Perhaps conservationists who keep cattle rather than farmers?
Most of the Wassledine farm is grassland, some of which is old water meadows, with boggy bits and rushes, old willow trees, and hedgerows. Our Red Poll cattle have an important conservation job to do. Without cows in the countryside, lowland grassland habitats would lose out. Wet meadows, rich in species need to be grazed to prevent encroachment from scrub. Native breeds of cattle at a low stocking density do an excellent job of messy grass cutting – leaving long tufty bits as well as short cropped areas creating variation which a wealth of insects, small mammals and birds depend on. Not to mention the whole ecology associated with cow pats!
We run a small suckler herd – that means the calves stay with their mothers growing fast on the rich creamy milk they produce. So we don’t milk our cows but instead rear excellent beef from happy animals. Read more about how we produce our beef in as natural a way as possible.
To read more about the wildlife on the farm click here
Find out more about the cattle here.