Regenerative Ranching

Adopting “Regenerative Ranching Principles” can boost profits and reduce expenses of the conventional farmer or rancher. The first step is to challenge yourself to think about a new system. Preparing yourself mentally will make it easier to adopt these new practices.

Deciding that business as usual will not work is a starting point. Even though cattle prices are high, there is never a poor time to put even more money in your pocket. You will need to look at your existing program (taking care of what you already have) and understand what Regenerative Ranching Practices can do for you.

When moving to a new system, one of the first mistakes made by farmers and ranchers is to cherry-pick one or some of the system’s six principles. If you are deciding to use regenerative agriculture, it is important to follow all six principles.

Principle #1: “Know your own Land.” There is nothing prescriptive about regenerative farming or ranching. Every parcel of land is different, but the principles apply to all. Knowing your farm means that you know where the wet and dry spots occur, where crops or grass grows the best and where more consideration is needed to improve the property.

When you build a fence or create a paddock, you should know that every acre has a different grazing potential. A herd might graze for a day on one acre and two days on an adjacent one acre field. Knowing the land and its capabilities is different from opening a gate once a week and moving cattle to the next pasture.

Principle #2: “Minimize Disturbance”. Unnecessary tillage, overgrazing and introducing too many chemical inputs maximizes disturbance causing a cascade of problems. To minimize disturbances, consider what is really needed to obtain your objective. Do you really need to use a herbicide when leaving some weeds will benefit the soil and cattle? Can you grow winter pasture yearly without needing to plow the ground to plant seed? You can. If animal impact alone can control weeds and grow winter grass, are other efforts necessary? Probably not.

Principle #3: “Keep the Soil Covered.” Overgrazed pastures are no better than a plowed field. The soil should not be seen. Instead, soils should be covered by living green grass, forbs and weeds or by dormant or dead and decaying foliage. This principle aligns with principles two, four, and five although it can include applying a mulch or compost to the soil surface as a temporary step to the other three principles.

Principle #4: Diversity. Some farmers and many ranchers may find this challenging. It is simply about diversity of plant species, soil microorganisms and animal species. It also includes diversity of cropping and grazing practices so that each practice is diverse (not simply repeated year after year). Diversity includes altering stocking densities, rotation patterns and recovery periods depending on conditions. Weeds are a good sign of diversity not often considered by conventional farmers and ranchers.

Principle #5: “Maintain Living Roots in the Soil”. This should be easy for ranchers, but for some, plowing is a learned custom. Plowing and discing disturbs living roots. Living roots are vital to supporting a healthy microbiome, holding soil in place, increasing water infiltration and more. All plants play a role in this principle. If you dig down, how much space between roots would you see? Like leaf space above ground, the less open space between roots, the better.

Principle #6: “Integrate Animals.” Ranchers sometimes forget that other animals live on the land too. Wildlife benefit from regenerative agriculture. This includes dung beetles, the rancher’s “hired hand” that works continuously to improve the soil, kill parasites and grow grass without artificial fertilizers. Birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife are all apart of integrating animals. When certain weeds are allowed to grow, the native bee species that pollinates native plants can survive. Killing the “hired hand” or other wildlife with pesticides hurts the land and robs the landowner of profit.

Adaptive rotational grazing using the Regenerative Agriculture Principles is a way to higher profits in ranching. Typical rotational grazing tends to be prescriptive and often does little to improve the bottom line. Regenerative agriculture is adapting to the real-life changing conditions as they happen-and it can also lead to higher profits.

If you want to adopt these principles and need some help, give me a call.

David E. Will is a local rancher and consultant and can be reached at 830-629-9876 or by email at dwill207@satx.rr.com.