The Science of Holistic Planned Grazing | Dr. Richard Teague

This webinar was broadcast live on Earth Day 2021, featuring Dr. Richard Teague, one of the most well-published researchers studying the ecological effects of Holistic Planned Grazing, referred to as Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing in the literature. In this webinar, Dr. Teague gives an overview of his published work and answers live questions from the audience.
For a curated collection of Dr. Teague's and others' peer-reviewed studies on Holistic Management, Holistic Planned Grazing, and other tangential topics, check out Savory's Science Library at savory.global/science-library
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About Savory Institute:
Grasslands represent 1/3 of the Earth's terrestrial surface, but their steady decline has led to a loss of food, water, and climate security. The Savory Institute's mission is to promote the large-scale regeneration of the world’s grasslands through Holistic Management.
Holistic Management is a systems-thinking approach for managing the complexities of living systems. Through a decision-making framework and suite of planning procedures - including but not limited to Holistic Planned Grazing - Holistic Management gives people the insights and management tools needed to understand nature: resulting in better, more informed decisions that balance key social, environmental, and financial considerations.

[@EricFapton]

The planned Grazing TED got a standing ovation. I never saw a more enthusiastic response from a crowd.

[@carlstawicki1915]

Dr. Teague's voice sounds just like Alan Savory's. I'm listing to this in the background while working on other things and had to do a double-take.

[@mbp2059]

Fantastic summary of your life's work, Prof. Teague. Thank you for devoting your life to this great work. My kids and future grandkids will benefit from this! Enjoy your well-deserved retirement. Cheers.

[@Lavasalsa1]

Wonderful research regarding the effects of holistic planned grazing and pasture management! Carbon sink, enhanced biology and nutrition for animals. Keep going and show the doubters the data.

[@tonytony1035]

Excellent discussion. We should hear more from Dr. Teague. Please consider making your own videos Dr. Teague.

[@0498400152]

Such an amazingly simple explanation - Thanks Doc. The other thing which struck me is that we are only just beginning to understand soil life function and one of the cornerstones of HPG is exactly that - Accomodate new knowlegde as it comes around.

[@thepeopleplaceandnaturepod8344]

Wow, this video really opened my eyes to the beauty of our environment! Thank you!

[@shawnmulberry774]

When you consider organizations like Monsanto funding research labs in traditional institutions, they probably don't work very hard to fund this type of research. So opportunities to do this might come from donors within an organization (maybe one that has already been formed?) that is friendly with the ideas of regenerative agriculture methods and permaculture. Also there may be ancillary study programs that fit in - e.g. Mycology and Entomology students might find some research work here.

[@andykelly7367]

Well said Shawn! 👍

[@fabricadebezerros]

Thanks for the opportunity!

[@rodrigosouto9502]

That was an amazing video. Great content with information at the deepest level.

[@dhruvtripathi8420]

Great insights thank you so much!

[@Reality-so6gt]

Try this. Research the local fauna and list what critters may be helpful to your goals. Determine the largest average head-size of your desired host of helpful animals. Buy tarps. As many of the largest size you can to cover your test patch of land. Now gather rocks of slightly larger size than the largest of your little helpers. Distribute the rocks over your test patch close enough to each other under the tarp to create raised areas of tarp that small helpful animals can move under. Cut holes every so often of the size determined to be just right for them to fit through. Bury and secure the outside edge of your collection of connected tarps so predators are kept out. The safety of this environ should attract a community of animals that will fortify the soil. If left for a single season, alternating between tarped fields, the rejuvenation of the tarped soil may be comparable to or possibly even better than the current mobile livestock solution. This experiment is worth trying if only to see if a positive outcome is possible without the expense of the mobile livestock. The soil is not hoof-churned but the numbers of smaller animals attracted to the safe-bunker may result in a more diverse microbial enrichment.

[@naomiroyle9637]

Interesting. I have a quarter acre which I haven't mowed for 3 years. No animals such as cows or sheep. I put a shade cloth over to weigh down the 4 ft grass. The cloth is 10ft x 80ft. Move it after the grass is slightly flattened. Have done some digging to check earthworms and root depth. Finding more worms and deeper roots. Considering borrowing a couple sheep from a friend. Need fences. Really good fences. Definitely will try your system since I'm into research. Just given 30 bales of hay for compost. No one wanted it for feed. Wool, cardboard, and wood chips.

[@alexkerpe930]

wow thankyou so much

[@TheEmbrio]

Quite a complete, state-of-the- science overview. I'm glad research has been done.

[@lilacDaisy111]

I have yet to hear anyone say how many head per acre, if moved daily. We're moving to 20 green acres, and there's a lot to take in before we do anything.

[@SavoryInstitute]

There is no one-size-fits-all answer here. Carrying capacity and stocking rate are highly individualized and dependent on forage availability. I would recommend consulting with your local Savory Hub and having them help: savory.global/hubs

[@lilacDaisy111]

@@SavoryInstitute Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I didn't know that local hubs existed. Amazing!

[@shawnmulberry774]

So I checked but you have no videos. Would be curious if you did get something done using Savory hub methods or other permaculture techniques and if you had positive results. One year is not a long time to see a change but still curious.

[@loue6563]

Wow that would be great if McDonald’s got onboard with this since they are such high buyers of meat. It would really help to change how the meat industry is run.

[@maryloomis8075]

Question: How can Holisitic grazing and management help in a situation with soils that have been depleted from use of chemical fertilizers and herbicides. Is it ethical to graze animals on such lands, and will these animals become sick or infertile, thus being unsuitable for consumption? In some African countries desertification is partly a result of tyrannical governments burning out farmland year after year,in order to control the rural populations and drive farmers off their lands. But in the USA and India where farmers have succumb to big Agg and the use of hericides like Glyphosate that have destroyed the soil for many broad leaf crops, for as long or longer than a decade,... How does one go about healing these lands?

[@andrewperkin2179]

Interesting, 2 questions 1: but are domestic cattle able to eat a wide variety of plants. They are a product of their breeding which is focused on grasses. Dont you need browsers as well? 2: does profitability relate to productivity or/and the ecosystem services. Do you measure carbon sequestration or carbon cycling? Just because you have high soil carbon doesn't mean it no being released by the grazers. So whats the net gain for long term sequestration.

[@AllenBarclayAllen]

Impressive thanks..!

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) is the Savory Institute's scientific protocol for monitoring land health and verifying regenerative claims in the marketplace.

[@drcandyleighton3211]

Brilliant presentation apart from very last conclusion point. Water vapour condenses with temperature so strictly speaking is NOT a greenhouse gas. As temperatures increase more of it is absorbed into the atmosphere and it itself does absorb heat. However as water vapour rises in the atmosphere to cooler areas it condenses into clouds then falling as rain ie the hydrological cycle. Unlike greenhouse gases which determine Earth's temperature, Earth's temperature determines how much water vapour is in the atmosphere

[@mrbisse1]

May I suggest adding a surface water source, pigs, and the hoeing of contour ditches when they have the soil soft. It's a lot of work, but so satisfying to me AND the pigs.

[@SavoryInstitute]

If it fits your context, great!

[@mrbisse1]

@@SavoryInstitute I think it is worth it to try to make the context fit the technique. What is needed is only surface water -- even intermittent. The grey water from a house would be a start. I have written long and extensively over a period of almost 50 years about contour gardening and pasturing and developing bench terraces gradually and by hand. It has only been within the last two years that I have come to realize what an important role pigs have to play. If you care to look at this work, search "bisses" or "waterlove" on my KZbin channel "Frank's School". Soon I will be putting various videos of the pigs in action into a playlist that starts when some derelict pasture was still frozen. Here, though, you can see a little of it. Fossil fuel free they (we) convert that pasture into what looks like a lawn, but it takes a full season. This doesn't show it best, but it can give you an idea of what I do. kzbin.info/www/bejne/robPfqZtnrNnp6s

[@fireseedmusic]

I loved the video, but there was one confusion I am hoping I can get cleared up. At 27:06, Dr. Teague begins discussing nitrogen loads, & he says, " ... you will see the HPG & the exclosures were much higher than the other treatments." However, on the graph it looks like the HPG & the exclosures were the lowest. Is there something I am not understanding about the graph, or what is going on here? I'm hoping to show this video to some interns as part of an imminent training, so I am really hoping to get an answer on this right away. If anyone reading understands this better than I do, please help!

[@SavoryInstitute]

Great attention to detail. I would venture to guess that Dr. Teague misspoke and meant to say "lower" instead of "higher" since clearly that is what the data visually represents.

[@fireseedmusic]

​@@SavoryInstitute Thank you so much for your swift reply! It does lead me to this question: is it better then for the nitrogen loads to be lower, since he is using the graph to demonstrate the superiority of HPG? I would've thought it would be better for them to be higher, but maybe I am misunderstanding.

[@SavoryInstitute]

@@fireseedmusic If you have the PDF of the Park 2017 paper he's referencing, on p.117 it states "Under these conditions, water and nitrogen (N) accumulate and there is a reduction in photosynthesis and nutrient cycling that reduces ecosystem productivity."

[@fireseedmusic]

@@SavoryInstitute Thank you sooo much! I do not have that paper, & I am new to such information, so this is VERY helpful.

[@SavoryInstitute]

@@fireseedmusic Happy to help!

[@robhedrick9977]

I'm interested in the impact of AMP and Holistic Planned Grazing on Methane production. One of the benefits of this style is the support produced for an increased number of animals using the land. Does the biodiversity improvement of the land increase the Methane up-take?

[@charleswalters5284]

Yes

[@muscuut]

Can we have a savory branch in Kenya,we really need this especially the Northern part of the country

[@SavoryInstitute]

Yes, there is a Savory Hub in Kenya, the Mara Training Centre at Enonkishu Conservancy: www.maratrainingcentre.com/

[@chiquitafeldberg8512]

@@SavoryInstitute what about Australia?

[@hodanahmed5332]

This is desperately needed in the horn!! Is there a template or model that can be obtained to implement!!

[@drsprof6295]

The opposite of continuous grazing is rotational grazing. This looks to me as a kind of improved rotational grazing?

[@SavoryInstitute]

Holistic Management (the decision-making framework) and Holistic Planned Grazing (the step-by-step planning procedure) are so much more than rotational grazing. Here’s Allan talking a bit about the difference: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5LUgHSwZtx8q9Efeature=shared

[@nicolesavioz6601]

Make an explainer video, show before/after examples, and support with scientific data proving before and after management. Make papers known widely.

[@DasBullWy]

I would love to know the cattle/sheep/goat stock numbers per acre and how that ratio changes for the number of paddocks available as well as climate areas where this is practiced. Seems like an important part of this that I consistently miss or can't find. Not even examples. :(

[@Irishtradchannel]

I'm stocked at 1 steer to the acre. Bought in at 880lbs approx. Your land will be different, even if you were 5 miles from me

[@C.Hawkshaw]

Stock numbers are dependent on breed of animal, climate, health of soil and type of forage. In this video he showed statistics from the Southwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, the Dakotas, and Texas.

[@robpaton7]

Is there any published data on how livestock partition ingested C into methane vs carbon in dung, that has the potential to be locked up as humus? ie if a molecule of CO2 and a molecule of methane contain one C atom and humic acid contains 187… of every 1000 atoms of ingested C, how many become CO2, how many methane and how many make it into the humus molecule? Imagine it would be a difficult one to measure!

[@marynielsen9214]

For this to truly work Humanity has to accept the fact that Mother Nature is the best way and we are not smarter than she is. Good luck with the hubris so mankind. I do not see that happening anytime soon. Arrogance will be our death.

[@paulhand5015]

where did the three horsemen come from

[@tonytony1035]

Weird that the Savory Institute would have carpeting on the stairs.

[@shawnmulberry774]

Perhaps it is a carefully trimmed mycellium layer lol

[@C.Hawkshaw]

Wouldn’t it be great if McDonalds started buying and advertising HPG meat?

[@loue6563]

Yes I was just saying that too they are one of the largest buyers of meat it could really change they way animals are raised.

[@andykelly7367]

Any hopes for funding from Monsanto? 😳 Great work and brilliantly presented common sense from the past. Love you guys and keep updating the science for the next generations of independent thinkers to replace the herds of Climate “sheep” screaming about deleting cows from the planet! 🙄

[@shawnmulberry774]

hahaha ... not a chance i bet

[@charleswalters5284]

What an offensive comment. monsanto is mega evil. This isn't from the past. Calling people animal names is not mature or civilized. Who you working for?

[@shawnmulberry774]

This is why I feel it would great to have a special font for sarcasm....

[@andykelly7367]

@@charleswalters5284 I think you misinterpreted my comment? It was a dig at Monsanto mate. Monsanto are an abomination on the planet! Equally it appears that the people who wish to wipe cattle out of existence are unwittingly making more pastures of land available for Monsanto to sow their seeds of evil into more of the soil; thus contamination and degradation of what is currently “safe” from the greedy hands of Monsanto and their kind. (I sincerely hope this clarifies my thoughts and opinion on my comment?) It’s just good old fashioned sarcastic English humour I guess. If you’re offended by my using the “sheep” allegory I am sorry but personally I meant no harm. ( Soon I will be attacked for saying “it’s as hot as hell!) ☮️ peace maan. Chill out and enjoy your moment in life. It’ll be over before you know it. 🤷‍♂️👍

[@andykelly7367]

@@shawnmulberry774 yep! Some people are too busy looking for something to complain about or be offended by; they miss the point being made. Never mind and I hope this doesn’t offend you and hurt your feelings? 👍😂

[@C.Hawkshaw]

Is it true that earthworms are from Europe?

[@shawnmulberry774]

Not exactly. Some earthworms are native to the US and they are mostly found in the South and West parts of US. Some were introduced from Europe and also from Asia. Look up Lumbricina to read about invasive speces earthworms. Not good for some forests, but good for most farms.

[@AllenBarclayAllen]

Allan Savory institute of holistic land manigment put the herds cattel sheep back. Opens up our eyes to God's Commandment, " Thou shalt not muscle the ox that tread it out the corn"..! God's holistic land manigment and Allen Savory's are the same! No wonder Cain sacrifice not accepted people it wasent sustainable with the land..! " Honor your father and your mother that thy days may be long upon the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee". You won't be there long farmer if you don't combine being a herdsman with the farmer !

[@theomatthews297]

lol u serios

[@clayboy699]

wef and the woke hate this

[@SavoryInstitute]

"Woke" is a divisive term designed and perpetuated to categorically discredit an entire group's systems of beliefs. We prefer to find common ground among seemingly disparate groups and work toward solutions rather than further division.

[@andrewperkin2179]

@@SavoryInstitute Well said. Im glad the Savory institute embraces dialogue. As as so called woke person Im interested in any solutions to fix our climate and biodiversity losses. Although I hope the SI does get used to greenwash the corporate beef industry.

[@entrepreneursfinest]

I hate to be harsh, but this is interesting but useless information. What to do, how to do it, and why to do it - that could be useful. Not knowing exactly what these ranchers were doing makes all of the data null and just cool numbers to talk about.

[@st.peterunner8758]

If you cared at all about the environment you’d be advocating for the stopping of animal agriculture, not “holistic grazing”. Laughable

[@dmbdmb3828]

🌻