Resilience on the Prairie Edge: The 777 Buffalo Ranch (2010)
The health and resilience of the 777 Buffalo Ranch is directly related to the abundance and diversity of its plant and animal species. On the ranch, plant diversity is increasing having many species of native cool and warm season grasses, flowering forbs, shrubs and trees.
Controlled intensive grazing: Savannah Grasslands, Africa
This chapter appears in a book about sustainable land management, the development of water buffers, and the business case in favor of investment in natural resource management.
Benefits of multi-paddock grazing management on rangelands: Limitations of experimental grazing research and knowledge gaps
This paper refutes recent research that finds no benefits for vegetation or animal production under “multi-paddock rotational grazing” in comparison to continuous grazing. It finds that these studies were small scale and fixed protocol experiments that did not adequately match the experience of successful managers.
Rangeland Management for Improved Pastoralist Livelihoods: The Borana of Southern Ethiopia
This dissertation asks what can be done to revitalise degraded rangelands, and suggests that Holistic Management can help practitioners and pastoralists re-apply indigenous knowledge and skills under modern conditions to re-establish a dynamism important to rangeland health.
Multi-paddock grazing on rangelands: Why the perceptual dichotomy between research results and rancher experience?
This paper explores how perceptions differ among rangeland managers who have effectively used multi-paddock grazing systems and the research scientists who have studied them.
A global assessment of Holistic Planned Grazing™ compared with season-long, continuous grazing: meta-analysis findings
This paper performs a “quantitative meta-analysis” of twenty-one grazing studies that are claimed to represent Holistic Planned Grazing (HPG) in a comparison with performance data from year long continuous grazing. The paper finds no significant difference in plant basal cover, plant biomass and animal performance and thus refutes claims that HPG is superior in those areas. It does not say it is inferior, only that there is no meaningful difference. There is a thorough rebuttal to this paper.
Who’s afraid of Allan Savory? Scientometric polarization on Holistic Management
This paper uses “scientometrics” to understand the structure of science on Holistic Management (HM) to better understand the controversy underlying it. Results show that those who take a positive position on Holistic Management are those doing farm-scale (rather than experimental) work in dry climates.
GHG Mitigation Potential of Different Grazing Strategies in the United States Southern Great Plains
This paper demonstrates that enteric emissions (methane) from cows are not a climate impediment when the animals are managed in a way that builds soil, thus, capturing carbon. Specifically, using a life cycle assessment that weighs emissions against sequestration, it calculates a net drawdown of approximately 2 tons of carbon per hectare per year (0.8 tons per acre per year) after a conversion from heavy continuous to multi-paddock grazing.
The Need for a New Approach to Grazing Management – Is Cell Grazing the Answer?
This paper investigates the comparative vegetative impacts of cell grazing and continuous grazing on three properties in Australia during the 1990s and finds cell grazing superior in all measured parameters, including plant basal diameters, most desirable species, contribution to dry weight, and percentage ground cover. It is reasoned that these vegetative impacts may have long-term benefits with respect to ecosystem function, including erosion control, nutrient cycling, hydrological function and the stability of animal production.
Livestock Impacts for Management of Reclaimed Land at Navajo Mine: The Decision-Making Process
The Navajo Mine Grazing Management Program (GMP), begun in 1991 to establish that livestock grazing on reclaimed land is sustainable, uses holistic management on approximately 2,083 ha of a former surface coal mine to plan for final liability release and return of the land to the Navajo Nation, and to minimize the potential for post-release liability. A Management Team comprised of local, Navajo Nation, and Federal government officials, company staff, technical advisors, and community members contributed to the formation of a holistic goal articulating shared values and a desire for sustainable grazing, with major decisions tested against the goal.