Conservation grazing FAQs

All of our livestock is either bred by us or chosen from a select number of trusted breeders to ensure that they have the correct temperament for life on a nature reserve. Our cattle are all English longhorns who are known to be a particularly docile breed, and we ensure that any new animals are closely monitored to ensure that they are calm around visitors. 

Our staff also check their reaction to dogs, and in general find that many of the cows won’t even bother to get up from their morning snooze if there is a calm and well-behaved dog on a short lead, in the field with them. 

If you are visiting a nature reserve that is also shared with any of our livestock, please allow them the space and peace to get on with their jobs. Pass through areas calmly and quietly, and feel free to leave the footpath to circle around our animals if necessary. 

Please also check signage on site to ensure that the area you are entering has public access, as some of our grazing compartments are not publicly accessible to protect the sensitive habitats and wildlife in the area. 

In the very unlikely event that any of our animals becomes distressed then leave the area as calmly as possible and let go of your dog's lead to allow you to both leave the area separately.  

We love to welcome visitors and their four-legged friends to certain areas of some of our nature reserves (find all the details of our dog friendly nature reserves here), and these may also be home to some of our livestock on your visit. At all times when on any of our nature reserves, we ask that dogs are kept on a short lead to avoid disturbance to sensitive habitats, wildlife and our conservation grazing animals. 

In the very unlikely event that any of our cattle becomes distressed then leave the area as calmly as possible and if necessary, let go of your dog's lead to allow you to both leave the area separately. Please note that this advice only refers to cattle, not sheep and goats (neither of which are currently grazed in areas with public access). 

Sadly, we are experiencing more and more dog attacks and worrying of our livestock. In 2023 one of our cows died after being chased by one or more dogs, and there have been numerous instances of sheep being seriously injured after dog attacks. Whilst these events are isolated it has a devastating effect and is entirely avoidable. 

In 2026 the law has been strengthened in reference to dog attacks and worrying on livestock, with the maximum penalty increasing from £1,000 to an unlimited fine. The law now covers disturbance to livestock even if your dog is on the other side of a fence. Find out more about the law here.  

By keeping your dog on a short lead around livestock you can help to keep our nature reserves a safe and happy place for you, your dog, our livestock and for wildlife. 

We are committed to providing the very highest standards of welfare for our conservation grazing animals. Their role affords them the most natural lifestyle and diet possible which itself supports incredibly high standards of welfare. 

Two full-time dedicated grazing staff members (who provide 24/7 support) are also supported by our wider conservation team and reserve officers. 

Daily welfare checks - Further to this we have a band of approximately 70 livestock checkers who ensure that each of our herds and flocks are checked every day. They have been trained to spot any potential welfare or safety issues and will report them to our grazing staff immediately for further attention. Many of these volunteers have extensive experience caring for livestock themselves. 

We also work closely with our specialist large animal vets who carry out routine health checks and are able to quickly respond to any issues that cannot be cared for directly by our staff. 

Animal Health Plans - We work with our vets to create Animal Health Plans for each of our breeds. Our Animal Health Plans are reviewed annually and are designed to maintain and improve extremely high standards of animal welfare and cover all potential issues with each species and each context within which they graze.   

Right animal, right place - A lot of time and effort is spent ensuring that each animal is suited to the role and site for which it has been assigned. This starts with ensuring that we choose the correct hardy, native breeds. We work with just two trusted breeders, most of which only work within conservation grazing systems, to ensure that our cattle are suited to life on a nature reserve and are comfortable around visitors and their well-behaved dogs. 

Our livestock are then individually risk assessed and married up with each site’s specific risk assessment, along with considering social groupings, herd dynamics and specific grazing behaviour, to ensure that the right animal is in the right place. We also work within closed herd systems where possible to ensure the highest possible levels of biosecurity. 

Five freedoms of animal welfare – All of our livestock is managed in line with all UK welfare regulations, built upon the five freedoms of animal welfare which are enshrined in the Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.  

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
2. Freedom from discomfort
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour
5. Freedom from fear and distress 

Our band of over 70 trained livestock checkers are out every day checking our animals to make sure they are happy and healthy. Additional checks are also made by our staff when they are out and about on the reserves, so in many cases our animals are checked multiple times per day. 

If any concerns or issues are raised these are passed directly to our grazing team, who provide 24hr support. The animals will then be assessed, and our specialist large animal vets will be engaged if required. 

We are committed to providing the very highest standards of welfare for our conservation grazing livestock. 

If certain habitats such as grassland, meadows, heath and fen were left unmanaged they would naturally succeed to woodland. Whilst woodlands are wonderful and very important, we need to have a whole range of different habitats to help support the diverse communities of plants and wildlife that are needed for a healthy ecosystem. 

In a truly natural landscape, a range of wild herbivores would help to stop this succession by grazing on the vegetation and small trees that would otherwise take over. Many of these herbivores such as aurochs have now been lost from our landscapes, and that is where our conservation grazing livestock come in. 

By using their natural grazing habits, they act as nature’s lawnmowers. Cattle, sheep, goats and ponies all graze very differently and so we can use them to target certain vegetation types that are threatening to become invasive or dominant, and to create the perfect varied habitats for a range of other native plants and wildlife. 

No. Our livestock are moved around sites regularly to ensure that they always have enough natural food to eat. If they eat anything other than what is growing naturally then it could cause quite serious issues with their digestive systems. We also want to encourage their natural grazing behaviours, which doesn't include approaching people for food, so that they can do their job of managing habitats for nature’s recovery. 

If you are visiting a site which is also home to any of our livestock, please follow the guidance and signage on site, and take a few simple steps which can help keep both you and our animals safe and well. 

• Keep dogs on short leads - but let them loose in the unlikely event that the dog is chased by cattle.
• Keep calm and quiet around animals, if you are walking through an area that is shared with our animals pass through calmly and quietly allowing the livestock space to be themselves.
• Where possible stick to footpaths, but feel free to leave the path to avoid disturbing any of the animals if they are on the footpath.
• Do not feed any of our animals, their job is to graze and they have plenty of natural food sources. Inappropriate feeding negatively alters animal behaviour and risks causing digestive upset for the animal. 

Signage on site provides staff contact details in the case of emergency. 

Our grazing project is about using the natural action of grazing animals to manage land for nature’s recovery.  

Through grazing and browsing behaviours along with trampling and dunging, our grazing livestock help to give variety to the vegetation structure. This can include knocking back areas of scrub or less desirable plant species creating more open areas and opportunities for less competitive plant species to establish and thrive. In turn this diversity supports many invertebrate, bird and mammal species.  

For example, the conservation grazing animals at Freshfield Dune Heath are vital to creating the space and variety of habitats needed to support over 1000 invertebrate species, including over 500 different butterflies and moths.  

At our Lunt Meadows nature reserve, habitats for ground nesting birds as well as owl species and other birds of prey are all benefitted by the work of our grazing livestock. 

Becoming a member is one amazing way that you can support our conservation grazing project. By becoming a member, you'll be joining 29,000 of your fellow wildlife lovers in directly funding our work on the ground to safeguard wildlife for the future across Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. 

Join as a member now