Highland Cows and Fell Ponies arrive on Tarras Valley!

We were delighted to welcome a herd of 5 highland cows and 3 fell ponies to the reserve to help with restoring habitats on the nature reserve. This is part of new grazing project to work in partnership with the graziers to trial different techniques on reserve to see how these could be expanded in the future across the community land holding.

The matriarch herd of highland cattle are trained with no fence collar technology which is a virtual fencing solution for livestock, where the animals are controlled by GPS-collars and an app and can be moved around land to graze moorland and hill pastures without the need for putting up fences. Their dung will also help with attracting more insects like dung beetles which are brilliant to help boost biodiversity.

The Lakeland fell ponies are a rare native breed that are strong and agile, able to move up steep slopes and across rough terrain. They are known for their hardiness and ability to thrive in rough, exposed conditions. Acclimatised to the fell tops where they have spent the first few years of their lives.

These ponies have been handled just enough to make it possible for them to be moved around for their work as conservation grazers. Fell ponies graze coarse dominating vegetation that allows more delicate, less competitive species to come through, increasing the diversity and habitats for invertebrates and insects. 

The animals are owned by farmers Faith and David Garvey who have lots of experience with regenerative and conservation grazing, we are delighted to be working with them to trial how we can diversity and expand our grazing on the reserve in the future. Seeing the animals come off the truck and settling into the reserve was a really special moment and we’re excited to see the results of their grazing!