Gaviota Givings

 

A pasture-raised meat operation on the Gaviota Coast of California experiments with silvopasture.

Husband-and-wife duo Guner and Heidi Tautrim understand all too well the challenges of raising animals year-round in a drying Mediterranean environment. Their response has been to test a different way of raising animals: alongside perennials.

Integrating a diversity of tree species into a small-scale meat operation in the context of a drying climate has presented the Tautrims with both early wins and unique challenges that are driving their cautious, highly experimental and small-scale approach to silvopasture. Learn how the Tautrims are experimenting with silvopasture as a means of providing dry season nutrition to their animals and returning the annual rangeland to native perennial pasture.