Grazing systems study "missed the point"

In the eyes of educators from the RCS and Holistic Management schools, the four-year grazing study led by Trevor Hall missed the point by a wide margin.

"What is needed is some very good basic science to underpin principles, and not some uninterpretable 'comparison'," said RCS founder Terry McCosker.

"What we have is none of what is actually needed and plenty of info on what some individuals do."

Both Mr McCosker and Bruce Ward of Holistic Results questioned the lack of clear definition of each grazing systems, which the study report only explained as lying on "a continuum from low-input continuous grazing, through rotational systems, to intensive 'cell' systems".

"In my opinion this deficiency in definition alone renders the entire document of no credible value," Mr Ward said.

Mr McCosker's chief criticism is that in most cases, the study assessed changes on properties many years after management had switched to time-controlled grazing.

"Having been involved in most of the study properties in the early years, I know what significant changes had occurred before this project got started."

While Mr Hall's study showed no changes in pasture digestibility and crude protein, or in carrying capacity, Mr McCosker said that RCS's own data, collected on a similar basis, showed improvements in each category when properties switched from "real" continuous grazing to more intensively managed grazing systems.

Mr McCosker also argued that there is a difference between applying principles, which can be interpreted differently in different situations, compared to the more rigid application of management practices.

Bruce Ward had a similar difficulty with the study.

"'System' is a revealing word I found used in this document no less than 96 times, and this indicates to me that the authors believe that they were studying replicable 'systems' that could be viewed in isolation," Mr Ward said.

"The authors seem not to comprehend the elementary concept that [Holistic Management founder] Allan Savory espouses throughout his book and other writings, which is that the reason for adopting a carefully-constructed grazing planning process is to simultaneously obtain a three-fold advantage for the managers of the business."

Those advantages are ecological improvement, and the financial and social outcomes desired by the land managers. The results are achieved by applying a decision-making process that, unlike a system, allows different outcomes for different people in different situations, Mr Ward said.

"To study grazing alone and in isolation, as this project did, is to miss the point altogether."

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