Sept 6 |
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Vol 1 |
In this issue!
Bear Creek Ranch Field Day!
We have put together quite the awesome group of speakers, the land is fabulous and lunch promises to be great. The focus of this event is the importance of the water cycle and how crucial watershed management is to all. In addition we will have the chance to see for ourselves how “Save the Farm” concepts are implemented on this ranch. Registration fee is $25 for HRM members and $35 for non-members. Register at http://hrm-texas.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=23 or via phone (512-847-3822) with your credit card, or by sending your check, made out to HRM of TX, to Peggy Cole, HRM of TX, 5 Limestone Trail, Wimberley, TX 78676. Registration deadline is September 15. Bear Creek Ranch is a 2200 acre organic, grass-fed cattle ranch near Weatherford and Aledo, TX . So close to Fort Worth you can see the skyline yet rich and lush with tall grasses and healthy cattle. Now owned by the Dixon Water Foundation and managed holistically, the ranch is hosting this field day to help guests understand why Holistic Management works, to introduce several wonderful networking groups to support your informed management and to illustrate an idea that can help keep land in agriculture by dedicating a small portion to green development.
Clint Josey and Robbie Tuggle will explain the management design of Bear Creek Ranch and take us on a hayride tour of the ranch. To learn more about Clint and Robbie, see the practitioner profile on the HRM website: http://www.hrm-texas.org/Practioners/clint_josey.htm Robbie Tuggle manages three North Texas Ranches, including this Bear Creek Ranch, which is certified organic and currently producing grass fed beef. He uses Holistic Management to carefully plan when and where livestock are grazed and how they are moved. Robbie will explain the grazing plan and how you can do this type of planning on your own land. Walt Davis will talk on multi-species grazing and the Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance. Learn more about Walt at http://www.ranchingschoolofhardknocks.com/stories.htm The Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance is a group of farmers and ranchers concerned about land management issues providing several educational opportunities for land managers every year to improve their knowledge and skill of land management.
“Healthy land is the only permanently profitable land.” – Aldo Leopold
http://www.quiviracoalition.org/ Water and Culture is the topic of the talk by Dr. Irene Klaver and Dr. Richard Teague . Dr. Klaver is a professor of philosophy at University of North Texas. She works toward combining environmental philosophy and the environmental sciences in part to demonstrate the complexity, diversity and interconnectedness of all aspects of our lives. Klaver has written and spoken widely on the cultural place of water on the planet. (http://www.phil.unt.edu/talks/lara.htm) Dr. Teague is a Range Ecologist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at Vernon. His studies on a variety of range issues have gained wide recognition. (http://vernon.tamu.edu/IRM/rangecol/rteague.htm)
Richard Sechrist will describe our Save the Farm program, the concept and the vision. In this case, 150 acres of the 2,200 acre ranch is being developed into a green community so that the rest of the ranch can afford to produce organic grass-fed beef for the green community and other surrounding communities. A representative from Lake/Flato Architects will describe plans for the green housing development and visitor center/ headquarters planned for Bear Creek Ranch. The Dixon Water Foundation chose Lake/Flato to develop this Green Community, based on their reputation and their vision, which includes in part: “our work grows from the land; enhancing, connecting, and at times repairing the natural landscape. Our buildings create a heightened awareness of the land and a strong connection to the environment. The goal is to stitch together fragments, to mend, connect, and make a more vibrant and livable community. Environmental issues have been central to our approach to design. Successful sustainable design must rely on a pragmatic and integrated design process which ultimately reconnects people to the environment.” Learn more at http://www.lakeflato.com/home.asp.
For the full story pass your mouse over the event on our calendar page http://www.hrm-texas.org/WebCalendar/month.php?date=20060901&user=__public__ Sign up online, via e-mail at info@hrm-texas.org, or by phone 512-847-3822 Bear Creek Ranch area hotels Best choices: Holiday
Inn Express, Weatherford Hampton Inn (next door to Holiday Inn Express) @ Interstate 20 and Exit 408, Weatherford. Have 56 rooms, single and doubles (single room rate $99/nite) National toll free reservation #800-426-7866 LaQuinta - Weatherford, National Toll
free # 1/800-531-5900
Comfort
Inn & Suites, Weatherford Closer to ranch but no recommendation: Ramada - Willow Park , 1/817-441-5443, 25 room hotel, starting @ $49.95/night Motel 6 in Benbrook, 1/817-249-8885, 63 room hotel, starting @ $57.99/single/per night Econo Lodge , 2207 Old Dennis Rd off exit 406 and Interstate 20, rooms start @ $59/nite Low
Stress Stockmanship One-day Intensive Workshop
Sign up online at http://hrm-texas.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=23 or by calling 512-847-3822 or e-mail info@hrm-texas.org. One of the best money-saving techniques in the realm of ranching is the Bud Williams method of handling livestock so that neither handler nor handled are stressed by the process. Guy Glosson has taught Bud’s techniques all over the country and is good at it. Here he helps a student learn specific patterns of behavior that relax the livestock and cause them to move in the desired direction. We told you all about Guy and Bud in the last issue of News & Notes, but if you missed it you might want to take a look at this excellent article written by Courtney White of the Quivira Coalition: http://www.headwatersnews.org/whiteGlosson.html And, in Bud Williams’s own words http://stockmanship.com/stockmanship.htm. Bettering
the Drought!
The water supply on planet Earth is constant, the amount never varies. However, only 3% of the water on Earth is fresh water and much of it is trapped in polar ice. As the population of our planet continues to grow water issues become greater and greater. In central Texas the average rainfall is about 30 inches. In years with rainfall below average the farm crops, and city landscapes suffer if not irrigated. When the water use is restricted citizens become concerned. If the drought lingers, they panic and try to beg, borrow or steal water from others and search for new supplies. More wells are drilled and creeks and rivers are dammed to make lakes. Trapping water in lakes is not the best conservation method. The evaporation rate in central Texas averages 55 inches per year. The best place to store water is underground in our aquifers and Texas is blessed with a few good large ones and hundreds of small sand strata aquifers. However, how to get the water into the aquifers and sand strata is not well understood by the average farmer or rancher and is a mystery to most city folks. Let’s look at some old but vital research by the USDA. One of their studies shows that a block of soil 3 ft long 1 ft wide and 6 inches deep will weigh about 100 lbs. If it contains 4 to 5% organic matter, it can absorb a 4 to 6 inch rain in an hour and will hold about 165 to 195 lbs of water. If not used by plants the water slowly and continually goes down and can be trapped in an aquifer. The same size block of soil that has 1 % or less humus or organic matter will absorb only about 1 inch of rain or 35 to 40 lbs of water and the rest runs off to cause flooding and erosion with very little reaching an aquifer. Soil rich in humus and organic matter is a critical part of the solution to water shortage problems. Working on our own farm and helping neighbors bale and haul hay during the big drought of the 50s I noticed there was never an even hay crop in the same neighborhood although the rain fall was the same. Bottom land and new land always made more bales per acre than old eroded fields. Barn yard manure was the fertilizer back then and where it was used the crops were best. I didn’t know then, but I have since discovered why. Information for the homeowner: I started making compost in the mid 60s and by the mid 70s I was making and selling compost in a big way. Where ever compost was used the plants and lawns were always healthier and greener as we expected. What we didn’t expect was the lawns, trees and shrubs needed a lot less irrigation. Applying ½ inch of compost to a lawn in the fall of the year would always cut the watering needs from 30 - 50% the following year. With some people reporting irrigation was cut as much as 70 - 80%. Naturally, the least irrigation needs were always in areas with the deeper soils. Information for the farmer: I went with Dr. Joe Bradford of the USDA to visit some of the no-till farmers in non-irrigated areas of South Texas. All of those farmers were making a crop and taking money to the bank while their neighbors on either side were having crop failure. The success was contributed to the previous crop litter being left on the soil surface as mulch to trap rain water, stop erosion and slowed evaporation. And, with the no-till program the earth worms and the soil micro organism systems were not disrupted by the plough and the humus in the soil wasn’t exposed to the air that would cause it to dissipate as CO 2. Together, this caused the soil organic content on these farms to rise 1/10 of 1% each year. The mulch and the extra soil humus allowed a much greater amount of rain to soak into the soil. Home owners who use mulch around their trees and shrubs and compost their lawns along with the no-till farmers are doing their share to store and conserve water. However, there is more ranch land than city yards and farm lands combined. Information for the Rancher: The ranchers who follow the Holistic Management cattle grazing methods, taught by Allen Savory can do the most good for water quality, water supply, soil biology and the carbon cycle to clean the air. I have been on many of these ranches to see first hand the abundance of healthy forage grasses growing through a mulch of old plant matter from previous seasons. The covered ground trapped the rain to fill the aquifers and cause springs to flow in the riparian areas. The cattle were in excellent condition, I also noticed a good supply of dung beetles digging in the cow patties and forming the manure into balls then rolling them some distance before burying them deep into the ground. This beetle activity allowed more water to soak in; soil to be aerated and fertilized and it eliminated any parasites that would normally hatch from the manure. There were very few flies bothering the animals. The neighboring ranches being operated by the conventional methods had a lower stocking rate, poor grass quality and bare soil with of evidence of erosion and the cattle were bothered by more flies. While visiting one of the Holistic Managed Ranches I got permission to take soil samples from it and the neighboring ranch. I took five samples six paces apart on each side of the fence. On the Holistic side the soil probe went in easily and all the samples pulled were a dark chocolate color showing evidence of plenty humus. On the conventional side of the fence I had a hard time getting the probe down a full six inches and the samples pulled were a light brown color indicating very little humus. Lessons learned: Since my early days of hay baling I have had an interest in water quantity. I have even worked for two different well drillers. But, owning my own farm and making and using compost and mulches is where I learned the most. The only answer to our water problems is for the ranchers, farmers and home owners to study and understand the design of Nature and operate within those conservation laws. For more information on the carbon cycle and the laws of Nature see the first article on my web site. http://malcolmbeck.com/ Note : When the settlers first came to this country the numbers of grazing animals were tremendous. The numbers of the American buffalo alone was greater than all the farm animals, feed lots included, than we have today. The buffalo grazed in close herds. This forced them to bite from all the grass species, not just preferred grass. All the while they were dropping a lot of urine and manure and were always on a move. They never ate the grass down short. The prairie floor was always covered with a healthy layer of decaying grass and animal matter. And the forage grass remained abundant and healthy. And the streams flowed clear and strong. That is, until the white man came.
Jim
and Judy Reed Announce Money Matter! Come join us for more in-depth study of holistic financial planning! The "Money Matters" special interest group convenes at the 2007 HRM of Texas Annual Meeting. Plans are now underway for HRM of Texas' next annual meeting. Don't miss it! If you have a special interest in the financial planning aspect of holistic management, make contact with us at sending email to jreed@hrm-texas.org and let us know about your interest in learning more. Don't forget that there's plenty of holistic financial planning documentation on the website of Holistic Management International . Be sure to check out HMI's Financial Planning Guide and the Financial Planning Software that's available there, too! Please be aware that HMI's Financial Planning software is in the form of spreadsheets for planning only. For your bookkeeping and additional analyses, you'll still need software such as Quicken or Quickbooks - or a sharp pencil, paper pad, eraser, and calculator. We've made Quicken our software of choice because many of its features apply not only to ranch income and expenses, but to our overall life as well. More information about this topic will be coming in future issues of HRM's NEWS & NOTES! Looking forward to hearing from you! Jim and Judy Reed Action
Alert: Texas Senate Subcommittee On Agriculture Reviewing
NAIS Issue! Contest Seeks Nominations for Integrated Pest Management!
The Southwest
Technical Resources Center for Integrated Pest Management
in Schools is accepting applications for its annual
IPM PrideTM Award competition. The competition honors
outstanding integrated pest management programs in
schools with prizes of $1,000 and $500. The contest
is open to public school districts in Texas, Oklahoma,
New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas that rely on integrated
pest management to control insects and weeds. "The recognition committee is not looking for
the biggest or most elaborate IPM effort," said Janet
Hurley, school integrated pest management coordinator
for the Southwest Technical Resources Center at Dallas. "The
award is really about a school's commitment and dedication
to the IPM concept," she said. The application deadline
is September 29, 2006. More information, including an
application, can be found at http://schoolipm.tamu.edu
New Farmers Workshop!  September 18, 2006
Brookshire, Texas
Would you like to learn how successful
farmers and ranchers are making a living by providing
food for their local communities? You can be a part of
this trend in local food production and make a living
doing it. This workshop is designed to get you up to
speed quickly on a large variety of topics, from improving
your soils to finding your market. This workshop will
show you how other experienced producers are making it
happen.
Holistic Management International Offers Courses!  HMI
(Holistic Management International) has two Intro courses
and a ranch manager training coming up. They
are as follows:+ Introduction to Holistic Management
August
25, 26, 27 (Albuquerque, NM)
October
13, 14, 15 (Albuquerque, NM)
+ Range and Ranchland Managers Training
Program
A
12 Month self-directed learning program with three week
long intensives held on three holistically managed ranches
Lander,
Wyoming - September 16 - 22, 2006
Paicines,
California - January 27 - February 2, 2007
Cimarron,
Colorado - August 4 - 10, 2007
See the
website www.holisticmanagement.org;
contact Ann Adams anna@holisticmanagement.org;
or call Donna Torrez at 505-842-5252 for more information
and to register.
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Bear
Creek Ranch Field Day (September
23 event – sign up by September 15)!
Bear Creek Ranch Field Day offers
outstanding opportunity for learning/networking in
holistic management. Be there! September 23, 2006,
8:30 am to 4:30 pm. 
Richard Sechrist , current president of
Holistic Resource Management of Texas, will explain the
concept of Holistic Resource Management, a framework for
making wise management choices by defining the future you
want and testing each decision to be sure it is taking
you in the right direction and is ecologically, economically
and socially sound. The process creates healthy land and
healthy profits for its practitioners and healthy water
and food for surrounding communities. (see 
Huge Aljoe on The Noble Foundation
and Red River Graziers —the
benefits of networking for support and education/information,
how to form a grazing club or management club and how to
access the research at the Noble Foundation. What is new
and cool there in the sustainable arena. Hugh Aljoe
is forage team manager for the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
in Ardmore, Oklahoma (
Lunch will be catered by Baker’s
Ribs , courtesy of the Dixon Foundation. Suzanne and Joe
Duncan, who started the Baker's Ribs restaurants in 1988, have
developed a special technique of hand-rubbing spices into
their meat then slow-roasting it over real hickory logs.
They have special pits to enhance the smoked flavor of
the slow-cooked meat that makes the most tender and delicious
barbecue you will ever taste, according to several Texas
publications. 
Keynote speaker on Healing Landscapes is Courtney White
of the Quivira Coalition 
The Quivira Coalition was founded
to offer "common
sense solutions to the grazing debate," principally
by broadcasting the principles of ecologically sensitive
ranch management. Courtney White will offer thoughts and
techniques for healing landscapes and will talk about the
Coalition’s mission and activities. 
After these talks the group will again go out
in the field to the site of the envisioned green community,
with a visit to the Signal Tree, a set of trees that were
tied into position many years ago by native Americans as
a signal to others that this is the location of a spring.
Howard Garrett will tell us all about the planned Arboretum,
a park-like area to be planted with a variety of Texas
trees by this organic guru, aka The Dirt Doctor. Howard
has written at least 11 books on organic gardening, Texas
bugs and Texas plants and trees. He writes a weekly column
for the Dallas Morning News and hosts a weekly radio show
all about organics. Read about Howard at 
This
is a full day of theory and hands-on practice moving
livestock into, through and out of pens. Dress for being
outside, bring water and a chair. Class starts at 9 am.
Malcolm is one of our (HRM) directors
and an honor student in the School of Nature. 
The Texas Senate Subcommittee
on Agriculture, Rural Affairs, and Coastal Resources
has been reviewing the following issue: "Study
and determine the effectiveness of federal and
state government efforts to combat intentional
and unintentional harm against livestock and agricultural
interests in order to protect public health. Study
what is being done in other states to prevent the
spread of plant and animal disease and prevent
the use of terrorism to disrupt the food supply
and economic activity associated with the production
and delivery of food and fiber."
Judith McGeary
Contest Seeks Nominations for Integrated
Pest Management Award 2006 Holistic Resource Managment of Texas, Inc.