A Midwest Journal

Had a breakthrough today which I just had to tell you about. And in my own style, it’s a bit esoterically powerful in application.

Before I tell you how you can improve your ability in setting and achieving your personal and business goals, we have to cover how you go about your life goals setting. And also what success goals you would want to shoot for.

Lester Levenson had a great deal to cover on this, as does Hale Dwoskin and Larry Crane. Goals are important to people. And it doesn’t matter if you use Sedona Method or Release Technique to improve your goal achievement.

You have to know how to find goals to set. And mostly, this is done by getting beyond all the control, approval, and security involved with even needing a goal to begin with.

If you really look at it, anything to do with money is really only due to those three desires: control, approval, and security. If money disappeared tomorrow, people would still be able to make a living. If people disappeared tomorrow, so would any money. Money is a fiction created by people – mostly to get and hold control over others, to get and win approval, to provide security or ensure it.

That’s the whole discussion on the Health Care Bill right now – false security by the concept that people have to be insured, and how much this is going to cost. And who is going to control it all – plus these Congress-people wanting or flaunting the approval of their constituents.

Popularity and celebrity is another gimmick and runs the same way. It’s heavy on approval and control.

Ask Al Gore. He’s on his way to taking a PowerPoint presentation into a cool billionaire status by running a carbon-trading company – nice work if you can get it. Nice awards on that mantel, Al.

But you can have all the money you would ever want. And also any amount of celebrity you could need. We could each one of us be Donald Trumps if we wanted.

The trick is in letting go of the pluses and minuses to each end of the spectrum.

And this is before you decide on any goal for yourself, your life, or your business, or relationships, etc.

Now, I’m not one to make things more complex. I tell people to take Hale Dwoskin’s and Larry Crane’s stuff and use what they can out of it. Because once you get this releasing stuff really plugged into your life, it becomes a natural action. Like breathing. It’s actually part of your way of life.

For some of us, there can be short cuts to the seemingly harder situations to release.

So I’ve extracted a method that both Hale and Larry use different versions of – which is to alternately release on both extremes.

Take money (just not mine…) Release on being insanely rich, and do that until it seems fine with you. Then release on being completely poor (“ Being broke is temporary, poor is a state of mind.”) And do that end of it until it’s fine with you. Then back to “being rich” again. Then do “poor” again after that.

You just keep this up 1 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 1… until the whole subject is completely fine with you. What you’re looking for is to be completely content with the subject and no longer attached to it in any degree.

One point a friend pointed out was to also release on the good feelings you have about being rich or poor – like the control it gets you out of, or how it helps you get control over others, or approval from people, etc. You can have those “good” results from these desires when you are rich or poor…  So release everything on both ends as you go.

And after that, you’ll have all the money you need when you need it – but you won’t “need” it anymore in general.

You can do this with any particular goal in your life. Or purpose or anything else you are trying to achieve, acquire, become, etc.

The point, of course, is to take all the effort out of it and move everything in your life over into the “miracles as usual” band. Because that’s really how you get everything around you. You just demonstrate/manifest it. All these other reasons and excuses and “because’s” are just thoughts and resistance you’ve built up along the way.

Trick is in getting back to your native operating state – and drop all these thoughts off along the way.

And once you don’t “have to have” anything, then your goals will come to you naturally and intuitively. You don’t have to “decide” on a goal or do a complex advantages/disadvantages list – or anything like it. Just first get really “hootless” on the subject itself. Then see if you don’t already have a goal for this area. You may not even need to have a goal now – since, like money, it just shows up as and when you need it.

Of course, this isn’t going to get you accepted into the finest clubs and universities – because they “make money” from keeping this difficult. So it’s just our little secret – which is now all over the Internet.

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And of course, drop me a line or leave a comment on how this goes for you…

Good Hunting!

Visiting with some friends tonight, and at one point I was told, “It’s easier said than done…” To which I responded with the above.

Because, in Sedona Method, you really learn that all the Happiness, Joy, and Peace you could ever want is already “inside” you. Everything you want to “manifest” or “demonstrate” is already contained in that same space.  You only have to “let it out”. Lester Levenson covered this in a Larry Crane tape excerpt I posted here.

All life is just a series of “whats” that you manifest or demonstrate.

Money, particularly in the way my friends are working at it, is just a “what” you are trying to help others demonstrate in their own lives.

You are planting a seed in their garden so they can raise it.

But the “whats” are not really what you are going after. Metaphysically, you aren’t “going after” anything – you are just letting what is already there show up.

Because the only “what” you don’t have in your life is due to your own internal conversation about it. The ideas you think, the limits you’ve agreed to – these are the points which keep those “whats” at bay, invisible, in the world of the “not-quite-there-yet”.

When you attend these seminars, there is a result they are going for: by the end of these, you are pumped up emotionally so that you feel it’s OK to simply let these things you’ve always wanted to start showing up. As you get better and better at letting things out, they start appearing in your life.

These people who are “giving back” are just helping others get to the awareness they already have – that “you can do this”.

Now, to be sure – and this is no criticism – there is some training involved in this. But as you really look this over, training is again just a way to get you to let the native knowledge you already have “out”. Basically, and each of us has this integrally, you are really an omniscient and omnipotent being.

That concept is something we’ve been told not to accept, that it’s a sacrilege, etc. Etc. But look it over from a Huna viewpoint: “We are all connected. There are no limits.” So you already have access to every single bit of knowledge you could ever ask for. This is Haanel in his Master Key System, Napoleon Hill in his “sixth sense”. And Earl Nightingale in his “Strangest Secret” quoted Jesus the Christ, “Seek and you will find, Ask and it will be given, Knock and it will open for you.”

If you are looking for money, riches, property – any sort of stuff – you only have to accept that it’s already here. And it then shows up.

Of course some people get this backward – and they fall in love with the concept of money or the power that it can bring. But if you get this twisted, as scammers do, you will have a hard time either getting it or holding onto it. Simply because you are connecting other ideas with money as limits on your own demonstration of it. And your life gets really miserable – a tangled web because you are deceiving yourself. This is where another Bible quote goes: “The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil.”  Because you are still looking for an outside “what” to make you happy.

You are already capable of being as happy as you could ever want. Because inside, somewhere, you only have to let it out.

Too easy.

But miracles are effortless, too.

It is said, often, that “you become what you think about.” And Nightingale started out his famous gold recording by quoting Albert Sweitzer, “The problem is that people simply don’t think.” And about the time this recording was being made, Lester Levenson was working out that the problem was even deeper – people think too much. But you have to get up to the point that you can simply let all this thinking and all these mental mechanisms go. And even have them stay. The point is that once you get to the point where your own Freedom is more important and more valuable than anything and everything in the World, you can then have anything and everything in the world show up for you.

Now you can always say that some mechanism or other is “why” you now have this abundance in your life. A great stock deal, investing in real estate, selling rights to a bestseller book or product – all these are just excuses.

Simply, you can get to the point where you don’t “have to have” anything. So you then can have everything. Needs, Musts, Should’ve’s – all these are just simple internal limits to your own Self.

Let the Self go. And you find you can have it stay – as well as the rest of this Universe which you created.

Money?  That’s an easy one. It isn’t there because you think it isn’t. Quit all that thinking and just simply be.

And then you can play the game of watching stuff show up all around you.  Health, Wealth, Happiness, Peace of Mind, Relationships – all just small parts of the abundance that already lies “within” you.

Just let it all “out.”

And become the Master you already are.

Helping others is the best way to speed up helping yourself.  This is a very, very old idea – but it’s almost disappeared in our modern “culture”.  (At least, until the Sedona releasing technique.)

The basic understanding below it is that we are all connected. The fallacy of our modern days, and how this game called the Universe became a “trap” was that the idea that we are all separate came around and got agreed upon.

If we aren’t really connected, then it’s OK to cause you harm, since it won’t affect me, will it?  But we had these reminders over and over and over, in every single major and minor philosophy and religious text: what you cause to others happens to you.

One of the most recent versions of this was “Treat others as you would like to be treated.”

From this you can also see: “You have to give before you can get.”

But it’s all back to the point that we are all connected. Consider that old adage, “When you blame someone else, one finger is pointing at them, and three are pointing back at you.”  True, isn’t it?

When you make someone feel bad, try to make them responsible for some situation or outcome, they feel bad, but you feel worse for having done that. Because it really just comes back to you, regardless of your considerations that you and that person aren’t connected. Because you are – and down deep, you know it.

The Golden Rule works whether you believe it or not. It has nothing to do with beliefs, which are just thoughts, after all. It’s the way this place was set up.

It’s not just me saying it – but I tell you again: throw this away and check it for yourself. Watch others’ lives and see if it doesn’t happen to them like that. Go around cheering people up and see if you don’t wind up more cheerful yourself. I don’t advise anyone to go around being critical of others, but you probably look back at situations where you could have had a better outcome if you didn’t criticize some person at that time.

Whatever you send out into the world comes back the same way. Some world-views hold that it comes back stronger (remember the three fingers above?) Others say it’s an “eye-for-an-eye” type of phenomenon.

And so those people who are constantly deceiving people wind up being scammed themselves. And their money goes through their fingers like it wasn’t theirs – which is true.

If you look over your life to see how you can improve the lives of others around you, and then take actions to improve those lives – you’ll find that your own world improves to that same degree, or more.

So if you have a certain goal, help others achieve a similar goal they have – and then yours comes around that much faster.

And if you are after personal freedom, well…

Again – disregard what I say here and test it for yourself.

See you tomorrow…

You know, we are all Masters in our own right. True. Just look inside and you see the perfection that you are.

The ancient Polynesians had is completely right. Nowadays, when you say Kahuna, you either think of some surfer dude who always beats everyone else out in the competitions – or some mystic healer who can fire-walk, control nature, and maybe raise the dead.

But “Kahuna” always met something like “keeper of the secret”, although that is a very loose translation (suitable for us haole’s who don’t speak a word of it). There were kahuna’s for every trade and business and activity. Our use would be mentor – as you would seek out these experts if you wanted to learn that skill or art. (Fishing kahuna’s, weaving kahuna’s, gardening/farming kahuna’s, etc.)

And so, originally, there were kahunas all over the place. (Check out wikipedia for both these terms.)

It is even so today. Masters (kahunas/mentors) of any trade actually abound. Our approach with the Sedona Method or releasing technique, is to enable everyone to master themselves as well.

My approach, different from most, is to tell you that you don’t have to have a lot of money, or sexual partners, or servants, or impeccable health to be a complete success. You don’t have to control vast estates of property and hundreds or thousands of employees to be a success. But certainly, you need to be free of having to have approval from anyone else about what makes your success.

For the only person who can weigh in on your level of success is you. You either are doing what you want to do in life, or you aren’t. And the only one who sets the decisions about what you should and shouldn’t be doing is you.

That is the freedom which Sedona Method release technique brings – to be able to be, do, and have anything you want. You don’t have to have money or prowess in order to accomplish whatever it is you want today.

If you want to stay at home and home-school the kids while maintaining the household, then that’s perfectly fine. So is flying airplanes for a living. Anything you want to do that isn’t hurting anyone else or illegal because of that fact – you should be able to simply learn to do as an expert in that field. A Kahuna. A Master.

And any Master of their craft does it with an ease that makes it seem like they were born to do just that. And it’s probably true. For when a person is following their passion, it’s something that they meant to do since they were born (or thereabouts.) But that doesn’t mean you can only have one passion. Many people have several and either master all of them, or shift from one to another, mastering each in turn.

The key point in that is that they do it with ease. That is where Sedona Method comes in. Masters simply release on everything and anything which interrupts or interferes with their practice of their craft. And they live rather calm, peaceful lives. Even if it’s a hut on the beach they have to rebuild every few years. Or if its a stone hut in the glens of Scotland so old that there’s no record of when it was first built. Or the business executive who has been rising through the ranks for 20-30 years and stands a chance of being the COO or CEO soon. Or the administrative assistant who has seen those CEO’s come and go – but knows how to help them all be a success through her mastery of corporate policy and human behavior.

There are Masters who walk this earth and they need not be famous or wealthy or outrageously lucky.

And the reverse is true. People who win lotteries are often bankrupt and further in debt a couple years later – because they never learned how to manage wealth. People who have rented their whole lives aren’t necessarily ready for home ownership. Because a politician is able to get elected doesn’t mean he’s ready to be a statesman.

As well, most people are hampered by popular success – celebrities often no longer have any life of their own once they’ve “made it.” So being a quiet success and having everything you could want is just fine with most people.

My point here is that you are looking for personal freedom, above and beyond any fame or fortune. The society around you worships these ego-traps. That doesn’t mean you have to.

You have to want freedom more than you want the world. And once you get yourself on that route, you’ll walk it right on out. Sure, others may pass you by, or maybe you suddenly attain it in a flash after persuing it for years and years.

And after you Master yourself, then what? Practically, the release technique has been used to help people become millionaires and resolve relationships, and create huge successes. But the people who only used it for those material things wound up in trouble again, sooner or later. Because money, fame, fortune – all these are part of the World. They are not part of Freedom.

Doesn’t mean you’l be broke and lonely – those are also part of this world. When you look for the Freedom, Peace, and Joy which have always lay within you – just waiting to be let out – then the world gives you anything you want. Because you don’t need it anymore.

So: become the Master you already are. Let your light shine.

Here’s some Levenson quotes:

Let go of all your attachments and you’ll be so light, it will be hard to stay on the ground.

Let go of all your desires and you reach the ultimate level of happiness. And when you put a thought out, it shows up.

Let go of all desires, all attachments and all these other things – and be free.

The more you let go of attachments, the happier you get – and the easier it is to get things.

We started out playing a game and wound up thinking happiness was outside of ourselves.

Do you see how this works? Of course, the usual disclaimer: reject all of this unless and until you can make it your own, deciding and proving for yourself that it has use or applicability in your own life. That you can get something out of it.

Now, the world is full of ego-traps. And the physical things you see around you are just the symbols of these. Money, houses, clothes, cars, planes, video games – all these things aren’t real. Most of them would disappear in a fire or other catastrophe.

But a person who knows how to get them can replace them at any time.

A person who is dependent on them is devastated when they lose them – and even when they think of losing them. This person often doesn’t have them and is simply stuck in the desire for them. But even if they get what they want, they can’t keep it.

Because they don’t simply see them as symbols for other ideas. Money is a humankind thing. Doesn’t exist naturally. You can’t eat it, but you can use it to get others to give you food. Won’t buy love, but you can get someone to have sex with you, or even marry and live with you for the rest of your life. Can’t make you happy, but it can get stuff which will distract you from your unhappiness for a little while.

So the stuff around you isn’t the real you. That real you is only what you find out it is. You have to start letting the Universe within you shine out.

Simply start the habit of releasing all the time – any feeling or thought about anything – just let it go. Use the release technique constantly. Then you can easily get anything and everything that you need or want. Precisely because you get off the artificial needs and invented wants.

Just remember that joke: KISS-BUTT your way through life -

1. Keep it simple, sweetheart, and
2. Sit on your butt and just release to get anything you want.

Make releasing so simple that you don’t think about it, it’s just second nature.

And quit efforting to get, or acquire, or achieve, or attain anything. Everything you really need/want will come to you if you just let the Universe within and around you bring it to you.

All this effort people put into getting stuff, that’s just making it harder. That’s a real game. Level playing field and all that nonsense. If you want to really win the game, quit playing it. Just let the game play itself. Be the witness up in the stands.

OK?

More tomorrow…

(You’ll have to forgive the pun, humor is something Levenson appreciated, as does Larry. Plus, it’s a great photo…)

This page is simply a review of Larry Crane’s Abundance Course and the Releasing Technique.

Larry’s Own Story

“My name is Larry Crane. I am a self-made millionaire businessman, author and teacher. I have been featured in hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines (including Time and TV Guide), and on T.V. throughout the world. I’ve had the limousines, the planes… with businesses all over the world… raking in MULTI-MILLIONS of dollars. I have lived a life most people only dream about, including being friends and business associates with some of the most important and influential people in the world. I could go on and tell you all about my successes and the money I have made but, I’m not going to bother. You see, I’ve got a disturbing secret to share with you:

“Around 9 p.m. on a Friday night, back in 1976… with a successful business… millions in the bank… a beautiful wife… and an article written about me in Time magazine… I took the elevator to my ten-room duplex penthouse suite in Manhatten… walked over to my terrace… scanned the beautiful view below… and for about 2 hours I seriously contemplated suicide!

“It was very confusing to me. I had everything any one could want… and yet… I truly was one miserable creature!

….

“I had become determined to find the answer to my personal miseries. And although I was a very “closed” person at the time… and… not receptive to any kind of therapy or self-help stuff, my wife did talk me into some New Age courses. I took a bunch of these… but…Misery Was Still My Motto!

“Nothing was helping. I just became more and more depressed and frustrated.

“Then one day, in 1976, a young man came into my office to sell me a mail order item. I had some interesting spiritual or self-discipline quotations on my wall, and this opened up a conversation as to what I was “into”. That’s when I first heard about something called the Release® Technique.

It really resonated with me. So I decided to take the course that very weekend. That weekend was the first time I met the most fascinating man I’ve ever met – Lester Levenson.”

Larry goes on to explain that Levenson had everything he wanted, but was completely at ease and happy all the time. And he never seemed to work – but had an abundance of money, his health was good, he had tons of friends – solid relationships, and just effortlessly went through life.

And since Larry learned what Levenson was teaching, he’s adopted these into his own life and now spends it entirely to get these breakthroughs out to you and those you know.

What’s the Pitch?

Sure, it’s a lot of hype that surrounds this system. And I’m not telling you to believe anything that I or Larry has said on the subject. What you do with your own life is your business. Just because I’m totally set on this stuff as true breakthrough in all these fields – well, that doesn’t mean that you have to believe one word of it. I’m actually telling you not to.

Look, the big items people want to solve in their lives are all here: Health, Wealth, Relationships, Stress – anything and everything people can get sold on are here. I’ve even included the videos below so you can experience the pitches for yourself.

Now, let me tell you a secret: If you get the free stuff Larry offers on his site, that’s all you really need to get going. Sure, there’s a bunch of other books and tapes to buy – but not unless you think it’s right for you.

I’ve been working with helping people get out from under scams for over two years now – so I’ve got more than a bit of experience in this area. And something is a scam if you say it is. If you didn’t get out what you wanted, then you got scammed. In all cases, you only really get out what you put in.

So my advice on this stuff is:

1. Don’t believe anything that Larry or I say on this subject.

2. Get the free stuff first and try it out – don’t buy anything unless you’ve tried it out first.

3. But if you do have some bucks to plunk down for his basic course – you can do that. It’s guaranteed return if you don’t like it. And you’ll have it all on CD’s (plus some bonuses) and you can check it out for yourself.

Release Technique Promotional Videos

First, lets listen to Larry Crane get interviewed. About 9 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQIykgMTrM

And here’s Larry giving a personal introduction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQxnWqwuRIA

Now, at this point, if you feel this is the answer to what you’ve been looking for, go to the site with this link. What you’re looking on is on the front page – probably either “Learn More or “Buy Now” buttons.

Now, here’s some much shorter videos on the key topics:

Money and Wealth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysx5mRSdmVI

If you’re tired of being broke or want to find out how to manifest abundance in your life, use those links. You’re looking for the button on the extreme lower left .

Health:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyVZsUDac-M

If you want to know more about how to optimize your health and vitality with the release technique, use that link. You’ll want to go to the section on Mental and Physical Health – second from the left.

Relationships:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxzFxL0OOWc

You can learn how to discover the true power of Love by using that link. This will be the button on the top labeled “Relationships”, or the bottom button labeled “Improve Your Life.”

Life Changes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZ31aaSQTo

For finding how to transform your life – use that link. This is the bottom row, 2nd to right button.

What do I get out of this?

I’m just here to give you the data to help you improve your life. Sure, the above are all affiliate links. And you can just go to his site directly if you want. Or search for Google for any of several dozen people who have put up sites that promote his courses, books, materials, and whatnot.

All I’m here for is to help you. Period. And that’s why I’ve written this page and how I wrote it this way.

Because your future is up to you – completely. People who stay poor, sick, upset, worried – these people aren’t really looking for a way to improve their conditions. And I’m not saying that Crane’s Release Technique is the way to solve everyone’s problems, either.

I’m just here to give you that additional choice.

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Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this post.
If you’ve found it valuable, please consider donating via PayPal to enable my continuing research.

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While these aren’t commodity Angus, they are some of the best grass-fed beef cattle you can have – but this post today is about mob grazing, not selecting the best genetics for your cattle. That’s another subject I’ll weigh in on at some time – how we’ve gone away from the healthier, more efficient animals farmers used to breed. But the college guys are starting to figure this out with all their number crunching…

Now, yesterday, I promised you more from Greg Judy of Columbia Missouri. And I found a nice, short presentation of his over at the University of Missouri website. This was from their Missouri Forage and Grassland Council 2000 Annual Meeting, held October 30-31, 2000 at Lake Ozark Holiday Inn, Lake Ozark, Missouri – and since then I understand Judy has changed and improved his grazing techniques even more.

Leasing Land For Custom Grazing Stockers

Greg Judy
Greg Judy’s Custom Grazing Farms

Background I have been practicing management-intensive grazing (MiG) for six years, mostly with stockers. In the spring of 1999, I started leasing farms and developed MiG on most of them. Although I am in the custom grazing business, I am also employed full-time as a lab technician for an electric utility supplier.

Presently I have 600 acres with 350 acres in grass, located 20 miles northwest of Columbia. I own 200 acres and lease the remaining 400 acres. The leased land is split into five different farms which range in size from 40 to 150 acres. All my farms are rolling hills with 2 to 4 inches of topsoil over a heavy clay base.

The following is an outline of how I got started in the custom grazing business and some tips I have developed along the way.

Finding Land to Lease

• When I first started, I took a platte map and drew a 5-mile circle around my farm. Then I concentrated on prospective idle areas with no fences. (This gives you more bargaining power for a cheaper lease.)
• The minimum lease period is 5 years if you have to do any development to it. Try to get a 10-year lease if possible. The years can go by very quickly!
• The land must have around 70% open area or it is not economical for me to lease it.
• Large hay fields with no fencing are good prospects; the landowner is locked into haying it every year because of the lack of fencing.
• A bonus is several ponds or a creek that runs through the property.
• If the land has no water, I offer to build a pond on the property if I can deduct the cost of it off the lease. (Ponds add value to the property — emphasize this to the landowner.)
• The more items that are in place on the property, fence, water, corral, etc, the less bargaining power you have.

Advantages of Leasing vs. Owning Land

• No Farm Payment.
• 100% of lease payment is tax deductible.
• No land taxes.
• Minimal equity needed to get into the grazing business.

Approaching the Landowner

• Some landowners are very cautious at first, but just tell him you noticed the land was lying idle and ask if he would be interested in allowing you to graze it.
• If you have a farm that is set up for MiG, ask him if you could show it to him. Make sure your farm is clean, no trash, just pretty pastures of grass and cattle.
• Ask him what his plans are for the land: Did he buy it to retire on or as an investment?
• Explain to him that your goal is to make his land look like yours. This is probably your most powerful tool!
• Explain to him the concept of MiG. How you will rotate the cattle through a series of paddocks, allowing rest periods for the grass.
• Explain the benefits it will add to his property: Increased fertility because of better manure distribution, more diverse grass species, less rain runoff, improved build up of organic matter in the soil, increased legume content, more wildlife and less brush.
• Explain to him the sequence of events that will take place to put MiG in place on his land and that it will take two to three years for some land to show progress.
• Explain to him that all ponds and woods will be fenced off to exclude livestock.
• Explain to him that the value of his property will increase substantially as a direct result of your management.
• Write a proposed lease and ask the landowner to read the contract, make changes, etc. Make sure both parties are satisfied before signing it.

Getting Started

• Have liability insurance policy for all livestock. When custom grazing, the stocker-owner is usually responsible for the policy.
• When starting out with an idle property, use the forage that is already there. I always run cows the first year to clean off the duff, along with lots of brush. By strip grazing you get better duff removal.
• Learn the patterns the cows graze, and visualize where the paddock divisions should be placed.
• I use high-tensile 170,000-psi wire with ratchets and a high voltage low impedance fencer. It is not a big deal changing a paddock division; just move one high-tensile wire.
• Frost seed 3 to 4 lb red clover on all pastures.
• Fence off all ponds and run a siphon hose over the dam to the tank.
• Fence off all timbered areas.
• Concentrate on improving the water supply and quality.
• You can have the best grass in the world, but without a good water supply, the grass is useless.

Stocker Management

• Take the stress off new calves by stopping fence walking. If calves are allowed to, they will walk themselves into a health wreck.
• Make sure you see every calf eat and drink on arrival before you leave them.
• Spend some time with them; let them know that you are not going to hurt them.
• Start with 400-pound stockers, and hand-feed them for a week on paddocks to tame them down and train them to move.
• All calves should have had their second round of shots when placed on pasture.
• Use a Capture rifle to doctor any calves that are sick. This is a huge benefit, as you don’t have to get the whole herd up to doctor one calf.

Materials Needed

• Small pickup
• An ATV is a time saver: no ruts, handy for broadcasting seed, and a good vehicle to use when building fence.
• Wire and posts
• Miners light that fits on a hard hat. This is the one tool that I use the most because of my off-farm job. By having the light on your head, your hands are free to work at anything.

Tips for Keeping Your Overhead Low

• No heavy metal machinery
• No boy toys
• Don’t buy anything that RUSTS.
• No stock trailer and truck; hire this work out.
• Loading facilities should be functional, not elaborate.

Good Investments

• Water availability
• Lime, P&K
• Legume establishment

Landowner and Lessee Friendships

• Some landowners, once they start seeing the results of your management on their property, get really excited and emotional. I’ve had a landowner ask where I could use a couple extra ponds; he built two right where I needed them!
• Sometimes the more you do, the more the landowners want you to improve their land.
• I had a landowner give me a turkey and ham for Christmas. He said, “This is for all the work and improvements you have done on my farm. Words can not express how happy I am with what you have done.”
• I personally get a huge sense of reward from this kind of landowner satisfaction; you cannot put a money figure on it!
• I had a landowner give me back a full year’s lease payment. He said that I earned the lease by the amount of work that I had done on his land.
• A landowner changed my lease contract. I had a ten-year lease, and he gave me a lifetime lease (my lifetime) on his farm.
• I give landowners a quarterly update on the progress that has taken place.

Final Thoughts and Comments

• You need to set a goal. Start out by asking yourself, “Where do I want to be in five years?” Then write it down where you can read it everyday. This helps keep you focused.
• This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. There is a lot of work involved to get all the proper elements in place.
• Be innovative; always ask yourself if there is a better way of doing things.
• Read all the grazing books you can such as Stockman and Grassfarmer.
• You can pick up a lot of good tips by attending grazing schools and pasture walks.
• You have to be 100% committed to making it work. The first year is the hardest, but the second year is a lot easier. Things start to fall in place as you go.
• Hard work, along with good management, does not go unnoticed. You may pick up other farms just by people driving by and seeing the dramatic difference you have made with the idle property.
• I have been offered several farms to graze strictly as a result of my progress on the farms I currently lease.
• Keep the leased farms neat — absolutely no trash or idle machinery.
• Manage the property as if your livelihood depended on it — it may someday!
• I personally get a huge satisfaction out of taking a piece of marginal land and making it into a grass-grazing haven.
• Sometimes we hear a lot about the doom and gloom facing farmers today; don’t get caught up in this treadmill. You control your own destiny. There is a lot of idle pastureland out there, and if you concentrate on being a good grass manager, in time, you will get all the land and cattle you want.
• Go for it and remember to have fun on your journey!