Conservation Grazing

Hi, my name is Joe Ryder and I’ve been working for the Gwent Wildlife Trust as the Conservation Grazing Officer for the past 3 and a half years.

It is a fantastic job! I am incredibly lucky to work in such a beautiful environment.

Many people ask me, “What is conservation grazing?” Well, it’s many things - at its most simple I would describe it as improving biodiversity through grazing domesticated livestock (farm animals), most commonly, sheep, cattle and ponies.

An explanation and bit of history

Conservation grazing is often commonly associated with the traditional hay meadow, but can also range from permanent pasture (land grazed year round) upland hill grazing, heathlands, woodland pasture to lowland wet meadows and rewilding (and many more besides!) To better understand why and how conservation grazing works, we need to look back through time to the beginnings of the grassland habitats we know today.

The vast majority of grassland habitats in Wales are a result of thousands of years of human activity favouring grasslands over forests and wetlands to support the grazing of domesticated livestock for providing milk, meat and skins. Along with the cutting and storage of conserved grass for winter forage (early hay meadows), the variety of grassland habitats began to become an important feature in Wales around 5,000-6,000 years ago. Over this period they have adapted to soils and climate of Wales resulting in the many varied grassland habitats that we experience within Gwent today. Without the grazing livestock the grassland would gradually succeed to woodland, losing many important rare plant species and their associated ecology.

Through conservation grazing with sheep and cattle we can maintain a natural balance similar to that from thousands of years ago.

Our stock and feeding

At Pentwyn Farm and Wyeswood Common we graze our own (Gwent Wildlife Trust) cattle: Longhorns and Herefords; and sheep: Hill Radnor and Hebridean; all registered organic with the Soil Association. Grazed out on the land all year round, the older native breeds are most suitable. Longhorn and Hereford cattle are some of the oldest native breeds in the country. These old breeds are well suited to the outdoors with thick, well-insulated coats and able to thrive off grass and rough vegetation alone with no need for modern concentrate feeds.

We have some new recent editions to our stock - two pure bred, registered Exmoor ponies. GWT have taken them on from the Monmouthshire Meadows group to assist with our conservation grazing. They will be settling in on Wyeswood through spring and summer and then moving around the county to assist with our conservation grazing management through late summer, autumn and winter.

Through the winter we feed our own Pentwyn Farm hay as a treat on frosty days! The hay is packed with seeds from the grassland SSSI Pentwyn Farm, fed out on the grasslands through the winter it helps improve sward plant diversity. The livestock are removed from the hay meadows in early spring, in the case of Pentwyn Farm mid-February, as with mild weather some of the early plants are already on the move sending out seed leaves. Next, we chain harrow with a tractor, knocking over the molehills and raking up mosses and removing any thatch. Over the next 5-6 months the hay meadow develops into is full glory! The crop is not cut until the end of August once most of the plants have flowered and set seed.

Marvellous meadows

June is a great month to visit a hay meadow, with orchids in flower and grasshoppers stridulating!

The hay meadows are a great example of the importance of conservation grazing, without the grazing of sheep and cattle the hay meadow simply doesn’t work.

Grazing livestock comes with a great deal of responsibility. GWT livestock are registered organic with the Soil Association. This means that the land we graze them on is free from artificial fertilisers and we do not use any pesticides or insecticides. It also requires a higher level of animal welfare. To meet these high standards our livestock are checked for health and welfare 365 days a year come rain or shine! The daily checks are carried out by our wonderful team of volunteer shepherds.

Get involved

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer shepherd, general volunteer or finding out more about our conservation grazing and Pentwyn Farm and Wyeswood nature reserves work, please contact me, Joe Ryder via email jryder@gwentwildlife.org