By Clark Davis

How can ranchers and farmers improve soil health, maximize profits, make better habitat for wildlife and live a better life?  A documentary series called Carbon Cowboys starts a discussion on how some producers are doing just that.  Learning from friends and neighbors to make our community, business, and the environment better for us and future generations is the goal of an event called Grazing Logic to be held on Tue. Mar. 5 from noon to 3 pm at the District Shop, 624 Hwy 1806 in Watford City, ND.  North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition (NDGLC), Pheasants Forever (PF), McKenzie County Soil Conservation District (SCD), McKenzie County Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and North Dakota Wildlife Federation (NDWF) came up with the idea to bring this conversation to the area.

By showing a segment of the Carbon Cowboys documentary series and then having NDGLC mentors lead the attendees in discussion, producers can leave the presentation with ideas and concrete knowledge on how to improve their livelihoods while improving habitat for pheasants, deer and other game and non-game wildlife.  NDGLC mentors Dustin Roise, Donnie Feiring, and Chad Njos already practice these methods here in North Dakota, so they bring real experiences and results to the topics presented by the videos.  There are 10 videos in the Carbon Cowboys series and the meeting will focus on the first video to give ideas to North Dakota ranchers and producers. 

Here is a brief description of the videos:

Soil Carbon Cowboys

Gabe Brown, Allen Williams and Neil Dennis were all going out of business with their conventional grazing – then nature forced their hand to try grazing without chemicals because they couldn’t afford them anymore. They are now the pioneers in regenerative grazing – replacing the specter of bankruptcy with resiliency. These ranchers regenerate their soils, which makes their animals healthier and their operations more profitable. Robust soils enable rainwater to sink into the earth rather than run off; and retain that water, so the ranches are much more resilient in drought.

Other videos in the series that can be viewed for free online are:

One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts

Fourth generation cattleman Will Harris shares his evolution from an industrial, commodity cowboy to sustainable, humane food producer. A growing group of consumers look at beef consumption as a terrible environmental and moral choice. Harris’s work in southwest Georgia shows how he produces healthy beef that regenerates his soils and allows the animals to express their natural instincts. The 150+ jobs he has created are breathing new life into a community left behind and forgotten due to, as Will says, the industrialization of agriculture.

During the Drought

Michael Thompson, a young farmer in Kansas, is regenerating his soils with no-till and cover crop practices coupled with Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing – giving his farm resilience during the severe 2011 and 2012 droughts. While his neighbors’ soils are washing down gullies and blowing away towards the east, Michael is building a farm he can leave to his children. His exemplary work was given the Kansas Farm Bureau Natural Resources Award.

The Grazing Logic event on Mar. 5 will help producers learn techniques to benefit their operations, addressing topics such as:

• Graze it and get the heck off it.
• Benefits from polycultures.
• Healthy Soils, Healthy Plants.
• If it provides nutrition to livestock, it’s not a weed — it’s a forage.

Join your friends and neighbors on Tue. Mar. 5 from noon to 3 pm CT at the District Shop, 624 Hwy 1806 in Watford City, ND for a showing and discussion of the Carbon Cowboys documentaries.  The event is sponsored by Pheasants Forever, North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition, McKenzie County Soil Conservation District, McKenzie County NRCS, and North Dakota Wildlife Federation.  The event is free and includes a meal.  Register by calling Karissa at (701) 842-3628 ext. 3. 

Clark Davis is a Dakota Edge Outdoors contributing writer and the Southwest Precision Ag and Conservation Specialist for North Dakota Pheasants Forever.

Featured Photo: Watch It Grow. Cover crops, and other grazing techniques that benefit wildlife while promoting a better bottom line and healthier livestock are the focus of an upcoming symposium hosted by ND Pheasants Forever and partner groups on Mar. 5 in Watford City. Simonson Photo.