Why do we farm our sites?
The Woodland Trust recognises the importance of all semi-natural habitats and their potential for public enjoyment, not just woodland.
For instance, open ground, found both outside and within woodland, is an important habitat which often contains grassland, wetland and scrub habitats. The Trust manages a fairly large proportion of open ground.
Farming is a key management tool in achieving the management of these open ground areas. It is used to conserve and enhance the key features of a site, for example, archaeological remains or to maintain an open view. The size of these areas varies from 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) in Glen Finglas in Stirling, Scotland to just over 1 hectare (3.4 acres) at the Plantation and Bluebell Field in Somerset.
The open ground areas are usually managed through grazing livestock, typically cattle and sheep and in some circumstances by horses. Grazing land is normally let to local graziers on Farm Business Tenancies (FBTs) and grazing licences. Appropriate grazing helps maintain the openness of landscapes as well as enhancing biodiversity. Where grazing is not deemed to be suitable for a particular area of open ground then vegetation may be removed as a hay crop. A well timed hay crop will help promote species diversity.
Grazing is also used to manage the Trust’s wood pasture sites, for example, Penn Wood in Penn, Buckinghamshire and Mackintosh Davidson, West Knoyle, Wiltshire. Grazing helps to keep the mosaic of open space and trees that are a distinctive part of wood pastures. This enables the species that are dependent on this ecosystem to survive and evolve.
In very limited cases the Trust manages the grazing on a site by using its own livestock. At Glen Finglas the Trust carries out in-hand farming and manges both cattle and sheep across the site. In-hand farming with sheep has also been introduced at Home Farm in Burkham/Bentworth, Hampshire.