As cover cropping gains interest, producers are looking at different types of plants that might work well to produce a diverse crop for grazing.

Because nature doesn’t favour monocrops, cover crops and intercrops are more resistant to drought-like conditions, cover cropping proponent say. With a drought that persisted through 2020, 2021, and into 2022 in certain areas of Canada, resisting drought is important to producers’ livelihood. There are certain plants producers can seed that will help in drought times.

At the holistic management conference hosted by Prairie South Holistic Management near McCord, Sask. at the end of June, Avery Shepherd spoke about using sunflowers in cover crops. Shepherd is a bison producer and Imperial Seed rep based near Livelong, Sask. He says sunflowers are a good crop to plant in times of drought because they retain moisture.  

“They’ve got a deep fibrous root system,” Shepherd says. “They pull moisture up. And they associate highly with mycorrhizal fungi. They help build up that component of the soil. And through mycorrhizal fungi, they can actually share their nutrients and moisture with other plants.”

Shepherd says in 2021, his own mixed crops — mostly barley crop mixtures that had a few sunflowers — performed better than the rest of their crops. He gives credit to the sunflowers for helping the crop thrive despite the dry weather.

However, Shepherd says to best use sunflowers, they need to be grown in a blend with a variety of other plants.

“They’re best grown with a group of other species,” he says. “On their own, there wouldn’t be an advantage. But grown with other species, you can use the synergistic effect of all the plants to gain a bit of an advantage in a drought situation.”

Kevin Elmy, based at Saltcoats, Sask., is also an Imperial Seed consultant and the founder of Cover Crops Canada. He agrees with Shepherd on how to use sunflowers, and adds that he also grows sunflowers in his cover crops. 

According to Elmy, livestock will consume the sunflowers eventually.

“At first, they’re not all that excited about it,” he says. “For ourselves, I was custom grazing bison, and they didn’t touch them until November. And then about November second or third, we got a really hard frost on them. Then, by the seventh of November, (the sunflowers) were all gone. They ate all of them on three quarters.”

However, because sunflowers retain so much moisture and oil, they are usually best used for grazing and not hay.

“If you’re going to try and do dry hay, it’s a bit of a problem because they have a fairly coarse stem,” Elmy says. “So the dry down can be a bit of an issue.”

Producers also should keep an eye out for soil-borne diseases that can affect sunflowers. Otherwise, Elmy says the positives outweigh the negatives.

“The biggest concern is if you’re going to hay it, keep the rates extremely low. Otherwise, if you’re going to use it for grazing or silage, absolutely. They’re inexpensive seeds to get the seeds per square foot. And they’re something that we don’t have in our rotation. So it’s going to add plant diversity…So if we can have great blends that are going to be building soil, we’re going to be a lot friendlier on the rumen and we’re going to have better gains and we are going to have less methane, better feed, all of those things that we’re looking for in livestock production.”

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In a release, Alltech notes that the Planet of Plenty awards are meant to acknowledge “those who are furthering a world of abundance through nutritional and digital technologies, innovation and sustainable management practices in the agri-food sector.” 

Today Shipwheel Cattle Feeders is run by Andrea Stroeve-Sawa, Trevor Sawa and their family. Stroeve-Sawa is the fourth generation of the Holtman family to manage the business, which includes a yearling grazing program, 5,500 head feedlot, cropland, bees, pasture-raised chickens and compost production.  

Alltech’s release notes that management decisions at Shipwheel are “made through the lens of their holistic goal.” Shipwheel was an early adopter of holistic grazing. Stroeve-Sawa’s father, Blake Holtman “stumbled upon” Allan Savory’s grazing methods and decision-making tools at a conference in Phoenix, Arizona in 1979, the company’s website notes. Holtman then took a workshop with Savory and Stan Parsons in 1980. After the workshop, he began planning and monitoring Shipwheel’s grazing system, and converted the continuous grazing system into three grazing cells and 65 paddocks. Holtman soon noticed improvements to grass production, the land and cattle. 

As part of the transition process, Stroeve-Sawa took over the managed grazing in 2013, breaking the 10-acre paddocks into thirds so the yearlings could graze them more evenly when the forage was growing quickly, notes a 2017 Canadian Cattlemen article. The holistic grazing allows the family to stock at higher rates while still improving the soil and forage growth. Composting manure is also a good fit for the area because of high-value crops and relatively few feedlots in the area. Shipwheel is also committed to low-stress livestock handling, which Stroeve-Sawa’s husband, Trevor, has a particular passion for. 

Stroeve-Sawa is speaking during a sustainability workshop on June 22, as part of Alltech’s ONE Ideas conference. 

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“Holistic planned grazing is a planning process for dealing simply with the great complexity livestock managers face daily in integrating livestock production with crop, wildlife and forest production while working to ensure continued land regeneration, animal health and welfare, and profitability,” states a document on Savory’s website.

It was and still is a great term. But many people at the time thought that holistic resource management was a cult or we were all a bunch of “crackpot crazies.” I have learned a lot from holistic resource management over the years and am proud to say that I am still one of the long-time crackpots who preach the holistic resource management message. In our world, if you are not criticized at the local coffee shop, then you need to step up your game.

But there are other groups or individuals over the years that have also taught a similar message, myself included. I love going to ag conferences. For years, I have categorized the speakers at a conference into three groups. There are the sustainable presenters, the academic presenters and the industry presenters. All of these have their place in agriculture and I am not inferring that there are no exceptions, but in general, the pasture preachers are the sustainable presenters. We are preaching about how to build and maintain a sustainable food system while protecting our environment.

We use many different terms to describe what we preach. Have you heard of management-intensive grazing? Intensive-cell grazing? Mob grazing? Adaptive multi-paddock grazing? For years the generic term was “sustainable grazing” and now the latest term is “regenerative grazing.”

They are all great terms that generally mean the same thing. I don’t want to get into a debate over which is the best word or phrase to describe what we do, but for simplicity’s sake for this article, I will refer to all of these terms as regenerative grazing. I have heard the debate now between regenerative grazing vs. sustainable grazing many times. I agree with both sides and I would simply state that we need to regenerate the land back to a point where it can be sustainable. Fair enough?

The point I want to make is that we are all on the same team. Whichever pasture preachers you follow, whatever terminology they use, we are all aiming to get agriculture back on track, to rebuild and sustain our soils to maintain a long-term food system with minimal disruption to our environment.

So what are we preaching? Here are a few points that I think all of the pasture preachers out there would agree with.

We need more roots

We need to increase the polyculture of plants. By adding in a diversity of plants, we get a diversity of root systems. I have said it before: the plants do not grow from the soil, it is the soil that grows from the plants. The plants get over 95 per cent of their growth from water and the air. They convert these into sugar through the magic of photosynthesis which is then added to the soil through the root systems and through leftover residue. With good management, we can use plants to grow soil.

We need more bugs

As we build our soil with more root systems, we are improving the environment for our soil life to develop. We need to take care of all of our underground employees: bacteria, fungus, dung beetles, earthworms, yeasts and nematodes, just to name a few. These employees work with the plants and, in exchange for sugar, find and trade the needed nutrients. There are rarely any nutrient-deficient plants in nature. This only occurs in our current agriculture model. We need the soil life healthy and active to provide the free fertility for our plants.

We need more water

Water-holding capacity is an important aspect of agriculture that is not emphasized nearly enough. Water is our most important nutrient. If we need 50 pounds of nitrogen to grow X amount of crop, we require approximately 10,000 pounds of water in comparison. That is a pretty significant difference. We should spend more time and money on improving our water-holding capacity than on any other nutrient management. This applies even if you are in a high-rainfall area or under irrigation. Building up your soil and water-holding capacity will allow better retention and a more stable soil. Would you rather pump 12 inches of irrigation in a season or 25?

We need more solar panels

Agriculture is in the business of capturing solar energy and converting it into usable forms of energy. The energy that flows from the sun, to the plants and to the animals can become more efficient with proper management. By providing proper graze/rest periods, we can simply capture more sunlight. Catching more sunbeams should be every farmer’s goal because that is exactly what we do.

We need to recycle

Nothing can be created or destroyed — it simply changes form. Every element and nutrient we deal with in agriculture has a cycle. It just changes form throughout its cycle. As a manager, can you take those nutrients that you need to grow a crop and recycle them back into your farm? Can you recycle the carbon back into your soil? How about the nitrogen that is in your system? Can you recycle it without having to export it and then pay to import it again? Our advantage is that our livestock are 80 per cent inefficient. We just need to have the byproduct deposited in the right place.

Of course there is a lot more to the management than just these basic five principles. I am just looking big picture here today.

Our mission statement at Greener Pastures Ranching is “economic and environmental sustainability for generations.” This is pretty clear on what we think is important for our operation. To be sustainable, we need to be profitable and maintain that ability to remain profitable for many years. Making a quick buck is not our priority. If there is a production practice that makes money but degrades the environment, it will not pass the test here.

I have been a pasture preacher for many years now and I will continue to stand up on my soap box to spread the good word. We have to be regenerative. We need to heal the land. Once we have healed the land, we need to be sustainable. It is our job as farmers and ranchers to build the soil, not degrade it. That should be our number one priority if we want to be sustainable for generations.

God Bless.

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I remember the circumstances that led to my opportunity to write. I was giving a presentation at the Manitoba Grazing School. Gren Winslow the editor of Cattlemen happened to sit in on my talk. After I was done Gren approached me and asked if I would be interested in writing for Cattlemen. I was honoured and agreed immediately.

I want to publicly thank Gren for the opportunity he gave me. He asked me to focus on grazing management but in reality he gave me free rein to write about any topic. Thank you Gren.

I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my articles. Without your support my writing career would have been short lived. I enjoyed writing for you. If you enjoyed reading the articles we have had a win/win relationship. I am thankful for that. I want to offer a special thank you to those of you who took the time to contact me. I always enjoyed interacting with you. Thank you. One of the rewards of writing has been the number of fine people I have met who say, “Oh I know you. I read your articles in Cattlemen.” To these people I say thank you for reading, and thank you for introducing yourself. I enjoyed meeting and visiting with you.

Since this is my last article I will summarize what H M has helped me accomplish. I firmly believe H M can help you do similar things.

Personal Benefits

H M has helped us improve our land and grass management practices. Our management has been focused on improving the ecosystem building blocks (energy flow, water cycle, mineral cycle and succession) for 25 years now. The results have been outstanding. We have more than doubled our capability to grow grass on a set land base and we have become more resistant to both droughts and floods.

Holistic financial planning has helped us build a strong, stable and profitable business. We spend our money more wisely. We are always working in the future. We project our financial plan out for a full year or more. We plan for the profit we desire before the year begins. If things go off track as they sometimes do, we are able to replan which allows us to achieve our planned profit. All of these steps have led to increased confidence and less stress. We are in charge. We make it happen.

H M has given Bev and I the wonderful opportunity to ranch with our two sons and their families. Without H M we might have had one son at home, there is no way we would have had both. The goal setting, the communication, the grazing and the financial planning have led to this opportunity. Ranching with your children is one of the highlights of life.

H M has helped us have a better quality of life. The goal setting has helped us identify our deepest desires. We are constantly making decisions towards our goal. The result has been contentment, more peace and happiness. Life is good. We are living our dream. We are creating the future we desire.

I realize that my desires and dreams are different from yours. H M has helped us identify and live our dreams. H M can help you identify and live yours. I invite you to investigate H M. I believe you will be pleased with the results.

Happy trails.

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A. Planned grazing was developed by Allan Savory. It is a term that describes the method used in H M to develop a grazing plan. Planned grazing is designed to stop overgrazing.

Q. What is overgrazing?

A. Overgrazing is a function of time. It can occur in two ways. The first is to stay in a pasture too long at one time (graze period). The second is by returning to the pasture for a second graze before the plants have fully recovered from the first graze (recovery period). Overgrazing is not related to the number of animals.

Traditionally overgrazing has been associated with the number of animals. Traditional grazing practices have focused on the percentage of utilization of the forage. The basic model has been to take half and leave half with the result that we overgrazed some of the plants each year. As long as we kept close to the 50 per cent theory things weren’t too bad but the long-term result has been that most pastures slowly deteriorated. We see more bare ground, an ineffective water cycle and more invasive species such as aspen, buck brush, silver willow and thistle.

Pasture rejuvenation was a major expense and over time our stocking rate declined. This is not a recipe for sustainability. Unfortunately this model is still promoted and accepted by many ranchers and range ecologists.

We now know overgrazing is a function of time. This is the main difference between traditional grazing and planned grazing. In H M we recognize we don’t overgraze a pasture but we do overgraze individual plants. This begins with the most desirable species and continues on down the line.

With planned grazing pastures improve over time. We have more desirable species, less bare ground and a more effective water cycle. Pasture rejuvenation is no longer necessary. This is a model that leads to profit in the short term and sustainability in the long term.

Q. What does the term graze period mean?

A. The graze period refers to the number of days that the cattle will be in a pasture at one time. The shorter the graze period, the better. As a guideline I suggest three to five days.

Q. What does the term recovery period mean?

A. This is the number of days between grazings. It has to be long enough to allow full recovery of the plants before they are grazed a second time. In most instances a recovery period of 60 to 90 days is required. My experience has been that as you move closer to the 90 days you will be more pleased with the results. If you live in a dry environment you might use an even longer recovery period.

Q. What does full recovery mean?

A. Full recovery occurs when the root supplies of a plant are fully replenished after the plant has been grazed. Grazing a second time at this stage of growth is beneficial to both the plant and the soil. The best indicator of full recovery is that the plant is ready to flower.

Q. How many pastures do I need to do a good job of grazing?

A. I don’t know. That can only be determined on an individual basis. With a five-day graze period and a 75-day recovery period you will need 16 pastures. The formula is recovery period (75)/graze period (5) + 1 = 16.

Q. What other information do I require?

A. It is important to have a method of determining when growth starts. Before growth starts and after growth stops you can’t overgraze, as the plants are dormant.

Overgrazing occurs in the growing season. In my area the best indicator of growth starting is the day the leaves appear on the poplar trees. There will be some growth before this date but I think it is marginal and can be overlooked. Once the leaves appear we need to implement our grazing plan to prevent overgrazing. For 10 years now at our place growth has started as early as April 20 and as late as May 18. Obviously having a set date for the start of growth will not be very effective.

Q. What does the term stocking rate refer to?

A. Stocking rate is the number of animals on a given piece of land for the growing season.

Q. Is stocking rate the same as stock density?

A. No. Stock density is the number of head per acre for a short period of time. The higher the stock density the more beneficial the grazing will be. The stock density is directly related to the graze period. For example if you planned to have a five-day graze period and then changed to a one-day graze period you would increase the stock density five times. The stocking rate would be unchanged.

Q. What does the severity of the graze mean?

A. The severity of the graze refers to how much residue is left when the cattle leave a pasture. The ideal is to leave as much grass behind as possible. However, to achieve full recovery in a variety of growing conditions we need to vary the severity of the graze depending on the growing conditions we are experiencing. You cannot manage for a set amount of residue unless you are willing to change your stocking rate during the growing season. It is important to realize that overgrazing and severe grazing are different.

Q. How do I get started?

A. You have the graze period and the recovery period selected. You now plan how you will move your animals through your pastures. You would do this before the grazing season begins. Once the growing season starts you monitor the regrowth in the first pasture grazed to see if it will be necessary to increase or decrease your recovery period. You will change the severity of the graze to change the recovery period. The result will be full recovery under all growing conditions.

Good luck. You have the information you need to stop overgrazing your pastures. The result will be healthier land, increased production, increased profit and sustainability.

The post Holistic Ranching: A planned grazing Q & A appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

1. We are always planning in the future. We would complete our financial plan before the year begins.
2. We set our profit before the year begins.
3. We spend our expense money more wisely.
4. We monitor our plan monthly.

Steps to financial planning

9. SUCCESS!!!!
8. Monitor, control, replan.
7. Ending net worth.
6. Do a cash flow.
5. Plan and sort your expenses.
4. Identify the weak link.
3. Set your profit.
2. Plan your income.
1. Start with net worth.

1. Start with net worth. This is a statement of your assets and liabilities at a given point in time. This would normally be at the start of your fiscal year. It is important to know where you are so that you can track changes in your net worth. There are a few things to watch. Assets that will be sold in the current year should be listed at a realistic value. When dealing with assets that are not likely to be sold very often (land and cows) it might be wise to list these at a relatively low constant dollar value for a period of years. By doing this you will be measuring real change in your net worth not just tracking inflation. If for any reason you want to use current values for your land and cows that is fine. If you do this be aware of how much of the increase in your net worth is due to the operation of your business and how much is due to inflation.

2. Plan your income. At this point you plan a full year’s income. You require a date, a weight and a price. When planning use realistic projected prices. A general rule of thumb might be to plan your income realistically but somewhat conservatively. Write down the information you used to plan your income. Every number should be backed up on a worksheet. This will be of great value when it’s time to monitor your financial plan.

3. Set your profit. Now is the time to set your profit. We do this before the year even begins. Profit is defined as an increase in net worth. It is a return on your investment and a return to your management skills. The classic example in H M is to hold your expenses to half your projected income. This leaves half of your projected income as profit. This is a lofty goal. Don’t let this discourage you, it is meant to motivate you to be serious about achieving profit. Let me share a personal story. A producer had taken the six-day course with us. He was keen and wanted to achieve a healthy profit. He was determined to reach the 50 per cent mark. I saw him a year later. His first comment was, “I am so frustrated, only 30 per cent of my total income is profit.” My comment was, what percentage of your income would have been profit if you weren’t challenged to shoot for 50 per cent? Chances are that without the challenge his profit would have been low or non-existent.

4. Identify the weak link. At this stage you identify the weak link in each enterprise in your business. There are three basic steps to each enterprise: resource conversion (growing), product conversion (harvesting) and market conversion. At a given point in time each enterprise will be weak in only one area. This is where you need to focus your time and energy. By strengthening the weak link you strengthen your entire business. Identifying the weak link will allow you to sort your expenses.

5. Plan and sort expenses. Sort your expenses into three categories: the “W” expenses (things that fix the weak link), “I” expenses (things that are essential and a constant dollar value) and “M” expenses (all expenses that aren’t “W” or “I”). Money spent on “W” expenses will strengthen your business. Money spent here is like an investment. Try to give “W” expenses all the money they require. “I” expenses are a short list and a set amount so just accept them and don’t spend any time trying to reduce them. “M” expenses are the ones to challenge. The more you reduce “M” expenses the more money you will have to shore up the weak links. Once your expenses are sorted budget actual dollar amounts, just as you did when planning your income. Document each expense with a date and dollar amount. Be realistically and somewhat liberal. By planning your income conservatively and your expenses liberally you are likely to do better than your plan.

6. Do a cash flow. At this stage you transfer the income and expense numbers from the worksheets to the cash flow sheet. This summarizes your income and expenses per category. It also gives you monthly income and expense totals. You are now able to see if you can cash flow your business or if you will require an operating loan. If a loan is needed the cash flow will show the amount required and how it will vary each month.

7. Ending net worth. You now list your assets and liabilities as they will be at the end of the year in light of the transactions you have planned. Now is the crunch time.

Does your increase in net worth match the profit number you set in Step 3? If the numbers match or are close enough for your liking you proceed to implement your financial plan. If the numbers don’t match you go back and redo the plan until you achieve the profit you desire.

8. Monitor, control, replan. This is one of the most critical steps in the entire process. By monitoring monthly you give yourself 12 opportunities each year to see how your plan matches up with reality.

Financial planning is one way to relieve some of the stress and worry in your life and help you create the future you desire.

Happy trails.

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One definition of HM is: how to care for your people, improve your land and make a profit. There it is, in a nutshell. When you look after the people, the land and the money you haven’t left anything out. When you stop and think about it, the only possible way to be sustainable and successful in the long run is to care for all three areas. If we do anything less, it is just a matter of time until our businesses fail.

A logical question at this point might be: how exactly does HM do this? The process begins with goal setting. All the people involved in the business or family work together to form a holistic goal. Since each individual has an opportunity to contribute, the goal is meaningful to each person, not just some nice words on a piece of paper.

The holistic goal is not meant to be accomplished. It is meant to give guidance and direction over a long period of time, comparable to our personal north star. As such it should account for our desired quality of life, forms of production and future landscape.

Quality of life: This portion of the goal should ask, what morals and values are most important to us? What do we hold dear? How do we treat each other? What does success look like to us? What type of character do we want to display?

Production: This portion of the goal defines, what are we going to do to create the quality of life we desire? Many of us are not used to thinking that we need to do something concrete to create our quality of life. Somehow we think a good quality of life will just happen. I don’t believe this is true. We have described the quality of life we desire. To create it we will need to set aside time for communication, time for family and friends, time off etc. This step allows us to see that life is more than work. Our time management will need to reflect this.

The second part asks us: What are we going to produce at a profit to allow us to meet our financial needs? Here we will list various enterprises that we might have in our business. At this point it is important to stress profit not just production.

Future landscape: This portion of our goal first asks us to describe our farm under ideal conditions in 100 years. Here we might describe a healthy well-functioning ecosystem.

The second question asks us to describe our local community under ideal conditions in 100 years. Here we describe what we hope to see not what we think we will see.

Our holistic goal is now complete.

At this point things become really interesting. We begin to make decisions that will move us towards our goal. We begin to spend our time, talents and money in ways that will help us create the future we desire. Life is no longer happening to us. We are now in charge. We have been empowered. We are creating the future we desire. This is a true definition of success.

There is tremendous power in goal setting. I invite you to consider goal setting in your life. I think you will find it beneficial. Many studies have been done. People with a goal tend to fare better. People with a written goal do even better. A family or a business with a written goal does the best.

We live in the best country in the world. We have unlimited opportunity. We all have the potential to create the future we desire. Goal setting can help. I wish you success.

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I feel that I am an ordinary person and yet I feel that I have achieved a very high degree of success. I have been living my dream for many, many years. I want to share some of the things that have helped me achieve success. My hope is that the same or similar ideas may help you achieve success.

The first requirement for success is to know what you want. This requires having a clear goal based on your values. Once you know what you want you must take concrete positive steps to achieve your goal.

Five Suggestions for Success

1. Believe in yourself.
2. Believe in your spouse.
3. Find and follow good role models.
4. Do the necessary thinking and planning.
5. Work hard.

Believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is essential. I am reminded of Henry Ford’s saying, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” Your basic thoughts about success tend to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have always had a high degree of self-confidence. If something needs to be done I am confident that I can figure out how to do it. I give credit to my parents for helping me develop my self-confidence. They always believed in and supported me. That made it easy for me to believe in myself. I am reminded of the time that I wanted to disperse our cow herd in the 1980s. My dad’s comment was, “Do what you think is best, I believe in you.” What do you think that kind of support did for my self-confidence? If you are a parent I encourage you to tell your children (don’t assume that they know) that you offer them unconditional love and support. This applies to our children at all stages of their lives (birth to death). There is nothing like parental support and approval to help us succeed. At this point I feel pretty confident and am well on the road to success. From time to time my self-confidence may waver. It’s at times like this that I turn to my second point.

Believe in your spouse. Bev and I, like most married couples (I think), have lots of small things we may not agree on. Fortunately when it comes to the big things Bev offers me unconditional love and support. When I turn to her and suggest we should make some major change in our business (sell the cows, buy our hay, or borrow a million dollars) she says, “Do what you think is best, I believe in you.” What do you think that kind of support does for my self-confidence? I encourage everyone to strengthen their marriage and relationships. Together you can do so much more than you can do alone. At this point I am even further along the road to success. Even with this kind of support my self-confidence may still waver. When that occurs I turn to my third point.

Find and follow good role models. I have been blessed with good role models my entire life. When I was young it was my parents, my family and their friends. You may have heard the statement “it takes a village to raise a child.” I feel I was raised like that. As I grew I was always able to find good role models no matter where I was or what I was doing. This included my university years, my veterinary career and especially my ranching career. HM has given me the wonderful opportunity to continue to be influenced by good role models. When I was about 50 I realized that I knew people who could really help me grow, increase my knowledge and skills and become a better person. This personal growth appealed to me. I phoned some of these people and said, “I’d like to get to know you better and learn from you. Would you allow me to come and spend some time with you?” Amazingly people always said yes to my request. The result was I set up a flexible program of learning. I spent as much as a day a month for up to six months with some of my mentors. I drove as much as eight hours one way to invest in my learning. The result was rapid personal growth that resulted in a higher degree of success. Another interesting thing also happened: these people became lifelong friends.

I encourage you to look around. Is there someone you might learn from? Why not set up a personal mentoring program with that person? Your first reaction may well be “I can’t afford the time.” My response would be “can you afford not to invest in yourself?”

As I look at my life today I am confident that no matter what situation may arise I will know someone I can turn to for love, wisdom, guidance and support. What do you think that kind of support does for my self-confidence?

By now I am feeling confident and capable. By moving to my fourth point It won’t increase my self-confidence but I will increase my chance of success.

Do the necessary thinking and planning. Before making any major decision or change it is vital to “work it out on paper.” If you can’t make it work on paper chances are it won’t work in the real world. If it works on paper chances are it will work in the real world. I suggest planning out for a minimum of one year. If you are making a major change projecting out for three years would be even better.

At this stage we have good self-confidence and a workable plan. Now it is time to move to my fifth point.

Work hard. Hard work is the last step in achieving success. Hard work, determination and commitment will help our plans bear fruit. Hard work is like the icing on the cake. It allows us to savour the fruits of our self-confidence and planning. Remember “working will, where wishing won’t.”

These are some of the key things that have helped me achieve what I consider to be a very successful life. As I examine my life closely I realize that most of my success has come from the wonderful people I have had the privilege to know and to learn from. This gives me a sense of humility and a deep sense of gratitude. My desire is to help other people achieve success as others have helped me.

I invite you to use these points in any way that may be helpful to you. I believe we can all be successful. We are surrounded by unlimited opportunity. I sincerely hope you achieve the success you desire.

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I know some people are averse to planning. A common comment is: “why bother to make a plan?” Things are always changing. Plans never work out. Actually it is because things are always changing and uncertain that it is important to have a plan. If everything is stable and predictable planning ahead would be unnecessary. Allan Savory the man who developed H M has a military background. One of the examples Allan uses to stress the importance of planning is: imagine you are in charge of an army. You meet with your top general and ask: “what is your plan?” The general replies, “oh things are uncertain so we just go day to day with no plan.” I suspect you would replace the general immediately. Agriculture is a very uncertain, risky business. How many of us foresaw the drought of 2015? How many of us foresaw prices for calves and yearlings declining by $200 to $300 a head in the August to October time period? Having a plan to deal with the variables is essential.

Another common excuse for not developing a written plan is: oh, I have a plan in my head. It is a proven fact that planning in your head is not as effective as a written plan. A plan in your head is not nearly as easily shared with your spouse or working partners.

A third excuse is I don’t have the time. If you feel like this I ask you to challenge yourself. Planning is not urgent but it is important. Spending your time doing the urgent is not nearly as effective as spending your time doing the important. Remember thinking and planning pay more than working.

A good five-year plan will assess where we are, where we want to go and how we might get there. This kind of information about our businesses is extremely valuable.

My suggestion is to make a plan for your people, your land and your money. When you do this nothing will be left out. You will have a blueprint of how you want to proceed to create the future you desire.

A five-year plan will be very personal. The plan will vary greatly as each family and farm is unique. Obviously I can’t foresee what your plan should be. However, I want to give you some ideas to help stimulate your thinking.

Let’s begin with the people.

Possible questions about people:

1. How old will I be in five years?
2. How many years have we been married?
3. How old will my children be?
4. How content am I with my quality of life?
5. What will I do to improve myself?
6. What will I do to improve and strengthen our team?
7. Do I have a son or daughter who might like to take over my business?
8. Do I want someone to take over from me?
9. Would I consider giving a non-family member an opportunity to take over?
10. Do I have an up-to-date will?
11. Do I have an estate plan?
12. Other questions that come to mind.

Possible questions about the land:

1. Could I manage my land better?
2. Do I have the skills and knowledge to manage better?
3. Should I increase or decrease my land holdings?
4. Should I consider relocating?
5. Other questions that come to mind.

Possible questions about finances:

1. Am I comfortable with my current debt load?
2. Would I benefit from more or less debt?
3. Is my business as profitable as I wish?
4. Do I know my costs?
5. Are my overheads too high?
6. Is my gross profit strong?
7. Do I have the right mix of enterprises?
8. Is my business sustainable?
9. Is my business profitable enough to involve the next generation?
10. Other questions that come to mind.

Answering these and similar questions will give you a good idea of where you want to be in five years. The next step might be to develop an action plan. This will be a series of concrete steps that you will take in the next six months, the next year and the next three years so that in five years you can look back with satisfaction and say: a job well done. There is a great deal of satisfaction in achieving your plans.

I wish you success in creating the future you desire. Planning is a great tool to get there. Happy trails.

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If stress is an issue in your life I encourage you to take positive steps to deal with it. Often just talking things over with your spouse or a friend may help. It is odd how most of us withdraw from friends and family when we most need their support. Be aware of your mental health and the mental health of your family and neighbours. Is there someone you might help by visiting with them? Make yourself available. You may be rendering a valuable service. If the situation is serious get professional help. Being wise enough to seek help is a sign of strength and wisdom not weakness.

The effects of the drought will also challenge many of us with feeding and marketing decisions. Here again I encourage you to make a plan. Investigate different feeding options. Look for a least-cost ration. Know how much you can pay for feed and at what point marketing some of your animals may be a wise decision. Prices are strong for all classes of cattle. Selling calves you normally winter may be a viable option. Selling a portion of your cow herd might be a wise decision. I encourage you to look at all the options. Be flexible. Think outside the box. Realize that you have many options. Pick the one that best suits your individual situation.

Now let’s look ahead. In most areas in Western Canada drought is a fact of life. The severity and frequency of the drought varies from area to area. The fact remains that most of us can expect to experience another drought at some future date.

This leads me to the title of this article “drought mitigation.” I wasn’t real sure what mitigation meant but it seemed like a good title. The definition of the word is to make less severe. That’s exactly what I want to talk about.

Do you realize that your management can mitigate the next drought that you experience?

A Case Study

There was a heavy rain in the area, five inches or more in a short time period. Following the rain the neighbours’ dugouts filled immediately so while they had to continue to feed they could stop hauling water. Gene’s dugout came up only marginally after the rain so he continued to haul water. Gene was perplexed. He knew he had received the same rain as the neighbours. He had no idea why his dugout had not filled. Over the next two weeks his dugout filled.

Now let’s analyze what happened. On the continuously grazed land the water cycle was poor. This resulted in most of the rainfall running off. The dugouts filled immediately. Only a small portion of the rain remained in the land for plant growth. Gene’s land had an effective water cycle. This resulted in most of the rain soaking in. A large portion of the rain remained in the land for plant growth. The result was a rising water table, which eventually filled the dugout from the bottom.

Gene’s land was later tested by the NRC. A cubic foot of his land had the ability to hold 10 times the amount of water that a cubic foot of the same land would hold when continuously grazed. This clearly demonstrates that you can change the water table on your land by improving your management.

The planned grazing process used by H M stops overgrazing and improves soil fertility. It allows us to improve the four ecosystem building blocks, energy flow, water cycle, mineral cycle and succession, which are closely linked. As you improve one of the blocks you have a positive impact on the others.

By improving the water cycle you can double your effective rainfall, the amount of water available for plant growth after run-off and evaporation are accounted for. We are all aware that when it rains some water is lost to run-off. Some soaks in. Some of the water that soaks in will be lost to evaporation. When the soil is covered there will be less run-off. When the soil is high in organic matter and porous it will hold more water. When the soil is covered less water is lost to evaporation. The result is an effective water cycle. We have now doubled our effective rainfall, the equivalent of doubling our rainfall.

Everyone talks about the lack of rain and drought. A large part of the impact of drought is due not to the amount of rain but the ineffective water cycle. You can’t do anything about the rain you receive. You can improve your water cycle.

Rainfall is the limiting factor in most of Western Canada. By using better management we have the ability to double our effective rainfall. By doing this we will mitigate the effects of the next drought. Think back to this past summer. How much better would you have fared if you had received double the amount of rain? How much more hay and pasture would you have produced if your land had an effective water cycle?

Suggestions to Mitigate Future Droughts

1. Investigate H M and planned grazing.
2. Visit a neighbour who uses the H M principles.
3. Take an H M course.
4. Manage for an effective water cycle.

Drought is a fact of life for most of us. Better management will help mitigate the negative impact of the next drought. I encourage you to think about this and to investigate H M. The time to prepare for the next drought is now. Happy trails.

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