Hafod y Llyn Isaf

Teleri and Ned have beef and sheep systems on a grassland farm at Hafod y Llyn in Eryri. The site includes an extensive area of woodland and unimproved grazing areas. The area that will be focussed on for this project is the grazing fields that run alongside Afon Glaslyn. The fields are flat and prone to flooding on a regular basis. The soils are very sandy with low organic matter levels. Currently silage is cut from some of these fields using contractors and fed over the winter to stock. They have limited shed space for housing stock overwinter and this also creates a need to buy straw. They would therefore like to investigate whether a more regenerative approach to grassland management that utilises swards with long rest periods can help them to develop a system that is more economical to run and builds soil fertility. The longer rest periods would be approximately 60 days and grazing would be managed such that half of the sward is left behind before moving the stock on to the next area. 

This project is about experimenting on different grazing strategies working alongside mechanical intervention for compaction in the soil profile with the aim of:

• providing year round grazing that is financially and labour efficient
• providing good quality grazing throughout the year
• increasing farm biodiversity through increasing invertebrate numbers
• increasing soil organic carbon and hence soil fertility.

The project will also contribute to the Sustainable Land Management outcomes including:

• High animal welfare
• Resilient ecosystems
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Resilient ecosystems
• Protect and enhance the farm ecosystems