By using traditional or rare breeds, livestock can be selected which are best suited to the habitats and those species that rely on them. For example, Exmoor ponies have evolved over many thousands of years to thrive on rough forage and low-nutrient grazing. This makes them invaluable for browsing invasive species such as hawthorn and thistles that are unpalatable to modern breeds.

The benefits of conservation grazing are numerous; as livestock chomp on the grasses, shrubs and scrub slowly through the year, it means grasses are kept down, but insects, nesting birds and wildflowers are able to complete their life cycles without being affected by the alternatives to grazing which include mowing and burning.

Both of these techniques cause rapid and dramatic habitat change and leave behind a uniform structure. Mechanical methods cannot replicate the unique conditions that grazing animals create because they pick and choose what they eat throughout the year.

When livestock are allowed to graze freely they also select different plants and even different parts of the plant to nibble or browse. Over time, this selective eating by the animals creates a varied structure within the plants and the habitat. It is this that helps create the right conditions, and patchwork of microhabitats, for a wide range of insects, bird, reptiles, mammals and plants to exist. From fungi to plants, insects to reptiles, and birds to mammals. 

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust uses grazing to help carefully balance the wildlife aims and welfare needs of the livestock. The Trust’s grazing team comprises of native breeds of cattle, sheep and ponies. The animals help maintain the Trust’s nature reserves for the benefit of local, vulnerable wildlife. For example, at Hockley Meadows Nature Reserve a herd of native British white area creating areas of open water meadow and providing an ideal habitat for the rare southern damselfly.

The health of our habitats and soils are directly linked to the land’s ability to sustain us and produce the food we need to live; protecting wildlife is not an option, but an essential part of Britain’s farming future. Sustainable farming systems can only work when the natural environment is nourished and healthy, where farmland is not only producing high yields of food, but also providing a habitat for our wildlife.