Local rancher promotes holistic management ranching technique
By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
Before he started planned grazing on his Lazy R Ranch, Maurice Robinette says he didn't make much money and wasn't having any fun raising cattle.
Now, he works a lot harder and makes about the same amount of money. But he says the holistic management techniques he's applied to his 1,000-acre ranch have made the job a whole lot more fun.
Holistic management is a grazing system that limits cattle to certain sections of pasture for short periods of time, moving the herd and fencing every few days. Robinette, who is a certified Holistic Management Instructor after years of studying the technique, says it mimics natural habits of cattle in pre-human times—they stayed in tight packs to minimize danger of a predator's attack.
“Because they're tightly bunched for protection, they eat all the grass up in one spot ‘til there's nothing left to eat, then they move,” he explained. “The predators follow them and this process keeps going on to a large migration that will go all kinds of different directions. So we're able to duplicate those situations using portable hotwire.”
Robinette said the heavy short-term grazing affects the way plants grow in his pasture and changes the soil, promoting biodiversity and nutrient-rich land. The technique requires close attention to a variety of processes. There's a reason it's called “holistic,” he says.
“It's about understanding the big picture. It's real easy to go build fence, but then you find yourself building fence and you're not raising cows,” he said. “I really had to get back to the bottom line, to figure out how can I be productive and effective and efficient and make the best use of my time.”
Robinette changed over to holistic management in 1996, and now he consults with various agriculture organizations and ranchers who are interested in the process. He's also participating in a program called “Beef Up the Palouse,” which informs farmers about the possibilities of planned grazing on land coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program, in which the federal government paid farmers not to farm their land to preserve natural resources for 10-year contracts.
The “Beef Up the Palouse” project, sponsored by the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network and WSU, will attempt to convince farmers to convert their CRP land into planned grazing. Robinette said a test farm using the technique grossed $47 per acre, while the government pays $50 per acre of CRP land.
Robinette said he hoped some farmers would warm up to the idea, though he had reservations.
“It can be a steep learning curve to know how to do it all. It can be a lot of work. If those guys are 10 years closer to retirement and are thinking that way—a lot of CRP was seen as retirement,” he said. “So I have no delusions that everybody's going to go out and change over. However, I do hope that a few people do it, and I'm willing to help them get on their way.”
Robinette sells grass-fed beef from his herd of 50 cows using direct marketing. People can buy half or quarter animals through his Web site http://www.lazyrbeef.com. He said business is picking up with the increased popularity of organic, locally-raised food, and he's seeking organic certification to further tap that market.
Robinette admits that holistic management is not for everyone or every ranch. He admits that it takes work and attention. But after three generations of traditional ranching and selling his beef to wholesalers, he's glad to be free of the mainstream beef industry, with its reliance on genetically modified breeds and corn feeding methods he says only benefit big corporations and never the farmers themselves.
Though holistic management isn't widely accepted, Robinette said he believes that it will catch on over time.
“Ultimately, all agriculture will have to be sustainable because at some point there won't be anymore oil,” he said. “We're going to have to develop these techniques on a large scale to really make a difference.”
A recent statewide tour of organic farms stopped at the Lazy R. The tour, sponsored by Tilth Producers of Washington, brought a group of farmers to Robinette, who showed them the basics of his techniques.
“I want to show people all the benefits,” he said. “It may take more of my time, which is a cost, but I'm enjoying it a heck of a lot more.”
Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
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