What place for livestock on a re-greening earth?
This paper contemplates the role of livestock and livestock management in providing helpful ecosystem services, “re-greening the earth,” through a literature review considering both the well documented injurious and highly beneficial outcomes of ruminants on landscapes.
Regarding Holechek and Briske, and Rebuttals by Teague
This article discusses reports authored by university researchers David Briske and Jerry Holechek that were critical of methods they had attributed to Allan Savory. It is shown that the Briske and Holechek mischaracterized Savory’s work and that, in fact, the types of trials they reviewed are precisely the type that Savory himself discourages.
Origin, Persistence, and Resolution of the Rotational Grazing Debate: Integrating Human Dimensions Into Rangeland Research
This paper examines the origins of the “rotational grazing” debate in range management and suggests that discrepancies between scientific findings and manager experience can be rectified through a context of “complex adaptive systems” where social and biophysical factors are considered as well as experimental evidence. The paper mistakenly equates the work of Allan Savory with rotational grazing and demonstrates the author’s lack of deep understanding on the issue.
Critical choices for crop and livestock production systems that enhance productivity and build ecosystem resilience
This report provides an overview of systems of production that reduce negative agricultural impacts on the use of soil, water, and biological resources; many highlighted approaches (e.g. maximizing crop residue, enhancing nutrient and water cycles, etc.) regenerate ecosystem resilience and ecosystem services. Planned grazing strategies recognize that it is not livestock per se but the choice of grazing management system and its suitability for the landscape, that leads to positive or negative effects. Holistic Management (HM), which uses timed controlled grazing to replicate the behaviour and effects of wild herds of ungulates in original ecosystems, particularly in semi-arid areas, is the best known grassland management system that uses livestock as a tool to enhance productivity and ecosystem function. HM has been used effectively on different continents to restore grassland ecosystems in the absence of increased rainfall or irrigation.
Multi-paddock grazing on rangelands: Why the perceptual dichotomy between research results and rancher experience?
This paper explores how perceptions differ among rangeland managers who have effectively used multi-paddock grazing systems and the research scientists who have studied them.
A global assessment of Holistic Planned Grazing™ compared with season-long, continuous grazing: meta-analysis findings
This paper performs a “quantitative meta-analysis” of twenty-one grazing studies that are claimed to represent Holistic Planned Grazing (HPG) in a comparison with performance data from year long continuous grazing. The paper finds no significant difference in plant basal cover, plant biomass and animal performance and thus refutes claims that HPG is superior in those areas. It does not say it is inferior, only that there is no meaningful difference. There is a thorough rebuttal to this paper.
Who’s afraid of Allan Savory? Scientometric polarization on Holistic Management
This paper uses “scientometrics” to understand the structure of science on Holistic Management (HM) to better understand the controversy underlying it. Results show that those who take a positive position on Holistic Management are those doing farm-scale (rather than experimental) work in dry climates.
Review of Evidence on Drylands Pastoral Systems and Climate Change: Implications and Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation
This report highlights the importance of drylands, grazing lands and livestock-based livelihoods and illustrates their relationship with climate and with climate mitigation through the adoption of methodologies to restore soil. The editors write “There is a great potential for carbon sequestration in drylands because of their large extent and because substantial historic carbon losses mean that drylands soils are now far from saturation (FAO/LEAD, 2006). Lal (2004) estimates that soil carbon sequestration in the dryland ecosystems could achieve about 1 billion tonnes C per year but reaching this will require a vigorous and coordinated effort at a global scale.” It should be noted that more recent studies suggest that the drawdown potential might be higher.
Challenges and opportunities for carbon sequestration in grassland systems: a technical report on grassland management and climate mitigation
This 2010 FAO report makes a strong case for grasslands restoration as a climate mitigation strategy and “improved grazing management” as one of the most important practices for enhancing soil carbon stocks.
Soil Carbon Sequestration in Grazing Lands: Societal Benefits and Policy Implications
This paper from 2010 is a compilation of previous studies on grazing lands and carbon drawdown which themselves date from the 1990s. It shows that grazing lands/rangelands are major stores of terrestrial carbon, occupying approximately 3.6 billion hectares and accounting for about one-fourth of potential carbon (C) sequestration in world soils. Drawdown rates via grazing and on restored semi-arid savanna are reported to be as high as 2.75 tons per hectare per year.
