Current News & Projects
© N. Fell
Although we are a small team, we service a wide range of projects and are constantly revising and updating our activity. Many of these are delivered in partnership with farmers, landowners and a range of agencies working on Dartmoor. A core focus is business resilience and as well as ongoing farm support, this has also been a focus through programmes such as Farm for the Future. There are too many to cover in detail but this page highlights some of the initiatives we are currently delivering or involved with.
THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW ON THE MANAGEMENT OF DARTMOOR’S PROTECTED SITES AND THE DARTMOOR LAND USE MANAGEMENT GROUP
For context:
The Independent Review was commissioned by Defra ministers to make recommendations on the most effective grazing and management regime(s) that would deliver improvements on the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) across Dartmoor.
​The panel led by David Fursdon, met with a wide range of representatives of the farming and communing community on Dartmoor in 2023.
Their report with recommendations was issued to Mark Spencer, the Minister for Food Farming and Fisheries, and made publicly available on 13th December 2023. ​The full report can be accessed here;
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​​​The official Ministerial response released in April 2024 is available here; Government response to the Independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor: full report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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The Dartmoor Land Use Management Group (DLUMG) is an independently chaired advisory group created to implement the recommendations and create a land use framework, as well as identifying areas where more evidence gathering is required, and enabling the continuing delivery of environment, climate and biodiversity initiatives, projects and investments within the National Park.​​
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The DLUMG Chair, Phil Stocker posted an article on the Defra Farming Blog which reflects the current position and the ambitions of the group.
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See the relevant Blog link here; Dartmoor Land Use Management Group next steps.
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Healthy Livestock - Healthy Commons
Last year we followed on from the Our Uplands Commons Healthy Livestock Project by continuing our research on several areas. These were; Investigating the impacts of ectoparasite treatments on Dung Beetle Abundance, the efficacy of Cobalt supplimentation on lambs and calves and Researching tick borne diseases in lambs.
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The dung beetle work this year focused on understanding the impacts of ectoparasite (aracacide) treatments. This involved partnering with 5 farms who trialled different active ingrediants, Entomologist Clive Turner performed 3 assessments on each farm throughout the year, measuring both abundance and species present. Dung samples also underwent chemical analysis in order to measure levels of treatments present.
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Cobalt Treatments were trialled on 10 farms and consisted of comparing an injectable cobalt treatment against a control group in both Lambs and Calves as well as comparing 3 treatments; Bolus, Drench and Injection in more mature lambs. This was assessed by wieghing the animals before and after treatment as well as blood analysis performed by Nottingham School of Vetinary Medicine.
The final area of work this year was investigating the presence of Tick Borne Disease (TBD) in lambs. This was done through blood testing as well as performing 'tick counts' on lambs throughout the season. Blood samples were tested for both Tick Borne Fever and Louping Ill Virus by Moredun Research Institute.
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Later in the year we were able to sample the commons for tick presence as well as testing ticks themselves for TBD with the Animal and Plant Heath Agency.
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A full report into this project will be available shortly. For more information on previous Healthy Livestock Project work, our 2023 report is available below.
Holne Commoners Association
Harford & Ugborough Commoners Association
Our Upland Commons
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Adding value to wool
Under this approach, one focus has been the opportunity to incorporate local wool into peatland restoration projects on Dartmoor, but also exploring alternative uses such as horticultural applications, having originally sourced 5 tonnes of local hill wool in 2022 which was then deployed across different sites. We ensure that the farmers receive a modest payment for their wool clip, as we recognise that its generally undervalued or viewed as a 'worthless' product, and remain hopeful that this may increase interest and therefore value over time.
We produced stuffed 'logs' to be used in small gullies with a design developed by one of our partners; Ruth Lindsey of Natural Dales Wool Products, who we visited on our farmer study tour to the area that year. Ruth has combined her knowledge and experience from the textile industry with a passion to support local farming to further these ideas.
In 2023, we increased the volume sourced locally from Dartmoor to almost 16 tonnes of greasy wool for processing, the bulk of which again is to be used in the peatland restoration work here. We will continue to monitor and evaluate the project and welcome enquiries relating to the potential application of wool for alternative uses - as we are now with numerous organisations.
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Ruth was recently interviewed in the NFU Countryside magazine which helped to illustrate her work, its ambitions and mentioned us on Dartmoor too. The article is available to download here as a pdf:
Collaboration
We support a number of farmer groups who are looking to collaborate in order to improve business resilience and to deliver better outcomes for the farm, local economy and the environment. This includes the Central Dartmoor Farm Cluster who we helped develop through a project linked to the Dartmoor Facilitation Fund. The initial focus was on the Marsh Fritillary butterfly but as the group developed knowledge and confidence, we explored the agricultural transition and emerging markets.
This led to a landscape vision and plan for the holdings who have formed a CIC to allow them to access new funding. We helped them to formulate a project for field trials on herbal leys and this work is now being funded and delivered in partnership with South West Water through their Upstream Thinking Project - and in 2024 also secured a Landscape Recovery project from Defra for a 2 year development stage.
DFA - Farm to Fork
Education & Environment
Dartmoor Farmers Association (DFA) are currently running a programme of work funded by the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme, which has two main strands of work: education and environment. These complement each other via a pilot approach working with a small number of their overall membership (over 100), who work to established criteria and aspirations that reflect premium quality beef and lamb produced in hand with environmental actions and using traditional farming methods. Through working in partnership with Shallowford Farm Trust and Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, this programme ‘Making Connections: Food on your Fork: Nature on the Farm’ aims to help illustrate the link between food eaten at school or at home with farming and conservation on Dartmoor by promoting, organising and delivering 25 farm visits involving up to 10 different farms and over 500 children
DFA meat is served at many schools across Devon through Goosemoor Ltd ( Educatering); a company that provides over 80 schools in Devon with good wholesome, predominantly locally, sourced food. But how many children really know where their food comes from? How many have visited a farm and crucially a farm on Dartmoor? How many understand how nature friendly farming supports conservation and contributes to mitigating against climate change? Farm visits will enable young people to learn where their food comes from, how farming can contribute to conservation of habitats, species, and cultural heritage and how actions on the farm can contribute to mitigating against climate change. Delivery aligns with themes from the national curriculum at appropriate key stage levels, which offer direct benefit to schools adding value to their time spent outside the classroom, supported by building a longer-term connection with the schools through educational packs for teachers and other interpretation materials.
In parallel, the project will pilot the development and delivery of Farm Environment Plans which gather and collate relevant information to help illustrate the breadth of environmental features which DFA represent. The plans aim to provide supplementary information to the educational work, providing tailored fact-based resources about the farms as part of interpretation and communications using positive stories behind the farms. The plans also align with emerging Agri-Environment schemes so that current and future opportunities are identified for the Farm Businesses individually, as well as to illustrate the gains from upscaling and collaboration. Developed with the farmers, if successful, the aspiration would be to expand and roll out the Farm Plan format to other DFA members to fully reflect the scale of impact and opportunity which they represent as a group.
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For enquiries about educational visits, please contact Fiona Lambeck on fiona@shallowfordfarm.co.uk
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Now you see it - now you don't!
As part of ongoing projects, we have been exploring the role that invisible fencing systems and GPS trackers can play in livestock grazing the common. Initially we engaged with ‘No Fence’ a Norwegian company though a free trial offer. Working with 5 cattle graziers and one sheep grazier (in-bye only) on different commons across Dartmoor we explored the practicalities for day-to-day stock management. This highlighted several challenges from price point and mobile phone coverage to battery power but in summary feedback from those who participated was very positive. Most graziers saw a significant saving in time and costs in locating stock on misty days (as part of ongoing projects) and most cattle remained in their identified lears. We are continuing to use collars as part ongoing projects and have provided feedback to Defra through their review of invisible GPS fence systems by their Animal and Welfare Committee. In addition to audible collars we have looked at GPS trackers in use on some herds and flocks with a role to play where mobile phone signal is good.