"I grew up with ranching, so when I graduated from college in 1984, I knew that was what I wanted to do," says Joe Morris. He went to work on a large cattle ranch in Nevada.

Joe didn't anticipate that a deepening desire to contribute to social good would lead him to hang up his cowboy hat and embark on a Catholic Mission to Venezuela to help the poor and work for social justice. Back in the states a few years later, however, he found a way to connect his two passions in the Holistic Management System developed by Allan Savory.

The Morris Family

The Morris family had been ranching in the Mediterranean climate of central California since the mid-1800's, with Joe the fifth generation raised on the land. Using Savory's holistic system, Joe reinvigorated the family ranching business in 1991, and reinvented their land stewardship. "The principles we are using now weren't known in this part of the world until Allan Savory brought them to the U.S. from Africa. Our holistic planning process guides us in the relentless pursuit of our three main goals, which are really three parts of one complex goal: First, a peaceful, happy life. Then, produce some profit to sustain our livelihood. Finally, maintain a healthy, biologically diverse landscape."

Work toward each of these goals supports the others. For example, copying natural systems, they are restoring native plants to the landscape, which is in turn boosting economic returns. "We use a holistic grazing plan to time the grazing and animal impact to the recovery needs of perennial plants. The economic principle is that native perennials produce a longer growing season, turning more solar energy into forage. The sun is the source of all our wealth. Perennial plants also protect the soil, keeping it covered when the first rains hit, soaking up water quickly, and releasing it slowly. That's what we are trying to produce on a landscape scale."

"We have become aware that the environment in which we are ranching is not static. In the past, native perennial plants were continuously exposed to grazing animals. These perennials were eventually replaced by annual grasslands. Now we know perennials need recovery time between grazing."

In order to ensure adequate recovery periods for perennial grasses, Joe maintains tight control over their grazing animals. "Through study and experience, we have learned to group larger herds of animals with a high degree of control and as little stress as possible. During the summer of 1998 we received a grant to experiment with herd effect through grazing at very high stock densities. We used electric fencing to maintain stock density at a rate of no less than 30 pairs per acre, and at times above 300 pairs per acre. There was remarkably even utilization of forage, universally good litter coverage of the soil, and almost no trailing. Using herd effect as a tool, we are improving the effectiveness of the water and mineral cycles, while optimizing the solar energy flow through plants to animal and human communities."

Joe has realized an economic gain by moving to a spring calving season, based on the pattern observed in nature in which deer fawn in the spring. Although their calves are smaller at weaning (an average of 475 pounds) than fall calves, they make up the difference with unusually high reproductive rates, as high as 97%, and unusually low feed costs.

With his new approaches, Joe has been able to boost the productivity of his herd by about 25%, and his gross profits about 10% over his conventional colleagues, and every year the land is improved. Net profits show even better results. By marketing their stewardship and management practices to his lessors, which include a 1200-acre state park and a 3000-acre private ranch, he has reduced lease costs in some cases to below market rates. "We are providing a service and adding value, rather than merely extracting value - forage - from the ranches we lease."

Vernal Pond on the Morris family ranch

Other reduced costs include feed costs - by storing fat on the cow instead of hay in the barn; labor costs - through tighter animal control; and cull cow costs. Meanwhile, revenues are up, with more valuable cull cows, more calves through spring breeding, and premium prices fetched for grass-fed beef.

Direct marketing grass-fed beef to his neighbors would improve Morris' economics even more - yielding $400/head rather than $175, and contribute to several other aspects of his holistic goal. Yet, regulations have made this next to impossible. "There's a market. People want grass-fed beef that tastes great and is better for you. By requiring a federally inspected processing plant however, regulators and the big corporate interests have made direct marketing beef to your neighbor difficult or even illegal. This is an issue that the community interested in sustainable agriculture has to address."

"I've loved being a cowboy from the time I could walk. I have always been taught by my family, you ought to do something you love. Love is an enormously powerful economic principle that is largely ignored in the money economy. To me, sustainability means reconnecting communities of people to the produce of the farms and ranches. To do that, we need to decentralize the food system, and make direct connections between farmers and people, so people know how their food is produced. Then corporate farms that are largely faceless wouldn't have the edge over people with faces in the community."

Joe Morris
T.O. Cattle Co.
500 Mission Vineyard Road
San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
Tel: (831) 623-4595

[Table of Contents]