One of these ranches, located in Leo, is managed by Robby Tuggle and Dixon Water Foundation Chairman Clint Josey. Josey has been practicing holistic management of the ranch since 1980.
"Time-control grazing is the best," Josey said. "We have 48 pens, and on the other ranch, Pittman, we have 40. We move the cattle so that we have a rest period of 60 to 80 days during the fast-growing period. When it's not growing so fast, we will double that."
The difference in the approach of time-control grazing and holistic time-control grazing is the management and planning practices.
"We have a grazing plan," Tuggle said. "You have to plan for the recovery period you want. If you want 120 day recovery period and you have 38 paddocks, it sounds simple, you just divide 38 into 120, but that's not the way it works. Because there is a difference in those paddocks, you stay longer in the better ones and a shorter time in the lesser ones, to allow them to catch up with the better ones.
"If you stay the same time in each paddock, that is just short duration grazing," Tuggle said. "You say, 'I'm gonna stay 90 days, we have 30 paddocks, I'm gonna stay three days in each paddock,' that's not holistic management -- that is just short-term grazing."
To manage holistically a rancher has to go into each paddock and evaluate them according to quality.
"If you have one over here that you think is a 10, and one over here that you think is a five, you can stay half as long in the five and get the same results without your cattle being stressed, without your grass being stressed," Tuggle explained.
Contrary to the advice they were given, they chose to run both sheep and cattle on their land together to optimize the land's use. To achieve their desired results, they choose Red Angus cattle and Dorper sheep. Through this practice, they market meat from both their sheep and cattle as certified organic.
"We like most species grazing, the sheep of course eat mostly forbs and that complements the cattle very nicely," Josey said. "I think you should run both of them, not just one or the other. The ranch, as part of the foundation, we are operating for a demonstration of good land management. We run the sheep and the cattle together -- all the people told us that we couldn't do that."
Tuggle and Josey agree that the sheep are an asset to the ranch and not the nuisance that they were told to expect.
"The sheep are there to complement the cattle, they eat what the cattle don't eat," Tuggle said. "We can't run more sheep, because they will turn to grass if they eat all the forbs and the browse out. So we try to maintain a number of sheep just to utilize what the cattle don't utilize."
Aside from choosing how to manage the ranch, they have also had to manage their marketing practices.
"The marketing part of it, we are certified organic and everything we raise on these ranches goes through Whole Foods and is marketed Whole Foods," Tuggle said.
"That has really been a big benefit to us, it has enabled us to get a premium for our product.
"By doing this, your labor is more intense," Tuggle said. "It takes more people and more time to manage this way. The sheep are a little more labor-intense than the cattle, so you have to figure some way to run more and get more to justify that extra cost."
Even the water situation is more extreme than it would be on a normal ranch. Since cattle and sheep are moved from the 25 acre paddocks on a regular basis, they must always have a water source.
"You have to have a lot more water and a lot more fence. All those things take maintenance. All those things take initial investment to put in, so you have to up your numbers just to justify doing it," Tuggle explained. "But once you get it rolling, and get it going, it is pretty much self-contained."
To maintain a holistic and organic environment on their ranch the cattle are all grassfed with only 10 to 12 pounds of alfalfa hay for a protein supplement every other day. They receive no antibiotics, wormers, or grains.
"It is pretty much a closed herd, we don't bring in anything, not even bulls," Tuggle said. "We try and raise our own bulls. There is no 'buy, sell or trade' as far as that goes. They are all raised right here on the place."
According to Josey, they believe strongly in their practices not only because people are looking for healthier ways to eat, but because of the state of the economy.
"You know grain is going to be to expensive someday, you know China is going to be a net importer of food here next year and ethanol and all those things," Josey said. "I think feedlots are going to be phased out. That means the right genetics for the cattle too. Sheep, we have hair sheep, they are all right like they are. At weaning time, they are fat enough to kill.
"We are grass-finished as well as organic, and we feel real strongly that that is going to be really important," Josey said.
Through the holistic management of their ranch and their organic certification, they rely on pasture hygiene to keep the cattle and sheep healthy.
"The only way you can control parasites in your animals other than wormers is through hygiene of your pastures," Tuggle said. "You have to have a clean area for your cattle to live. So you are moving every other day, or a lot of times every day, to a clean piece of ground -- well, that breaks that worm cycle to where those animals can't be re-infested with that larva by the time they come back around (in) 90 to 120 days. I mean, if it doesn't find a host in two or three days, it's dead. So you break that worm cycle.
"You will still get a few animals that are wormy," Tuggle said. "The only defense you have against those is to cull them. So you really don't need to get into this unless you are willing to cull animals very severely. We tell people we never worm our sheep and people look at you like you're crazy. They will tell you that you need to worm sheep every 30 days or so. But we have sold sheep because they are wormy."
As Dixon Water Foundation continues to demonstrate holistic rangeland management practices, they want to influence others to follow in their foot steps and move away from traditional agricultural practices and see the benefits holistic management can provide. To find out more about Dixon Water Foundation and their management plan. visit www.dixonwater.org .
