Field Day
Grazing for Soil and Landscape Health
Join us for a day of on-farm learning and practical skills on how to implement grazing strategies to build soil and landscape health. This is the third of our field days with graziers featured in our new grazing practice guide.
Cattle farmer David Read remembers fencing during the Millennium Drought and having to stop work because they couldn’t see through all the dust and needing to clear dirt off a gate with a tractor to open it. The Woodcote team decided they would never allow that to happen again. David and his wife Ruth, along with sister Jen Ribolli embarked on a learning journey to improve their grazing management, and in doing so greatly increased their farm’s resilience to climate extremes.
David and Ruth are a featured case study in Soils for Life’s recently launched Grazing for Soil and Landscape Regeneration Practice Guide. Developed with experienced graziers from around Australia, and some of Australia’s most respected grazing educators and training institutions, Soils for Life has produced a resource that distils the most common principles and practices used by graziers to regenerate soil health and landscape function.
Join us for this field day, part of a nationwide event series hosted by the five graziers featured in the guide. Hosts David and Ruth Read will be joined by guest speaker and grazing management educator Brian Wehlburg. The day will cover:
- Introduction to the Grazing Practice Guide
- David and Ruth Read will talk about their grazing management practices
- Brian Wehlburg will share practical grazing management principles, and how to apply them
- Practical skills session in the field
- Open discussion, networking, questions and peer-to-peer learning throughout the day
The focus is on practical, paddock-based learning, farmer observations and decision-making tools that can be applied on farm.
When
15 September 2026
Where
Perry Bridge VIC
Contact
For questions or more information, please contact Soils for Life at (02) 6273 6647 or [email protected]
Tickets
Famers: $30 for up to 3 attendees from the same farm business (multiple tickets for farm businesses only), $15 for subsequent registrants. $30 for industry attendees. Numbers are limited.
Lineup
David and Ruth Read
David and Ruth Read operate a beef cattle trading operation that gives them the flexibility to respond to changing seasonal conditions, and that supports their vision for a harmonious and ecologically regenerative system. Grazing management has been a priority since David attended the RCS Grazing for Profit course in 2001. Since this time, David and Ruth have continued to make time for ongoing learning, which has included Holistic Management, KLR Marketing, Low Stress Stock Handling and many other courses. They have reduced the number of mobs, improved fencing and water and use strip grazing to increase the density of grazing.
Brian Wehlburg
Brian is a highly regarded Holistic Management educator with many years of experience delivering workshops across Australia. Brian enjoys sharing his passion for environmental improvement and grazing management and is motivated by seeing the positive change that Holistic Management can bring to people’s lives and livelihoods.
Many thanks to Twynam Investments for supporting the production of this guide, to the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and Hand Heart Pocket for supporting this event, to Judi Earl (Agricultural Information and Monitoring Services), Helen Lewis (Australian Holistic Management Cooperative), David McLean (RCS), Grahame Rees (KLR Marketing) and Brian Wehlburg (Inside Outside Management) for input and guidance, and to Ben Simpson, David and Ruth Read, David Curtis, Nick Austin and Rod and Katrina Butler for generously sharing their stories, knowledge, experience and data.
