HMI is excited to announce that Deborah Clark from Henrietta, Texas has recently completed four years of training to become an HMI Holistic Management Certified Educator.
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. The primary goals of the grazing practice are to consistently improve range conditions, soil health, and cattle productivity. A secondary interest is assessing and monitoring the impact of high density grazing on wildlife and habitat with a focus on bobwhite quail. Emry has been a practitioner of Holistic Management since the early 1980s and Deborah has been involved in Holistic Management since 2009. As a Certified Educator Deborah works to help others learn to manage their resources in a way that keeps the business, land, family, and community healthy.
When we asked Deborah what prompted her to undertake HMI's Certified Educator Training and what she had learned, she noted: "In 2004 when we moved to the ranch I had no idea what we were doing. It seemed like a wonderfully romantic and adventurous notion to finally combine career paths with my husband, Emry Birdwell. I was fond of saying “how hard could ranching be”? How hard? It was baptism by fire. Emry encouraged me to take Holistic Management courses. I did; I still didn’t get it. I found myself in presentations simply regurgitating what Emry said or what I memorized from the last workshop. I knew that to have any real understanding of the principles and practices of Holistic Management I had to commit to a deeper course of study and application. The Certified Educator program was the answer. Through the past three years I have gained a deep appreciation, bordering on a spiritual reverence, for the “whole” comprised of the rangeland, livestock, wildlife, water, soil, forage, people, and community we have the privilege to live with and manage. The Certified Educator program taught me the value of what is possible in the world of agriculture through a holistic perspective and created a desire in me to share this with other practitioners."
Visit HMI's Success Stories page to learn more about the results that Deborah and Emry have achieved on their ranch.
Holistic Management International’s mission is to educate people in regenerative agriculture for healthy land and thriving communities.
We have helped farmers and ranchers in 130 countries learn and practice Holistic Management for the past 3 decades. You can read some of their Success Stories to learn how Holistic Management has changed their lives and impacted their land.
As a non-profit organization, HMI is always grateful for donations in support of our mission. You can help regenerate land for healthy food and healthy lives with many giving options including scholarships for farmer/rancher training. Learn more here.
