Walt Davis: Successful Cattle Production
Walt Davis, known for his book How to Not Go Broke Ranching, will share a lifetime of valuable ranching experience. He was born into a west Texas ranching family in 1938 which gave him a front-row seat to the extreme drought of the 1950s. Once Walt graduated from college in 1961, he took over management of a family ranch in southeast Oklahoma and set out to increase production. In a few short years, a once profitable ranch was near the edge of bankruptcy. With no other choice, Walt changed his management strategy to one that offered more consistent profits. Hand in hand, these changes led to healthier land, hardier stock, and more enjoyment running the operation. For the last twenty years or so, Walt’s successful, biological approach to ranching in Texas and Oklahoma has led to lots of work with landowners, ranchers, and others as a management consultant, advisor and teacher.
Walt Davis spent 50-plus years as a working rancher with interests in west Texas and in southeast Oklahoma. After almost going broke following the advice of high-tech agriculture experts, he spent years developing a biological approach to ranching based on planned grazing management. Biodiversity exploded under the new management with beneficial organisms from dung beetles to earthworms increasing as pest organisms decreased. Expenses dropped as production increased so that the ranch was consistently profitable. For the last 20 years or so, he has worked with landowners, ranchers and both public and private organizations as a management consultant, advisor and teacher. He is in demand as a speaker and over the years has spoken to a diverse collection of audiences on his passion for good land management. He is a past president of Holistic Management of Texas and of the Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance and is vitally interested in promoting land use that is profitable, sustainable and user-friendly. He is the author of numerous articles published in the Farm Progress family of magazines and in The Stockman Grass Farmer. He is author of How to Not Go Broke Ranching and others.
(3 hours, 1 minute) Recorded at the 2014 Acres U.S.A. Conference, Columbus, Ohio, Friday, December 5, 2014.
Walt Davis spent 50-plus years as a working rancher with interests in west Texas and in southeast Oklahoma. After almost going broke following the advice of high-tech agriculture experts, he spent years developing a biological approach to ranching based on planned grazing management. Biodiversity exploded under the new management with beneficial organisms from dung beetles to earthworms increasing as pest organisms decreased. Expenses dropped as production increased so that the ranch was consistently profitable. For the last 20 years or so, he has worked with landowners, ranchers and both public and private organizations as a management consultant, advisor and teacher. He is in demand as a speaker and over the years has spoken to a diverse collection of audiences on his passion for good land management. He is a past president of Holistic Management of Texas and of the Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance and is vitally interested in promoting land use that is profitable, sustainable and user-friendly. He is the author of numerous articles published in the Farm Progress family of magazines and in The Stockman Grass Farmer. He is author of How to Not Go Broke Ranching and others.
(3 hours, 1 minute) Recorded at the 2014 Acres U.S.A. Conference, Columbus, Ohio, Friday, December 5, 2014.
My Farmer, My Customer
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