![\"Troy](\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/files\/2013\/06\/2013-06-10-14.53.50.jpg\")
<\/a>Troy (yellow coat) testing Ian’s (right) grazing expertise out in the pasture.<\/p><\/div>\n
Troy Bishopp, aka The Grass Whisperer <\/p>\n www.thegrasswhisperer.com<\/a>, www.cnyrcd.org\/planned-grazing-participants\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Wells, Vermont<\/strong>– In the coolness of a Vermont landscape etched with green pastures, green mountains and small farmers, stood a passionate rancher from South Africa ready to inspire others about the \u201cwhole\u201d future of grass-based agriculture. <\/span><\/p>\n The internationally recognized, holistically-driven grazier, Ian Mitchell-Innes, is no namby-pamby in the opinion department which excited the capacity crowd of independent-minded farmers and conservation professionals about the merits of \u201cmanaging with two generations in mind\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cWe must work to nudge Mother Nature not club her over the head and move away from the 99% of agriculture that deals in parts\u201d, said Mr. Innes. His message is catching on as the new USDA-NRCS Soil Health Initiative gets underway.<\/span><\/p>\n In his 3 month stay in America teaching countless ranchers and farmers about holistic decision-making and grazing management, he has seen a phenomenal change in the audience, with 80% being young farmers asking lots of questions concerning the status quo of conventional, linear thinking.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep you farmers on the land by addressing root causes with management and not sending your money to town treating symptoms.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a problem, it\u2019s best to look in the mirror first before blaming.\u00a0 It\u2019s high time to start managing towards what you want with what you have and change our bottom-feeder status in the community\u201d, emphasized Ian.<\/span><\/p>\n Ian referred to the environment in which we work as \u201cmanaging chaos\u201d and on the importance of goal setting and holistic planning.\u00a0 \u201cWe are in the energy business:\u00a0 Energy is money, money is energy, and time is money, he said.\u00a0 For us to be successful, we must capture the free solar energy by converting plants through the grazing and trampling of the grass by animals and feed the soil with this carbon-based material. One day we will be recognized for our organic matter building capability by consumers around the world and be justly paid for sequestering carbon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Litter thinks all this can be accomplished by a vibrant grazing community working within a holistic management decision-making process adapted to your locale that concentrates on soil health, grazing management, animal performance, diversity, wealth generation from carbon and most of all His approach to grazing management that includes high density, taller grazing and only taking the top third of the plant with lots of \u201cwasted grass\u201d could be construed as contradictory to the intensive grazing\/prescribed grazing model advocated in the Northeast but Ian defends his position by looking to the soil surface for answers.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m suggesting, not telling, farmers to feed the carbon on the soil as well as getting top animal performance by grazing for energy and not for protein, which means grazing just the tops and letting the animals have more selection.\u00a0 Graziers need to get beyond the paralyzing paradigm of wasting grass if we want to be truly sustainable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n How much are you trampling? The more plant matter trampled in to the soil, the more biological activity is being fed by the plant carbon. And the more plant matter being produced the next year.<\/p><\/div>\n After an enjoyable local lunch featuring NOFA-Vermont\u2019s mobile pizza oven and all the fixins\u2019, Ian led the large contingent of farmers into the pastures looking at trampling ratios, animal grazing behavior, rumen fill and soil health indicators while the animals were moved to a new paddock.<\/span><\/p>\n Hosts for the workshop, Richard & Cynthia Larson of Larson Farm & Morningside Stables in Wells, Vermont, are believers and practitioners in what Ian has taught them on their 120 acre, multi-species dairy, beef and equine operation.\u00a0 \u201cHe taught us to keep an open mind and be flexible with our management and gave us the tools to monitor our farm.\u00a0 We can see our land; animals and bank account improve and realize trampled forage as a true soil conditioner.\u00a0 We like being in the energy business\u201d, said the Larsons.<\/span><\/p>\n Brian Maloney, a beef farmer and custom grazier, from Brylee Farm in Thurso, Qu\u00e9bec traveled over 5 hours to get these new ideas and meet like-minded people.\u00a0 \u201cI came to learn about the 80-20% trampling ratios and what they look like on the land and getting away from purchasing hay.\u00a0 I came away being punch-drunk by having all my preconceived paradigms broken\u201d, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Massachusetts Conservation District Professional, Bruce Howlett attended as part of his training through a NESARE professional development project in working with farmers on holistic planned grazing.\u00a0 \u201cI came to hear more about mob-grazing and how it can relate to my small farm customers.\u00a0 I left with a better understanding of how trampling and feeding the soil as an essential part of the whole grazing system.\u00a0 It was eye-opening experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jenn Colby, UVM\/Vermont Pasture Network and NESARE PDP Grazing Training Coordinator indicated she was absolutely thrilled with the turnout and ideas exchanged.\u00a0 \u201cTo have grazing and land management concepts from all over the world brought to my home state is awesome.\u00a0 It helps me realize I\u2019m on the right track with looking at wholes.\u00a0 For me, Ian stitched all the threads together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n No grazing event worth its salt could end properly without first enjoying conversations and networking over some fine ice-cream from the Strafford Organic Creamery at Rock Bottom Farm in Strafford, Vermont.\u00a0 The holistic-minded rancher came to the area to initiate some different perspectives and thinking while getting folks away from the mindset of can\u2019t.\u00a0 Ian commented, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to me to see the change of attitudes from the beginning of the day to the end.\u00a0 I think some paradigms have been trampled.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Production is everything. “If you don’t get animal performance, you’ll go broke.”, says Ian.<\/p><\/div>\n The event was sponsored by the Central NY Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. in partnership with the Planned Grazing Training Project (“Utilizing Holistic Planned Grazing as a Regenerative Engine for Sustainable Agriculture” – funded by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education;www.sare.org) and the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture.<\/span><\/p>\n To find more on planned grazing tools and techniques go to <\/span>www.cnyrcd.org\/planned-grazing-participants<\/span><\/a>\/ or contact Jenn Colby at (802) 656-0858.\u00a0 To see a conversation with Ian Mitchell-Innes, visit www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I3r2cqNfkKs<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Troy Bishopp, aka The Grass Whisperer www.thegrasswhisperer.com, www.cnyrcd.org\/planned-grazing-participants\/ Wells, Vermont– In the coolness of a Vermont landscape etched with green pastures, green mountains and small farmers, stood a passionate rancher from South Africa ready to inspire others about the \u201cwhole\u201d future of grass-based agriculture. The internationally recognized, holistically-driven grazier, Ian Mitchell-Innes, is no namby-pamby in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":377,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/pasture-vtpasture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n—–<\/s>having fun.\u00a0 To achieve this he focuses on improving the 4 ecosystem processes:\u00a0 The water cycle, the mineral cycle, energy flow and community dynamics (diversity).\u00a0 He uses planned grazing tools to make this happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>