Re: Holistic Resource Management........
Beth Spaugh wrote:
> HRM, formed by Alan Savory. Briefly, as
> I understand it, HRM involves a series of workshops on management and
> decisions. Savory himself was very committed to intensive rotational
> grazing and several of my friends involved in HRM are very pleased with
> the grazing systems they have implemented.
I have read a little in my busy schedule about the thread of info on the
Holistic Resource Management subject. I have heard Savory speak and have
followed the development of the HRM since its inception. Savory's
holism was probably the best put explanation of integrating the social
aspects and the definition of human goals into the maximization of a
sustainable type management for grazed ecosystems that I have ever seen.
But his grazing system is really an original attempt to define intensified
grazing. Any and all forms of controlled, intensified grazing take expert,
committed management with near-perfect planning and goal setting. His plan
properly calls for such. But care is prudent: is intensified grazing now
synonymous with sustainabile grazing?
Savory's ideas were tremendous...his plan was to sustain the family aspects
of grazing management. The Aussies and Kiwi's have shown the
applicability of his concept to near-perfection. There are other highly
successful attempts in the U.S. and around the globe. But the system has not
only failed in many cases, it has been utterly disastrous. Savory's system
seems to have developed from a concept that I describe as such: "well, we've
been putting less animals on the land for years and it's just not working....
let's put twice as many more and see what happens!" Twice as
many, half the time. Ten times as many, 1/10th the time. And variations of
such.
Sometimes the "opposite as is" thought works - crazy as it sounds.
In Savory's HRM case it worked! But not in EVERY case, and Savory's inclusion
of the social aspect seems to have been the "what goes around, comes around"
culprit - people think that it's a golden egg that will save the ranch, send
the kids to college, etc., etc.
Please:
Lest a few folks be confused - *** I AM NOT ATTACKING HRM. ***** It has
it's wildly successful attempts as proof. I believe in the concept. It
does work - particularly for already intense operations, such as dairies.
It also has some extremely disastrous mis-applications, which have probably
been mostly due to "implementor" error. So folks needn't bother to post away
in taking sides!
There are soundly based research refutations of much of the
details of Savory's grazing practices. I only suggest to please attempt to
read a good deal of the research oriented refutations of the intensified
grazing proposed by the HRM concept before becoming mesmerized with its known
marketability.
AGAIN....don't misunderstand my appreciation for the majority of the HRM's
concepts. Savory is a genius - but nobody's perfect ;).
J. Bach