Improving Grazing Management with Stockmanship and Holistic Grazing Planning

There is an art to being a Holistic Manager. It involves a clear a clear, written goal that includes quality of life, economic and ecological objectives. Management plans and decisions are driven by a goal. Observation of the biological components through the adaptive planning procedures are critical. The interplay between long term objectives and short term observation against target and adjustment of the implementation are all part of the management framework.

Very often, we are in a rush to implement such that we do not see the woods for the trees. We are stuck in paradigms that hold us from achieving the outcomes we want.

On March 29th, 2025 Dawn Hnatow, founder of Cattle Up Stockmanship, and Wayne Knight, Executive Director of Holistic Management International, teamed up to present a workshop for Oklahoma Grazing Lands Coalition (OKGLC).

Our goal was to introduce attendees to effective livestock handling techniques and link them to a Holistic Approach to ranching.

Wayne started the day by challenging participants to explore their knowledge of ecosystem function, animal genetics and animal handling by working through The Six Thinking Hats concept, as introduced in Edward de Bono book of the same name.

By challenging not only what we think we know, but also the thought process we use when making decisions and exploring possibilities, we can achieve very different outcomes than when we limit ourselves to our default thinking process.

Wayne explored 4 broad themes:

Our understanding of ecosystem function and the tools we need to effectively manage in nature’s image. How thinking differently and adaptively can yield positive outcomes.
Challenging how we view genetics and sharing thoughts on the value of writing policy that will guide clear, shared process and methodology to select animals to cull and genetics to introduce that produce a herd that is adapted to the local environment and economic and ecological goals.
Why to work with animals in a more harmonious, less stressful way.
The need to approach our management as a learning interaction, where incremental improvement if more valuable than quick, absolute outcomes.

Wayne went on to link how these components fit into the Holistic Management Framework. A hugely beneficial outcome of Holistic Management is to help managers focus attention and resources where in the chain of production they are most appropriately needed.

Dawn is clearly a master animal handler. Her videos display her ability by the remarkable things she can get animals to do in a calm and confident way. But this is not her most valuable skill. She has a unique ability to break down how animals respond to stimulus – both intended and unintended, by human handlers. She shows how these stimuli impact the animals in very predictable ways. Many of us were shocked to realize that we had been giving the wrong signals to move animals our whole lives. We were all motivated to try the

correct way when we got home.This unintended communication leads to frustration by the handlers and, initially, confused animals that later become terrified because of the frustration on the part of the handler.

Wayne noted that he could see himself in the instructive video clips Dawn used to demonstrate the point of handlers giving precisely the incorrect cues. What was remarkable was how the same animals in the same situation would completely change their behavior when a knowledgeable person who does understand how to pressure and release animals, can quickly, and seemingly effortlessly communicate the desired outcome to the animals. They respond calmly and proactively to the correct stimulus.

Dawn eloquently articulated the economic benefits of keeping animals calm and confident in a wide variety of situations. These include better forage intake, fewer bad habits, less morbidity and mortality and a more enjoyable experience for the managers.

Wayne closed the day with a presentation on drought preparation. The key points of the presentation were:

1. Drought is inevitable, so plan accordingly.

2. Inventory management is key – both animal inventory and forage inventory

Animal inventory is important because planning it enables the manager to minimize the negative impacts of destocking with low rainfall and optimize the restocking when higher growth years return
Knowing how much forage you have in the dormant season, and matching animal numbers to that forage translates to being able to keep more animals until growth conditions return. Acting soon is imperative.
Wayne showed how these actions can be done with planning effectively.

Thanks to Oklahoma GLC for the opportunity to share information. Thanks to the enthusiastic participants for their interaction, thoughts, wisdom and questions. Everyone involved learned a great deal from the interactions.