As part of our Over the Fence Project, Weddin Landcare are offering local farmers the opportunity to join them on a 3-day bus tour to progressive grazing and cropping properties in the northern half of the Central West region, from Forbes to Mullaley.
The bus tour will visit four farms where we will hear from the owners and view several points of interest, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions. An itinerary is provided below along with farmer details.
The tour will also include a full day to explore the premier primary industry field day, AgQuip, in Gunnedah on Thursday 20th August. If wandering around the field day is not your thing, there will be an alternative option for a car load of people to take a day trip to the Warrumbungle National Park instead.
Cost: $200pp (single) or $175pp (twin share) (heavily subsidised, includes cost of the bus, host farmer fees, daytime meals for 2 days and 2 nights accommodation). Discounts apply for couples/twin share.
Bookings:Â Click the link below to book before 31st July 2026.
Below is an itinerary for the three days. Please note that while every effort has been made to confirm the details, this itinerary may be subject to change.
Participants are expected to travel as a group on a bus from the Weddin Community Native Nursery at 43 East St Grenfell. Overnight parking is available at the Nursery. Arrangements can be made to collect/drop off participants along the way, however no detours will be made.
Day 1: Wednesday 19th August
7:30am – Depart from 43 East St Grenfell
8:30am – Tour: Topsoil Organics, Forbes
9:30am – Morning tea, Parkes
11:00am – Farm tour: Mel and Dave Kiel, Yeoval
12:45pm – Lunch, Wellington
3:00pm – Farm tour: Bruce and Liam Maynard, Willydah Pty Ltd, Narromine
6:45pm – Coonabarabran. Overnight accommodation.
Day 2: Thursday 20th August
8:00 am – Depart from Coonabarabran.
9:15 am – AgQuip Field Day, Gunnedah (Alternative: day trip to Warrumbungle National Park for a car load of people)
4:00 pm – Depart Gunnedah
5:15 pm – Coonabarabran. Overnight accommodation.
Day 3: Friday 21st August
8:00am – Depart Coonabarabran
9:00am – Farm tour: Scott, Jo and George McCalman
10:45am – Morning Tea, Mullaley
12:30pm – Lunch, Dunedoo
5:00pm – Arrive 43 East St Grenfell
About the farms we will visit:
Topsoil Organics is a family owned business in Forbes that collects, processes and recovers organic waste for councils, commercial operators and waste generators across New South Wales. They close the loop, transforming organic material into recovered resources such as certified, nutrient-rich compost to support long-term soil health on farms, while keeping green waste out of landfill.
Mel Kiel operates a small, productive and profitable cattle grazing property with her husband Dave and their two daughters. Their cattle trading enterprise is run alongside and compliments a successful mobile diesel mechanic business.
Mel is a graduate of the KLR Marketing School and has practiced the principals in her own business for over 17 years and is now an owner of KLR and trains and mentors graziers across several states. She is passionate about using grass and livestock to produce a landscape that is both profitable yet resilient in a variable climate.
From a background in nursing in country hospitals, Mel also places emphasis on mental and physical wellness on farms, which she believes forms a sound base in the ability to make effective decisions under stress. Her daughter, Laura, is also building on this, linking health and nutrition back to what we grow as farmers.
Bruce Maynard is a fourth generation farmer at ‘Willydah’, with his wife Roz, and children Liam, Ella and Hannah, near Narromine. Together they run a mixed cropping and grazing enterprise.
Bruce has always had an appreciation of nature and an inquiring and creative mind. Through a strong sense of curiosity and a bit of luck in his early farming years, Bruce was able to change the trajectory of his family farm and the paradigms of cropping when he developed the No-Kill cropping technique in 1995, based on four principles around the timing of sowing, disc seeding, no chemical pesticides or fertilisers and effective grazing.
Bruce then developed his own methods of stress-free stockmanship and self-herding techniques, to effectively use animals to enhance the quality of the crops, animals and landscape. The Maynards have also added to the complexity and biodiversity of the farm by establishing large tree and shrub plantings. As part of our bus trip north, we will visit ‘Willydah’, where Liam Maynard will talk about the management techniques implemented on the property.
Scott and his wife Jo, and son George own and operate a summer and winter cropping business on four properties on the heavy black vertosol flood plain soils, North East of Mullaley, on the Liverpool Plains. Our whole farming system functions maintaining full ground cover and focuses on soil health.
The MCalmans use zero-till, controlled traffic, biological liquid nutrition and seed dressings, nutrition buffering, utilise a flexible and diverse winter and summer cropping rotation and crimp roll cover crops as a key driver to soil health, moisture retention, risk management and profitability.
This bus trip is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.
