Cowboy 101: Detente, At Last

For two decades we ran cattle the way the ag school taught us: continuous grazing, commercial fertilizer, and whatever seed the co-op was pushing. The soil got tired. So did we.

"The turning point was a Savory workshop in the mid-nineties. Move the cattle every two or three days. Let each paddock rest for sixty. Watch what happens."

What happened was the grass came back. Not the fescue monoculture we'd planted - the real stuff. Clovers, orchardgrass, plantain, chicory. The soil went from concrete to sponge.