Conservation grazing

Lucy O'Reilly

Our conservation grazing project provides a vital land management resource for the conservation and restoration of nationally and internationally important habitats across Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside. Delivering tailored grazing services across our nature reserves and on behalf of land managers throughout the region including Sefton & Wigan councils, the National Trust and Natural England.

Our mission is to work with our conservation grazing livestock to enhance threatened habitats through the application of sustainable, bespoke and targeted grazing services that boast excellent animal welfare.

We have grazing herds of English longhorn cattle and Cheviot Goats, and flocks of Hebridean and Norfolk Horn sheep, as well as working with Exmoor ponies. These hardy animals replicate the role wild herbivores would have once played in the evolution of our natural environment helping to create biological diversity and opportunity for many now threatened habitats, plant and animal species.

Check out our conservation grazing FAQs

What benefits do conservation grazing livestock bring?

Tailored to each site’s specific needs, a combination of grazing animals are utilised across varying habitat types. Each fulfilling a slightly different role and each contributing to the diversity of the vegetation structure in support of many different taxonomic groups.

Creating a varied sward structure – whereas cattle wrap their tongues around vegetation and tear it from the ground, sheep will nibble plants low to the ground, and goats will browse at a number of levels. This allows for the most varied vegetation structure which in turn supports a rich and diverse array of wildflowers and other plants, supporting a variety of wildlife.

Controlling invasive and dominant species – without the disturbance of grazing from large herbivores certain species of plants can become invasive, outcompeting more specialist plants and wildflowers. Our conservation grazing animals help to tip the balance back against the more competitive species, allowing opportunity for other species to flourish.

Preventing scrub encroachment – Ecological succession is a natural process that means that many habitats would eventually become woodland. Once wild roaming herbivores would have grazed these areas halting this succession and facilitating the development of other habitat types such as grassland, heathland and fen. Cattle, sheep and goats are especially happy to graze on small trees and invasive shrubs helping to arrest ecological succession and promote a matrix of habitat types across sites and indeed the wider landscape.

Trampling – heavy hooves are perfect for opening areas of dense vegetation and creating small patches of bare earth, allowing light to penetrate and providing space for new species to grow.

Seed dispersal – hooves, coats and dung can provide the perfect vehicle for wildflower seeds to spread naturally across a site.

Dunging – when fed from natural vegetation, animal dung is the perfect fertiliser for natural habitats, creating pockets of higher fertility that benefit certain plant species. The dung itself also creates the ideal home for a variety of beetles and other invertebrates.

A group of black, white and grey Cheviot goats

Where can you see our conservation grazing livestock?

Our livestock move around a network of grazing sites throughout the year. This means that their actions can be targeted where they are most required, and that they always have access to the most abundant forage.

In winter many of our sites would become too wet, especially for the cattle, so they move to sites along the coast where the ground is drier and they are able to continue to forage and live naturally, whilst helping to manage these important environments.

You can spot our conservation grazers at our nature reserves and on land belonging to other organisations and local authorities including:

Cattle: Brockholes, Lunt Meadows, Cutacre, Heysham Moss, Freeman’s Pools, Ainsdale Sand Hills, Birkdale Sand Hills, Ravenmeols Sand Hills, Lightshaw Meadows, Bickershaw Country Park

Sheep: Freshfield Dune Heath, Mere Sands Wood, Lunt Meadows

Goats: Freshfield Dune Heath

Ponies: Longworth Clough

Nofence collars

You may notice that our cattle all wear collars around their necks with what look like traditional Alpine cow bells on them. However, these are actually virtual fencing collars known as ‘Nofence’. The ‘bell’ is a solar-powered GPS device that monitors the cow's exact location. Once trained on the system our conservation team is then able to use an app to create a virtual boundary, ensuring that their conservation grazing efforts are targeted exactly where they are needed.

English longhorn cow wearing Nofence collar

When cattle approach one of these boundaries, the collar plays an audible warning sound. This audible warning is followed by an electric pulse (much weaker than a traditional electric fence) if the animal does not stop or turn around. Most animals quickly learn to respond to the sound alone, avoiding the need for a pulse altogether.

The level of control that virtual fencing provides opens up new possibilities for habitat management and conservation outcomes. We are able to target grazing precisely to specific areas, and also if there are areas with rare plant species or ground-nesting bird sites, virtual exclusion zones can be created to keep animals out, meaning species can cohabitate harmoniously. These zones can also be used to form grazing refuges, helping to build a mosaic of habitats that support species that benefit from grazing and those that do not.

Four brown and white cows in front of sand dunes

We are now also able to employ conservation grazing on areas which are unfenced, such as the National Trust’s Ravenmeols Sandhills Local Nature Reserve, which has previously been unable to benefit from conservation grazing. In areas such as Ravenmeols, traditional fencing would be unsuitable due to its impact on migrating wildlife and its construction causing stabilisation to the sand dunes which would naturally be dynamic and shifting.

As well as setting flexible boundaries, the collars send real-time GPS data to the app. This allows our staff to see exactly where each animal is and monitor its movement patterns and activity levels, helping us to keep track of health and behaviour. We are conducting research in collaboration with The University of Essex into how using Nofence affects the cattle and herd dynamics but generally have found that the cattle are completely unfazed and happy to move wherever directed. The use of Nofence is always complimented by on the ground planning and animal body condition monitoring.

Play your part

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.

High welfare standards

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

Two full-time staff members (who provide 24/7 support) are dedicated to caring for our livestock, and they are 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.

“I’ve been checking for about 15 years now, and there’s a whole team of us checking the animals every day. It’s lovely to see the animals in their natural habitat, behaving naturally. I think to be an animal here is probably one of the best things to do because you have such a wonderful environment.”

Lynn, Livestock Checker

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.

Freedom from hunger and thirst

Freedom from discomfort

Freedom from pain, injury or disease

Freedom to express normal behaviour

Freedom from fear and distress