I will always remember the first time watching Bob move cattle. I had never seen anyone get the cows attention and get them moving in the direction he wanted from the minute he started toward the herd. The concepts he taught at his clinic have helped me be a better stockman and I have been able to apply them and figure some things out with livestock I would have never thought was possible. The big differences are in the little details. I hope I get to ride with him again someday.
Thanks you to the clients and students who have commented here!
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Bob brought IGM out to Hopi land several years ago and had about 8 ranchers attend the seminar, camping out at Diamond X ranch for a week. Within that time frame, we were able to get the cattle to graze as one unit. My cattle still graze as one unit,when they tend to drift apart. This method makes it easier to move the herd to different parts of the grazing unit, without fences. Using TM salt blocks and watering sources, I get to utilize the ranch on a more sustainable method, even with this persistent drought here in Arizona.
It was hard to grasp the idea in the beginning but as things fell into place, the participants were able to understand the difference and importance of grazing as a unit. It now only takes one person to move the herd where you want to.
Bob worked for me in Australia. He was able to bring roughly 6000 cattle together into a single herd, out of huge paddocks of 20000 acres. He did it simply and quietly with the help of 2 girls with no previous experience. This was something all the chopper pilots previously had failed to do.
I had the opportunity to attend one of Bob Kinford’s Instinctive Migratory Grazing schools in Montana last summer, and it left a lasting impression on me. What stood out most was Bob’s deep dedication to the art of stockmanship and his commitment to truly understanding the natural instincts of livestock.
His approach to working with herd behavior feels fundamentally different—it’s more natural, more respectful of the animal, and rooted in stewardship rather than control. Seeing cattle move and function as a cohesive herd with lower stress was incredibly powerful.
That reduction in stress isn’t just better for the animal’s wellbeing—it also translates into healthier livestock, better quality meat, and greater profitability for your operation.
I’m extremely impressed with the positive outcomes ranchers are achieving with this approach, both for their animals and for the land they steward. Bob brings a rare combination of insight, experience, and passion to his work, and it’s clear he has devoted years to refining this craft.
I’m grateful to have learned from him and look forward to continuing to deepen my understanding of this work in the future.
Bob spent time with us at the ranch in Chihuahua, MX a few years ago. His approach to move and place cattle as one mob is an extraordinary way to regenerate degraded land that needs animal impact but without fences. It is an elegant way to solve a complex, pressing issue of land degradation and desertification. We are more than happy to have had Bob coming to teach us different and complementary ways of doing things we thought were only possible with electric fence. We would definitely do it again more than once.
Instinctive Migratory Grazing (IMG) applies herd instinct and planned migration to improve forage use, plant recovery, and ranch resilience. This is not theory—it’s field-tested management grounded in observation and adaptive timing.
Documented outcomes on our ranch include:
15-day recovery during periods of rapid grass growth
45–60 day recovery in dry or slow-growth conditions to maintain plant vigor
Improved perennial plant presence and more uniform ground cover
Full pasture accessibility with water availability supporting whole-pasture grazing
Herd-driven movement, reducing labor and eliminating constant rotation pressure
Year-round grazing capability, lowering dependence on stored feed and inputs
Rather than subdividing pastures for daily moves, IMG relies on:
Strategic confinement to guide migration
Stockmanship that draws cattle forward as a herd
Timing based on plant recovery, not calendar dates
The outcome is a grazing system that:
✔ Builds soil cover
✔ Encourages desirable species
✔ Increases drought resilience
✔ Positions the ranch for long-term carrying capacity growth
IMG turns grazing into a biological partnership with the land—where cattle behavior, plant recovery, and management timing work together to build profit from the ground up.
It works on Bison too!!
I have work with Bob Kinford for 11 years, since 2015. Bob has been my friend and my mentor since then.
Riding with Bob, I have witness the great positive results of his style of stockmanship and the IMG across the whole Chihuahuan Desert on llanos, chaparral, valleys, desert mountain ranges and forests. As well in the high plains and rough river brakes of Oklahoma and Kansas, and recently on the northern Grat Plains in Montana.
During this years I had the oportunity to apply the IMG principles and approach to all sort of cattle, from large ranch outfits, some with tame cattle and some with very rough stock, to sectioned pastures across county roads and feedlots. It works every single time, no matter the animal and no matter the terrain. You just have to believe.
In 2021 and 2022, I worked for the great Jesse Chapman in northwest Oklahoma, I was in charge of three diferent outfits at the same time.
The first one with 600 pairs + 150 stockers + 60 registered cattle, the second one with 180 rough stock and the thirth one with 600 steers, every outfit 2 hrs apart from each other, and all as one man operation.
The only way to keep that deal succesfull, profitable and sustainable for the land the cattle and the poeple, was appliying IMG and Bob stockmanship approach.
Although I have work with cattle and horses, my real deal is Bison.
Between 2018 and early 2021, I was the ranch manager and herdsman for the Mexican national bison herd in Chihuahua. When I got to the ranch, the bison were very agressive, charging trucks, atvs, horses and sometimes people. No control with the herd and no control with the grazing. Bob came to the ranch and we spent two weeks adapting the IMG principles with those buffalo. Two months later I was able to move the whole bison herd togather with a crew horseback and sometimes by myself a foot.
Im in Montana now, I run almost 1,000 bison in two outfits, we dont have a lot of internal fences, our pastures are big, but appliying IMG I been able to develop a high level of control with the bison and prepare the bison for succes, bison are now very well behave and we are starting to reach our regenerative grazing goals with them.
At this point we dont need more than two riders to move the bison herd.
IMG is very logic, and learner friendly, our permanent and seasonal staff learn the IMG principles very fast, so they pick up the idea and apply it in a few weeks. Since every time is easier and easier, the general stress around the working crew is also lesser and lesser.
If you are willing to learn, to listen, to observe, and belive, Bob Kinford can teach you one or two tricks that will improve the life of your operation, your animals, your land, your pocket and your family relationship and crew.
Pedro Calderon Dominguez