Fox Ranch - Colorado

Case Study

Savory Institute (2013) Fox Ranch - Colorado. 1:1-4.

Key Takeaways

The Savory Institute (SI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) worked on a pilot project to introduce Holistic Planned Grazing at two of their Colorado ranches: Fox Ranch and BX Ranch.
These projects evolved into what is now TNC's Sustainable Grazing Lands initiative.
In the first year of the project, yearling stocking rates increased 93% and weight gains in the 2012 yearling herd increased by 37%, both despite historic drought.
A 2016 update from TNC shows increased growing season length, stability of the growing season length through the 2012-2014 period of drought, and greater length of growing season length in 2012-2014 compared to the control group.

Summary

The Colorado Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (the Conservancy) and the Savory Institute (SI) agreed in 2011 to work together to advance the joint strategic interest and desire to enable enhanced conservation, restore ecological functions, and safeguard biological diversity of the seasonally dry grasslands of the world through the use of Holistic Management. The parties have been working together to improve the use of the best available science to enhance, better inform, and enrich the holistic planning processes and their outcomes. In order to develop and test the delivery of triple bottom line outcomes in these grassland environments, the parties are working to assemble a “Pilot Portfolio” of ranches.