The big ranchers that follow Allan Savory’s Holistic Management teachings have a pretty good handle using the carbon cycle to full advantage. I have been on some of these ranches, the ranchers all claimed that they have doubled their stocking rates, seldom fed hay, almost no vet bills and now showing profits even in dry years.
These Holistic ranchers have learned to use animals to manage the grass. Even though many don’t realize it, they are really managing the carbon cycle. These ranchers divide their spreads in to many small pastures or paddocks. They graze these paddocks with heavy stock density.
They discovered when the cows are crowded they seem to eat on all the grasses, shrubs and forbs, not just the “ice cream.” Then after the paddock is eaten down to a point, but still leaving plenty green for photosynthesis, they move the cattle to the next paddock.
This high stocking rate of cattle leaves behind a lot of urine and manure. The moist urine and manure with the litter on the ground quickly begins to decay and gives off Carbon Dioxide. The green grass blades left standing quickly capture this Carbon Dioxide. Then the grass can quickly re-cover, even in some pretty dry conditions, without straining the roots or using excessive soil moisture. This grazing process also sequesters carbon back into the soil instead of allowing it to disperse into the atmosphere and be called pollution.
Many of these ranchers manage to go through winters without supplemental feeding by saving paddocks of certain species on native grass for winter grazing. Some paddocks will be green with winter growing species. In others it may be dry summer species from winterkill but still standing and full of nutrients or a combination of both.
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