Raising livestock using regenerative practices

Can I List My Livestock On This Site?

In short, Regenerative Classifieds is only for listing livestock that is raised in a way that improves the soil, grasses, water retention, microbiome, and more over time rather than depleting them.

So ask yourself – does your land regenerate following your management practices over time?

If so, we welcome you to list your livestock with us!

Countless others are doing their best to raise livestock this way, and we want to celebrate and focus on that.

What Does Regenerative mean?

There are a lot of slightly varying views on what “regenerative” agriculture and management practices mean when applied to varying climates.

Let’s take an example from Allan Savory’s book Holistic Management. You may have heard of this example. It sums up the difference between various management practices. This is a summary for the sake of brevity.

One donkey travels from the house to the river every day for 365 days. Weeks in, there is a small path of hard packed dirt, but the donkey keeps traveling on the path day after day for a year. After a year, the donkey doesn’t touch the path for a year or more. However, even if the donkey waits over a year, the path is still just dirt.

In another scenario, there are 365 donkeys who travel from the house to the river for one day and then don’t touch the route again for the rest of the year. The result of this scenario is that by increasing the impact to a specific area for a short duration of time, and then providing the land with a large amount of rest (compared to the impact time), the land, plants, and wildlife flourish. The ecosystems that sustain life including water-retention and carbon-sequestration are also improved.

This paraphrased example shows how management practices can either degrade a pasture into weeds and compacted dirt, and in some climates desert, or transform a pasture into a diverse and regenerating landscape.

Here some other management practices that are similar to, and variations of, regenerative practices. You may hear any combination of these being related to regenerative practices. Watch the presentation by Jim Gerrish on What Really Matters in Grazing Management to learn more.

• Short duration, high intensity grazing
• Ultra-high stock density grazing
• Mob grazing
• Grazing tall
• Rotational grazing
• Management-intensive grazing

By no means is there a requirement here to subscribe to a particular management practice, rather we want like-minded farmers and ranchers to be comfortable that all livestock listed here on Regenerative Classifieds are managed with the goal of improving the land, ecosystems, and of course the livestock and us.

Additional Links

There are a lot of good resources out there on regenerative agriculture and practices. Here are a few links if you’re interested in learning more about regenerative management. This list is by no means exhaustive or an endorsement, is in no particular order, and will be added to over time.

Regenerative Agriculture: An Introduction and Overview – an article by Oklahoma State University Extension
How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change – a TED Talk by Allan Savory
What is Holistic Management? – a blog post by the Savory Institute
The Stockman Grass Farmer – website/magazine focusing on Management-Intensive Grazing
Regenerative Farmers of America – website focused on promoting regenerative practices
Country Natural Beef/Grazewell – the largest ranching cooperative in the western US
Rodale Institute – a nonprofit conducting independent research on regenerative organic farming practices

When making decisions for your own farm or ranch, be sure to conduct your own research and consult those who have had success in your climate. This page is meant to be informational only and not advise on how you should raise your livestock.