Grazing For Rain - Alejandro Carrillo

A plenary regarding different management styles and how they influence the sustainable and efficient use of natural rainfall in dry rangelands.

Alejandro joined his family ranch back in 2004, after a successful career as software engineer in many countries. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and an MS in Technical Management from the Johns Hopkins University. Tired of the constant drought and suffering that comes with conventional ranching in the Chihuahuan desert, Alejandro searched for better ways to do things. In 2006, he adapted the principles of Holistic Planed Grazing Management to his ranch. The change from continuous grazing to adaptive high density grazing brought many challenges as well as outstanding results, such as tripling the ranch’s carrying capacity while lowering his inputs. The first step for Alejandro was educating himself on holistic, regenerative, and profitable ways of ranching in sync with Nature. He and his colleagues traveled to South America, Africa, and the United States to learn from successful ranchers. Alejandro presides Pasticultores del Desierto, a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide ongoing education for cattle ranchers and promote regenerative ranching across the world’s deserts. He also assist ranchers across the western US to adopt planned grazing management as part of the Understanding AG consulting team. His credo is to mimic and respect Nature to stay and thrive in the cattle business.