Results of Managing Holistically
Holistic Management® Gets Results in the Northern Rockies: increasing biodiversity and profitability.
Forty-three ranch managers in the Northern Rockies (Montana,Wyoming,
Idaho) who
had received training and had been practicing Holistic Management® for two
or more years, agreed to participate in our study through telephone interviews
and written surveys.
Without exception, these managers all believe the land is evolving toward
the holistic goal established for the ranch. Over half (56%) of them indicate
they annually meet with team members and review their holistic goals.
Sixty percent of the managers indicate they are aware of their employees’
own personal goals and the areas they are seeking to improve. Ninety-eight
percent have encouraged and paid for employees to attend special training.
The survey indicates that all of these ranchers are motivated, and most
of them are highly motivated to continue Holistic Management® because
the goals they have set are becoming reality. Among the significant
results:
Holistic managers hold planning meetings.
Eighty-five percent hold regular team meetings for planning that deals with grazing, wildlife, riparian areas, land monitoring, and financial planning:
Type of Planning |
Frequency of Occurrence |
Annual Grazing Strategy |
85% |
Implemented wildlife management practices |
65% |
Increased care for riparian areas |
83% |
Implemented formal documented |
60% |
Annual documented financial plan and budget |
78% |
Eighty-five percent of the managers create and document a yearly grazing plan, and 87% have changed their grazing management strategy.
The majority (86%) has increased stocking rate, 97% have increased stock density, 77% have grouped livestock together, and 95% have obtained positive results from trampling. These ranchers are increasing stock density and stocking rate by adding cross fencing and/or increasing herd size. Some have upped stocking rates 30% to 50%.
Livestock performance improves along with the health and vigor of the land:
Observation |
Decreased |
No Change |
Increased |
Conception rates |
10% |
49% |
41% |
Sire:Dam ratio |
44% |
36% |
2% |
Use of insecticides |
55% |
42% |
3% |
Fly problems |
51% |
9% |
10% |
Medication use |
51% |
46% |
3% |
Use of hormones |
39% |
58% |
3% |
Production per animal |
7% |
24% |
69% |
Production per acre |
0% |
7% |
93% |
Time spent with animals |
0% |
10% |
90% |
Increasingly, respondents see wildlife as an asset, and see positive changes in number, diversity, and habitat:
Indicator |
Decreased |
No Change |
Increased |
Number of wildlife |
|
2% |
72% |
Diversity of wildlife |
|
58% |
42 % |
Diversity of birds |
|
43% |
57% |
Breeding sites |
|
68% |
32% |
Nesting sites |
5% |
32% |
63% |
Number of predators |
|
25% |
75% |
Sixty percent of the respondents considered wildlife an asset. Nearly three-quarters (72%) have experienced an increase in numbers of wildlife, including predators.
"I am now timing our grazing around nesting, fawning, and calving.
Predators are a concern, but all predators are not automatically bad.
We do need coyote control ...but not elimination."
Land monitoring shows that Holistic Management® works
not just for land managers, but for the land itself:
Indicator |
Process |
Decreased |
No Change |
Increased |
New seedling success |
succession |
3% |
12% |
85% |
Plant diversity |
succession |
|
15% |
85% |
Litter cover on the soil |
mineral cycle |
|
13% |
87% |
Water infiltration into soil |
water cycle |
|
18% |
82% |
Soil erosion |
water cycle |
68% |
15% |
17% |
Amount of soil crusting |
water cycle |
69% |
21% |
10% |
Spacing between plants |
energy flow |
37% |
23% |
40% |
Increased biodiversity goes hand
in hand
with an increased stocking rate – biodiversity, agriculture, and
Holistic Management® in
West Virginia.
The Fichtner family moved to the 79-acre (32-hectare) Windy Slope Farm in Leon, West Virginia in 1981. At that time the farm was overrun with multiflora rose, and the soils were severely eroded. At one time this land had been fire-maintained savanna, and more recently it had been plowed for maize and then put into sod that supported a few horses and cattle.
In 1990 the Fichtners began Holistic Management®™ planned grazing using a diversity of livestock (dairy goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys, hogs, chickens, geese, ducks, and turkeys) to improve farm management.
The hogs were used to break up and compost manure in the barn. The ducks controlled flies. The Scottish Highlander cattle were rugged browsers and cleared brush efficiently. The donkeys kept coyotes at bay. The cattle broke the parasite cycle by grazing after the sheep.
In 1990 they had eight pasture plant species and needed five acres (two hectares) to carry one animal unit. By 1995, they had 32 pasture plant species (including more perennials, a higher successional plant) and needed only one acre (0.4 hectare) to carry one animal unit.
Plant biodiversity, stocking rate, and net profit data from Windy Slope
Farm – dramatic increases in biodiversity in only five years.
|
Number of pasture plant species |
Stocking rate / year |
Net Profit |
1990 |
8 |
1 : 2 |
–$40 |
1995 |
32 |
1 : 0.4 |
$200 |
In southern Oklahoma, exposed soils
with various degrees of erosion were covered with diverse, healthy plants
using herd impact instead of machinery and chemicals – and white
tailed deer increased 100 percent.
The D. Joyce Coffey Resource Management and Demonstration Ranch was a privately owned 2,600-acre (1,053-hectare) ranch in Marietta, Oklahoma until 1981–a typical southern Oklahoma ranch with cropping in open land and continuous grazing in rough and wooded areas.
The degraded rangeland had a mixture of 60 percent low successional species (usually weedy annuals with low forage quality), 12 percent mid successional species, and 5 percent high successional species (highly desirable forage quality for wildlife and livestock).
In 1987 the management team of crop, forage, soil, livestock, and wildlife specialists, headed by Charles Griffiths, began practicing Holistic Management® on the ranch. At that time the stocking rate had decreased from 300 to 67 animal units per year.
From 1987 to 1991 the stocking rate increased by 30 percent from 110 animal units to 140 at the same time that biodiversity increased. Exposed soils with various degrees of erosion were covered with healthy plants, and white tailed deer increased 100 percent.
By 1994, high-successional species had risen to 25 percent and low-successional species were down to 25 percent. The stocking rate had now increased 100 percent from 1987 rising from the original 110 to 200 animal units.
Because of improved ground cover, there was less soil erosion.
Ponds, which once had high turbidity (cloudiness due to silt), now had
low turbidity, and two springs, which had dried up, now began
running again. Moreover, the nutrient cycle had also improved
so that manure now decomposed in 5 days, where it had taken 2
to 3 years before Holistic Management®.
Change
in biodiversity and profit indicators on the Coffey Ranch |
|||
Year |
1987 |
1991 |
1994 |
Low successional |
60% |
32% |
25% |
Mid successional |
12% |
43% |
27% |
High successional |
5% |
5% |
25% |
Stocking rate/yr |
110 |
140 |
200 |
New Mexico: increased biodiversity
and profitability, even on arid land, insure that land managers will stick
with sustainable Holistic practices.
The 11,808-acre (4800-ha) Rafter F Ranch located in San Jon, New Mexico usually receives 16 inches (40.6 cm) of rain a year, 70 percent of it in the summer. Heavily eroded, sandy loam soils and mesquite tree encroachment were characteristic of this land.
Roger Bowe first learned about Holistic Management® in 1983 and began using some of the principles to halt the ranch’s falling productivity. By 1991 biological monitoring showed marked improvement on the land. From 1984 to 1991 the diversity of perennial grass species tripled and ground cover increased. Moreover, the stocking rate tripled and Bowe cut the cost of production in half.
Changes
in biodiversity and profit indicators on the Rafter Ranch |
||
Year |
1984 |
1991 |
Number of perennial |
6 |
18 |
Percentage of bare soil |
46% |
30% |
Distance between plants (in/cm) |
13 / 325 |
0.7 / 1.75 |
Year |
1983 |
1991 |
Stocking rate |
1:35 acres (1:7 ha) |
1:16 acres (1:6.7 ha) |
Pounds of beef produced per acre |
12 (66kg/ha) |
31 (171kg/ha) |
Cost/lb of beef |
$0.62 ($1.36/kg) |
$0.30 ($0.66/kg) |
Bowe also noted that two new plant species, indiangrass and Canadian wild rye, appeared on his land, although they usually only occur at higher elevations. He also saw increased evidence of earthworms and wildlife.
People who at one point were conventional agricultural producers can learn not only to appreciate the need for improved biodiversity and ecological processes, but can actually create those results while increasing their profits and quality of life through the practice of Holistic Management®.