Graze Wild offers expert advice and practical support in land management projects focussing on restoring natural ecosystems. We can help plan a project and ‘hire’ out our native breed herbivores with all livestock maintenance included.
Allowing semi-wild herbivores to manage the landscape is a popular conservation technique used to restore natural ecosystem processes.
We have pedigree herds of the following native herbivores:
- Belted Galloway cattle: They are a hardy breed and require minimal human inputs, with grazing areas virtually controlled by grazing collars. Their grazing patterns create a mosaic of different vegetation heights, increasing habitat diversity at the correct stocking densities. They can help manage scrub, prevent invasive species taking over and aid in preventing the risk of wild fires.
- Dartmoor ponies; ponies are a keystone species as their presence can have an huge impact on a diverse range of species. Lighter weight than cattle, they also have different mouth structures, with two sets of incisors that can nibble and bite as well as strong molars to grind tougher vegetation. Efficiently reducing dominant scrub and coarse grasses, this allows a wider variety of flora to flourish where the ponies have grazed. They constantly move around, particularly if a stallion is present with the herd, creating microhabitats with their hooves. They are hardy and resilient and require no supplementary feeding throughout the year.
- British Lop pigs – their natural rooting and wallowing behaviours help restore ecosystems and create microhabitats to allow a diverse range of plants to grow. Invasive plants can also be suppressed by the turning over of the soil. Their rootling aerates the soil and unearths seeds deep below the surface, exposing dormant seeds in the soil’s seed bank, creating a space for new plant growth. Their wallows create small pools of water which are important for invertebrates, amphibians and aquatic plants. Often used at the start of project to ‘reset’ the land allowing natural regeneration of the land.
The Rowden Wildlife project is a local example of our sensitive land management. It has shown how nature friendly farming can increase biodiversity, soil health and animal welfare as well as providing opportunities for community engagement and collaboration with local charities and groups. Hedgerows have been allowed to flourish, woodland and hedgerow habitats have been restored and bird and bat boxes installed to increase the opportunities for wildlife to thrive alongside a profitable farming enterprise. Our semi- wild herbivores have been integral to restoring the ecosystems on the farm at Rowden with a particular focus on restoring culm grassland habitat and managing a County Wildlife Site.
We can offer a range of services depending on your project needs so get in touch to discuss your ideas.
