The Journey to a More Holistic System of Ranching

The secret to healthy soil is good management. To become a good land manager requires a lifelong long journey up a never ending learning curve. Regenerative Land Solutions first started working with Doug back in 2018. He recently caught up with our friend Andrew Coggins at NCAT. Read the full story here!

By Andrew Coggins, NCAT Rocky Mountain West Regional Director

After many different and varied careers, Doug Lair settled into ranching 25 years ago, returning to a legacy started by his great-great grandfather, who passed down a team of mules and the family brand to his great grandfather. I recently had a conversation with Doug about his efforts to create a more holistic system of ranching. Our conversation was especially interesting and timely, given NCAT’s increased project work in regenerative grazing and soil health.

Like others returning to farming or ranching after generations away from it, I got the impression that Doug feels he is returning to his true vocation in life. The 300-acre Lair family ranch lies in a picturesque part of Montana, just east of Big Timber, about a mile from the Yellowstone River, with views of the Crazy Mountains and Beartooth Plateau.

Of the ranch’s 300 acres, 85 acres were irrigated hayfields, with the rest being grazing acres supporting ewes and lambs, cow-calf pairs, and feeder cattle on a grass-fed system, totaling approximately 80 head of cattle and 80 head of sheep. The ranch is mostly irrigated with a combination of pivots, flood irrigation, and hand lines. Until 2018, the hayfields, a combination of alfalfa and grasses, were harvested by a contractor on a cost-share or cash basis, who made the decisions on fertilizer inputs based on a yearly chemistry soil test. In 2018, following Earthfort soil biology tests taken by Regenerative Land Solutions, Doug applied Earthfort pre-biotic and pro-biotic (Provide and Revive) products nearly across the whole ranch as part of the fertilizer program. In 2019 and 2020, he used Provide and Revive only across the ranch, and in 2021 he used a combination of Provide/Revive and a fish emulsion.

Read the rest of this story on the ATTRA website and our first post about Doug here.