Defra, UK - Farming - Environmental management - Land Management

Farming

Overgrazing

Overgrazing land with too many livestock can reduce growth, quality and diversity of the vegetation.

If you claim the Single Payment or have joined the Environmental Stewardship scheme you must avoid overgrazing your land.

Agreements under these schemes aim to reduce overgrazing through cross-compliance and good farming practice by encouraging sustainable grazing management techniques.

Two areas where overgrazing needs particularly close consideration are:

upland and moorland grazing
lowland heath grazing

Upland and moorland grazing

Environmentally sustainable grazing maintains valued upland or moorland vegetation and can be achieved by appropriate stocking levels, increased shepherding, or summer-only grazing.

Farmers and land managers should shepherd animals to habitats which have most tolerance to grazing, and reduce stocking rates in more susceptible areas.

Further advice, including suggested stocking rates, is included in the English Nature leaflet Sustainable grazing in the English uplands.

Overgrazing is a particular problem on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), affecting upland SSSIs more than any other management issue.

Supplementary feeding in the winter artificially inflates the number of livestock that a given area can support and if possible should be avoided.

Wherever possible, livestock should be removed from the hill for winter but where supplementary feeding is required you should consider the following:

try and avoid supplementary feeding for long periods
where possible, feed on sites with little wildlife interest
choose sites over 100metres from dwarf shrub heath, blanket mire, calcareous grassland or wet, flushed areas
rotate feed sites daily to minimize any damage
scatter feed sites throughout the area to encourage livestock to ‘rake’ across the ground
avoid the use of ring-feeders and troughs as they lead to localized overgrazing and poaching
feeds such as hay, rather than concentrate, cause less grazing of vegetation reducing the amount of dwarf shrub grazed. Consent will NOT usually be given for feeding silage on moorland SSSIs as the acids tend to ‘burn’ the heather.

Feeding up to 8-10 weeks prior to lambing may be necessary where ewes require additional nutrition, but you should seek specialist advice before making this judgement and, where possible, relocate animals to lower ground.

Further advice is available in the English Nature booklet Stock feeding on moorlands in England.

More detailed information about environmentally sustainable grazing can be obtained from the Upland management handbook.

Lowland heath grazing

Grazing has become one of a series of techniques re-introduced to help manage lowland heathlands.

However, care should be taken to ensure that grazing does not damage or destroy the vegetation structure on sites which support important populations of reptiles or the loss of nectar sources for invertebrates.

Expert advice will be needed on a case-by-case basis, and it may be that measures are required to isolate important habitat features from possible grazing damage.

Winter grazing can seriously damage heather swards. Even during late summer, care must be taken to avoid overgrazing which can substantially damage heather and promote invasive species such as rank grasses.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding stocking rates on lowland heathland, and each site should be individually assessed and grazing pressure modified as a result of experience.

Further details are available in the English Nature booklet Grazing management of lowland heathlands

Further advice

Land managers can be required to obtain permission before changing management practices on ecologically significant semi-natural habitat. For example you will need to obtain permission to alter activities that have been consented to by English Nature on SSSIs.

Increasing stocking rates to intensive levels on semi-natural and uncultivated habitats may require an Environmental Impact Assessment screening. Details of this are available on the Defra website.

The Rural Development Service has a national Land and Grazing Management Team, responsible for investigating overgrazing and if a site is being overgrazed, a management prescription will be imposed.

The incident will be referred to the Rural Payments Agency, which will then carry out regular inspections to ensure that the prescription is not breached.

Advice for farmers who want to achieve the desired level of grazing on wildlife sites is available from the Grazing Animals Project, which provides support to graziers, wildlife site managers and conservation advisors across the UK.

Sustainable grazing can also improve the characteristics of semi-natural woodlands. Further information is provided on the Forestry Commission website.