not likely be ready. This will hinder succession and your ability to get to the Landscape part of your goal. Skim grazing fits into this discussion. People have won awards for improving their range using this method of grazing. Skim grazing as I understand it means grazing lightly in April, May and June then grazing the same stands later in the year. I am skeptical of this method because it fits under short recovery periods or grazing twice a year. Grazing once in the summer and once in the winter is considered as twice a year grazing. This is because cool season plants start growth after a grazing in during the summer. This growth if left untouched stays green all winter long, does not die back and in the spring continues growing from these green shoots. These plants should not be grazed again until they have fully recovered which would be sometime during the following summer. Grazing them again in the dormant winter months would constitute over grazing Production may improve under twice a year grazing but you need to be cautious because you may have your production hat on. I struggle with this same dilemma myself and have to force myself to step back. For instance if production improves and you can graze more livestock or you get more tons per acre is this good? Suppose you lose some of the warm season grasses grazing in this manner is this good? This brings out the trust one must put in the Holistic Management decision making framework. If any tool hinders succession then you have to be cautious as you may be going away from your holistic goal perhaps not in the short term but in the longer term. The difficult thing for us humans is the time between cause and effect in nature usually is a long time. That is we do not see the error or the correctness of our ways for years sometimes. If it is correct decisions then it will be fine but if incorrect then it may be to late. It reminds me of using the tool of Rest in a brittle environment. For a period of time production improves and one thinks this is good but after a number of years succession begins to deteriorate and after fifty years it is in serious trouble. So watch this production hat phenomenon. I sometimes think we have recovery periods less than one year because we are concerned we will not get the desired production. I believe this a myth that needs to be removed. I think production will improve and be satisfactory to give you sufficient profit that is in balance with healthy ecosystem processes. Recovery periods need to be recorded on a grazing plan and to remind us that this cannot be done in our heads. I like to plan the grazing backwards as it forces you to think more seriously about the recovery period needed. For example ask the question what field or paddock do I want to be in next January, mark it in and then think about the recovery period and any other factors needed to produce that carrying capacity. Go to December and do the same thing, then to November and so forth. Of course what I am

14 suggesting today if you are planning to graze a paddock in January it should not be grazed again in an ideal situation until next January. It may sound strange to some of you discussing grazing in January but I believe we need to extend the grazing and perhaps to graze all winter. I believe we can do this with tall native range that cows will go down and get. If they cannot then perhaps we have the wrong animal out there. Another subject related to grazing is grazing periods. The quick answer is short as possible but is very dependent on your Holistic Goal. Some people have grazing periods of one or two hours and some are one month or longer. The critical point here is litter. With short grazing periods the thing you have to watch is that you are leaving sufficient litter. Litter is the Biological Capital that will provide you with income in years to come so look after it. There is a tendency to leave the stock too long resulting in the stock eating what would be litter. I think the rule or thing to think about with short grazing periods is to move the stock before they get hungry. Now there may be other reasons why you would want the stock to eat the litter, for example a noxious weed in the stand. I have a noxious weed in some of my newly seeded stands that my grain farming neighbors are concerned about. These noxious weeds are land that was previously cultivated land and recently seeded to grass. To lessen their concerns I grazed and trampled these areas pretty hard and ate the litter. Other reasons to extend the grazing period may be a drought situation or tight financial problems. I hope these notes will help you to get to your Holistic goal quickly and profitably. I am assuming I am preaching to the converted. That is everyone here has taken the Holistic Management course. That is you know the difference between over grazing and severe grazing. You know that you cannot over graze a range you can only over graze a plant. That you know about recovery periods, grazing periods, stock density and use a grazing plan. Most important of all you have a HOLISTIC GOAL. The most important point I want to make deals with recovery periods. Starting with an ideal situation of all your land being in native grass what recovery period should you being thinking about? Well I went back and asked the cows ancestors the buffalo, what recovery period they used. They told me it was at least a year. They came and dunged and fouled up an area so bad that it took a year to recover. They told me that they had been doing this for thousands and thousands of years. I get concerned when I hear people talking about recovery periods of seventy and ninety days. I don t think you will get to your goal and more importantly, sustain a civilization doing it that way. That is if your goal is the similar to mine in that we want a diverse landscape. When can you vary from a recovery period of one year? If you have a monoculture or a biculture (two species), triculture (three species) or even a quadra culture ( four species) or if you are just getting started practicing Holistic Management and are in a tough financial situation. These are probably reasons to consider a shorter recovery period. If you are starting out with a monoculture of quack or twitch grass or a biculture of alfalfa brome etc. and in a tough financial way then you might deviate from year long recovery period. Consider grazing these fields twice a year, once lightly in April, May or June and then again later in the year. This will keep most of the plants in a vegetative state providing sufficient nutrition later in the fall and winter. As a caution quack grass will dry up in the fall and may be low in protein and calcium. I have lost cows to milk fever ( lack of calcium) on dried out quack grass. Therefore you may need to supplement with calcium and protein.

15 If you are in a tough financial situation you may need to graze twice a year to maintain your carrying capacity. This can be the case if you are just beginning to apply the tool of Grazing and are dealing with plants that have been overgrazed or on land that was recently under cultivation and production of forage (annual forbs and or grasses) is still low. In these instances it is difficult to maintain carrying capacity grazing it only once in a year. You need to move to yearlong recovery periods as soon as possible and this is why. Imagine grazing your stand consisting of alfalfa brome or any of the tri or quadra cultures for several years, litter is improving, bare soil is decreasing and the soil is ready for succession to improve when your monitoring shows a few young native plants such as Western Wheat grass beginning to appear. If you continue to graze that twice a year you endanger the establishment of this species and other native species. Succession will slow and perhaps stop. I look at my native grass and there is no way I can justify grazing it twice; it wouldn t tolerate it. So grazing twice a year initially succession will improve-as this is better than continuous or yearlong grazing but it will only proceed so far. The stand will not reach a climax of diverse species. Here is where you need to be tough mentally because grazing two or three times a year with a month or two recovery periods is such a big improvement over continous grazing that there is the tendency to think that this is going good. The fact is though is that you can do much better. Adding to this argument of yearlong recovery periods is the aspect of cool and warm season species. Grazing warm and cool season species in the same stand twice a year or more is going to harm one or the other of these species. They are just not going to be ready to graze at the same time. For instance if you are grazing the first time in early June the warm season grasses will not likely be ready. This will hinder succession and your ability to get to the Landscape part of your goal. Skim grazing fits into this discussion. People have won awards for improving their range using this method of grazing. Skim grazing as I understand it means grazing lightly in April, May and June then grazing the same stands later in the year. I am skeptical of this method because it fits under short recovery periods or grazing twice a year. Grazing once in the summer and once in the winter is considered as twice a year grazing. This is because cool season plants start growth after a grazing in during the summer. This growth if left untouched stays green all winter long, does not die back and in the spring continues growing from these green shoots. These plants should not be grazed again until they have fully recovered which would be sometime during the following summer. Grazing them again in the dormant winter months would constitute over grazing Production may improve under twice a year grazing but you need to be cautious because you may have your production hat on. I struggle with this same dilemma myself and have to force myself to step back. For instance if production improves and you can graze more livestock or you get more tons per acre is this good? Suppose you lose some of the warm season grasses grazing in this manner is this good? This brings out the trust one must put in the Holistic Management decision making framework. If any tool hinders succession then you have to be cautious as you may be going away from your holistic goal perhaps not in the short term but in the longer term. The difficult thing for us humans is the time between cause and effect in nature usually is a long time. That

16 is we do not see the error or the correctness of our ways for years sometimes. If it is correct decisions then it will be fine but if incorrect then it may be to late. It reminds me of using the tool of Rest in a brittle environment. For a period of time production improves and one thinks this is good but after a number of years succession begins to deteriorate and after fifty years it is in serious trouble. So watch this production hat phenomenon. I sometimes think we have recovery periods less than one year because we are concerned we will not get the desired production. I believe this a myth that needs to be removed. I think production will improve and be satisfactory to give you sufficient profit that is in balance with healthy ecosystem processes. Recovery periods need to be recorded on a grazing plan and to remind us that this cannot be done in our heads. I like to plan the grazing backwards as it forces you to think more seriously about the recovery period needed. For example ask the question what field or paddock do I want to be in next January, mark it in and then think about the recovery period and any other factors needed to produce that carrying capacity. Go to December and do the same thing, then to November and so forth. Of course what I am suggesting today if you are planning to graze a paddock in January it should not be grazed again in an ideal situation until next January. It may sound strange to some of you discussing grazing in January but I believe we need to extend the grazing and perhaps to graze all winter. I believe we can do this with tall native range that cows will go down and get. If they cannot then perhaps we have the wrong animal out there. Another subject related to grazing is grazing periods. The quick answer is short as possible but is very dependent on your Holistic Goal. Some people have grazing periods of one or two hours and some are one month or longer. The critical point here is litter. With short grazing periods the thing you have to watch is that you are leaving sufficient litter. Litter is the Biological Capital that will provide you with income in years to come so look after it. There is a tendency to leave the stock too long resulting in the stock eating what would be litter. I think the rule or thing to think about with short grazing periods is to move the stock before they get hungry. Now there may be other reasons why you would want the stock to eat the litter, for example a noxious weed in the stand. I have a noxious weed in some of my newly seeded stands that my grain farming neighbors are concerned about. These noxious weeds are land that was previously cultivated land and recently seeded to grass. To lessen their concerns I grazed and trampled these areas pretty hard and ate the litter. Other reasons to extend the grazing period may be a drought situation or tight financial problems. I hope these notes will help you to get to your Holistic goal quickly and profitably.

17 PRODUCER PANEL - GRAZING Perry and Karen Koss

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