What you do to encourage this biodiversity?

45 acres of marshes are in a Higher-Level Stewardship scheme to attract winter waders and wildfowl. Under the scheme works were undertaken to erect sluices and pipe dams and construct foot drains to hold the water on the marshes over the winter. The RSPB have carried out regular monitoring for us and we have had some great successes in the past 24 months including bittern, large numbers of snipe, lapwing both over wintering and breeding, good numbers of skylark and of course great flocks of pink-footed geese.

Winter bale grazing at Carr Farm

Bale rolling has been a revelation on our winter grazing fields. These very thin sandy/gravelly soils have benefitted hugely from the extra organic matter generated by rolling bales out for the cattle through the winter rather than using ring feeders. Initially we were nervous about how much forage would be “wasted” both by leaving the bales out in the fields in all weathers but also by the amount trodden into the soil by the cattle. Now we realise there is no waste at all! We set the bales out on the field during dry weather as we go into winter, the winter grazing will have been closed up, since June or July so there is a good amount of grazing forage for the cattle. We have a fixed water infrastructure so use a single line electric fence to move the cattle across the field a few metres each day. Although no back fence is used, we find the cattle are so focused on their fresh grass and new bale of hay each day they tend to always be moving forward rather than returning over previously grazed areas. The first inch of a hay bale may be “spoiled” but thereafter the bales are in surprisingly good condition inside. This way of feeding has other advantages over ring feeders which cause compaction in the fields, we find that the hay is spread over a large area so there is plenty of room for all cattle to feed. We have a mixed age group of approx. 40 animals and by bale rolling there is no bullying everyone gets to access the hay. It’s also a really good opportunity to check all the cattle over whilst they are moving around. The hay residues are then used as dry bedding by the calves and eventually trodden in providing much needed organic matter to our very light soils, helping them be more drought resistant over future summers.

Belted Galloways grazing and trampling hay

Our summer grazing on the farm is set stocking, mainly because we now like to be slightly under stocking whilst at the same time allowing the cattle the ability to range over the marshes and fully exhibit their natural instincts. This enables the cattle to access natural waterways and areas of woodland for shade and scratching, calving and socialising. On our conservation grazing sites over the summer months the animals also have access to large areas of mainly wetlands but also some historic parkland where the Wildlife Trust landowners use the cattle to open up specific areas of vegetation not easily accessed by mechanical means to create habitat for specific target species. This year the cattle have also been used in reed beds going well into the winter, they will open up areas of the wetland site for prospecting cranes.

How is it connected across the farm and beyond?

The planting of hedges and small copses across the farm interspersed with small wild areas provide corridors for wildlife across our own farm and onto neighbouring farms and marshes.

Three years ago, we were contacted by the RSPB who identified an area of our marshes which could provide a link site between three nearby wetland sites totalling over 2500 acres. These are marshes which are under an HLS agreement to flood them over the winter for waders and wildfowl. We are only a small farm with low acreage, but it has been great to be part of the larger picture in our area of the Norfolk Broads to help provide habitat for many red listed birds species.

Belted Galloways conservation grazing

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