Conservation Grazing Project

At Cheshire Wildlife Trust our herd of Dexter and Longhorn cattle and Hebridean sheep are doing their bit for biodiversity. The cattle and sheep are part of our conservation grazing project which has gone from strength to strength.

Back in 2006 the Trust took on a conservation grazing officer to supervise the grazing on those reserves which need to be managed in this way. Funding for the scheme, which cost just over £115,000 came largely from SITA Trust which paid for the cattle and a tractor. Defra supported the salary of the conservation grazing officer with a contribution of around £75,000 for the first three years. A wide range of organisations provided match funding, including Shell and AstraZeneca.

The breed of cattle used for conservation grazing is very important and different breeds are needed to manage different habitats. The sites where we use the animals vary from very wet species-rich meadows to large areas of rush and purple moor grass. To try and manage these areas without cattle would be very expensive and time consuming. Machinery would fail to imitate the trampling benefits provided by the cattle’s feet and it would not deal with the differing heights of vegetation.

At present we have two breeds of cattle: English Longhorn and Dexter. Both are traditional British breeds which in itself is a reason for employing them. These cattle graze the same British habitats that their ancestors grazed effectively for hundreds of years before farming practices changed and food production priorities turned from quality to quantity. More modern breeds of cattle which are favoured by many farmers because they produce more milk or meat are actually not well suited to conservation grazing. For instance, Holstein cows are not very hardy so are unsuited to over-wintering outside. They do not like coarse vegetation such as rushes and sedges and have problems on wet ground.

Longhorns, even though they may look fierce are actually quite docile. They thrive on poor vegetation. This breed used to be the dominant type in 18 th century Britain when it was used for meat and milk production as well as being a draught animal.

The Hebridean Sheep are extremely hardy and have been shown to have a good impact on purple moor grass.

Dexters originate from Ireland and are again very hardy and adaptable. The Dexter has one important added advantage – it’s very small. This makes Dexters very usable on wet ground where other breeds would cause damage or even get stuck and because of their small size, they are ideal for grazing the smaller reserves.

The cattle overwinter at the Trust's HQ, Bickley Hall Farm, and in spring head out onto the reserves to start their valuable conservation work. As the herd has grown the Trust has been able to use grazing animals more and more as a management tool and we now have enough cattle to loan some out to other land managers who have sites that will benefit from this very special type of grazing.

One of the original aims of the conservation grazing project was to raise the profile of the use of grazing animals to benefit biodiversity. This has been achieved in several ways including guided walks and talks for school children and wildlife enthusiasts. Volunteers from local businesses have gained environmental knowledge whilst carrying out projects such as maintaining the reserves fencing which are related specifically to grazing animals. The Trust also has strong links with Reaseheath College who send students to gain practice in handling large animals. The most recent profile-raising event has been to take a young Longhorn bull to the Royal Welsh show in 2008 and we hope to show some more of the cattle in summer 2009.