When the farming tenancy came up for renewal, we seized the opportunity to look for a new way of managing the land as well as providing the right ‘look’ for the 18th century ‘Capability’ Brown landscape park.
Holistic grazing improves the soil and increases organic matter. Farmer, Rob Havard, is a huge believer in this technique. For the past two years, he has now been grazing his 40 strong herd of cattle which includes Aberdeen Angus and traditional short-horns, on the meadows using 140 acres of the estate.
Holistic grazing involves an individual section of a patchwork of meadow being fenced off to be grazed. Rob carefully monitors the grazing and regularly moves the cattle to a new section and thereby preventing overgrazing. By doing this, grasses and herbs in the meadow have a long time to rest and re-grow which in turn this creates wider bio-diversity providing continuous habitat throughout the year for wildlife.