Q: Where did you grow up, and when/how did you find ranching?

Mimi: I was born and raised in Indiana. When I was young, my parents bought the 777 Ranch, which would have been 1971 or 1972. At the time, it was a cow-calf operation, and we ran black baldies. We would come out every summer and help with branding, and that's where I fell in love with ranching, animals, and South Dakota. 

I had just graduated from high school, and the next day, I got in a car with my mom and moved out here. I went to school and got a degree in wildlife biology from Missoula, and have yet to look back. 

When we finally moved here full-time in 1980, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. 

In the early 80's, we bought our first 100 head of bison and were running bison and cattle. There was a big blizzard that winter and the cattle calved during the storm, but none of the bison did. They waited until the blizzard passed before calving. It made us pause. We realized we wanted to bring back a healthy prairie, and bison fit the picture. We loved that survival instinct of not having calves until after the storm—that's essentially how we got into bison. 

Q: Does your family have a history in ranching and agriculture?

Mimi: My dad was a businessman, but our extended family had a family farm. My great-grandparents came over from Germany and were all farmers from back then. We always had cattle around somewhere close by. I always knew I wanted to work on the land and work with animals.

I'm so lucky to have been able to follow my dreams and live my passion. 

I've gotten to do exactly what I'd wanted to do ever since I was a kid. 

Q: How has the Ranch changed since switching over to bison?

Mimi: The biggest thing to think about with bison is your infrastructure. Your corrals have to be heavier-duty and taller; our fences are six-strand barbed wire instead of four. 

Another difference is that during calving, with cattle, you're hands-on 24/7. With bison, you're hands off. If they're calving and you're too close, they'll get up and run two miles to get away from you with half a calf sticking out. 

When we plan our grazing during calving season, we make sure the bison are in a comfortable pasture so that hopefully we won't have to move them. 

We really only work the bison once a year; they don't do well in confinement. We aren't trying to domesticate them; we're trying to keep that wonderful and wild survival instinct. 

How many bison do you have now? 

Mimi: Right now we have 1,800-head of bison.

Q: What about expenses? 

Mimi: The biggest expense is making sure you have a big handling facility that's safe for both animals and people and one that's strong enough to handle these animals. They don't just walk in, they have two speeds: they're either all out, or they're standing there looking at you. 

A standing buffalo is a thinking buffalo, so you better keep them moving. 

Q: What about herding/moving the bison? 

Mimi: We've taken a lot of Bud Williams' low-stress handling workshops. 

At first we did everything on horseback, but it took so long, and I've been hit on horseback by big bulls. Now we mostly use ATVs—in reality one of us will go out and move them by ourselves. We used to use dogs. I've had many dogs that would help move the bison, but now they're all retired. 

One thing to note is that if a bison doesn't want to move, it's not going to move. Bison are bison; you have to work with them and not against them because they definitely have a mind of their own. If there's a day that they don't want to move—the wind is in the wrong direction, or the moon is in the wrong direction —then you might as well give them a day and come back the next.

Q: What is your favorite part about this work?

Mimi: It's that whole full circle. I love these animals so much; they're smart and serious, and working with them and bringing back the prairie has always been so huge to me. For 38 years, I've watched plant and wildlife diversity come back. We're a team, and in partnership in nature. I've seen the difference in the land and what it does to the animals. I've watched pollinators come back and birds that haven't been here in forever return. I'm passionate about both the land and the animals. 

Q: How long did that take before you started seeing those changes?

Mimi: A long time. You know, I've been practicing holistic management for 38 years out there, and the changes are slow. Some days you go out there and think, "Huh, that spring used to dry up every summer, but now it runs all year round." They are little changes you take for granted, but when you stop and really look, you see it's working. 

I still doubt myself all the time—am I doing this right? It's like watching your kids grow, you know? In 2014, I brought in a team that did a complete survey of the ranch from the soil to the grasses to infiltration and topsoil. It took a year to collect the data and analyze it. Then, we compared it to some neighbors who did different kinds of grazing. We had three times the diversity, and in some places we'd built six inches of topsoil. 

Holistic Management (HM) works; you just have to believe in it. I remember Allan Savory talking in the 1980's. I was just a pup starting University at the time, and everything he said resonated with me. My professors didn't believe in it, but it made perfect sense to me. I drank the Kool-Aid - hook, line, and sinker. My manager at the time did, too. We made some mistakes, but we stuck with the framework of HM and it's been a great journey. 

HM isn't the only management style, and I'm not saying one is better than another. There are people doing amazing things with rotational and traditional grazing. You just have to love the land and want to take care of it. It's not just about pounds-per-acre; it's about looking at the whole, and it doesn't matter what kind of management you're doing or what kind of animals you have; you can make it work and take care of the land. I'm doing the same thing in Patagonia, Chile, with cattle and sheep, and in just a short season of running animals down there, I'm seeing changes. As I see it, it's just about being aware, and planning your grazing and recovery time. Even if it's traditional or rotational or mob grazing, as long as you're planning that recovery, you can make huge steps in taking care of the land. 

Q: What's one challenge you've had ranching bison, and how did you learn from it?

Mimi: I still learn something every single day working bison. Our roundups are not easy, bison can be dangerous and we're constantly changing our corrals and handling facility every year. When you bring them in, and you work them in the corrals, you're up close and personal and understanding how that animal thinks and how we can do this better. 

I consider our roundups a success because they used to take us a week, and now they take three and a half days. They're only in the headgate for under a minute getting preg checked and everything. We've got it down so the animals are less stressed. They're in and out of there and back in the pasture as fast as possible. Our conception and weaning rates are better. We don't wean; the ones we keep going right back out to be with their families. 

We used to wean them and keep them in corrals, but they didn't have their peer groups or moms teaching them. We had lower weights, and we found that if we can get them back out there with their moms they did so much better, they were healthier and bigger. Family is huge with bison. We learned that the hard way.

Q: What are the core pillars of Holistic Management? 

Mimi: The biggest thing I would say is that we are out there monitoring not only the animals but the grass every day. We have a grazing plan, but it's written in pencil. Learning how to read the grass and knowing when to move those animals—do we need to stay longer, or move them sooner. Reading the animal's behavior as well..are they doing well or going backwards. Planning your grazing and recovery period does wonders. Learning how to plan my grazing and recovery periods, and being able to read the land, that's the greatest thing this management style has taught me.