After two full days of inspiring presentations and invigorating discussions at the Regenerate Conference, 60 conference attendees gathered for HMI's post conference workshop on Regenerative Grazing. Participants came from locations ranging from New York to California, Canada to Texas, and as far away as Australia. They were led by a diverse team of experienced HMI Certified Educators to delve into their personal challenges with applying holistic planned grazing on the properties they manage (totaling about 83,000 acres). Starting off, Jonathan and Kaylyn Cobb of Green Fields Farm shared their experiences with Holistic Management in Central Texas. They have been able to return to the multi-generational farm by converting from the industrial row cropping model to perennial pastures and planned grazing. They shared the exciting soil health regeneration they are seeing on their land, and the promise of refining their enterprise mix to meet financial, ecological, and quality of life goals. In the afternoon, Louis Martin of Round River Resource Management shared his holistic goal, setting up the infrastructure to apply planned mob grazing, and the excellent results he's see due to his management on the Brett Gray Ranch. These examples provided the background for more specific discussions about participants' individual situations. Numerous sessions of small group work led by the Certified Educators allowed for in-depth discussions. For beginners, there were small group sessions to address getting started in Holistic Management. The small group sessions were punctuated by panel discussions involving the entire group. Results: Overall, participants reported: 100% satisfaction with event 100% satisfaction with the facilitator(s) 83% intent to change management practices A summary of participant comments: What participants liked best:The panel was top notchHearing from real practitioners makes all the differenceAccess to people with lots of experience and tools; access to so many experienced CEsDiversity of topics and farmsOpen dialogue among expertsGreat instructors, energy, passion, dedication, and shared personGetting y personal ranch questions answered - it's much more helpful than theoretical infoAbility to discuss with experts the specific issues on our ranchParticipants' greatest learning experience: How to get startedThink radical!How to build infrastructureLearning about potentials above and beyond our financial means (land trusts)How to define what I want out of my operationHow to plan backwards to reach my ultimate goalWater infrastructure ideas for cold areasNeed to pay more attention to planning, my holistic goalRecovery periods, testing soil biologyHow participants intend to change management practices: Develop big future goals to work towardsManaging lambing ewes differentlyMove to single herd and move faster; better grazing planningResponsible irrigation infrastructure before planning grazingHigher density and movement of animals; longer recovery timesMonitor plants I want/need to help decide management practicesBetter forms of communication and better ways to keep track of progressMonitoring grass; doubling some of my recovery periods
Many thanks to the Thornburg Foundation for sponsoring this workshop.
A special thanks to the Cobbs of Green Fields Farm and Louis Martin of Round River Resource Management for providing the case studies for the day. Much gratitude to our esteemed panel of Certified Educators for sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience: Ben Bartlett, Cindy Dvergsten, Kirk Gadzia, Guy Glosson, Wayne Knight, Roland Kroos, and Brian Luce. Also a note of thanks to Panorama Organic Grass-fed Meats and Kathy Harris for donating food items for the lunch.