Management Schools

[PureCountry]

I was wondering if any of you folks have ever attended one of those 'Ranching for Profit' schools, or something like it. I've read about them and viewed their website, and their price is a little high for me($2500). There's also a quite famous guy named Dr. Dick Diven who is supposed to be the authority on Low-Cost Cow/Calf production. In fact, that's his website, www.lowcostcowcalf.com. He puts on schools all over North America, and he's supposed to be coming to Lacombe, AB in November this year.
Any advice or experiences with these or any other schools/seminars?

[grassfarmer]

I, like you, am interested in the "ranching for profit school" - I was advised it would be well worth my money attending. Unfortunately I am not able to attend the Calgary one which lasts 4(?) days and is in January every year. Great if you are one of two brothers on a family farm but not possible if you are a one man band.
I managed to attend the Western Beef Forage group course at Lacombe in 2001 and learnt quite a bit at it although it is limited a bit on "outside the box" content being so tied to Alberta Agriculture and conventional thinking.
Equally I would love to attend the Holistic Management school in New Mexico but these things seem unobtainable at the moment for me on work grounds - kind of frustrating.

[nerves]

We were looking into this as well 5 years ago just before the drought started but rounding up the cash was a problem. A magazine Published out of the states named The Grassfarmer Magazine is good investment if you can"t afford the management schools. They deal with alot of differnt theories and some are way out there, but it helps to get you thinking outside the box. Some of the people putting on the school have articles in the magazine, and it is a monthly publication. The Biggs out of Coronation very familiar with the hololistic method of ranching, as well as the Halladay"s out by Leslieville and it seems to me that the Halladay"s have published a book about hololistic management also. Maybe talking to these people will help you to decide if this is the step you want to take before you spend the money.

[cakadu]

Allan Savory is the author of the book that you are speaking about - Holistic Management - and the Halladay's are two of just a handful of certified Holistic instructors in Canada.

I believe Allan's website is: www.holisticmanagement.org

Interesting material to be sure.

[grassfarmer]

I am a subscriber to Stockman Grassfarmer and find it interesting although climaticaly many of their ideas don't translate well up here. Perhaps in the future western Canada could have a similar publication?
I am familiar with Savory's books/website and find them amazing although sometimes difficult to fully understand with my simple brain. I have heard of the Halladays at Leslieville and look forward to meeting them as they are farming very similar land to mine.

[ALICIA]

Don't you wonder why its more profitable to tell farmers how to farm rather that farm.

[nerves]

Grassfarmer that is what my simple brain came up with to. We tried alot of the theories to. For 4 years then drought hit us and it was a race to see who was going to get the stockpile of grass first the hoppers or the cows. The fields left to seed clover were hit hard by hoppers eating the seed not touching the plant itself. In the end we incororated some of the ideas learnt and made so new discoveries ourselfs, we are in heavy clay with lots of peat although I do believe in fertilizing I don"t care to use much nitrogen. I guess what ever works for is best.

[grassfarmer]

Nerves, I laughed when I read about your grasshoppers. Last August I had a couple of fields that we calved on and grazed hard through into June then left for carryover grazing - until the hoppers got hungry on the neighbours perm-graze pastures and moved in, it was discouraging to say the least! I have been planning my revenge this winter and will attack the hoppers with a mobile hen house on skids loaded with a bunch of old cull hens this summer. Wish me luck!

[cowman]

I do believe a person should be careful when attending these "management schools". The problem is, I believe, that they are preaching the "gospel" of "how to do it right"? The actual fact...and everybody should know this...is that there is no "right"way! Never has been, never will be!
There is a young farmer fairly close to me that trotted off to the "holistic" school. Well things started to change big time when he got back! Away went the grain land and the machinery. Away went all the big good doing cattle and in came the beefbooster scrubs!
Now he likes to give little speeches about how well things are...
Well I saw his 425 lb. runts sell last fall at the bottom of the market and his Dad tells me things are not very rosy on the financial front! I've also noticed the toadflax has pretty well taken over those "holistically" managed pastures and the county has been after him to clean it up!
Now I wonder, when the day comes when he goes belly up, if they will put that success story in the holistic literature?

[nerves]

Grassfarmer I will be watching for articals this fall in the canadian cattleman magazine about the man who made it big selling steaks and renting porta-achickens. Cowman I think you are absolutely correct, My dad always said the land has to produce in this area, if you want to make a living off of it. The best investment I ever made was a Kneverland plow.