08Facebook TwitterA recent paper, "The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability?" (Mayshar et al., 2022), highlights how seemingly small changes in subsistence can have vast and far-reaching implications for human well-being. In this paper, the researchers suggest that throughout history, the development of tax-fueled states and empires required grain agriculture, not necessarily high production […]
06Facebook TwitterSavanna LLC is looking for an experienced grazing manager to sublease its organic certified Western Oregon ranch but will retain the grazing lease. The company is investigating other opportunities and may sublease the ranch to a manager preferably experienced with Bud William's Low-Stress Stockhandling and forage management.Retaining the lease allows the new ranch owner to […]
06Facebook TwitterIn my last post I connected the dots between the stress I create in myself and the stress I create for my livestock. This week I will look at how this same pattern holds for the researchers that study stress in cattle. Let me explain. There are a few different ways to understand stress in […]
I figured out why the cattle were stressed. Spoiler Alert: It was me.
I used to struggle and struggle to get them to go over the tide gate, an imposing concrete edifice. I thought that it looked like a steep cliff; I thought they couldn't even see where to go. Somethings off here. I share more on my blog.
Why “I Don’t Hate Mob Grazing” is a Mostly True Statement. With Caveats.
Facebook TwitterLast week I described how Bud and Eunice Williams got pretty nervous when I started talking about my passion for grass management. When I asked him why, Bud simply said, “Sometimes people will bring livestock back to a pasture at just the wrong time for the grass and it really knocks it. They would have […]
An Ecological Defense of Stress (and Money and Reproduction) PT 1
FacebookTwitterI traded a neighbor, an arborist, a quarter of beef for some tree work. Throwing branches on a fire is a good way to chat and we started talking about our respective businesses. He said he made a conscious decision a long time ago to limit the jobs that he took to what he could […]