Successful transition to Holistic Management

This is the story of Ian Davis' successful transition from conventional management to Holistic Management, near London.

Mad cow forced Ian to find work off-farm

Ian Davis is a cattle farmer on his family farm in Hertfordshire, UK, in the midst of the North London commuter belt. He first started working on the farm in the 1980s. When mad cow disease appeared in England, like many farms at the time, it left them in financial difficulty.

In seeking off-farm employment he began working for the National Rivers Authority in river flood management whilst continuing to farm. Whilst there he learned that the practices to reduce flood risk by encouraging faster river flow were causing environmental damage and that more sympathetic alternatives had to be found. He engaged with the introduction of Natural Flood Management around 2010, and learnt much from his EA ecology colleagues.

Ian returned to full-time farming

Ian discovered regenerative farming in New Zealand

Knowing conventional farming in the UK was not where he wanted to be, he undertook a research trip to New Zealand in June 2017. There he was introduced to regenerative farming ideas which chimed with his Natural Flood Management experience, and his outlook changed from wanting to suppress nature towards helping to regenerate it.

After returning to the UK he looked for more information and came across the Savory institute and the 3LM network, signing up for the full Holistic Management training suite. Since then, he has read widely around holistic management and regenerative principles and has implemented it on his farm.

Varying soil types presented a challenge

He faced particular difficulties in the widely varied soil types on the farm, caused by the last glacial period depositing moraine in the area.

Most of his fields contain widely varying soil types making consistent management a challenge. This was compounded by the previous owners, a sand and gravel company, having dug almost half the farm in the 1980s and restored the land poorly afterwards. That part of the farm still has serious drainage and compaction issues, badly compromising the water cycle.

Biodiversity has increased since managing holistically

By managing holistically, he has already seen significant changes in the ecology of the farm. The diversity of bird species has increased, especially birds of prey, and the increase in insect life is most noticeable. Below is a video from 2019 showing the abundance of insect life when the herd moves into a new grazing cell.

Below is a video of Ian's cows enjoying the tall grass on their farm. This grass was achieved by following holistic planned grazing.

Dung beetles have returned since discontinuing wormers

He has not used wormers on the cattle since 2017. The long recovery times and the fact that the cattle rarely graze the forage down short have broken the worm life cycle, which is reflected in very low worm counts from the herd.

A positive effect of this is the return of dung beetles breaking up and cycling the cattle dung in his paddocks as the video below shows.

Reinvigorated love for nature

Seeing these changes has reinvigorated his love for and satisfaction from nature. Productivity has not risen much yet, due partly to the unusually dry and frosty Spring in 2020, but he is encouraged by the changes he has noticed and is fully committed to the holistic approach.

Experimentation with maize

Ian strongly believes that we must all be prepared to experiment in how we manage our land and observe carefully to identify what works for us in our own contexts.

In 2017, he was concerned at the damaging impact of continuing to grow forage maize for Winter feed. He experimented with oversowing grass into the newly emerged maize crop that year to reduce the soil exposure and improve the sunlight capture. He also aimed to avoid damaging cultivation late in the year after the maize harvest.

Despite being unable to incorporate the seed into the soil it worked reasonably well as the photos above show. It seems that rain at just the right time was key in this though and the same approach failed in 2019, so he has now ceased growing maize altogether.

Experimentation with mobile drinking water tanks

A very successful experiment has been the use of a mobile drinking water tank (above) Ian made in 2019 to overcome the problem of having the cows walk back to fixed tanks in each field. The photos below show the same field grazed before and after the use of the mobile tank, clearly showing how it helped avoid overgrazing the areas around the tank.

Before and after the use of mobile drinking water tanks

See Ian Davis speak at Groundswell

From seeing the change on his own farm Ian believes that Holistic Management must be part of the future for farming in England. As an advocate for changes in farming approach he attends events such as Groundswell, where he is leading a discussion on the 23rd of June, at 10:00 AM called, Farming & Water, Allies or Enemies?

With his experience of both river catchment management and farming he will be discussing with an expert panel the effects of past farmland management on the water cycle in England. He strongly believes that regenerative agriculture can be a big part of the solution in helping farms adapt to the changing climate, helping reduce the frequency and severity of major flooding and helping water companies to improve the security of public water supply, increasingly a big concern for them.

Seeking the quiet life

Ian is currently preparing to sell his farm and relocate to a much quieter part of the UK, seeking a better quality of life. He looks forward to applying what he has learned so far in a new location both for his own benefit and to share it with others.