https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/maintain-permanent-grassland-with-very-low-inputs/
Maintain permanent grassland with very low inputs
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 benefit wildlife, and improve soil and water quality, by managing grassland without artificial fertiliser and pesticides.
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.
About permanent grassland
Permanent grassland is land used for at least 5 consecutive years to grow grasses, legumes, herbs and wildflowers. It is land which is not included in the crop rotation.
You can find permanent grassland throughout England, usually:
- where livestock is the main farming system
- where the land is unsuitable for cultivation
- in orchards and in parkland and wood pasture
- on historic features like ridge and furrow or buried historic sites
You can maintain grassland with very low inputs by minimising the herbicides and nutrients you add. Use a nutrient management plan to help you manage nutrient inputs.
Only use herbicides if you need to prevent the spread of injurious weeds or invasive non-native species. You can use good grazing and mechanical or manual methods to help manage weeds in grassland.
Benefits of very low inputs on permanent grassland
Managing grassland using very low inputs can:
- provide high-quality forage for livestock
- reduce spending on artificial fertiliser, herbicides and pesticides
- protect soil from erosion
- be a step towards organic farming
For wildlife and the environment it can:
- provide habitat for invertebrates, birds and mammals
- increase species of wildflowers, which provide food for pollinators
- reduce the loss of nutrients and pesticides to watercourses and groundwater
- keep soil healthy and carbon-rich
- retain grassland as part of the traditional landscape character
- improve air quality by reducing ammonia emissions from artificial fertiliser
How to maintain permanent grassland with very low inputs
Nutrient management
You’ll get most environmental benefits by removing all nutrient inputs. You can use well-rotted farmyard manure to replace nutrients lost by cutting and removing hay or haylage.
Make sure you:
- use the manure in the growing season, except April to June if there are ground-nesting birds breeding in the fields
- maintain soil phosphorus (P) levels at P index 2 or less
- maintain soil potassium (K) levels at K index 2 or less
- use lime to maintain soil pH appropriate for the type of grassland
- regularly sample and test the soil nutrient status
Do not:
- increase inputs above your current levels
- apply more nutrients than you remove in the hay crop
- use artificial fertiliser or any other organic manure
- apply more than 12 tonnes per hectare of farmyard manure in any single year
If your soil tests and nutrient management plan show deficiencies, you can supplement farmyard manure with straight K.
You must follow the farming rules for water. These require you to take steps to stop manure, fertiliser or soil getting into water bodies and watercourses.
Grazing and cutting
To remove the year’s grass growth you can graze or cut, or a mix of both.
Manage your grassland so there’s a variety of heights during the growing season, unless you’re growing hay. Start grazing when the sward height averages 8cm to 12cm. Keep an average sward height of at least 5cm.
You will get most benefits for wildlife by leaving a longer sward through the summer and following winter. Maintain an average sward height of at least 8cm and with:
- at least 20% over 10cm tall, to provide invertebrate habitat and let plants flower and set seed
- at least 20% shorter than 10cm, so birds can find food
Birds, nests and eggs are protected by law. You must check the before field you cut or graze. If you see signs of nesting birds, delay cutting and grazing until birds fledge.
To encourage wildflowers, you can make hay after the plants have flowered and set seed.
To prevent scrub taking over, you can cut or graze, or a mix of both.
Avoid damage
Do not:
- plough, cultivate or reseed
- use pesticides
- use herbicides, except to spot spray and weed wipe injurious weeds and invasive non-native species
- top (cut the tops off) grasses and flowering plants, except to control injurious weeds and invasive non-native species
- use farm machinery, unless the land is dry enough to prevent soil compaction
- harrow, roll or top between April and June if ground-nesting birds are present
Do not harrow or roll on historic features. Read how to manage historic features in grassland.
What very low input grassland looks like
The results of using very low inputs will depend on:
- where your land is
- how it is used
- soil type
In the growing season, you could see:
- wildflowers
- grass at different lengths
- invertebrates, like bees and butterflies
- ground nesting birds rearing young, like skylark
- some scrub covering less than 5% of the grassland
Over winter, you should see:
- scattered tussocky grass for wildlife to over-winter
- scattered bare ground covering up to 5% of the grassland
- minimal plant litter
There should be no signs of undergrazing or overgrazing.
