Managing Holistically

The big picture contains many small pieces.

Holistic means understanding that in nature, all the parts of anything and everything are interconnected, and understandable only in terms of the whole.

Management means the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.

At Pitchstone Waters Ranch, we look at the big picture and manage the resources in our care holistically.

In the 1960s, a Rhodesian soldier, parliamentarian, rancher, wildlife biologist, and range scientist named Allan Savory added his observations and experience to previously proven science, combining these into a simple yet radical understanding of nature. Savory's insight was that all of nature, not just predator and prey, is intertwined. Because any change in plants, animals, water, soil or sunlight reverberates throughout the entire ecosystem, decisions must be made with an awareness of all consequences, both intended and unintended.

Proceeding from this viewpoint, early in his work in Africa Savory concluded that the spread of deserts, the loss of wildlife, and the resulting human impoverishment were related to the reduced size and number of large grazing animal herds, and, even more importantly, the changed behavior of the few remaining herds. Applying these insights as a rancher and wildlife biologist, Savory determined that livestock could be substituted for natural herds to provide important benefits to plants, animals and soil life.

Well-managed grazing allows us to improve the four basic parts of an ecosystem: the water cycle, the mineral cycle (including reducing carbon in the atmosphere by storing it back in the soil), the flow of the sun’s energy which powers all life, and the relationship between all living things of whatever size or type. By managing holistically, we can use livestock production to achieve economic and environmental benefits to people, domestic and wild animals, and their habitat. These include cleaner water, cleaner air and wildfire suppression.

Our grazing methods, which we have adapted to our own operation and landscape, are based on four key principles identified by Savory:

  • Nature functions as a holistic community in which people, animals, plants and the land are mutually dependent. If you remove or change the behavior of any keystone species like the large grazing herds, you have an unexpected and wide-ranging negative impact on other parts of the environment.
  • It is crucial that any agricultural planning system must be flexible enough to adapt to nature’s complexity because all environments are different and have constantly changing local conditions.
  • Animal husbandry using domestic species can be used as a substitute for lost keystone species. Thus when managed properly in a way that mimics nature, agriculture can heal the land and even benefit wildlife, while at the same time benefiting people.
  • Time and timing is the most important factor when planning land use. Not only is it crucial to understand how long to use the land for agriculture and how long to rest, it is equally important to understand exactly when and where the land is ready for that use and rest.

By managing holistically for more than two decades at Circle Ranch in far West Texas, we’ve been able to increase water infiltration and moisture retention in the soil; increase organic matter in the soil; use the sun’s energy instead of chemical inputs to increase plant productivity; and increase ground cover and heal erosion.

We are convinced that continuing to use these principles as we holistically manage our land, forest, livestock, wildlife and fishery will yield equally positive results in the grasslands and forests of the Rocky Mountain West.

Latest articles

Read more about holistic land management practices

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What is Holistic Management?

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The Function of Time in Environmental Recovery

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2020 Tony Coote AM Memorial lecture – with Allan Savory

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Small Pasture Management for Cattle

This video is about Utah Cattleman Darrell Yardley, who attended an NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service) pasture management school and instituted a rotational grazing system on 23 acres. As he explains, this has produced more […]

What is Regenerative Grazing and Why Does It Work So Well?

“Domestic animals can either hurt the land, or heal the land.  

Wildlife-Friendly Cattle Fences in an Idaho Forest

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Guardians of the Karoo Rangelands

This article discusses the origins of high density, short duration grazing, and continuing work to implement it across Africa and the world.   Quoting the authors, “As Allan Savory, John Acocks and others would prove […]

Bison Bunch Up to Protect Calves

Over millions of years, rangelands have evolved under grazing by nomadic herds that travel in mass, bunched up to protect both young and adults from predators. And, plants have evolved to need this. This observation […]

New Mexico: US Officials Authorize Helicopter With Shooters to Kill Feral Cows in the Gila Wilderness

In New Mexico as across the US, ‘conservationists’ are leading the War on Wildlife.  

The Predator-Prey Connection

“Everyone understands that predators control animal numbers. But of equal importance is predators’ effect on animal behavior, and the consequential benefit to habitat – and wildlife – that result from how animals behave when in […]

Using Goats to Open an Idaho Forest

At Pitchstone Waters near Yellowstone Park in Idaho, we use goats to clear brush, weeds, and stimulate grasses on forest floors. Sixth in a series.   Goats Grazing Idaho Forests from Christopher Gill on Vimeo.   […]

Soil-Carbon Cowboys

A new documentary series in 10 parts (paddocks) directed by Peter Byck …please watch soil-carbon cowboys first.      NOTE: this post was originally published to this site on June 22, 2020.

Climate and Big Beef

“San Antonio entrepreneur and rancher Lew Moorman calls BS on fake beef.  

Beavers in Arizona Deserts

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Why This Cattle Farmer Moves His Cows Every Day

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Join us!

Follow along as we manage the resources within our fence lines, but think beyond the box.