Holistic Management at Milkwood

A quick note as I haven’t mentioned our upcoming Intro to Holistic Management course with Kirk Gadzia that starts on the 1st of November.

>> Holistic Management with Kirk Gadzia: 1-3 November @ Milkwood Farm, NSW

Having worked side by side with Allan Savory for many years, Kirk knows a thing or two about using herbivores to heal a landscape. What’s more, he’s an amazing teacher, the likes of whom I haven’t yet encountered. So it’s a pretty special opportunity to have him back.

Kirk’s Intro to Holistic Management courses are a bit like taking a scrubbing brush to how you think herbivores sit within the landscape of a farm, cleaning out everything you’ve assumed and seen as you were growing up.

From there, you can design a grazing plan based on what your farm, and your family, needs. Everyone’s needs are different, so everyone’s grazing plan is different. It’s a bit like an energy audit, with the outcome being a plan that improves your land, your animals and your livelihood based on the available resources and energy.

The Keily's property 'Uamby' near Goolma NSW. The bright green bit is the Holistically Managed part.

This planning is also, of course, based on knowledge of how herbivores intersect with pastures, what is and isn’t a good idea, and how to roll with the punches of weather and bad seasons. What starts off as a seemingly complex problem turns out to be quite do-able.

At the end of last year’s edition of this course, we had 45 farmers who went away with a good solid understanding of the basics of Holistic Management. Lots of excited faces by the end, and lots of chatting, drawing and planning as everyone discussed each other’s situations.