Tom Hooke with Erwin Woolward from Segard Masurel Wool Brokers South Africa, at Spekboomberg farm in Cradock, South Africa.
Wanganella Merino producer Tom Hooke is challenging long-held assumptions about regenerative grazing, presenting evidence the practice can deliver significant results for sheep enterprises in low rainfall, rangeland environments.
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The 2020 Nuffield Scholar and operator of East Loddon Merino Stud has released a report investigating whether regenerative grazing can be successfully adapted to Australia's low rainfall sheep country.
Supported by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), his research took him to the United States and South Africa — two regions where producers are applying regenerative grazing in environments similar to his own.
“Our country receives around 350mm of rainfall a year. We graze on native pastures with no fertiliser and no renovated pasture,” Tom said.
“Rainfall dictates almost everything. So the biggest lever we have is how we manage our grazing animals — and that's exactly what regenerative grazing is about.”
Regenerative grazing is built around managing four key ecosystem processes through timing, intensity, and diversity.
Rather than setting fixed stocking rates, producers move stock in large mobs through smaller areas, allowing rest periods that enable native pastures to recover, build soil health, and increase carrying capacity over time.
Tom visited sheep and cattle producers across Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and through the Eastern and Northern Cape and Free State regions of South Africa — areas with low, erratic rainfall and native pasture systems that mirror the western Riverina.
“Property after property had increased their carrying capacity by 1.5 to almost three times what they were running under conventional management,” he said.
“The pastures were healthier, the stock were in good condition, and the businesses were genuinely profitable.
Tom Hooke exploring the landscapes of Karoo, South Africa.
“These weren't fringe operators - they were serious producers who'd made a deliberate, informed decision to change how they graze.”
One of the central questions Tom examined was whether sheep-only systems could achieve the same results as mixed enterprises.
Sheep producers in South Africa running dedicated rotational grazing programs had lifted carrying capacity by 1.5 times. However, properties that introduced cattle alongside sheep consistently achieved greater gains, with some reaching up to three times their original capacity.
“The message wasn't that sheep can't do it, they can. But if you have the opportunity to run cattle alongside your sheep, even at a modest ratio, you're likely to see a much greater return,,” Tom said.
His report also addresses practical steps for producers considering the approach.
He recommends beginning with formal training, starting on the most productive part of the farm rather than degraded country, and trialling the system on a portion of the property before expanding.
Matching stocking rate to carrying capacity - and destocking during dry periods - is identified as one of the most important skills in making the system work. Producers running these systems also demonstrated greater resilience through drought.
The full report, ‘Adapting Regenerative Grazing for Low Rainfall Sheep Production’, is available at the Nuffield Australia website.
Tom will present his findings at the 2026 Nuffield National Conference in Darwin in September.
