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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Using Goats to Open an Idaho Forest
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Pablo Escobar’s Hippos Fill a Hole Left Since Ice Age Extinctions
According to the article below—and the study on which it is based—humans have caused the extinction of many large animals over the past 100,000 years. This has changed ecosystems greatly, generally for the worse. […]
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How Beef Eaters in Cities Are Draining Rivers in the American West
Paraphrasing the authors below, “The biggest user of river water by far, is not lawns and showers, but agriculture. New research shows that across the Western United States, a third of all consumed water goes […]
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“As described below, a private task force is developing a crop insurance product that would reward farmers for adopting regenerative conservation practices. If the task force succeeds and the product is approved by the Federal Crop […]
The Resistance to Holistic Wildlife Management
Across the West as well as in Texas, agencies, universities, governmental and conservation organizations resist holistic wildlife and agricultural management practices. Most Western public grazing rules make holistic grazing very difficult if not impossible In this […]
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According to the article below: “Overall, sage grouse numbers have dwindled from an estimated 16 million before European settlement of the West to no more than 500,000 today in 11 western states. The project that […]
Deer Culling Does Not Improve Deer: Common Sense Habitat Management Does
In a landmark 13-year study based on 15,000 animal trappings, the Comanche (Farias) Ranch near Eagle Pass, Texas, has proven that culling of so-called “inferior” bucks, including spikes, does not increase antler size in wild […]
Did the IPCC Say We Must Quit Eating Meat?
The climate activists are widely reporting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared that we all have to be vegetarians. But is that true? As quoted below, IPCC’s 107 climate-change gurus recently […]
Stewardship with Vision – Episode 2: Malpai Borderlands Group
In the high desert of southern Arizona and New Mexico, almost a million acres of important habitats and nearly 30 at-risk species are being protected and conserved…by a coalition of ranchers who manage from “The […]
New Numbers Show Conservation Soil-Tilling Method as Profitable as Conventional Ways
Conservation soil tillage is a proven farming practice that would work great around Pitchstone Waters in Idaho’s Teton Valley. As the authors describe, conservation tillage involves less work and produces more profit for farmers. In […]
Rotational Cattle Grazing to Restore Degraded Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands and Promote Watershed Health
Describing the Mimms Ranch in Marfa, Texas, the authors write, “The Foundation aims for practical conservation, with the belief that restored grasslands improve overall watershed health, resources for native wildlife, and continued support of ranching.”
Rancher Focuses On Keeping His Land Healthy
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Stewardship with Vision – Episode 1: Jeff Laszlo
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Is Grass-Fed Beef Really Better For The Planet? Here’s The Science
Quoting the authors of the article below, “The grass-fed movement is based on a large idea, one known as regenerative agriculture or holistic management. It holds that grazing ruminant populations are key to a healthy […]
Management Comparison – Allan Savory
One minute of your attention could save civilization as we know it.