Getting Animals to the Right Place, at the Right Time, with the Right Behavior

Abstract

IN THE EARLY DAYS, PEOPLE WISHING TO PRACTICE HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT using livestock were usually advised to build an arrangement of fences, commonly but not always, in the pattern of a wagon wheel around a central water point. Although this is indeed an efficient way to handle livestock in many situations, the wagon wheel became such a strong symbol that it obscured the idea behind it. Like people who draw symbols on the doorpost to keep away lightning, many ranchers and researchers built wagon-wheel grazing cells in the belief that they had magic power to grow grass.