Rethinking Grazing: Bringing Animals Back into the Landscape

Welcome to a guest lecture about grazing with Simon Goodall from Gestione Olistica Italia!

• Reading the landscape — and recognising what’s missing. Look beyond the conventional divisions of cropland, pasture and forest. Explore vegetation, ecological processes and the historical role of grazing animals, and ask where the absence of animal impact may itself be significant.
• The right animal, in the right place, at the right time. Grazers and browsers interact with vegetation differently. Species, behaviour, timing, density and movement matter. Restoring animal impact isn’t simply about adding livestock; it means matching the animal and its behaviour to the landscape and the desired outcome.
• Reconnecting animals with cropping and forestry systems. Explore how grazing can become part of crop rotations, cover crops, residues, woodland and other vegetated areas — reconnecting biological processes that agricultural specialisation has often separated.
• Rethinking ownership: access the animals rather than owning them. The landowner doesn’t necessarily need to become a livestock farmer. Grazing services, partnerships and mobile systems can connect vegetation that needs management with livestock owners who already have the animals, knowledge and infrastructure — potentially avoiding capital investment on both sides.
• Creating value from the relationship. Animals transform vegetation and affect nutrient cycling, plant communities and soils while producing food, fibre and other products. Explore how the right relationships between land, animals and people can generate ecological, productive, financial and social value.

About the speaker

Simon Goodall is a farmer, educator and specialist in Holistic Management, grazing systems and ecological monitoring, with more than three decades of practical experience working with livestock, land and natural fibres across different agricultural and cultural contexts. His work focuses on understanding the relationships between animals, landscapes and people, and on translating ecological principles into practical management decisions. He has worked internationally with farmers, organisations and projects exploring how livestock can contribute to healthier landscapes while supporting viable agricultural enterprises and rural communities.