Cows are Coming to the Common!

Staunton Parish Council have been working with local ecologist, Helena Ronicle to start restoring the rare habitats on Staunton Meend.  As part of this we are planning to trial grazeing the site with Belted Galloway Cattle for 4 weeks starting roughly this weekend.

The ‘Belties’ are a traditional British cattle breed that are adapted to grazing the rougher terrain and vegetation found on the Common.  We will be grazing with 4 beltie steers (castrated males) provided by Grazing Management.  These 4 boys are well used to public sites having recently grazed the nature reserves at Beacon Hill and Cleddon bog in Trellech. They are used to people and dogs. We still ask that you respect the animals and keep your distance and dogs under control around the cattle and if horse riding over the common please ride at a walk.

The cattle will be grazing sections of the common at a time, kept in these areas by ‘virtual fencing’ using Nofence GPS collars. This means large areas of the common will be ‘cattle free’.  We will put the location of the cattle on this page or you will be able to track their locations and compartment boundaries at https://grazingmap.nofence.no/ or via the QR code.

If there are any problems with the cattle or emergencies, you can contact Grazing Management on 01594 540617.

We are also looking for volunteers to help us look after the cattle, you won’t have to touch the cattle, just be willing to undergo basic daily checks.  If you think you could help please message us though facebook or get in touch with Helena on ecology@ronicle.me.uk.