Bent Tree Farms - Regenerative Agriculture and Holistic Farming

BENT TREE FARM

“There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that the heat comes from the furnace.”

- Aldo Leopold

Growing up around the Oklahoma City metro, there has always been a sense of awareness of rural life. I can remember riding four wheelers on a friend’s farm. Fishing in another’s pond. Driving through field upon field on family road trips. But there is an acute sense of disconnect that I feel. And yes, it’s fun to take a walk through Martin Nature Park or even go hiking in the Wichita Mountains - but I’ve been growing in awareness of my ignorance in how the world works especially in regards to ecosystems and the food chain.

We hear more and more about studies done regarding our changing planet - from animal species coming and going, shifting climates, to the amount of traces of plastic being found even in the remotest of corners of our planet. One specific area I’ve heard time and time again is the danger of methane from big agriculture. That led me down a rabbit hole which landed me waking up well before the sun one morning and making my way down to Stonewall, Oklahoma - a little ways past Ada - to meet with Jonathan and his wife Miriam at Bent Tree Farms.

I pulled off the gravel county road into the driveway and was immediately greeted by Jonathan holding his son Cal. They had just celebrated his first birthday and the living room still had decorations up from the celebrations. We sat down in the kitchen to drink some coffee and go over the plan for the day.

Bent Tree Farms drew me in because as I had begun researching how ecosystems and how different agriculture practices interact and work with existing natural ones - I found their Instagram. I quickly discovered that they were pushing the boundaries on regenerative farming - meaning they were working to restore the soil on their land to what it would have naturally been before human development. Beyond just a focus on the land, they also pride themselves in a cruelty free practice of raising cattle, sheep, and chickens that focuses on grain free diets, pasture rotation, and diversity in livestock. The amount of intentionality going into the different areas of their operation made me curious and I was thrilled when I got a call back from Jonathan to talk about coming out for a day.

After our coffee we went outside where Jonathan let the chickens out for their morning. During the summer they move chickens across the property through a portable greenhouse shelter. The chickens pick clean the lands of bugs and pests - helping maintain manageable levels to leave room for the fields to grow. They also leave behind their waste which ends up recharging the soil by helping feed the microorganisms responsible for building soil health. In the winter they reduce their flock down to egg laying hens for themselves.

Jonathan got his tractor ready and I followed him out to the field where the majority of the herd was grazing. The sun began to peak out over the trees as we ventured in. He stoped to load up two bales of hay for the herd. I could see the cows’ attention perk from the other side of the fence. The routine of his activity on the land alerts them to when it’s time to eat, to move, to sleep, etc. Something I’d realize throughout the day is how important that consistency is - especially when wishing to work with the animals instead of controlling them through pain or fear.

His tractor rode into the field and he stopped to take off the netting covering the bales. Cows surrounded me as we all moved to the center of the frenzy. They were wary of the newcomer, but food was enough enticement to disregard my presence. I watched as lines formed following the bales as it was spread along the field.
Groups would form around the bales and lines would follow the tail of leftovers that fell from. The cows would dig in. Sometimes a few would push out one or the other. But everyone got to feed. As Jonathan finished he stopped the tractor and we got to talk about the operation

Bent Tree started around 2011 when Dr. Mark Marchbanks decided he wanted to create a source of grain free beef that would be free of harmful chemicals. He brought on Jonathan and his wife around six years later. Jonathan and Miriam met on Polyface Farms, which was featured on the documentary Food Inc. Jonathan had a background in agriculture, and on Polyface Farms they learned through apprenticeships how regenerative agriculture not only creates better food to consume, but also better land for our planet, for business, and for the community.

The first thing I was curious about was what results Jonathan had seen over the past two years. When Mark bought the property, it was sitting. The soil microbes had been depleted after decades of conventional agriculture. 

Before settlement of this territory, Oklahoma was once a prairie that was home to song birds, roaming bison herds, wolves, elk, and more. With such a high level of animal activity and disturbance from such large herds, the soil was constantly being fed from decaying matter and with so much activity it was being mixed up for new plant life to take root. Additionally, wildfires would burn through at a much more regular rate which would again clear way for new seeds to take root and cycle in a new prairie. The system depended on each piece and the result was an incredibly rich and active soil. Which made it especially appealing for farming and ranching prospectors.

One thing we know in our state is how the bison have disappeared. Even that one piece being gone meant our land no longer has the disturbance that tore up the soil - a crucial piece for its health. Additionally, most traditional farming practices relies on monoculture fields. Operations clear cut their land and zone. It makes it easier to control and the thought was it’d be most efficient for yields. However, that quickly depletes the soil of its microbes. Additionally, when droughts move in the soil is no where near able to store enough water to get crops through. And without a cover crop, events like the Dust Bowl happen.

Talking with Jonathan as we overlooked the field, he began to describe the process they use to restore their piece of Oklahoma. First, they use a rotational pasture system. Each day, Jonathan gets out and sets up electric wired fencing to portion off a segment of the land. The herd grazes on that portion and that gives the rest of the land time to recover and for the fields to grow. This balance also helps Bent Tree Farms depend on the land for food instead of importing grain such as corn, milo, barley, and oats. Relying on the natural plants found on the property not only gives a better quality of meat for consumption but it also reduces the water impact of the cattle. Relying on grains means that meat not only represents the resources to grow on its property, but also represents its footprint to grow and water the grain elsewhere.

The other incredible thing about pasture rotation is it disrupts the soil but also gives it time to heal. It mimics the herds of bison and other animals that would circulate nutritional outputs throughout the prairie decades ago. Jonathan showed me the imprints the cow hooves make on the soil as we walked along.

I was curious about the plant species on the property, though I could only name a handful. One thing Jonathan pointed out was even the massive diversity of trees on the property. “Cows instinctively know what they need. We’ve seen cows eat some bark off of trees. Or go to a plant they normally pass by.” He talked about learning how cows know what nutrients their body needs and how in some strange way instinctively know where to get it from. On the field alone there were over 70 species of plants. Trees of all kinds lined the fences and ponds. Some gave shade to cows in the summer. Others gave protection for the sheep to bed down in. Native grasses that weren’t appealing for cows to graze on were dispersed among ruts from the hooves. And even in the ruts, you can see leftover hay from the chewing mouths, manuer, and trampled grasses that will all decay and feed the soil below.

“My favorite thing is seeing how many birds have come in. We have egrets that will ride on the cows back picking at bugs and pests. There’s also so many song birds around.” With such a large animal population that isn’t depleting the soil but helping build it, nature has been responding. More plants means more bugs. More bugs means food for chickens and song birds. More hawks move in consequentially. On and on it goes. But what’s strange to me is, all of this is happening because Bent Tree Farms is intentionally moving a few domesticated animal herds around to mimic what nature was doing for centuries.

As we were walking through the misty field, besides feeding, one thing was happening a lot: waste. The cows were pushing it out as fast as it was coming in. And manure isn’t the most attractive thing to talk about, but what I’ve learned is it is so crucial if we’re going to talk about our planet’s sustainability. Studies are finding that an increase of 1% in organic matter over an acre of soil equals an increase water retention of 21,668 gallons. All the manure from the animals, decaying plants that the cows didn’t eat, and deceased wildlife all find their way into the soil as microbes break it down. They then permeate through the soil leading to healthier land for plants to grow on. It’s a fascinating process with huge implications for our place on the planet.
The average human is using around 107,000 gallons of water per year. That means if we could raise the organic matter going into the soil by 5% our water footprint would disappear. For all 7.7 Billion of us that is a huge goal, but I have to wonder how much organic decay was on the prairies we call home before we reduced the land to monoculture plots of farming.

The other thing Jonathan pointed out was how the cows and sheep graze together. They purposefully try to keep their herds diverse to reduce diseases. “There are cow specific diseases that the sheep will contract but not affect them, making the disease die off. And the reverse is true for cows getting sheep diseases. Having them mixed helps reduce the risk for the overall herd since there’s a higher likelihood of it spreading to a host it can’t affect.” With regenerative agriculture wishing to mirror natural ecosystems, it’s no wonder diversity is a key element to its success. This natural shield against the spread of diseases and viruses for their flocks and herds not only saves them money that would’ve been spent on veterinarians and medication, but also creates a more natural meat for the consumers.

We stepped over to a big tub that had a loose flap on top. Jonathan pointed out the minerals in it. Since cows do not roam through as many different biomes as traditional wildlife, it’s crucial to make sure they can have access to these minerals to keep their health. “The cows come up and eat exactly what they need.” Relying on nature to do its own job has been a common theme in their operations. We continued to walk through as the cattle and sheep grazed.

One of the calves was separated from the herd as we observed the herd. Jonathan walked over to check out the calf who reluctantly began walking towards the feeding frenzy. “Sometimes when they stand off to the side it means they’re not feeling great. But we just did castrations so he’s just a little sore.” An area that’s always fascinated me is just the instincts accumulated through days on end working with these animals. Knowing their body language, behavior, but also growing in knowledge about their health shows just how tight the bond Jonathan has formed with the herd.

We headed off to another pasture on the opposite end of the farm where Jonathan keeps the bulls and rams separated. He needed to move the smaller herd into a new field to let them graze and let the pasture recover where they were currently staying. We plowed around on the ATV and checked in on everyone before Jonathan began removing a segment of fencing to move over.

“We keep them separated so we can time when our calves are birthed. We try to time it so that they’re born around when the deer are giving birth. It means the plants in the area are at their peak for grazing for the new mothers. Since we rely on the land to feed our herd, knowing when it’ll be the most nutritious is crucial for our new mothers.”

Tuning the cycle of the herd to the deer, despite a much longer gestation period for cows, shows what can happen with human management that is intentional about mixing nature’s natural ecological cycles with our agricultural practices. Not only does it save Bent Tree Farms money on feed, but it also helps the land and soil by tuning the domesticated herds into what wild herds would naturally be doing.

We moved the bulls into the new pens and they immediately began grazing in the new pasture. On one end of the pasture a man made plateau rested over a creek. Jonathan showed me where the old train tracks ran through the property decades ago. Despite the shifted elevation, it was fascinating see how quickly nature took back over the development and labor mankind put into it less than a hundred years ago.

After the sun had risen well over the horizon Jonathan and I headed back in for a bite of breakfast and to map out the rest of the day. We sat down to some coffee as Miriam cooked up some bacon that their parents had brought down from a farmer they knew in Minnesota, eggs from the chickens outside, and handmade biscuits. Miriam showed Jonathan the report they just got back from the veterinarian. They had just tested the herds blood to see which cows were pregnant this year. Jonathan studied the list hard looking over the results.

The thing about agriculture I’ve learned is there’s only so much you can control. There’s a lot of things regarding nature we can never control fully, and the best thing you can do is react and adapt. Much like nature has been doing since the dawn of time. For Bent Tree, after a previously low rate of pregnancy, they had to sell off some bulls to try and skim down to the most fertile of the group. Jonathan would compare the data to last years pregnancies as well to see if any of the females were not showing signs of fertility either. The decisions, like Jonathan told me, have to be business like. Efficiency is key for a profitable agriculture venture, leaving little room for speculation or hopes. Sure, they could hope that next year the rate increases if they changed a few things regarding diet or feeding, maybe even changed the bulls they let into the herd - but the hard facts might be some cows just aren’t fertile and taking up a piece of their budget.

We took a break to sit down for breakfast and after saying grace we dug into the warm meal. Everything was fantastic and you could only be jealous of having fresh eggs outside each day to use for your meals. 

After we ate our fill, Jonathan wanted to show me how he processed orders. We went into a shed full of freezers and Jonathan pulled up an order he needed to fulfill - he would meet with a customer in Ada that evening.

“We mainly do the Farmer’s Market in the Paseo District then will do monthly drop off’s in the city. We try to work directly with consumers just so we can scale with our herd size.” I wondered what that relationship was like for them and for the customers. “We had this one lady who tried our beef. She has chrones disease and couldn’t eat meat for years. But since our meat was grain free she didn’t have a reaction and said she had a burger every day she missed it so much. We hadn’t heard from her in a while when it came time to re-order, but a few months later she came back. She said she had a friend from church offer her grain free beef but she had a terrible reaction. It’s so easy to put labels on food that don’t accurately describe what the process is for it - like organic or grain free. After that she always re-orders.”

To me as a consumer, that relationship seems so appealing. I personally waited years without boots so I could save and order a pair from Austin, Texas from a brand that hand makes their leather boots. I wanted that craftsmanship and care going into something I’d use for years and years. And there is something to be said about what we’re consuming. Despite the growing trend of farm-to-table, there’s also that polarized movement of even having groceries delivered to your door. Like that Aldo Leopold quote says - we’ve been disconnected even from the grocer, another stepped remove from the food we consume.

Jonathan also brought up another great point though and one I think we have noticed more and more as a society, when big brands slap names on their products like “Organic” “Free-Range” or “Grain-Free” it seems disingenuous and is a major disservice to the small scaled local operations like Bent Tree Farms.

The next part of the day was weighing steers that were going to be sold. Jonathan had kept these steers and some new calves and their mothers who weren’t putting on weight fast enough separated from the main herd. They had a big pile of hay to munch on so they could get extra large meals in. Jonathan worked to get the scale in place. After the scale was set up and pens separated, Jonathan hopped in and began to separate the steers from the mothers and calves. He would use his body language to separate one at a time. Instead of yelling or cracking a whip, he’d slowly move here and there to do this meticulous dance. When a calf would try to dart to the new pen, Jonathan would simply move to stand in between the entrance and the intruder to deter the idea. Slowly and surely, just by walking through the herd and using his body language, Jonathan had the groups separated. 

The steers would dart through the chute and one at a time, Jonathan would move them onto the scale and get their weight. He had a set goal for their weight gain in a select amount of time that would represent the best meat when they were processed. The fat to muscle ratio was down to a science of not only ideal weight, but also the rate that the weight is put on.

After we had finished gathering the data and readjusting the pen to its natural order, we loaded up in Jonathan’s truck and set off to examine the rest of the property. I was excited to check out the landscape and see the impact their operation has had on the native ecosystem operating alongside them.

After a drive to the far side of the property, we jumped out and Jonathan showed me the cover crops of legumes they planted this winter. The crops will not only give the herd hay next spring, but it also helps pack in the soil’s nutrients and lets the roots stir the soil as they grow downward. We walked through the field and admired the Clear Boggy Creek that ran through it - which lived up to its names and might be one of the clearest waterways in Oklahoma that isn’t directly spring fed. Jonathan kneeled over and showed me the clover that had grown in patches nearby. He shared what the property was like when Mark first bought it. There’s certain weeds and grasses that grow when soil is in poor health - on the drive over he pointed some out on a nearby oil well property. But those had long been disappeared from the field we were on. “We get a lot of deer and turkeys around here, especially now. Mark leases out part of the property to hunters which gives us an extra income source for the operation too, so it benefits everyone.” Conventional agriculture similarly will lease out hunting rights to hunters, but with this regenerative agriculture focus on building a thriving ecosystem in tune to nature’s rhythms and cycles, I have to wonder how much more even the outdoor recreation industry would benefits with a growing population of native plants and animal species returning to these lands.

We drove around and admired the huge cottonwoods, hawk nests, sumac and hackberry, groves of oaks and pecans, and just the diversity that resides on the sprawling property. The cows surely enjoy the change in environment as they move from corner to corner - which led us to our next and final task. Move the herd to the opposite field on the property.

We started by placing new fencing in for the pasture they would head to. Jonathan had his system down moving along on his ATV putting in stakes then running the wire while moving along from the drivers seat. He did this over and over again until finally clear cut fields were separated by the lines of those white stakes and electric lines. We proceeded to go to the herd where Jonathan made sure their path was secured.

He then began calling out to the herd. Just a simple call repeated over time and time again. Slowly but surely sheep began to appear over the ridge. Then the cows. They gathered around Jonathan in the corner of the field next to the road. They knew the routine and that his voice was a signal for a fresh pasture to munch on. After all had gathered, he began to lead them down the road. They filed along behind him.

Seeing a mixed herd of sheep, dogs, and cows following Jonathan along the county road was truly a site. When you picture agriculture, this is far from what is often seen. No horses rounding up a single herd of cattle - just a dedicated farmer leading the animals he built a bond with. We made our way down the road and up the hill. The sheep moved along and the cows ended up taking a quick short cut through a forest. But they made their way and eventually down the hill into the pasture Jonathan had laid out for them.

After the last steers made it through, Jonathan closed the electric gate to seal them in. I dipped through and followed them down the hill. Clouds on the western horizon painted a serene picture as they grazed in the fresh grasses that blanketed the field. Flocks of birds flew overhead and the sounds of munching cows and bleating sheep created a harmony for the calm afternoon. Jonathan brought in water troughs and dog food for the guardians of the herd and flock. And after Jonathan took a few photos for Bent Tree’s Instagram, we headed back. Everything was in place and the herd was set. Jonathan, Miriam, and Cal said goodbye to me before I headed off. They had an order to meet later that evening, but after an early start to the day, it felt refreshing to end it with the setting sun. I thanked them for their hospitality and the impact they left on me. It was such a privilege getting to shadow them for the day.

Heading home I had a lot of time to reflect on the day. There were a ton of implications on what I learned and got to witness. But ultimately, no matter how compelling it is to learn about their agriculture techniques or talk about the returning of native plant species, it’s up to me as a consumer to use my spending dollars to decide what’s important to me. It’s easy to place blame on big corporations or operations for a lot of the ecological damage taking place in our planet, but am I paying the premium to support localized and small scaled businesses? I’ve always theorized our dollars say much more than our votes about what we value. I think this is just another instance - and for me personally, a challenge. There are a lot of areas, especially for big purchases, where my philosophy is go without until I can afford the high quality item I’ve been waiting to get. I have to wonder if I implemented that same idea with my diet, regarding meat specifically, what the impact would be for my carbon footprint. In the end, through my time studying business and economics in college then getting out into the real world, my conclusion has been that our market system does not account for long term environmental or ecological impacts in the dollar value assigned. It’s up to us to be informed and intentional with how we go about supporting businesses on all scales.