photo credit: Cassandra Osbourne of NRCS

Ranch by Design

Practical Planning for Productivity and Profits

May 2-3, 2019
Moore County Community Building and Blue Ranch

This two-day workshop will be filled with interactive sessions which include an introduction to Holistic Management principles and practices and focus on infrastructure development and land planning considerations to help you achieve your goals.

You will be led through the infrastructure planning process by HMI Professional Certified Educator and experienced rancher Deborah Clark, spend time on the land at Blue Ranch to see how they have implemented water and fencing systems and the results they have achieved, discuss pros and cons of different implementations with local, experienced producers, see demos of portable water and fencing systems, view product options from vendors, and learn about innovative options from other area ranchers. The discussions will focus on rancher needs and provide experience and expertise to address participants’ land planning questions.

For the best personal outcomes, please bring maps of your land along with detailed information of your operation, challenges, and questions. Tips on how to best prepare for the workshop will be sent after registration.

We’re sorry, this event is SOLD OUT.

photo credit: Cassandra Osbourne of NRCS

Topics

Regenerative agriculture principles and Holistic Management® practices
Specific help planning and developing the infrastructure needed to apply regenerative land practices
Issues surrounding fencing, water, roads, wildlife considerations and social concerns
Area producer presentations on what works and what does not
Resources to help you prepare maps, assess forage, monitor, and plan infrastructure
Financial considerations and how to make decisions for healthy profits
Implementation and allocation of time and money
Vendor demos and talks to address fencing, water, pipe, and pump considerations

We’re sorry, this event is SOLD OUT.

Agenda

Thursday	May 2, 2019
9:00	Holistic Management Principles & Practices Management Inventory - Deborah Clark
10:30	Break
10:45	Holistic Goal & Four Ecosystem Processes - Deborah Clark
11:45	Decision Making for Land Planning - Deborah Clark
12;15	Lunch by Dyers BBQ
1:00	Land Planning with Visualization Exercise - Deborah Clark
2:00	Caravan to Blue Ranch
2:15	The Big Picture: Vision and Realities at Blue Ranch - Mike Turner
3:00	High Plains Grazing Lands Coalition Services - Clint Rollins
3:15	Water Ways, Paddock Planning, and Wildlife Considerations - Mike Turner
3:45	Practical Planning Panel with moderator Deborah Clark Local issues, learning from Blue Ranch's example, input from area ranchers, and the pros and cons of portable vs. permanent infrastructure.
5:00	Adjourn
6:00	Dinner at 287 Roadhouse (optional)

Friday	May 3, 2019
8:00	Land Planning Step 1: Gathering Info
9:00	Land Planning Step 2: Preparing Maps & Overlays
10:00	Break
10:15	Land Planning Step 3: Creating Your Plan
10:30	Individual and Group Work
11:15	Land Planning Step 4: Implementing the plan
12:00	Lunch & Evaluations completed
12:45	Caravan to Blue Ranch
1:00	Vendor Demos and Discussions Permanent & Portable Water Storage, Troughs, Pumps and Pipelines, and Permanent & Portable Fencing
2:30	Ranch Tour: Success as a Result of Management - Mike Turner
4:00	Adjourn

We’re sorry, this event is SOLD OUT.

photo credit: Cassandra Osbourne of NRCS

Registration

Due to generous funding by the Tecovas Foundation, registration is only $100 for this 2-day workshop (includes lunch both days).

Money Back Guarantee
HMI stands behind our training programs. If you participate fully in this training program by attending all sessions and completing all assignments satisfactorily, and if you are not completely satisfied within 10 days of program completion, we will refund your registration fees.

Lodging
HMI has arranged for group rates at the following local facilities:

Best Western Windsor Inn, 1701 S Dumas Ave, Dumas TX, 866-599-6674
$71 + tax for single or double. Expires April 15. Say you want the HMI group rate when calling in your reservation.

Days Inn & Suites by Wyndham Dumas, 1610 South Dumas Avenue Dumas, Texas 79029, 806-935-2222
$70 + tax. Say you are with Holistic Management International when calling in your reservation.

La Quinta Inn & Suites Dumas, 1912 South Dumas Ave, Dumas TX 79029, 806-934-5515
King or Queen – $99 + tax. Expires April 10th. Say you are with the HMI party when calling in your reservation.

We’re sorry, this event is SOLD OUT.

photo credit: Cassandra Osbourne of NRCS

About Blue Ranch

by Quina Terri of NRCS

Ranching – it’s a business profession older than America itself.

People have been grazing cattle on native grasslands since they were first brought in from Spain and later England. Rex and Susan McCloy bought a piece of that history in the Texas Panhandle when they purchased 19,500 acres of the original Coon & Culberston Cattle Company in 2013. Originally inhabited by Kiowa and Comanche Indian Tribes, the ranch was a place that Frontiersman Kit Carson was known to have camped.

Formed in the early 1900s, the Coon & Culbertson Cattle Company was the largest Hereford operation in the 1920s. In the 1930s they brought in Brahma bulls from the King Ranch in south Texas and are credited with starting the Braford breed of cattle. After their acquisition of the property, the McCloys named it the Blue Ranch, after Big Blue Creek that courses through the land that sprawls across portions of Moore and Hutchinson Counties.

Purchasing the historic ranch was a business proposition for Rex and Susan. The McCloy family has farmed and ranched in Moore and Hutchinson Counties for over 100 years, and also have a feedlot and farm in Stinnett. Rex McCloy had read about Allan Savory’s Holistic Management and cell grazing and felt this would be a good fit for this ranch, as it had no fences and they could really design it how they wanted.

photo credit: Mike Turner of Blue Ranch

The McCloy’s have had a longstanding relationship working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service) since the 1940s when Rex’s father sought their advice. The NRCS has helped provide them with land management ideas and counsel that have benefitted their ongoing operations, including adopting no-till on their farm in Stinnett.

Roy Mitchel, the ranch manager at the McCloy’s New Mexico ranch, laid the outline for what has become 56 grazing cells of cross fencing and pipelines for livestock water to all of the 36 watering facilities. Rex and Susan’s son, Craig McCloy, used the NRCS’s online resources for guidance on fencing and livestock water. There they found specification sheets, detailing long lasting designs, for the plans they had in mind. Craig was the driving force behind the project and helped get it underway. Their designed system utilizes water cell centers throughout the ranch, allowing cattle to have a constant supply in each grazing cell.

When looking to hire a progressive ranch manager, the McCloys were scouting for someone who had the right tools and attributes to implement their plan. Mike Turner, former soil conservationist with the NRCS in Gainesville, Texas, fit the bill and came on as a ranch manager in 2015. With over 20 years in the ranching business, Turner had five years’experience with the NRCS working one on one with producers, sharing ideas and trying new techniques. He accepted the position as manager of the Blue Ranch because he felt it would be a great opportunity for him to apply some of his practical and scientific range management techniques, as well as be a good place to raise his family.

We’re sorry, this event is SOLD OUT.

Speakers

Deborah Clark

Deborah and her husband Emry Birdwell run a stocker operation of 5,000–7,000 head on the 14,000-acre Birdwell & Clark Ranch in Clay County, Texas. The enterprise mix consists of 2,000 stocker cattle on leased wheat acres and one herd of approximately 5,000 head at the ranch using a high-density grazing management plan. They apply their grazing practices to consistently improve range conditions, soil health, and cattle productivity. As an HMI Certified Educator Deborah works to help others learn to manage their resources in a way that keeps the business, land, family, and community healthy.

Mike Turner

Mike came on board with the McCloy Family Land LLC/ Blue Ranch Division in the late spring of 2015, bringing with him many years of cattle and grazing management experience working with livestock producers and as a producer himself. Mike worked for the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) for many years working with producers and landowners creating conservation and grazing plans for producers. It was his love for the livestock industry and land management that brought him back to the private sector. Now, Mike works with Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas AgriLife of Moore County, as well as the NRCS to help educate and teach other producers on the benefits of rotational grazing, and the many benefits that can improve the overall output of the operation.

Mike Caldwell

Mike was raised on a ranch in Dallam County and graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Range Management. He began his career with NRCS 1988 in the Follett Field Office. He moved to Dumas, Texas with NRCS in 1992 and currently serves as the Resource Team Leader for a Dallam, Hartley, Moore Oldham, Sherman counties.

Clint Rollins

Clint has worked for the USDA – SCS/Natural Resources Conservation Service for 40 years and has served as Grazing Lands Specialist, Range Conservationist, and District Conservationist in various Texas locations. Clint is a Member of the Texas Section Society for Range Management since 1983 and a Certified Professional in Range Management since 2000.

He received the 2007 National Rangeland Conservationist of the Year Award from the USDA – NRCS National Headquarters, the highest award given by the agency. He also received the 2018 Texas Section Society for Range Mangement – Outstanding Contribution To Range Management Award, which is the highest award given by the Texas Section Society for Range Management.

Clint attended Tarrant County Junior College where he earned an Associate Degree in Agribusiness Technology. He later attended Tarleton State University & Texas Tech University where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Plant & Soil Science with a Minor in Rangeland Management. Prior to college, Clint served in the U.S. Army with an Honorable Discharge.

Born in Dumas, TX, he is a native of the Texas Panhandle. Clint was raised on his family farm and ranch operation in Harmon County, OK. He was active in Vo-Ag and FFA throughout high school. Clint and his wife Debbie have two daughters, two sons, and eight grandchildren.

Jeff Bonner

Jeff was raised in the Texas Panhandle and managed a private ranch in South Texas for 5 years. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Texas Tech in Wildlife Management & Range Science, as well as an Master of Science Degree from Texas A&M Kingsville in Wildlife Management & Range Science. He worked as a District Biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD)for 10 years in Seguin and Pampa and has now served as TPWD Technical Guidance Biologist for the Panhandle District for 9 years.

Justin Rader

Justin and his wife Bryn own 100th Meridian Ranching, a young ranching business where they focus on excellent stewardship while charting a path through which modern ranches can operate efficiently, profitably, and sustainably into the future. They’re located in the Texas Panhandle and have ranching roots in the area spanning over 125 years. Their enterprises consist of low-input cow-calf production, bred heifers, custom grazing, and bulls for lease. They believe that stewardship of resources is critically underrated, and the improvement of everything they manage is a worthwhile pursuit. Soil and plants are the foundation of their region and livelihood, and they conduct their business in a way that benefits the people, land, and animals. As they seek ranches to lease, they have refined a model that is truly a win-win for their landlords, the ranches, and their own business. They offer true land stewardship and the management of biological capital for their landowners as they do a lot more than simply “run cattle”.

Dr. Tim Steffens has a joint appointment with the Agriculture Sciences Department at West Texas A&M and with Texas AgriLife Extension in the field of rangeland resource management. His experience also includes working directly with producers on rangeland issues including grazing management, prescribed fire, livestock nutrition and Threatened &Endangered species as a Rangeland Management Specialist with the USDA-NRCS in southeastern Colorado. Previously, he was a rangeland management specialist with Colorado Cooperative Extension and instructor with the Colorado State University Western Center for Integrated Resource Management. He has also managed a 1300 cow ranch for the Mescalero Apaches in the mountains of southern New Mexico. He also worked as the extension project manager for the nationally recognized Seco Creek Water Quality Demonstration Project. His current research and extension interests include managing ecological succession using targeted grazing management, developing integrated livestock-rangeland-cropping systems to improve soil quality and improve conservation as well as brush and weed management.