Plenary Presentation *The Healing Effects of Holistic High Density Grazing on Land, Livestock & People's Lives* Greg Judy, Green Pastures Farm Rucker, Missouri
We had grass-fed steaks last night for dinner. I found it wasn't as rare as I wanted. Apparently, it cooks faster than feedlot beef. It was still absolutely delicious, and my husband, who has cancer and doesn't usually eat very much, ate his entire steak. I was so grateful! As Greg says, healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy animals, healthy people!
An observations: yes, ruminants, but hogs/ pigs, poultry, and other monogastrics like horses, donkeys and mules, are also great tools for regenerative agriculture. It's all in how we MANAGE the livestock on the land. Thank you EarthFarmer for posting this!
Good vid on a good idea. Portable shade &/or managed grazing in wooded or brush areas works in many areas. And less gadgetry to keep up with - but a great idea for those in warm climates with only open fields. We're planting trees in our open fields, aiming for 25% shade cover (when the trees are mature) as the sun moves. For improved hydrologic & mineral cycles, additional crops, and feed/fodder. Rotated with different species of livestock. A constantly evolving experiment. And fun!
Trees grow better when not overcrowded. When livestock thin out the trees and allow grasses and forbs and other understory plants to grow, the trees thrive, and the ground is covered and protected. Livestock will also prune the lower branches, increasing the timber value of the trees, which also grow faster without being overcrowded.With increased diversity of plant species, wildlife diversity also increases. In biological systems, diversity = stability and resilience to stresses, such as drought, temperature fluctuations, etc.The secret, as Judy says, is to mimic nature and keep the cattle, and/or other livestock, moving.
THANKS TO THE GUY WHO FIXED THE MIC PLACEMENT!!! Every volunteer audio guy needs to see this video. That is where the mic goes, not under the chin. Removing the name tag would have helped too.
As part of your plant-sustained local 'water cycle' (plants pull water from underground, evaporate, cause / add to moisture in the atmosphere and rain (etc) your bigger trees you mention here also do one other great thing: the regulate temperature. a This you will notice when you walk into a stretch of wood on a hot sunny day. On midday, when you would die from the heat in the streets, for people who've never been out in nature this will be a complete revelation.. The temperature will easily be 10°C / 25°F cooler there where you're amidst the trees! A techno-agricultural University calculated ONE big tree easily has a much cooling power as ten average sized airconditioning units.. and that's a lot! I wondered only the other day, looking at another of Greg's videos wherein he is setting up some fetching through a patch of woods why he would do that. But now I start thinking maybe those cows on hot days might like that cool as much as humans would? I know Greg discusses here opening up some of the woods creating fertile soil (and with that growth of vegetation) by making use of the cows themselves. I am aware Greg leaves part of his trees in place for several other reasons: your birds (swallows that keep the flies away) like them, and nature is just not complete without them.. a land that is only flat grass fields with no trees is just boring! Yes who doesn't love trees.. I am extremely happy to have discovered a guy like Greg, who truly loves all aspects of nature and understands such a lot of it exists!
In case you have not found the info yet - That's Dr. Pat (Patricia) Richardson of the University of Texas. Found some good links to articles & info on the web, but did not find the video Grey Judy mentioned.
Beef cattle? That's sad. Beef cattle should not look like dairy cattle. Dairy cattle, of course, are naturally lean. A bit like the way a greyhound looks next to a Labrador retriever. :)
An interesting thought... I’m imagining using this science, here in this video and the possibility that the wholly mammoth was brought back. Can you imagine what they would do for the soil if brought back?
While I think the awesome results using any herbivore is all we need, there is a project on wooly mammoths going on in Russia or somewhere near it, I heard on a Richard Perkins Vlog ( on UA-cam) . I think their name was in the vlog title too. His farm name is "Ridgedale permaculture" ( can't recall right now, which name his channel is titled ).
I was born in California, we never used to have all these fires. Years ago, the ranchers were allowed to rent BLM lands for grazing, that was when the cows were allowed to graze the underbrush of the forests. They took care of much of the fuels. Today, they never do that anymore, and as you see, we are having devastating fires.
What do you do with a piece of ground that’s been over grazed for so many years that it grows almost literally nothing all summer and it’s to full of stones to cultivate or sew a new crop? Spread seed on top in spring and hope for the best?
I'm pretty sure Greg would say to feed hay bales - roll them out, this will put carbon down to cover the ground and feed the soil life. start moving the livestock everyday and ensure adequate rest for the land. rough guide - graze once over winter/slow growth period and once or twice during fast growth. only graze down about 40% of grass cover trample the rest.
I'm NOT only not an expert, I've never done any of this myself ( dairy farmed m/l conventionally w my family til my 30s), BUT seeing Allan Savory's experience on his super desertified land in africa, how he did't seed anything, just mobbed the cows in, fed em some hay until more began growing, the plants, incl. a type of tree thought to be extinct, started growing on their own, convinced me that seeding isn't necessary. I sill c a lot of people doing it, in the regen ag groups I'm in on FB, but I would at least do a comparison experiment & not seed some. Was the TED talk w Allan, or another of his vids, on UA-cam, btw.
Start in your own 'backyard'! :) Look around for fallow land sitting idle near where you live, track down the owners, and see if you can work out an arrangement. If you live deep in suburbia, you could try grazing rabbits in drag pens moved often to fresh grass. If you live in the concrete jungle... escape! (Smile!) Seriously, if you really want to make it happen, you can. Wishing you every success!
Jefferdaughter If money was no problem, where would you start a ranch? I already know where to get my bulls from PCC Need to find a cow source that are of the correct size to GRAZE only. NO GRAINS.
gljay Close to a population center w/disposable income is ideal for direct marketing. It adds another whole layer of complexity to your business, but it would be a shame to lose the distinctiveness of grass fed & finished beef to the commodity market. Check out grassfed buyers, too - they may have suggestions. Otherwise, I would look for land in an area w/good year-round rainfall, low taxes, and a decent price. But Holistic Management pricinples can be applied anywhere (to anything, not just grazing or agriculture). Hard to go wrong with cattle from PCC!!! The Rotakawa Devons are pretty meaty, moderate frames, small boned, and grass efficient, too. Lowline Angus, or any old type beef cattle work great in this kind of system.
gljay Every area has advantages - and disadvantages. Our job is to find those pros and cons and to manage appropriately. Southern areas have the advantages of being able to grow forage most of the way, or all the way, through the winter. If forages stop growing during the coldest months, any snow will be light enough to allow grazing in winter on grasses allowed to grow long in the fall, known as 'stockpiling' forages (decades ago, we called it 'standing hay'). One of the challenges of managing livestock on pasture in the South is the hot and often dry summers. In additon to building soil through trampling litter, and leaving the pastures taller after grazing to help the pasture through the hot dry months, having trees dotted across the pastures helps significantly - trees pump moisture up from deeper in the soil than grass can, drip moisture onto the soil from the dew, provide shade for livestock, and bring minerals up from subsoils and make them available to grasses and other forages via annual leafdrop. In hotter areas, having shade trees spaced so about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pasture is shaded at all times also helps protect the pasture from excessive evaporation and will not reduce the amount of forage produced. Some trees will also fix nitrogen, provide additional forage, and can also provide a timber crop at intervals - all depening on what type of trees you plant or allow to grow. Cattle adapted for the heat are important, too. PCC cattle will work! Red hides stay cooler than black hides in the sun. Co-grazing with sheep and/or goats at the rate of one ewe or doe per two cows or steers will add little or no additional pressure on the pasture, as these species tend to favor different forages. Cattle & sheep or goats do not readily trade parasites, either! (But the same parasites affect both sheep & goats.) Kit Pharo is available for consulting, as is Greg Judy, and Ian Mitchel-Innes, who taught Judy much of what he knows. Let us know how you make out! So many folks out there would like to be farming/ranching, especially if they knew how to do it working with nature - and able to make enough to support a family. Sharing your progress online will help get the message out there about your product and your still nearly unique approach - and will help you to market your beef (and/or lamb, birding opportunities, or agri-tourism, etc)! Best to you! o
There's that, but esp. with a small herd, & depending on how the farm buildings/yard is situated, just graze your way around the perimeter, coming back for milking time. While they have a lot to learn from this type of grazing management ( holistic/mob etc ) , rotational grazing has been around in WI dairy for a decades. My dad didn't go that route, so I'm not personally experienced, but had read articles/interviews in Farm magazines. Popular enough in probably all dairy states/countries, u should be able to find some near u and get info. Most used dedicated lanes, often mulched w woodchips/bark, to keep mud down, to use to walk back to barn. When my Dad was little, his job was to fetch the cows at milking time from a summer pasture down the road, coming up from down a steep hill too, it was about 1/4 mile at least. " Cows can walk " :) . Of course, for those new to cows, avoid running on full udders or you'll have mastitis issues !
And remember, as the years go by, you'll get SO So much more grass/forage production off the same amount of land ( within walking distance of your barn). Joel Salatin gives some numbers on how high his farm has gotten to be, and is compared to neighbor's .
My sister lives in Beloit. Those farmers only plant what insurance will cover. They have ruined the beautiful wheat country. Get rid of the huge stock yards. Those cows are not happy or healthy. Love the sunflower state.
@panamacmillan - Small dairies have been using high density (aka 'mob') grazing successfully for years. (Thousands, actually, but we'll stick to the re-discoverers of the technique.) Check out TheStockmanGrassFarmerDOT com and AcresUSA. Great websites & great magazines. You will find forums & books that can help you. Grass-based dairies usually use lanes to bring cattle to & from the parlor, with cows going to a fresh paddock after each milking. Good luck!
Ian Mitchell-Innes? He is a certified Holitstic Management instructor from South Africa. Holistic Management is a management approach most often associated with management intensive planned grazing - beyond 'rotational' grazing - but the Holistic Management approach can be applied to any human endeavor. HM was developed by Allan Savory. Google or search UA-cam for more info on HM and Allan Savory.
Please understand........ Greg Judy sees everything as " dead" relating to soils. Unless they are doing things his way. If been farming for 50 yrs. The soils I farm are not dead ! My pastures are alive an well ! Hay ground ( alfalfa ) is well and thriving ! I cutting 6 crops of high quality hay every year...starting May 15th . Im not going broke as Greg Judy would suggest ! And no........my soils are not dead when I move from corn / soybeans to pasture / alfalfa. Greg Judy thinks anytime you use a herbicide or chemical your going to go to hell ! So wrong ! I pity the poor land owners hes renting from. Because...... hes not controlling the invasive issues. Hes only bush hogging them.......only for them to raise their head at a later date. I as a Land lord would be sad to know Im only housing invasives? Greg Judy is not controlling weeds......hes only prolonging the inevitable ! Weeds !!! Invasives !
The earliest greg judy video.
Let's take care of the earth because it takes care of us! Thank you Greg!
I've watched this video several times. There's always something more to glean.
I'm impressed, it was long but informative and really helpful! Thabk you!
WOW Clear Plain Truth, Love Gods Green Earth and it will Love you back.
We had grass-fed steaks last night for dinner. I found it wasn't as rare as I wanted. Apparently, it cooks faster than feedlot beef. It was still absolutely delicious, and my husband, who has cancer and doesn't usually eat very much, ate his entire steak. I was so grateful! As Greg says, healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy animals, healthy people!
this video changed my life and future generation. someone give him a noble price
An observations: yes, ruminants, but hogs/ pigs, poultry, and other monogastrics like horses, donkeys and mules, are also great tools for regenerative agriculture. It's all in how we MANAGE the livestock on the land. Thank you EarthFarmer for posting this!
Good vid on a good idea. Portable shade &/or managed grazing in wooded or brush areas works in many areas. And less gadgetry to keep up with - but a great idea for those in warm climates with only open fields. We're planting trees in our open fields, aiming for 25% shade cover (when the trees are mature) as the sun moves. For improved hydrologic & mineral cycles, additional crops, and feed/fodder. Rotated with different species of livestock. A constantly evolving experiment. And fun!
Trees grow better when not overcrowded. When livestock thin out the trees and allow grasses and forbs and other understory plants to grow, the trees thrive, and the ground is covered and protected. Livestock will also prune the lower branches, increasing the timber value of the trees, which also grow faster without being overcrowded.With increased diversity of plant species, wildlife diversity also increases. In biological systems, diversity = stability and resilience to stresses, such as drought, temperature fluctuations, etc.The secret, as Judy says, is to mimic nature and keep the cattle, and/or other livestock, moving.
THANKS TO THE GUY WHO FIXED THE MIC PLACEMENT!!! Every volunteer audio guy needs to see this video. That is where the mic goes, not under the chin. Removing the name tag would have helped too.
Thank you, very insightful!
As part of your plant-sustained local 'water cycle' (plants pull water from underground, evaporate, cause / add to moisture in the atmosphere and rain (etc) your bigger trees you mention here also do one other great thing: the regulate temperature. a This you will notice when you walk into a stretch of wood on a hot sunny day. On midday, when you would die from the heat in the streets, for people who've never been out in nature this will be a complete revelation.. The temperature will easily be 10°C / 25°F cooler there where you're amidst the trees! A techno-agricultural University calculated ONE big tree easily has a much cooling power as ten average sized airconditioning units.. and that's a lot! I wondered only the other day, looking at another of Greg's videos wherein he is setting up some fetching through a patch of woods why he would do that. But now I start thinking maybe those cows on hot days might like that cool as much as humans would? I know Greg discusses here opening up some of the woods creating fertile soil (and with that growth of vegetation) by making use of the cows themselves. I am aware Greg leaves part of his trees in place for several other reasons: your birds (swallows that keep the flies away) like them, and nature is just not complete without them.. a land that is only flat grass fields with no trees is just boring! Yes who doesn't love trees.. I am extremely happy to have discovered a guy like Greg, who truly loves all aspects of nature and understands such a lot of it exists!
One of the leaders in Mob Grazing
Thanks. Great stuff and very well presented. Cheers!
Thanks for providing the video.
Thank you for the education
thanks for the info.. great things to learn..
In case you have not found the info yet - That's Dr. Pat (Patricia) Richardson of the University of Texas. Found some good links to articles & info on the web, but did not find the video Grey Judy mentioned.
Now that I know, it drives me to sadness when I see setstocked cattle and destroyed pasture
Those are some GREAT looking cattle. They look like horses. Where I live every cow has pointy hips and skinny necks.
Beef cattle? That's sad. Beef cattle should not look like dairy cattle. Dairy cattle, of course, are naturally lean. A bit like the way a greyhound looks next to a Labrador retriever. :)
An interesting thought... I’m imagining using this science, here in this video and the possibility that the wholly mammoth was brought back. Can you imagine what they would do for the soil if brought back?
While I think the awesome results using any herbivore is all we need, there is a project on wooly mammoths going on in Russia or somewhere near it, I heard on a Richard Perkins Vlog ( on UA-cam) . I think their name was in the vlog title too. His farm name is "Ridgedale permaculture" ( can't recall right now, which name his channel is titled ).
great talk!
I was born in California, we never used to have all these fires. Years ago, the ranchers were allowed to rent BLM lands for grazing, that was when the cows were allowed to graze the underbrush of the forests. They took care of much of the fuels. Today, they never do that anymore, and as you see, we are having devastating fires.
Colby Natral farming great book.We in the UK use Jo Scamell.
I am starting on 10 - 15 acres next week?
Pigs keep cool in nature by wallowing. If you can make ponds you can cross 'moving pvc' off your to-do list! :D
Healing the soil ? Its never bee sick ! The soils have always been heathy ! And will remain so !
I did some research and found out that they're called Batt-Latch
Little bitty root system ? When tile lines are totally plug with grass roots ?
Really interesting , even for a couch potato like me.
What do you do with a piece of ground that’s been over grazed for so many years that it grows almost literally nothing all summer and it’s to full of stones to cultivate or sew a new crop? Spread seed on top in spring and hope for the best?
I'm pretty sure Greg would say to feed hay bales - roll them out, this will put carbon down to cover the ground and feed the soil life. start moving the livestock everyday and ensure adequate rest for the land. rough guide - graze once over winter/slow growth period and once or twice during fast growth. only graze down about 40% of grass cover trample the rest.
You can also run hair sheep with the cows and they will eat the rougher stuff.
I'm NOT only not an expert, I've never done any of this myself ( dairy farmed m/l conventionally w my family til my 30s), BUT seeing Allan Savory's experience on his super desertified land in africa, how he did't seed anything, just mobbed the cows in, fed em some hay until more began growing, the plants, incl. a type of tree thought to be extinct, started growing on their own, convinced me that seeding isn't necessary. I sill c a lot of people doing it, in the regen ag groups I'm in on FB, but I would at least do a comparison experiment & not seed some. Was the TED talk w Allan, or another of his vids, on UA-cam, btw.
slow water drainage..add tree hedgerow. In Ethiopia they dig small impressions in the ground these collect more water
we farm just outside charlottesville.
Now to figure out where to start a ranch and learn this
Start in your own 'backyard'! :) Look around for fallow land sitting idle near where you live, track down the owners, and see if you can work out an arrangement. If you live deep in suburbia, you could try grazing rabbits in drag pens moved often to fresh grass. If you live in the concrete jungle... escape! (Smile!) Seriously, if you really want to make it happen, you can. Wishing you every success!
Jefferdaughter If money was no problem, where would you start a ranch? I already know where to get my bulls from PCC Need to find a cow source that are of the correct size to GRAZE only. NO GRAINS.
gljay Close to a population center w/disposable income is ideal for direct marketing. It adds another whole layer of complexity to your business, but it would be a shame to lose the distinctiveness of grass fed & finished beef to the commodity market. Check out grassfed buyers, too - they may have suggestions. Otherwise, I would look for land in an area w/good year-round rainfall, low taxes, and a decent price. But Holistic Management pricinples can be applied anywhere (to anything, not just grazing or agriculture).
Hard to go wrong with cattle from PCC!!! The Rotakawa Devons are pretty meaty, moderate frames, small boned, and grass efficient, too. Lowline Angus, or any old type beef cattle work great in this kind of system.
Jefferdaughter Looking at the TX hill country west of Austin, AR, MO or the south east somewhere.
gljay Every area has advantages - and disadvantages. Our job is to find those pros and cons and to manage appropriately. Southern areas have the advantages of being able to grow forage most of the way, or all the way, through the winter. If forages stop growing during the coldest months, any snow will be light enough to allow grazing in winter on grasses allowed to grow long in the fall, known as 'stockpiling' forages (decades ago, we called it 'standing hay').
One of the challenges of managing livestock on pasture in the South is the hot and often dry summers. In additon to building soil through trampling litter, and leaving the pastures taller after grazing to help the pasture through the hot dry months, having trees dotted across the pastures helps significantly - trees pump moisture up from deeper in the soil than grass can, drip moisture onto the soil from the dew, provide shade for livestock, and bring minerals up from subsoils and make them available to grasses and other forages via annual leafdrop. In hotter areas, having shade trees spaced so about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pasture is shaded at all times also helps protect the pasture from excessive evaporation and will not reduce the amount of forage produced. Some trees will also fix nitrogen, provide additional forage, and can also provide a timber crop at intervals - all depening on what type of trees you plant or allow to grow.
Cattle adapted for the heat are important, too. PCC cattle will work! Red hides stay cooler than black hides in the sun.
Co-grazing with sheep and/or goats at the rate of one ewe or doe per two cows or steers will add little or no additional pressure on the pasture, as these species tend to favor different forages. Cattle & sheep or goats do not readily trade parasites, either! (But the same parasites affect both sheep & goats.)
Kit Pharo is available for consulting, as is Greg Judy, and Ian Mitchel-Innes, who taught Judy much of what he knows. Let us know how you make out! So many folks out there would like to be farming/ranching, especially if they knew how to do it working with nature - and able to make enough to support a family. Sharing your progress online will help get the message out there about your product and your still nearly unique approach - and will help you to market your beef (and/or
lamb, birding opportunities, or agri-tourism, etc)! Best to you!
o
How can a consumer get grass finished beef? Where's the clearinghouse to connect buyers and ranchers? It ain't Wally World
Hi..Great info here.
How would one mob graze with a small dairy operation...perhaps using a portable type milking parlor?
Thanks for any and all help.
There's that, but esp. with a small herd, & depending on how the farm buildings/yard is situated, just graze your way around the perimeter, coming back for milking time. While they have a lot to learn from this type of grazing management ( holistic/mob etc ) , rotational grazing has been around in WI dairy for a decades. My dad didn't go that route, so I'm not personally experienced, but had read articles/interviews in Farm magazines. Popular enough in probably all dairy states/countries, u should be able to find some near u and get info. Most used dedicated lanes, often mulched w woodchips/bark, to keep mud down, to use to walk back to barn. When my Dad was little, his job was to fetch the cows at milking time from a summer pasture down the road, coming up from down a steep hill too, it was about 1/4 mile at least. " Cows can walk " :) . Of course, for those new to cows, avoid running on full udders or you'll have mastitis issues !
And remember, as the years go by, you'll get SO So much more grass/forage production off the same amount of land ( within walking distance of your barn). Joel Salatin gives some numbers on how high his farm has gotten to be, and is compared to neighbor's .
Everyone's gotta pick on Kansas ;-(
My sister lives in Beloit. Those farmers only plant what insurance will cover. They have ruined the beautiful wheat country. Get rid of the huge stock yards. Those cows are not happy or healthy. Love the sunflower state.
@panamacmillan - Small dairies have been using high density (aka 'mob') grazing successfully for years. (Thousands, actually, but we'll stick to the re-discoverers of the technique.) Check out TheStockmanGrassFarmerDOT com and AcresUSA. Great websites & great magazines. You will find forums & books that can help you. Grass-based dairies usually use lanes to bring cattle to & from the parlor, with cows going to a fresh paddock after each milking. Good luck!
i wish he had more time to talk and who was the guy he was talking about?
Ian Mitchell-Innes? He is a certified Holitstic Management instructor from South Africa. Holistic Management is a management approach most often associated with management intensive planned grazing - beyond 'rotational' grazing - but the Holistic Management approach can be applied to any human endeavor. HM was developed by Allan Savory. Google or search UA-cam for more info on HM and Allan Savory.
Please understand........ Greg Judy sees everything as " dead" relating to soils. Unless they are doing things his way.
If been farming for 50 yrs. The soils I farm are not dead ! My pastures are alive an well ! Hay ground ( alfalfa ) is well and thriving ! I cutting 6 crops of high quality hay every year...starting May 15th . Im not going broke as Greg Judy would suggest ! And no........my soils are not dead when I move from corn / soybeans to pasture / alfalfa. Greg Judy thinks anytime you use a herbicide or chemical your going to go to hell ! So wrong ! I pity the poor land owners hes renting from. Because...... hes not controlling the invasive issues. Hes only bush hogging them.......only for them to raise their head at a later date. I as a Land lord would be sad to know Im only housing invasives?
Greg Judy is not controlling weeds......hes only prolonging the inevitable ! Weeds !!! Invasives !
Technically you don't really own the land, you only rent it from the State. If you doubt that don't pay your taxes next year.
Jud-iciously
A. Ma. Zing.
You lock the road: less pollution! that's a good idea... they should do that anywhere for protest... cows give life; cars kill!