Why would A&W move to serving customers only grass-fed beef? “It is all about feeling good about the food you eat,” says the coupon book. OK, but what is so special about grass-fed beef? It’s simple says A&W, “cattle graze on pasture and the grazing helps the grasslands thrive.”

Gerond Davidson is the fifth generation of his family to continually farm and raise cattle at Springbank Farm near Neepawa.

“Today the term ‘grass-fed’ beef is being used as a marketing term that is gaining popularity with restaurants wanting to connect the beef they sell with a healthy environment,” Davidson said.

“Grass fed suggests a different management of the cattle, as compared to other approaches like a ‘conventional’ approach (open pasture), ‘grain fed’ (feedlot approach), or ‘grass finished’ (no grain) approach. The term ‘grass fed’ is somewhat ambiguous because at some point all cattle are ‘grass fed’ on summer pasture.”

In the ‘grass-fed’ world, a more holistic approach is often taken with pasture management. This includes rotational grazing, multi-paddock grazing, or mob grazing. Basically, they all mean the same thing. You move cattle through small paddocks and intensively graze, allowing grass in the ungrazed paddocks to regrow during rest periods, Davidson said.

“We have been raising cattle in a holistic way for almost 25 years now,” he said.

Keeping pasture grass and forage plants in a continuous state of vegetative growth means they absorb more carbon from the atmosphere, Davidson said.

“This has the added benefit of increasing our soil organic matter, therefore increasing the soil water-holding capacity, as well as sequestering carbon,” he said. “We were early adopters of riparian management on our creeks and adjacent grasslands because we did not want cattle to be a potential threat to water quality. In 2006 I partnered with Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation through a Conservation Agreement to protect the riparian area, grasslands and wildlife habitat in one of my pastures along Boggy Creek up stream of Neepawa.”

“I got the A&W coupon book in my mailbox and was encouraged by the fact that A&W sees value in the link between beef production and a healthy landscape,” said Tim Sopuck, the CEO of Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC). “MHHC has long recognized the important contribution of cattle producers and their pasture lands that support healthy watersheds and the protection of wildlife habitat.”

He added the organization will continue to work with cattle producers to conserve pasture lands and improving grass quality by offering incentive programs like the new Keep Grazing Project.

“I am also thrilled that all my urban neighbours are getting the message that pasture lands are important,” he said. “Manitoba beef producers are important players in addressing issues such as climate change, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water purification, native prairie protection and habitat for birds, wildlife, and species at risk.”

A&W says, “it’s all about feeling good about the food you eat.”

But are there any nutritional differences between a ‘grass-fed’ beef burger and a ‘grain-fed’ burger? Studies have shown grass-fed beef contains less fat. It can also contain up to five times as much omega-3 (lowers risk of heart disease, depression, dementia, and arthritis) and about twice as much conjugated linoleic acid (an antioxidant, reduces heart health risks) as grain-fed beef.

“I would say ‘grass-fed’ beef marketing is gaining popularity with restaurants,” Davidson said. “It relays a positive message to consumers about food production, and it gets the word out that beef is good.”

Davidson says in the end, A&W supports beef produced on grazed grasslands that provide environmental benefits to society and he’s glad the company is relaying it to consumers.

“I feel good about the beef we raise, and I hope consumers feel good about the beef they eat,” he said. “My hope is there will be enough cattle producers left in the future so cattle can continue to graze on pastures which will help our grasslands thrive and support a healthy environment.”

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The couple claimed the provincial TESA award in early February, handed out by the Manitoba Beef Producers every year to a farm that demonstrates exemplary environmental stewardship in its management.

Why it matters: The southwestern Manitoba couple will be going up against fellow TESA winners from across Canada later this year in a bid for the national TESA award.

Cameron and Lisa Hodgins are over a decade into their holistic management practices, a concept that has, more and more, entered the industry’s conversations around public trust.

“My dad was farming organic for 20-plus years,” Cameron Hodgins said. “We just let that go a couple of years ago. It kind of all tied together.”

The farm has since left behind its organic label, but much of that low-input management has followed into the farm’s new system.

The couple integrates polycrops to extend their feeding season into the fall, a grazing system that is then extended further with the addition of bale grazing.

Biodiversity, one of the underpinning tenants of holistic management, is out in force, and the couple fills their livestock roster not only with cattle, but also with sheep, pigs, chickens and bees, housed on both tame and wild pastures.

“It’s good, not only for the farm, but also for the array of wildlife that live there… the Hodgins value their community, with the understanding that a vibrant rural community requires healthy ecosystems, growing healthy food, to feed healthy people,” the farm’s TESA nomination stated.

The farm’s public outreach featured highly as the Manitoba Beef Producers introduced the award winners to the MBP’s annual conference in Brandon.

“They direct market most of their products to consumers and retail outlets, and are working to address the disconnected relationship between farmers and their end consumers,” Manitoba Beef Producers president Tom Teichroeb said.

The farm’s direct-marketing model has worked both for business and as a vehicle for the couple to talk about their farm. Lisa Hodgins says she has attended fewer farmers’ markets in the recent past, but that they have previously used such events to pitch the story behind their beef.

“Lots of people like to stop and chit-chat,” she said. “You can get into some good conversations there… one of the things we’ve looked at is trying to get more involved with the schools and having more opportunities for people to be able to come out and to have that farm experience.”

The third-generation farm in southwestern Manitoba has also appeared during Manitoba’s Open Farm Day, with participating farms opening to the public for farm tours. For the Hodgins, that has also been a means to highlight their chosen production model and sustainability.

“As producers, we don’t realize the disconnect there,” Cameron Hodgins said. “I think, when I was a kid, everyone’s grandma or grandpa or aunt and uncle or parents had a direct link to the farm, and I think that’s disconnected. There’s not that same connection to the farm. Through our direct marketing, I think we’ve noticed that and people are interested in learning where their food comes from and how animals are farmed.”

The farm’s social media presence, likewise, champions their chosen modes of production, and helped earn them their nod from the Manitoba Beef Producers.

The couple is active on both Facebook and Instagram and, according to Lisa Hodgins, has a mix of followers both from rural and urban areas. The farm is currently experimenting with ways to get the best public traction.

The Manitoba winners will meet their fellow TESA winners from across the country in August at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Calgary.

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“Take one field and promise yourself that for five years you will focus on the principles of soil health,” said Brown. If you stick with it for those five years, you will be so amazed at the change in that soil. You’ll become sold on these techniques.”

Brown spoke to a full house at a Ducks Unlimited grazing club event at the Lenore community hall April 6. He said soil health is the top priority on his farm east of Bismarck, North Dakota. He practises holistic management, no till, diverse cropping strategies and rotational grazing.

“Farming is so much more enjoyable when we can solve problems for good as opposed to Band-Aid solutions that cost us money and don’t last,” said Brown.

Over the past 20 years on 5,000 acres of leased and owned land, Brown has transformed what he describes as severely degraded soil into soil that is organically dense and full of microbial activity.

This transformation has reduced his dependence on chemicals, reduced erosion and compaction issues and increased water absorption.

“I have completely eliminated the use of synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, and pesticides and do not use GMO or glyphosate. I prefer signing the back of the cheque instead of the front,” Brown said.

He began exploring holistic management and soil health as a way to financially survive after four dismal crop years.

“We went through four years of hail and drought and I lost four crops in a row. The bank wouldn’t lend me money to buy any inputs. At the time, I was also doing some rotational grazing and seeing some benefits to my native rangeland. I really just started observing that system and it all came about from that.”

Look to nature

Brown explains that the premise of his practices are simply mimicking nature and looking at how the soil was created and maintained before it became degraded by conventional agriculture.

“Think of how our soils were developed over eons of time. In the central plains that Manitoba is a part of, there were large herds of bison and elk that wolves were moving,” he said. “They would graze an area and then they wouldn’t come back for a long time. In essence it was high-density grazing, followed by long periods of recovery.”

He described how the plant community on those prairie soils had tremendous amounts of diversity that continually collected sunlight.

“That sunlight collection pumped carbon down into the soil to create this healthy soil ecosystem that was sustainable. What we have done is come in and destroyed that,” Brown said. “All I am doing now is trying to mimic nature and return our soils to a less degraded state.”

For those starting out with new management practices, Brown says the most important this is to keep an open mind and don’t be afraid of trial and error.

“People just need to be open minded and they will find things that work. The best place to start is to just look at nature,” he said. “Study how soil functions, mimic nature and then try and fit aspects of that into your operation.”

In terms of his own success, he says attending field tours and learning from those who are having success with desired production methods has made all the difference.

“We are all busy but I am never too busy to stop and go on a tour because I know I am going to pick something up,” he said.

Brown told attendees the DU grazing club events and grazing clubs co-ordinator Michael Thiele’s work promoting the concept and organizing events was especially praiseworthy.

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“Everything starts with the environment,” said Janice. “We used to have our corrals right by the creek and we wanted to apply to move them. During that process we quite literally had to write a novel on why it would be beneficial for the environment and that’s when we really focused in on what we were doing on our farm.”

The Apostles’ operation sits along Renicker Creek, creating picturesque views, but it is also a direct link to Dauphin Lake through the Wilson River.

Improving run-off from their 300-head operation was a major priority for the couple. In 2014, they earned the Intermountain Conservation District’s 2014 conservation award for their efforts by completing an environmental farm plan and constructing a new cattle yard at a higher elevation with a retention pond.

“Everyone has their practice preferences but some practices do concern me, in terms of long-term sustainability. We have always tried to be conscious of our environmental impact. It is concerning when you think what shape we will be in, in a few generations,” said Janice.

In recent years, the couple took part in a holistic management course that Ron said has resulted in dramatic effects in their operation in terms of grass production, labour requirements and finances.

“We took a holistic management course a few years ago and that really changed our way of thinking about things,” said Ron. “It really was helpful in moving our operation towards conservation efforts and just really thinking outside of the box.”

The Apostles had originally enrolled in the holistic management course as a requirement to acquire funding support for their operation.

“We originally took the course for financial reasons because BSE was just killing us. But, the more we read, the more it began to make more and more sense,” said Ron. “I always say I wish I had taken this course 20 years ago.”

Ron says that along with changing the way they look at their operation, the holistic management course gave them a number of tools and tactics to help implement operational changes.

“The holistic management course makes you really look at things differently and notice things on your own operation that you never really did before and then gives you the tools to make a plan,” said Janice. “Had we not taken that course all of the cows would be home in pens, being fed in pens and we would be hauling manure.”

The Apostles now graze their cattle for as long as possible at home before moving them into another pasture for bale grazing through the winter months.

“The cows are bale grazed at a site about six miles away. Bale grazing works really well. I can’t really see any downfalls in the system,” said Ron. “We haul the bales when it is generally warmer outside and don’t burn nearly as much fuel as we used to. We don’t even have a tractor there now.”

Ron says he has also seen a pretty substantial difference in the pasture regrowth since he began importing bales to his pasture site.

“Ever since we started covering the land more, we have seen an improvement in the grass production and more active soils. It was surprising,” said Ron. “The production of the grass after awhile is just phenomenal. We have also noticed the pastures seem to tolerate more water and when it was dry, the pastures were still moist and seemed to tolerate the drought better.”

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“The term ‘sustainability’ has really come to mean less damaging than the alternative, rather than truly improving or repairing,” said Harry Stoddart, during a presentation at the Manitoba Conservation District Association’s 40th annual conference held in Brandon on December 8.

“I like the term ‘regenerative’ or ‘restorative.’ Essentially, the central concept in that is that we are not happy with the status quo. We are not talking about reducing our harm, we are looking for ways we can rebuild and restore.”

A sixth-generation farmer, Stoddart spent seven years as a management consultant before taking over his parents’ conventional hog farm in the Kawartha Lakes region. Today he farms full time and is also a faculty member in the sustainable agriculture program at Fleming College in Lindsay, Ont.

With a number of years’ experience experimenting with various management systems, in both conventional and organic methods, Stoddart says implementing a holistic management system should be a top priority for every operation.

“From my perspective, holistic management is key to any farm operation. It doesn’t matter whether you are grazing or not, the concepts in holistic management, the financial planning piece are key to moving a farm forward profitably and maintaining your eye on the triple-P bottom line — people, planet and profit,” said Stoddart.

“We implemented a holistic management program about four years ago and it was one of the best things that we ever did for the management of our operation. I highly recommend it.”

The concept of holistic management looks at allowing land managers to mimic nature through guided relationships between plants, soil, livestock and waterways. The four cornerstones of the concept are financial planning, grazing planning, land planning and biological monitoring.

“In agriculture, our success is tied to the environment piece more closely than any other industry, and when you get right down to it, we are in the business of capturing solar energy and transforming it into protein and carbohydrates for human use, whether that is food or fibre.”

Stoddart says he has seen a number of benefits to his operation since switching over to holistic management techniques, including increased land stability, reduced erosion, and better water filtration.

He insists on a no-till system, saying the key is focusing on nurturing and growing the soil.

“Soil or dirt is probably one of the things that gets the least amount of respect in agriculture. When we talk about soil, oftentimes the conversation stops at chemistry. But, if we want the soil to be working for us, we need to get rid of the Big Iron. In my mind there are no ifs, ands, or buts about that,” said Stoddart.

He added that while many producers are opinionated about management practices — organic versus conventional, till or no till, sustainable versus restorative — the conversation needs to be focused back on the end goal of rebuilding deteriorated soils.

“The discussion we need to have isn’t about conventional or organic practices. I have destroyed soil worse or just as bad with organic practices as I ever did with conventional,” said Stoddart.

“Anywhere we have agriculture we have degraded soils. And, this has been happening long before we got into chemical, industrial or any name you want to put on modern-day practices. The future isn’t about turning the clock back 50 years, the future is about taking the knowledge that we have now and creating systems that are truly restorative systems.”

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“When I am in my pastures I will flip the cow patties over and I want to see as many holes as I can because that is a sign of fertility,” Dave Pogson, a grazier from Clearwater told the recent Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association workshop in Virden.

“Dung beetles create these holes and the more dung beetles you have the faster the nutrients are getting into the soil. This is also a way of telling how healthy your soil is.”

Blain Hjertaas, a certified educator with Holistic Management International, agrees. He told a recent workshop in Wawota, Sask. that on a warm day when the soil is healthy, you should begin to see new dung beetles in the manure within six to 10 seconds.

“If you are looking at land health, look for dung beetles flying around, as well as in the manure,” he said. “If you are using an insecticide on your grazing pastures, as the chemicals move through the body of the cow, they go out into the feces and the feces then become poisonous to the dung beetles and consequently the dung beetle population dies. At that point you can play Frisbee with your cow pies because they become hard as a rock.”

Experienced grazier Neil Dennis from Wawota said when looking at cattle manure he likes to see a consistency similar to pumpkin pie.

“I like to see the cow pies looking kind of like a pumpkin pie, mounded and dipped in the middle,” said Dennis. “With the yearlings, I like to see them sliced with a bit of a shiny coating on the outside.”

In Dennis’s experience, when cattle are achieving the best gains, manure will look greasy in appearance.

“You will usually see the greasy appearance at the end of the year when cattle are getting the best gains, especially if your sugar content and nutrient levels are right on.”

Dennis said many times you can get a good idea of pasture health just by driving through your paddocks.

“When you go to leave your paddock, if the cow manure is sticking to your tires and flying all over, you are in good shape. If you were to check your sugar content and pH at that point, they will be right on,” said Dennis.

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