Neil Heseltine

Sustainability in practice

Reducing stocking rates and purchased inputs and encouraging extensive grazing

The biggest difference we have made on the farm is in the reduction of sheep numbers, and lambing them later. We are now almost exclusively using grazed grass; using what’s on the farm rather than relying on purchased inputs we put in to the sheep.

In about 2012, we had a bit of an epiphany, partly caused by joining the PFLA, and as a result of that, going to the Oxford Real Farming Conference – the two combined made us look at the business a bit more closely. What we basically found was that the extensive cattle that were roaming the fields were making money and the sheep which we had kind of regarded as the main enterprise on the farm were at the very best breaking even. So that made us have a bit of a shift… Since then we’ve tried to manage the sheep with lessons we’ve learnt from the cattle enterprise – and as a result of that we’re now farming mainly Black and White Wensleydales (about 22 of each) in a way that reflects how we farm the cattle – much more extensive and no concentrate usage or a lot less (some get it at certain times of the year as per PFLA criteria). As a result of that we feel we have a much better balance in life than we had 10 – 12 years ago in terms of our time, and there is far greater environmental benefit to the farm.

We feel we are farming much more in balance with the natural environment; for example the grazing and trampling action of the cattle helps preserve the diverse range of flora, reducing the long grasses and opening up pockets of soil allowing species to successfully re-seed. But the changes we have made i.e. extensification have benefited the bottom line as well because we have managed to reduce production costs across the piece.

Just taking that pressure off the sheep in terms of increasing the area they are able to graze means they are competing less with each other and there is less grazing right down to the bone. We are much less reliant on wormers and we don’t use any routine medical treatment now (it used to be 6, 7 or 8 a year we treated them with). This takes the pressure off the pasture land – by default you get a biodiversity improvement, you probably get carbon capture benefits, and you get more invertebrates in the grass and soil in swards that are grazed a minimal amount rather than right down. I think that overall on the farm it has had a hugely beneficial effect – not giving the sheep all the treatments means they’re healthier as a result of that – there’s less pressure on the farm, less on us, and less on the sheep, and they’re able to exhibit their natural behaviour.

Reduction in stocking rates mean we don’t have to necessarily produce as much hay or silo which I think is beneficial both in terms of costs and reducing energy and carbon. This is in line with some of the principles of holistic grazing management that many PFLA members follow – we haven’t adopted it hugely as it doesn’t ‘fit’ the farm in some ways, but we have been saving up grass for winter grazing rather than making hay in the summer. What’s going to be really important in terms of demonstrating we’re providing public money for public goods is we’re going to have to start monitoring to a far greater extent so that we’re able to justify to wider society that, not only are we providing these public goods, but that our meat is produced in an environmentally sensitive way which doesn’t impact on the climate. Monitoring that to provide the justification is going to be important as we go forward and will almost become a marketing tool. As the years have gone on, we’ve gone further down the line of trying to enhance nature and biodiversity on the farm and are trying to reduce our reliance on hay or silo to an even greater extent – we’ve only used about 10 bales this last winter (2023 / 2024).

We are always looking at how to manage the farm to further enhance the biodiversity on the farm, including grazing it differently, which includes reducing stocking levels. Cattle-wise, we’ve probably got to the upper end of where we are at in term of rates. Sheep-wise, we may even reduce the numbers again, and re-visit again with the emphasis being on preserving the natural environment and biodiversity. That in itself takes us down a really good route of helping not only mitigate climate change, carbon sequestration and flood management, but also providing benefits in terms of the sorts of payments coming from the Government.

What really helped make the decision and prove to us that the cattle weren’t just these hairy beasts running around on the hills doing their own thing, but were beneficial and contributing something to the bottom line (and the sheep weren’t), was using an account package called Xero. It allowed us to extrapolate and separate information out from each other and measure each individual enterprise. We were encouraged to go down that route by our accountant and now try to use it to a far greater extent. It allows us to get a much more accurate measure of how individual enterprises within the business are performing, so we’re making decisions from a more informed perspective.

With the help of people who know what they are looking for (i.e. ornithologists and ecologists), we are monitoring the farm and land so that we have a better idea of where we are with regards to biodiversity, rather than it all being anecdotal. This last summer on fields relatively recently taken on we have been getting baseline surveys carried out by a monitoring company, funded through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. We will try and repeat this from time to time, so that we have more evidence that we are moving forward with regards to nature on the farm. We also intend to more regularly monitor for carbon output.