Practices to Build a Future
“We aren’t planting these trees for us. We are planting them for you and your sister if you decide to come back to the ranch someday. This is an improvement for your generation, not mine.”
These are the first words that really planted the seed for a mindset of continual care of the land through improvements such as planting trees or rotational grazing. My father said them to me. My dramatic 9-year-old self still didn’t want to plant another row of trees that day, but I am glad he made me do it as I now look forward to a future of still being able to ranch on that same land.
If you tuned into my latest episode, you know that it was about regenerative ranching. This was a topic that I was very excited to share with my audience for a couple of reasons.
First of all, it’s IMPORTANT! It’s crucial that we care for our land for the sake of improving our resources, making our operations more profitable and to be able to pass them down to the next generation.
Secondly, a lot of these practices are what ranchers have been doing or exposed to for years. I was excited to share this because I have had listeners and friends ask, “What exactly is regenerative ranching?” It’s a big buzzword right now but the reality is that many of you are already doing some form of it. That could be anything from planting cover crops, your rotational grazing plan or really any practice that improves soil health.
What’s my take on it? I do believe it is the future of ranching, especially as we move closer to more fully traceable products. However, it will look different for each operation. Each region and each ranch have its own unique resources, challenges and goals. I don’t believe there is a one size fits all approach to this for that reason. I do believe that we need to continue to ask ourselves what else we can do to improve the resources we have and the entire system of our operations.
I’d like to hear your responses to this. What is one practice you do to improve the quality of your land and keep it healthy?
