Mexico Workshop

I am glad to report that our first International Workshop "Train of Trainers" conducted in Sonora, Mexico was most enjoyable and successful. We decided to combine during the same week, both the BEHAVE "Train of Trainers" by Juan and I, and the "Low stress Livestock Handling School" mostly by Tim Westfall.

We stayed in Mexico from Saturday 18th thru Friday 24th of February and we spent most of the daily hours interacting with the participants. All the events went very smoothly and according to schedule.

The workshop was conducted at the headquarters of Rancho "La Inmaculada" that is located in the central part of the Sonoran Desert, few hours by car North West of Hemosillo. Thru the efforts of the Ranch Owners, Martha and Ivan Aguirre, everything was just perfect and well prepared in advance, from accommodations to meals, to field trips.

Although most of the people who attended the workshops understood English, we conducted all the activities and presentations in Spanish, except for Tim's slides and presentation that needed to be translated for the few who were not fluent in English. This was not a problem and maybe slowed down a little the schedule, but we addressed the need to have Tim's slides as well as ours to be modified and be translated into Spanish, to facilitate future presentations in Mexico.

Ivan selected the participants who will be future BEHAVE Educators and we, Juan and I, could not agree more with his selection. He chose five people, highly educated from different backgrounds, but all had in common the desire for learning new things and all are involved in one way or another in education, teaching and outreach.

The people who will be Educators are:
1. Ivan Aguirre Ibarra, ranch owner and Registered Holistic Management Educator
2. Manuel Molina Loustanau, Agronomist, Educator and Ranching Consultant
3. Jose Vicente Arriola, Veterinarian, Ranch Owner and involved in different Sonora Livestock Producers organizations.
4. Ricardo Gonzalez Gomez, Member of the Faculty of The University of Baja California at Ensenada and Wildlife specialist.
5. Eduardo Darancou, former Wall Street consultant and now rancher and interested in Horse Behavior.

The workshop was open to anybody who wanted to attend and we had a total of 20 participants including ourselves. In addition to the educators, the rest of the attendants were wives, ranch employees, one attorney, one physician and several students. We think the diversity of people made the workshop very engaging and dynamic.

All "future educators" received a copy of the BEHAVE Educators Manual with all the CDs and DVDs and teaching material. From the beginning, even before we arrived in Mexico, we decided to provide all the teaching materials to only the best qualified people to teach and transfer information. The rest of the participants received a copy of the book Foraging Behavior and also a copy of all the slides, so they could follow better the presentation and take notes. We intentionally restricted the distribution of the BEHAVE Manual to the 5 participants with teaching potential in order not to make the presentation generic and as a sign of distinction, and also decrease the expenses.

We used 2 full days for the presentation of the BEHAVE Project and Principles, I did most of the slides and material presentation and Juan did most of the comments and explanations about the different experimental work and videos. In this way we explained not only the results but also how the research was done. We noticed how the interest in BEHAVE grew as we advanced into the presentation. Whenever we noticed that the audience was getting "satiated" we asked Tim Westfall to give some pearls of his work. It was our impression that this approach maintained the level of attention and gave to all of us a better utilization of our time.

The overall workshop went above our expectations and I don't think that any single concept and slide went without full explanation either by me or Juan. We emphasized the need for full understanding of the 7 principles. We had a lot of interaction, exchange of information and questions that were very interesting and refreshing. After each principle was presented, we set aside some time for questions, answers and comments that were very useful for everybody.
The very last night of our stay in Mexico, we had an informal meeting evaluating our exchange of information and the responses and comments were very positive.

The level of interest for BEHAVE, Livestock Handling and continuing learning demonstrated by every one present was very high. After some brainstorming, the ideas for continuing working together were flowing very easily. Every "educator" is committed to transfer the information concerning the BEHAVE Principles having as a primary target the students and young producers. There is a real interest in creating a Non-Profit School at Rancho La Inmaculada to teach young people, sustainable ranching practices that also include the BEHAVE Principles. Also the participants representing the University of Baja California are interested to include behavior principles as part of the School Curriculum and they will contact us to get advice about this.

Thanks to Martha and Ivan Aguirre every little detail from meals to bedrooms, from transportation to projector and equipment, and coffee for breaks was well prepared in advance and could not be any better. The Rancho Inmaculada itself is a BEHAVE Project at work. The practice of Holistic Management for so many years in all the aspects of their operation and lives has changed the environment and the animal behavior. We witnessed how the animals performed beautifully in a desert environment that offers mostly plants that in other places would be considered toxic, not palatable and of no use in a livestock enterprise. The mesquite is consumed as good as "candies". The potential for research at that ranch is unbelievable.

It is possible to see how the landscape is changing its succession with plants like the "creosota brush" dying as a result of the better water cycle and being replaced for desirables grasses and forbs. You must see it to believe it.

In summary, our visit to Mexico was very rewarding. The BEHAVE's seeds are in place. There is no doubt in our minds that the quality of people that were chosen as educators could not be any better and they are committed to spread the word and teach to others what they learned about the BEHAVE Project and Principles.

At the end of the workshop, Juan and I expressed our thanks to all participants and welcomed the educators because they are already part of the project and we promised to support them in all we could. The relationship with the Mexican group is at its infancy and we are looking forward to meeting with them again and help with future workshops and support.

Regards,

Demetrio