OUR REGENERATIVE LAND MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
Barney Creek Livestock employs a holistic approach to regenerating our soil and agroecosystems to provide a quality product that transforms our community’s relationship to the local food system. Barney Creek Livestock regenerates soil and agroecosystems that transforms your local food system.
SOIL HEALTH
It feeds the entire system. The soil life relies on healthy diverse plant life to function properly. We manage our animals to manage the plant life to feed the soil. Every time a plant is grazed, it sluffs roots to feed the soil biology. This cycle builds organic matter, which is key to holding moisture, and is needed for plant growth.
FORAGE HEALTH
The grass, and other forages, are a direct reflection of soil health. We focus on how much forage we leave in order to maximize plant recovery, absorb the Montana sun and to feed the below ground ecosystem. By moving the cows daily, we can closely regulate and monitor this. Our grazing encourages a "mob" mentality meaning they eat the desirable along with the weeds. They also trample vegetation, armoring the soil, by incorporating it back into the soil. This facilitates moisture retention and prevents erosion.
LIVESTOCK HEALTH
Our management ensures the cows are getting the absolute best food value and nutrients. We finish our beef on grass, legumes, forbs, etc. All the nutrients made available by managing for soil life end up in our cows. We utilize low stress livestock handling. Cows that are not stressed are happy cows. This strategy creates nutrient rich foods for human health. We mimic nature by calving the same time that our area wildlife does.
HUMAN HEALTH
You can't eat grass, at least you can't digest it. Our management ensures the cows are getting the absolute best food value and nutrients so that all the nutrients made available by managing the soil life end up in our cows
and in turn, the customers who eat our beef.
