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Graze with livestock to maintain and improve habitats
The guidance on this page is for SFI pilot participants only. Please visit GOV.UK for the official Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme guidance.
Find out how land managers can use grazing to keep habitats in good condition for wildlife.
If you’re completing this action as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, how you do it is up to you.
The advice on this page can help you get better environmental and business benefits, but you do not have to follow it to get paid.
Manage grazing to help wildlife
The best way to conserve some habitats is by traditional grazing. This is also known as conservation grazing.
Habitats suitable for conservation grazing include:
- grassland
- heathland
- wood pasture
- coastal and floodplain grazing marsh, including areas with breeding and wintering wetland birds
- fen
- scrub and scrub mosaics
- saltmarsh and sand dunes
They can be home to a large number and range of species, including threatened or rare plants, invertebrates and birds.
Conservation grazing creates vegetation at different heights, and small areas of bare ground. This makes it suitable for a wide range of wildlife in different habitats. It allows wildflowers to grow, flower and set seed each year. This provides pollen and nectar for invertebrates and increases invertebrate food available for birds.
Overgrazing and undergrazing
Overgrazing and undergrazing can damage habitats.
Overgrazing can:
- stop plants from flowering
- cause poaching
- reduce habitat variation
Undergrazing allows coarse grasses and scrub to grow, which will increase competition and shade. This will decrease the number of less competitive and less widespread species.
To prevent damage to habitats you’ll need to manage livestock grazing. You’ll need to adapt the type, number and timing of livestock grazing to individual habitats and sites. A conservation grazing management plan will help you do this.
Create a conservation grazing management plan
You should create and maintain a year-round plan to manage livestock for habitat conservation, to identify:
- all land available for grazing
- the condition of each habitat and what needs to be done to restore or maintain it
- the type and numbers of livestock you have for grazing
- the nutritional needs of livestock, to avoid supplementary feeding
- when to graze
You’ll need to review grazing numbers regularly, and increase or decrease stock depending on the condition of the habitat.
How to manage livestock for habitat conservation
Before you start
To implement a grazing management plan, you’ll need to know which land you have available for grazing. You’ll also need to know the condition of the habitats you want to graze.
Look for signs of undergrazing and overgrazing to see whether your habitat is in poor condition.
Signs of undergrazing include:
- low numbers of different plant species
- existing scrub spreading to areas that are in good condition or areas you want to restore
- many taller plants and dead plant material
Signs of overgrazing include:
- poaching
- low numbers of different plant species
- few flowers during the spring and summer
- damage to in-field and boundary trees and shrubs
Find out what good condition is for the habitat you’re grazing. These include:
- species rich grassland
- hay meadows
- permanent grassland
- lowland wet grassland for birds
- scrub and scrub mosaics
You should get advice from an ecologist if your habitat is:
- upland or lowland heathland
- upland or lowland wood pasture
- coastal
- fen
- saltmarsh and sand dunes
Build or place any infrastructure you need to manage livestock. This includes:
- fencing and gates to contain livestock
- water troughs
- handling facilities
Read about how to apply for grants for capital items, including fencing.
Identify if there are any historic features which may affect where livestock can graze. Register and request an SFI Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (SFI HEFER) to learn more about historic features on your land.
If your land is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), you must find out if you need consent before you install infrastructure like fencing.
Choose the right livestock
Identify in your management plan which livestock you have available for grazing.
Choosing breeds that are suited to specific habitats can:
- create a varied vegetation structure, which benefits insects like butterflies
- manage scrub
- control bracken and coarse vegetation like purple moor-grass
- create space and bare ground to help wildflowers establish and grow
- reduce trampling, poaching and soil compaction
- reduce runoff, which can help soil stay on the land and improve water quality
You can choose to mix livestock to create a varied habitat. A mix can help you restore degraded habitats.
Cattle are good at creating a range of vegetation heights, as they use their tongues to pull vegetation out. They also:
- create a smaller-scale vegetation structure to benefit more wildlife
- graze to a minimum height of 5cm to 6cm, which allows smaller plants to flower
- eat mainly forage
Cattle are larger and heavier than other grazing animals. They are more likely to trample and damage vegetation. This can make them unsuitable for sites on peaty soils.
Cattle break up vegetation like bracken. If left, bracken can spread which is undesirable in species-rich habitats. Cattle also create small areas of bare ground which can help wildflower seeds to germinate.
Sheep nibble grass close to the ground to create short vegetation. They also:
- choose to eat flowers as they are more selective grazers
- avoid tall and rough vegetation, although some native breeds will browse shrubs
- suit steeply sloping land as they are light and more agile than cattle
- suit sites vulnerable to trampling or erosion, like historic features in grassland
Ponies and horses:
- have forward-facing teeth and can graze close to the ground to leave short vegetation
- are selective grazers, so will leave some areas as long vegetation
They also create areas where they urinate and defecate, which they do not graze. Vegetation in these areas will become long and rank which can provide habitats for invertebrates and small mammals. You should control any build-up of nutrients and weeds like nettles and thistles.
Goats and deer:
- like to browse woody shrubs and trees more than sheep and cattle do
- are useful for managing scrub on open habitats, like species-rich grassland
- can damage heather moorland, woodland, scrub and similar habitats
Manage your stock levels
Use your grazing management plan to manage livestock levels throughout the year.
Your habitat may not support the nutritional needs of livestock all year. You’ll need to remove livestock at these times or give habitats a rest period. You’ll need to identify other grazing land to move livestock to at these times.
In planning livestock levels, you’ll need to include the effects of wild grazing animals like deer and rabbits. Rabbits are likely to be significant grazers in grassland habitats. Where grassland is shorter, rabbit numbers usually increase.
Deer cause damage in woodland habitats, because they graze flowers on the ground and stop young trees growing.
You’ll need more livestock on habitats that:
- produce a lot of vegetation
- are undergrazed
- have too many undesirable plants
You’ll need a lower stock level on habitats that have been overgrazed.
You may need to reduce livestock numbers to protect sensitive areas like wetlands, ponds, streams and historic features.
If you achieve the correct balance between stock levels and vegetation, you should not need to use supplementary energy feed. Native breeds are less likely to require supplementary feeding.
Supplementary feeding can damage habitats, because it:
- concentrates grazing effort in one place, reducing the structural diversity
- causes nutrient enrichment
- can lead to poaching around feeding sites and damage vegetation and soil
- can increase the amount of undesirable plant species
You can provide supplementary feed in extreme weather conditions or for animal welfare reasons only. You should:
- only use home-produced hay and silage
- use the minimum amount of feed to meet livestock needs
- use mineral blocks with low to moderate phosphorus content, or energy and protein concentrate blocks
Confine supplementary feeding on SSSIs to mineral blocks, unless you have consent from Natural England.
Do not supplementary feed:
- on areas with historic features
- on species-rich grassland
- within 10 metres of watercourses or wet areas
- within the buffer zone of in-field trees and field boundaries
- during the breeding season, where ground nesting birds are present
When to graze
Plan to graze until the habitat is in good condition. Adjust the grazing management plan to reflect what you need to do to keep the habitat in good condition.
You should reduce or remove grazing in summer on flower-rich habitats. This is because livestock eat flowers before they can finish flowering and set seed.
Remove livestock when the ground is wet, so they do not poach and damage the vegetation.
If you temporarily reduce or remove grazing due to unfavourable conditions, you may need more stock for the remaining grazing period to achieve good condition.
Conservation grazing by habitats
Grasslands
Apply your plan on grasslands to:
- achieve good condition for the type of species-rich grassland you want to create
- keep a mix of vegetation heights on low-input grassland
- restore species-rich grassland
Late summer and autumn grazing is usually best for species-rich habitats. This allows wildflowers to flower and set seed in the spring and summer. On drier grasslands, you may be able to use a high livestock level for short periods.
During the summer, you can graze larger areas at low stock densities. This can be useful in the uplands and on grasslands that are less species-rich.
Find out how to graze hay meadows in spring and autumn.
You’ll usually need to remove livestock over the winter to avoid overgrazing and the risk of poaching wetter areas. You can lightly graze in winter on larger areas or to manage scrub.
Wetlands
Aim to graze wetlands until the ground becomes too wet or you achieve good condition. This includes:
Where wintering birds are present you should:
- reduce stock levels in spring to avoid livestock trampling nests
- increase stock levels from late summer to restore the sward conditions birds need
You should avoid grazing when the ground is too wet, usually in late autumn and winter, due to the risk of poaching.
Heathland
You can graze heathland all year round. You’ll need to reduce livestock levels:
- if there are no young heather plants
- between April and June if there are ground nesting birds
- if there are few flowers in summer
- in winter to avoid poaching of wetter areas, like mires
Wood pasture, parkland and scrub mosaics
The timing of grazing may be less critical in these habitats, but you should:
- avoid excessive poaching
- allow the ground layer time to recover and flower in the spring and summer
Monitor habitat condition
You can contact a local wildlife group or ecologist to monitor the habitat. This will help you see how grazing is affecting the site.
Adjust the grazing management plan according to the results, to keep habitats in good condition.
How to tell that conservation grazing is working
You’ll have a grazing management plan for each habitat. You’ll be able to use the plan to maintain habitats in good condition.
Habitats in good condition will have a mix of vegetation heights. These are home to a variety of plant and animal species including:
- pollinators, like bumble bees
- birds, like yellowhammers
- lichens and mosses
- wildflowers
- flowering trees and shrubs, like hawthorn and heather
