A two-day, hands-on event at the acclaimed Brett Gray Ranch with Louis Martin, experienced Holistic Manager and successful Colorado rancher.
Louis has accomplished impressive feats at the renowned Brett Gray Ranch, a thriving cattle operation on state trust land. A few of his achievements include:
- fostering an ecosystem that allows for 12 additional desired grass species that aid in reducing the risk of drought,
- dramatically improving the land he manages from 70% bare ground to 70% covered ground,
- increasing the stocking rate from 400 AU’s to 800 AU’s (within just two years)!
Increase your profit potential, improve your soil health, and discover how to have a better quality of life on your ranch!
October 17 & 18th, 2023
Brett Gray Ranch – Rush, CO
This two-day workshop will be filled with interactive sessions facilitated by HMI Certified Educator and Executive Director Wayne Knight and real-life examples and learnings of experienced and successful Colorado rancher, Louis Martin.
This is a great opportunity to be on the land at Brett Gray Ranch, see successful regeneration in action, discuss the ranch’s achievements, and learn from its challenges. Participants will leave with management tools and practices to implement at their own operations.
Join us to:
- Gain a deeper understanding of plant growth cycle for optimum forage production
- Align your herd to sustainably use forage for long-term range health
- Improve your on-the-land monitoring skills to determine how much forage you have and how to destock early due to drought, if necessary
- Prioritize infrastructure development for a better return on investment
- Deepen your understanding of the relationship between land health and ranch health
- Access management tools to increase your financial resiliency
SUCCESS STORY – You can read more about Louis Martin and the Brett Gray Ranch here.
Agenda
October 17, 2023
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
| 8:30 AM | Registration | Wayne Knight & Marie von Ancken |
| 9:00 AM | Welcome & Introductions | Wayne Knight |
| 9:15 AM | Story of the Brett Gray Ranch | Louis Martin |
| 10:00 AM | Holistic Management Overview | Wayne Knight |
| 10:30 AM | Comfort Break | |
| 10:35 | In the Field: Ecosystem Function Assessment and Forage Assessment as Management Tools | Wayne Knight & Louis Martin |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:00 PM | Animal Performance as a Function of Dry Matter Intake and Digestibility | Wayne Knight & Louis Martin |
| 2:00 PM | Cost of Feeding vs Cost of Management | Wayne Knight & Louis Martin |
| 3:00 PM | Rainfall Analysis | Wayne Knight |
| 4:00 PM | Q&A | All presenters |
| 4:30 PM | Adjourn |
October 18, 2023
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
| 8:30 AM | Check In | |
| 9:00 AM | Welcome & Review of Day 1 | Marie von Ancken & Wayne Knight |
| 9:30 AM | Economics and Ecological Improvement – Getting the Best of Both Worlds | Louis Martin |
| 10:00 AM | Holistic Economics and Financial Planning – the Power of a Holistic Approach | Wayne Knight |
| 10:45 AM | Case Study: Forage Assessment and Drought, Animal Performance, and Risk Management. | Louis Martin & Wayne Knight |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch | |
| 1:00 PM | Case Study: Forage Assessment Measurements | Wayne Knight |
| 2:30 PM | Break | |
| 2:45 PM | Internships – Value, Challenges, and Solutions | Louis Martin |
| 3:40 PM | Tying it all together / Evaluations | Wayne Knight |
| 4:00 PM | Adjourn |
Registration
$350, includes learning materials and lunch both days
Registration Deadline: Oct 13, 2023
Scholarship Deadline: Oct 10, 2023
COVID-19 Policy:
Please note, the format and/or requirements for event attendance may change in light of shifting CDC and state public health guidelines. HMI will make every effort to communicate these changes in a timely fashion.
Media Policy:
By registering for this event, you hereby consent and agree that HMI has the right to take photographs, videotape, or digital recordings of you and to use these in any and all media, now or hereafter known, for HMI outreach and further consent that your name and identity may be revealed therein or by descriptive text or commentary.
Location
Brett Gray Ranch
The Brett Gray Ranch is a 50,000-acre ranch currently leased and managed by Round River from the Colorado State Land Board. In partnership with the State Land Board and The Nature Conservancy, Round River has a three-part goal to maintain a productive and sustainable ranching operation, encourage science and stewardship that maintains biodiversity and a sustainable prairie ecosystem, and to support education and community outreach to appreciate and support effective conservation of prairie ecosystems through responsible ranching.
During the past 9 years of operations at the Brett Gray Ranch, Round River has demonstrated its commitment to these principles by implementing a planned rotational grazing system that is designed to limit the duration of the grazing process and provide adequate recovery for the grazed plants. This grazing system helps to improve the four ecosystem processes by adding more organic matter to the soil, building a stronger root system, providing better water capture and infiltration, stronger more vigorous plants that capture more energy from the sun, increases the biodiversity of the plant and animal community and helps to protect sensitive riparian areas from degradation and erosion.
These improvements have been achieved during some of the most severe drought conditions on record and have been documented through an intensive monitoring process conducted by Round River, the State Land Board and The Nature Conservancy.
Speakers
Wayne Knight, Executive Director of Holistic Management Interntional and HMI Certified Educator
With 27 years of ranching experience using Holistic Management, Wayne has had an identity crisis. When he joined the 11,000-acre family ranching business he called himself a cattle rancher. He changed to calling himself a grass farmer. Later still, he called himself a soil-microbe farmer, though he has always marketed beef. Privileged to work with his father, Tom Knight, who was an early adopter of Holistic Management under Allan Savory – Stan Parsons consulting, Wayne enthusiastically increased and intensified the practices HMI teaches. He became a Certified Educator in 2006 and was actively involved with the Southern African Certified Educator community organization, Community Dynamics. He has spoken at numerous conferences in Southern Africa, trained and mentored farmers, hosted open days on his property, and has written about his positive results using Holistic Management. Before joining the team at HMI Wayne served as a board member of the organization for 8 years. Through his enthusiasm for Holistic Management, Wayne has traveled widely visiting farmers who practice high-density, long recovery grazing practices in Southern Africa, Australia, and the US. As a young graduate with a Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Natal, South Africa, he traveled across the US west working on ranches in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, California, and New Mexico. When not involved in Holistic Management you will find him fishing, birding, hiking, or exploring wild spaces and places with his family. An enthusiastic traveler, hunter, and photographer, he loves discovering new places and making new friends.
Louis Martin, CEO and General Manager for Round River Resource Management
Louis Martin oversees management of the Brett Gray and Lyme BX Ranches, working in collaboration with the Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners (SLB), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and others to achieve the desired goals of all stakeholders. He has been involved in the livestock and ranching business for over forty years, and has served sixteen years as general manager for the Texas A&M University Beef Cattle Center in College Station, Texas, where he oversaw all cattle operations and facilitated the teaching, research and extension activities at the Center. In addition, he has been involved in Holistic Management for over thirty years, consulted for numerous ranches and managed large ranches in Texas, northeastern Utah and Colorado before coming to the Brett Gray Ranch. Louis received a BS and Master’s degree in Animal Science and Ranch Management at Texas A&M University, has trained with several certified Holistic Management instructors, is an alumni of Ranching for Profit, is an Executive Link board member, and participates in numerous education opportunities annually.
Thank You to our Collaborators
Thank you to our funders
Martha Records & Rich Rainaldi.
Without their support, this program would not be possible.
Scholarship funding support comes from the L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation.
Adelene is a resident of Arkansas and loves exploring the state’s natural trails. Her passion for education and technology led her to earn a master’s in learning systems technology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With her professional experience managing student/client databases and instructional design, Adelene will bring skill and understanding to her role as Office Manager & Instructional Designer at HMI. Her focus on making education more accessible to diverse communities is evident through her volunteer work as an board member for a scholarship program. Adelene is devoted to creating educational opportunities that align with HMI’s mission to promote healthy, resilient lands and thriving communities.
Seth Wilner has been a Holistic Management International Certified Educator since 2005. For 22 years he has worked as an agent educator with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension where he specializes in farm business management with an emphasis on whole farm planning.
Dana was first introduced to Holistic Management in the 1990s while working in the Texas Hill Country. She strongly believes that Holistic Management can positively impact families that are on the land, the communities they are a part of, and larger landscape resource regeneration efforts.
Sarah Robertson grew up in Taos, New Mexico and has always been passionate about land stewardship, growing things, and nurturing others. After completing a BA in Communication from the University of New Mexico and working with local non-profits, she started her journey as a first-generation farmer. Since 2015, she has been learning and growing alongside her husband on various leased properties in Albuquerque, NM and running a small market farm with goats, chickens, and a CSA. In her role as Programs Assistant at HMI, Sarah brings her enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture, devotion to supporting others, and drive for lifelong learning and growing.
Jozua Lambrecht is from South Africa and divides his time between their home in Somerset West and their family farm in Sutherland, one of the coldest places in South Africa, where they farm with sheep. He is married to his wife Therese and they have two daughters.
Alejandro Carrillo is a fourth-generation rancher, and he is quite familiar with the challenges of running a profitable cattle ranch in the Chihuahuan desert. Because annual precipitation seldom exceeds nine inches, every drop counts when it comes to growing more grasses. Grazing year-round with only sea salt as an input, he is not willing to waste any water in such a brittle environment.
Jared L Talley was born and raised in Southwestern Idaho and now seeks to help rural communities adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, earning his PhD in Philosophy from Michigan State University and his MPA in Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Management from Boise State University. An environmental philosopher by training and an interdisciplinary scholar in practice, he seeks to better understand how communities relate to the land and how this relationship poses obstacles and opportunities for collaboration and governance. In doing so, he studies the role of science in collaborative policy, the role of place in environmental identity, and the role of the imagination in mediating both. Specifically, he studies grazing management and public land permitting, community-led conservation programs, rural education and entrepreneurship, place-based environmental governance, and the imaginative experience of our natural and built environments — all in the contexts of the intermountain American West.
