MALT Small Grant Powers Rotational Grazing at Red Hill Ranch

By Scott Dunbar, Stewardship Program Manager

May 30, 2025

“This project has been a gamechanger for our ranch,” John Dolcini reflects, watching his cattle graze through carefully managed paddocks across the rolling hills of Hicks Valley west of Novato. He’s joined by his siblings, Annie Dolcini Mount and Grant, who together represent the sixth generation of Dolcinis to call this land home. “Our family has always rotated our animals across the ranch, but having the tools to fine-tune that movement has taken everything to the next level.”

The three siblings own and operate AD Bar Cattle Company—named for their grandfather Arnold Dolcini—on Red Hill Ranch. In the fall of 2023, their cattle company was awarded $40,000 from the Marin Agricultural Land Trust’s (MALT) inaugural small grants program to improve their fencing and water infrastructure and plant trees to expand shade areas for livestock and create habitat for wildlife. With these new tools, the family gained something invaluable: precision. This enhancement to their existing grazing system has transformed not just their ranch’s productivity, but created a textbook example of rotational grazing in action.

While Marin County’s agricultural operations may seem small compared to the vast ranches of the Central Valley or Midwest, their impact extends far beyond their acreage. These family-run operations like Red Hill Ranch serve as living laboratories for sustainable practices that can be scaled up across California’s 62.9 million acres of rangeland.

The Art and Science of Rotational Grazing

Rotational grazing isn’t a new concept in the ranching community but it has recently gained popularity as a means for improving soil and forage vitality. By allowing pastures to rest and regenerate—a critical component of rotational grazing—forage plants are afforded the opportunity to develop deeper root systems and more above ground plant biomass. Ultimately this leads to more carbon in the soil and less in the atmosphere.

Traditionally ranchers have relied on fixed paddocks and seasonal moves with longer grazing windows. But rotational grazing takes precision to another level. The Dolcinis are a great example of this evolution, using their new portable electric fencing and strategic water placement to create smaller grazing areas that can be managed with more flexibility. Think of it like a choreography between animals and land. Each movement—where animals graze and for how long—is carefully timed to optimize both animal health and the overall productivity of their grazing lands.

The Dolcinis had been practicing rotational grazing for years, but their new infrastructure—reels of electric fencing, energizers to power the fencing, and improved water troughs—has revolutionized how precisely they can manage their land. They can now create variable-sized paddocks, adjusting to seasonal conditions, grass growth rates, and fluctuations in herd size.

New electric fencing, strategic water systems, and shade trees funded through MALT’s small grant program enabled AD Bar Cattle Company to elevate their cattle rotation to precision rotational grazing.

The Ripple Effects of Rotational Grazing

When grass gets grazed, the plant kicks into survival mode, quickly sending energy down to grow stronger roots. This creates what’s called “root pumping”—the plant pushes more carbon into the soil than it would under constant grazing. The result? Deeper, more nutritious grass that can better handle drought.

This response isn’t an accident. For millions of years, grasslands thrived under massive herds of bison, elk, and other grazing animals that migrated—often pushed by predators—across grasslands. The disturbance from both grazing and occasional trampling actually helps grass grow, encouraging plants to spread and strengthen their root systems. When the animals are moved at the right time, grasses bounce back stronger than if they had never been grazed at all. This natural partnership between grazers and grasslands is why rotational grazing works so well—it copies the patterns that shaped these landscapes for thousands of years.

With enough time to rest between grazing, plants work more efficiently and pump extra energy and atmospheric carbon into the soil through their roots. This can turn the earth into a carbon storage system and, with more carbon in the soil, also helps the land soak up more water. The varied grazing across the ranch—creating a patchwork of different grass heights—also makes perfect homes for beneficial insects, pollinators, and nesting birds.

All of this adds up to healthier pastures that stay green longer into summer. With better grass quality and more water stored in the soil, ranchers like the Dolcinis can support larger herds while building soil health at the same time. It’s a win-win that proves good land stewardship and good business can go hand in hand.

The benefits of rotational grazing extend far beyond individual ranches—improved water infiltration affects entire watersheds, increased biodiversity creates regional habitat corridors, and sustainable practices demonstrate scalable solutions for California’s millions of acres of rangeland.

A Broader Movement

As MALT recently announced its fourth round of small grants, the program has already distributed close to $600,000 in targeted funding to local operations. More broadly, MALT has supported over $3 million in total land stewardship projects across Marin County. AD Bar Cattle Company is just one example of how these investments create ripple effects throughout our agricultural community.

The transformation happening at Red Hill Ranch—and at dozens of other operations across our region—demonstrates something profound about how change happens in agriculture. It’s rarely revolutionary; instead, it’s the steady accumulation of thoughtful improvements that build resilience into our food system.

“What we’re doing here isn’t just about our ranch,” John reflects. “When you improve water infiltration on one property, it affects the watershed. When you increase biodiversity on one farm, it creates habitat for the whole region. It’s all connected.”

With Your Support

The ripple effects you’ve read about here start with community support. Help MALT fund more projects that benefit ranchers, wildlife, and watersheds across Marin County. Every contribution helps build a more sustainable agricultural future. Donate today