LIVESTOCK AND LAND STEWARDSHIP
In a late fall snowstorm, Montana 2020, several ranch families met to discuss the future. Together we were stewards of more than 200,000 acres, much of it since well before Montana statehood in 1889. We shared a strong land and community ethic and had learned to raise good food by prioritizing the health of soil, water, habitat. Each ran disciplined businesses. With good help from neighbors and partners, ranch ecology was robust and trending well. But the outlook for economic viability was poor. Those most responsible for the decrepit food system of our day had never set out to nourish land or community, and it was working.
We decided to make one helluva big try at something better. No damn fool lone cowboy, policy, or tech fix would suffice. If it takes a community to raise a child, it would take the same to make a food system worth its salt. Old Salt Co-op was formed in spring '21, based in Helena. We see land as a community we belong to. We aim to nourish it. Now, dozens of investors and dogged employees, a couple new ranches, and thousands of customers have joined in. With your help and God willing, Old Salt is just the sort of little spark to help rekindle community in our time, leaving a good and decent food system to our children.
Livestock make it possible to be agriculturally productive while maintaining and improving the fertility of land over time (i.e. capacity for water capture, hosting of robust microbial, vegetative and wildlife communities). Old Salt ranches monitor changes in key ecological indicators, working to discern the degree to which management is responsible and to continuously improve stewardship. The idea is to work with nature rather than fighting it with chemicals.
Ruminants convert grassland forage into nourishing and useful products, mimicking the symbiotic role that native ruminants had with grasslands. Livestock can also make valuable use of grain byproducts (e.g. hulls, screenings, brewers grain, etc) unfit for human consumption while fertilizing soil and terminating crops in place of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides that damage land.
Old Salt espouses husbandry that relies on handling skills and techniques to work primarily with an animal’s mind rather than relying on force. Injecting growth hormones into animals unnecessarily risks detracting from overall well-being in the same way steroids would in humans. Consistent access to open space and adequate shelter is important for quality of life.
Furthermore, sub-therapeutics (i.e. antibiotics used for disease prevention instead of treatment) are avoided to prevent antibiotic resistance. Skillful balancing of genetics, feeding and management is key for raising livestock that produce exceptional nourishment at a good value.
Ultimately, animal-based agriculture has the power to produce nourishing food while maintaining and improving long term ecological health, leaving space for the wildlife that share the landscape. That's a win-win, that's Old Salt.
