Grazing for the Future - Event Report

Graze the Moor Project

Cattle on Molland Moor

I have been working on Molland Moor, Exmoor, since the start of my time at the Heather Trust, in 2002. Since April 2014, I have been managing a project at Molland called Graze the Moor, which finishes at the end of March, next year. The project seeks to establish the impact on habitat from the re-introduction of an effective grazing regime, throughout the year using hill cattle and sheep.  A brief summary of the project can be downloaded.

Winter grazing had ceased at start of the Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme in the late 1980s and many farmers use this to explain the habitat changes that have taken place across Exmoor.  

Graze the Moor draws on 20 years of habitat data that have been collected on Molland Moor, and this has allowed the habitat changes to be mapped.  This five-year project follows a two-year case study that proved the concept, and this has allowed a continuous stream of habitat and livestock data to be collected over the last seven years, which is much longer than most projects.

Discussions are ongoing about continuation of the project in the hope that, as a minimum, the data collection process can continue. Due to the short-term nature of most projects, long-term datasets to inform decision-making are rare, and it is important that the information from the Graze the Moor project continues to be collected to inform decision-making both at Molland and across the other south-west moors.

Grazing for the Future Event - September 2018

Delegates on Molland Moor - 25th September

In late September, the project organised a novel event to compare and contrast the management taking place at Molland, under the Graze the Moor project, with similar work taking place on the Pebblebed Heaths in East Devon, owned by Clinton Devon Estates. The event took place over two days and many delegates attended both events to allow a direct comparison of the management to take place. 

A report from this event has been circulated, and it is available to download.  The intention is to circulate this report widely, and therefore feel free to pass it onto anyone who might be interested.

Based on the activities of two, independent estates, the report provides a model for the future about how landowners are able to take charge of their own destiny for: the benefit of the land, the farming interests, the communities that surround it, and the wildlife. I hope that Government will take notice.

Any feedback will be welcome.  Please use the comment facility below or get in touch direct.

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