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A documentary about Holistic Management in Patagonia
The regrowth of Patagonia
We have been studying this plant, the ***-dee
since the 1980's
and after studying over 30 or 40 fenceline contrasts
where we saw how the ***-dee was advancing
and was winning
- To clarify, a field with ***-dee produces one fifth the forage of a grass field -
We concluded that when a paddock is filled with ***-dee the transition was almost irreversible
but we always did that, studying fields that were under continuous grazing.
Since we have been working with Holistic Management,
we had to re-examine our theory because what we are seeing is that if we give the grass
the chance to recover after grazing,
if we control the time in which the animals graze the grass,
if we control the time that the plants need to recover,
we can compete strongly with the ***-dee
and now we are thinking clearly that with Holistic Management
the ***-dee transitions can not only be stopped,
but also reversed
In this case, what we are seeing is a field
that was in very poor shape 2 years ago
and last year it had a very short grazing period with the animals
and a very long recovery period.
As you can see now
the grass is competing, recovering its vigour
and this ***-dee plant doesn't look as vigorous as it was before
and almost certainly in this second spring
in which we have planned a very long recovery period again
the grass will possibly cover the ***-dee and change the competition,
something we wouldn't have dreamt of 20 years ago.
Holistic Management is more than a work system
it's a way of making decisions
It's a framework
The idea of Holistic Management
when it was developed by Allan Savory and his people
was a way of working that allows alignment
between environment, economy and society
It looks for an intergrated development
of families with the environment and production.
Here, I would like to show you
how this hill was before
almost pure erosion, loose soil.
This field was used last year for lambing
it was sacrificed by leaving the animals here around a month,
to not move the sheep with their lambs.
And last year an improvement could be seen
at least on half of the hill the plants were growing.
But this year, even I was surprised
you can see how the erosion is almost covered,
how the green grass is coming in great quantity.
The animals are entering here in a few days,
their stay will last for a maximum of 4 or 5 days
I expect by the end of March for this to be more covered,
because I am thinking that if the grass just began growing now,
a really big change can be seen.
A green cap can be seen on the top of the hill,
the erosion is starting to be covered,
it's a good sign of Holistic Management.
We started in March 2010, last year
planning the "Closed plan"
and to date we have planned 2 springs, 2 open seasons.
We have been using this management for a short time,
but you can see quick results.
We thought that the results were going to be more long-term,
but you can see them clearly, looking around the farm.
It works because it functions with nature.
It works trying to make the 4 environmental bases more efficient,
they are the mineral cycle, the water cycle, the solar energy flow and community dynamics.
There are 5.357.442 hectares for agricultural use in Chilean Patagonia
And over 400 producers.
Over 100 producers participated in the field days,
which is equivalent to 1.000.000 of hectares looking at a better future.
In a certain way, I have incorporated some of the concepts
on the properties I manage
And now, with this course
the idea is to be able to do much more detailed planning,
to avoid some mistakes we have made by not doing more anticipated planning
on some technical aspects of the management.
Basically because Ovitec who started promoting Holistic Management.
I also listened to José Manuel Gortázar, and then I started to be more interested.
He recommended that I read the Allan Savory book about Holistic Management,
and I found that the concepts of this management were very well based
and could be powerful tools to improve our properties
and achieve sustainability over time for our livestock production
In Holistic Management there aren't productive activities to be discarded,
it is based on every enterprise or industry being able to combine the areas of production.
Therefore mining, livestock production or any other industry can work and be productive at the same time.
How do we do this?
To have the 4 keys of the ecosystem working well.
The key is in having the ground covered.
The public enemy number one, as we say, is the bare soil.
This happens when we have the animals for a long period of time and overgrazing occurs.
When we have the ground covered either with plants or mulch,
there is better water absorption, less run-off, the microflora of the soil work better
and there is a more favourable environment for the development of new species.
When that happens they can grow and have more green leaves
and in general everything start working as one would want.
But, how can we achieve covered ground?
That's the key, the main tool to accomplish that is,
for one to reduce the bare soil,
and the other key is in the animal,
the best tool we have to improve how the environment works
is the sheep, the herbivores.
The time is the key.
If we leave the animals too much time they start to eat plants that are trying to regrow or establish,
the animals can be a problem.
But if we achieve grazing densities, high densities, lots of concentrated animals, trampling,
incorporating vegetable matter to the ground, fertilizing, together with programming a long period of
recovery, that's the key.
The Animal Impact with long periods of recovery.
My name is Luis Obando, I work at the Julia Ranch in San Gregorio
and I started this year with the animal management,
so I'm looking for techniques and methods for animal management
to take advantage in a better way of the natural resources.
Well, the course itself is very interesting,
it is two days where you can catch a glimpse of what Holistic Management is,
which is very broad, but at least you get an idea or some notions
of how to start using it and how to benefit from the resources at hand.
And one of the more mentioned resources here is the solar light
which is free and many times we don't utilize it fully.
This management is easy to implement, but you have to adjust it to time.
Holistic Management is something you have to be constantly planning
it requires lots of it, and together with the owners of the property
and the people who work on the farm.
Based on that you do an annual planning and you check it constantly.
I believe it's something we will begin to implement,
it allows you to know the farm better, your animals too,
and to watch closely as the results change.
Well, Punta Delgada Ranch is one of the biggest of its type
in the Chilean-Argentinian Patagonia.
with almost 100,000 hectares, where we have a great project
which we started developing in the year 2010
around this very time of the year.
And, with a great future, a great project.
Among the possibilities was bringing back livestock farming
which was very weak as was the pasture
we took Holistic Management
as a type of management, as a projection, as a whole.
To date, the results are sensational, we have done extremely well.
We have seen great receptivity, in fact, in the future
we want to have 100,000 sheep,
within the next five years and today we can say
we are able to increase by 20 or 30 percent.
The truth is that in an extensive farming operation such as we have in Punta Delgada,
like in any other farming operation, even small ones, it's not difficult.
It's special. One of the best things about it is that one plans ahead all year
all the jobs and involving all the things happening during the season.
Which means the livestock jobs, the infrastructure works,
the climatic problems, the water and grass deficit problems,
so, you can be prepared all season for what is going to happen.
You have to put it all in the program.
That helps to be one step ahead of what's happening all the time.
The truth is no, this year we could manage 32,000 breeding ewes
and we didn't have any problem.
We fulfilled the program as it was expected, easily, instead of managing 10 or 15 mobs
in 15 different paddocks, we did it in one and we fulfilled the program and it was very simple.
All the jobs we had to do this season were very easy.
The mating of the flock was done in one paddock,
the pregnancy scanning was done in one paddock
which means we had to go every morning to the same place to get the sheep.
The pre-lamb shearing was done from one paddock, very easily
we didn't have to go to 14 paddocks to muster the animals.
Well, I learnt about Holistic Management
very little time before we started working
I read Savory's book and I liked the concept behind the philosophy
which is also in accordance with my thinking.
I think we are on a good track, in spite of every process reverting,
it doesn't work overnight like taking a pill for a headache.
Signs tell you that land condition can be reverted
and indicate that there is a change that you can execute.
I like the fact that the tool for this whole process is what we have, the sheep.
And if well used, that tool can be doubly fruitful,
to improve the land as well as
what we were focused on before, the animal.
Now, we have to change our mentality
it's not the animal, it's the totality
and one must get use to seeing it as the relation between land and animal.
For years we have been probably using our land in the wrong way.
It hasn't happened in a season or two,
but we have to be aware that always when you are on the wrong track,
you must turn around at some point, but being aware and using the tools offered.
Maybe other people think they have other resources to use,
they should use them and then we should compare.
The same conditions drive you to have to change sometimes
and the idea is not to wait until the last moment
when pasture production is falling dramatically.
You have to make the decision before that.
What takes you to that?
Well, if you see that every year your pasture production decreases and your carrying capacity diminishes
that's a pointer that it is screaming at you to change things.
I have been here for a long time.
I have been in charge of the ranch for 45 years now.
And I've been always been concerned
about the problem of the land deterioration.
And how to control that
So, when I heard about Holistic Management some time ago,
it seemed to me a good alternative to try and see if it served in that sense.
I already did some tests in the past before it,
not with Holistic Management, but with rotational grazing,
which gave me very good results.
So I was under the impression that Holistic Management
had to deliver an even better result.
Because it was something alike, but much more technical and controlled.
An evident improvement can be already observed between this year and the last one, for example.
The fields are better, the animals are much better and an advance can be seen.
And one that is sustained and will keep going.
That is already a great improvement.
The farm has a plant cover that is homogeneous and thicker
and the animals, who also attest to the state of the farm, are very well.
The main motivation is that things have not worked for a hundred years.
On the contrary, the prairies have been deteriorating
and what we look for is to try to revert that damage
which is very serious.
If we continue to deteriorate the grasslands we will have no fields left.
Not now, but maybe in 50 years my grandchildren won't have food for the sheep.
So, it's almost a necessity to go back or adopt a system to control that process and revert the situation
and you can maintain the ecological sustainability,
because the physical maintenance of the fields is very important.
"To achieve something you have never had, you will have to do something you never did". Anonymou�