Grazing Ecology: Rewilding English Longhorn Cattle in Sherwood Forest
"Grazing ecology is the battle between vegetative succession and animal disturbance."
(Source: https://www.visitsherwood.co.uk/nature-at-sherwood/bigger-beasts/)
A Nottinghamshire farming business is using native cattle and sheep to balance profitable food production and ancient landscape management.
Thoresby Estate has an arable area stretching 30 miles top to bottom and a livestock enterprise managing multiple breeds in a variety of landscapes – including woodland that was part of the original Sherwood Forest.
The Estate aims to balance the farm and the land harmoniously to benefit the environment and the business.
“If we can tick a lot of boxes, with something working for the arable, livestock and the environment we manage, that’s what we are trying to achieve,” says farm manager Will Baker.
(Source: https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/grassland-management/why-ruminants-are-key-to-managing-farms-ancient-landscapes)
Contacted Thorsby Park Farm Estate to see if I can forage some fur.
Spoke to secretary of the UK Long Horn Cattle Association who advised contacting herd managers and abertoirs to try and get hair/ horns. How do I do this ethically?
