Reflections on our Farming in Protected Landscapes project, 2024-25
We were delighted to receive funding from the Cotswolds National Landscape Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme for our ‘Bredon Hill Grazing for Nature’ project that started in September 2024. Part of the project was to design and test a Bespoke Monitoring Grazing system to record grazing activity and see how it is impacting nature, soil, and our production goals.
Our initial idea was to have a form/spreadsheet that could be completed each time the cows are moved, similar to the Routine Monitoring Checklist promoted by the Savory Hub for Holistic Planned Grazing. When designing the form at the outset, it was very tempting to add in everything we could possibly think of to record our grazing activity and the cattle’s wellbeing. But when later testing this in the field, collecting endless amounts of data just wasn’t practical.
Having tried to do this before with monitoring forms you are given on regenerative grazing courses and not getting beyond a couple of weeks, we wanted to create something that would not only be easy to complete in a few minutes but would also enable us to collect meaningful data that we can use to inform management decisions. This was the key for us.
Before we get into the actual data we decided to collect, there are a few points about the design of the monitoring system that were crucial for us to get right to ensure it is something we can maintain. These are:
1. Capturing the data needs to be quick
We farm across five different sites; each has at least one group of cattle. At certain times of the year some of these sites can have three separate groups of animals. And we have to drive between sites, they are not on contiguous land. So if we were moving cattle every day, it’s not just one group on one site, it could be four or five groups of cattle, a distance apart. That means even a relatively short monitoring form could quickly become laborious and not be worth the time it’s taking staff to complete. This part of it really focussed our minds on making sure that what we are recording is of value and will help us to improve our management of the cattle, the grassland, and the soils.
2. Anyone needs to be able to do it
As part of the FiPL project, we tested a number of options for recording grazing data. Sometimes we have staff members doing cover work for us who are less familiar with our system and would not have access to land management software packages such as the LandApp/Field Margin etc. So the form needed to be accessible by them and be easy to complete without having to have technical knowledge of grassland/soil/body condition scoring.
Originally, we just had a simple spreadsheet to complete, but this wasn’t as user-friendly on a mobile phone. Then we tried posting a note in our shared WhatsApp group containing certain information so other staff members could transfer this to a separate record, as can be seen below.
However, this was more time-consuming involving two staff members rather than just the person moving the cattle, and it was easy to miss information as that WhatsApp group contained other messages as well.
The option we settled on was a Google Form. The Google Form can be shared as a URL with anyone, even if they do not have a Google account. It is intuitive to use and you can choose which fields are required to ensure no information is missed.
3. Data needs to be captured in the field
Being able to capture data in the field was key to the design process of the monitoring form. Anything that requires you to come back to it later, when you’re back at your computer after a long day outside, is going to be difficult to sustain. The likelihood of filling out the forms after you’re back in from a cattle move is pretty low and/or would lead to a backlog. Secondly, filling out data after the event is going to be less reliable than if we do it there and then, which reduces the quality of the data and questions the value of completing the form at all.
To be able to capture the data in the field, we decided, as stated above, to use a Google Form. This is what we use to capture our calving data and it works really well. You can create an icon for the specific form on your mobile home screen, so it is only one click away, and when you ‘submit’ the form, it automatically populates a Google Sheet, which makes analysing the data easy to do. For example, when we are looking at different traits for cattle selection.
10 years’ experience of Holistic Management and Holistic Planned Grazing has given me a good idea of the data I need to collect to make key management decisions, but it is hard to know exactly where to start. This was the great thing about the FiPL project, we had time to sketch out an idea, test it, learn from it, and reiterate. We’re excited to share some of this learning with you through this post.
It’s easy to collect too much information
Our first Google Form was very long and included pretty much everything you could think of recording: outside temperature, weather conditions, rainfall, grass growth, soil temperature, dung scores, rumen fill, level of grazing, recovery of the plants before regrazing, observations on grassland/infrastructure/wildlife. All in all, it was too much.
As well as the volume of data being too much, one thing we noticed which we think is quite common in regenerative agriculture is that the type of data we were collecting was qualitative.
Qualitative vs quantitative data collection – which did we go for?
We are totally committed to using our observations to help us make decisions and we want to develop this among our staff members. Having a task that encourages all staff members to make observations about the animals and landscape they are working within is a very positive thing. We learn from what we see. With our backgrounds in Holistic Management and regenerative grazing, we believe observation is far more effective than measuring grass growth/animal health in numbers. It is hard to measure dry matter per hectare accurately, especially if you have different people doing the fieldwork.
When you allow grasses to get to their full potential and have tussocky grasses across a pasture, you may well be measuring the air next to the tussock as a volume of forage, so it’s difficult to estimate what you actually have. You also don’t want to be cutting or grazing the grass to a very flat residual in order to get better measurement data as this will impact the potential to grow grass in an organic system.
So we wanted to capture our observations in a way that we could later analyse, which would make it easy for us to see whether we are moving in the right direction or the wrong direction with our grassland management and livestock health. The starting point for this was to dramatically reduce the number of questions we had and to have ‘number’ answers to qualitative questions. For example, rather than having multiple questions on dung scores, rumen fill, body condition, etc. we decided to include a question on a visual assessment for the whole herd. The user can then select one of three numerical responses, which we can later use to see if we are going in a positive or negative direction over the long-term.
Visually assessing the whole herd
Visually assessing the whole herd gives us more information than it may first appear. By looking solely at figures like weight gain, when we come to analyse the data it may look like the cows are performing well. On one of the farms we run there is a field of Rye Grass that whenever we move the cows on there, they don’t look very happy. There is plenty of forage and they can be achieving pretty good weight gain, particularly the calves, but the cows’ behaviour changes. They become loud, they seem hungry even though there is plenty to eat and their dung becomes loose. It's a bit like if you feed a child non-stop Mars bars, they might get fat but they might also be unhappy and unhealthy. So we think this one question (see photo above) on the herd captures a lot of the above information without having seven different things to monitor.
Before/after grazing records
Similarly for the grazing residuals/stockpile, we have used descriptions that anyone working for us could understand that would give us a positive, static, or negative answer.
For the 'after' grazing monitoring, we have designed a range of responses that not only look at how we have grazed but also take into consideration whether we have caused any soil damage.
For example, if an area is wet but you don’t graze that much of the grass, you may not pick up the fact that you have damaged the pasture/soil if you are only looking at grazing/grass volume. This question gives us an indication of what’s happening to the soil post-grazing. Through our own experience, we know that if we graze and leave a higher residual, we get a higher score and we know the soil is being looked after. And so again, that's allowed us to simplify things into one question, which saves time, gives clarity, while still having the ability to flag things if they are going wrong.
Having a long-term view
With these numerical responses, we can review the data we have collected periodically and calculate an average over time to see whether we are increasing the amount of forage grown and looking after the soil better in terms of our management. If overall, the average is positive, we are happy we are moving in the right direction.
It is important to have this long-term view as there will always be instances when we cannot manage perfectly for the soil and grass (e.g. at TB testing time if you need to hold animals close to a building, or in periods of bad weather if you need to use fields with running water due to frozen pipes). At least with this monitoring, you have a record and you can see the direction you are going in over the long term.
The most useful measure for us – animal days per hectare
In terms of the grassland management, we want to record what the cows are going into and what is left behind in quite a simple way. The most informative data we've found that we can collect in terms of stocking rate performance or grass production/performance has been animal days/hectare.
We can grow lots of grass, but we might not always get as many days per hectare out of it. Whilst we might plan to graze somewhere, the most valuable information we can have is how many cow days did we get off each hectare on the farm - we can compare to see which fields are performing better than others and where we might be able to target better grazing management to improve the underperforming parts of the farm.
Integrating regular grazing monitoring with long-term monitoring
As we've already said, to keep the grazing monitoring simple, we have left some things out. Not everything needs to be recorded all the time. To complement the regular monitoring, we have undertaken some long-term monitoring as part of the FiPL project. For every field parcel on the Kemerton Estate, we have completed an Enhanced Phase 1 Botanical Survey and a Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) to give us a baseline. We have also written an Ecological and Production Plan for each field parcel to highlight future opportunities. The regular grazing monitoring will be our day-to-day feedback on the progress we are making towards these broader, longer-term aims. The Phase 1 Botanical Surveys and VESS analyses can be repeated every 2-3 years.
Another example of data we record at different times of year is the performance of the cows themselves - again we are not looking to pick up too much data on a daily/weekly basis other than whether the cows are looking well or not. Certainly if we pick up any problems with them, then we will address them as need be. But the main time for recording/monitoring/scoring the cows is at calving.
Calving outside means we get to spend time with each cow individually with our focus on how she calves, how quickly the calf gets up, the cow's udder score, bonding between cow and calf, etc. We feel that this is the best time to record body condition rather than as part of cattle moves.
It is very tempting to think you need to record all these things when you are creating an all-singing all-dancing monitoring system, but it's really important to make it practical so we are not doing too much at once.
If you like the look of our grazing form and would like to use it for your moves, please get in touch and we will send you a copy!
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FAI Farms
We bought 2 bulls from Rob because we wanted easy calving, fertile, hardy bulls. Very happy with initial results on 62 heifers with 100% in calf, 73% bred in the 1st cycle. Bulls didn't go lame or lose condition while working
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We have PHEPSON ANGUS bulls available from January 2025
Please get in touch if you would like more information about available bulls. We have sold out for the last 3 years so please get in touch early to secure your breeding bull.
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We often get requests for consultancy on both grassland and cattle management in holistic management systems. While we do take on some advisory work in limited situations we do tend to try and sign-post to other advisers in the regenerative agriculture sector. However, ALL PHEPSON ANGUS CUSTOMERS receive a FREE consultation with their purchase and for our customers we are always available on the phone. So if you are interested in saving money through your grazing systems and would like to add some proven fertility genetics to your herd then get in touch.
Kaiser, Senior Herd Sire
Semen straws available for UK and International export.
Your opportunity to buy into our programme
Excellent producer of easy-calving, fertile, moderate females for grass production
Will reduce frame size while still maintaining commercial scale.
Extremely fertile Bull - producing over 1000 straws per jump on collection on several occasions (bulls usually produce 150 - 350 straw per jump)
Line bred 4 times to Champion Bull "Evesund of Dupplin" who was known as the "Great Fixer of Udders"
We find Kaiser will correct poor udder structure in the 1st cross/generation
Huge rumen capacity - weighs 1000kg in working clothes - 53 inches at the hip
Kaiser is the foundation of our maternal bull lines, and is now available to you
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