Dan Bussey

Restoring soil health through livestock integration, crop rotation, tree planting, direct drilling and traffic control measures

We are working towards a regenerative agriculture model, restoring soil that was becoming less and less fertile and having symptoms of poor health such as blackgrass, low worm counts, poor soil structure, low soil organic matter, soil erosion and poor drainage. None of what we do is complex or unheard of - what is working for us is the combination of our improvements and a focus on the whole farm. We have a long way to go and are continually learning how to make improvements. Essentially our journey so far has been centred around:

Livestock integration

Following a number of years renting out the grassland we bought the livestock enterprise back in-hand in 2017. This now features planned grazing of pasture fed pedigree Hereford cattle and 500 Innovis Highlander ewes in an outdoor lambing system. We have designed new replacement livestock and storage buildings. Half of the buildings have been erected and we are awaiting planning for the second half. Integration of livestock has been a real challenge. What worked in theory on paper went wrong for many reasons:

• Fencing - cattle and sheep cannot be held securely using electrified fences. Whilst they continue to be an integral part of the system and we will always need electric fences, especially for mob grazing, a planned approach to stock proof fencing is required.  
• Adverse weather - spring 2017 saw snow and the ‘Beast from the East’ storm. Our first year of outdoor lambing was traumatic - lambs perished in the cold. Sheep could not use hedges and trees for shelter as electric fences prevented them from doing so. Our outdoor system failed. We bought in the weakest, nurtured them, and put them out in plastic jackets, but losses were extreme.
• Labour - there is limited skilled livestock casual labour locally.
• Sick sheep - permanent pasture had been used for sheep for many years and the land needed a break from sheep. Cattle have been introduced to complement the grazing routine.
• Water - water supply to arable fields that have never been previously stocked needs planning.
• Lame cattle - old permanent pasture fields with hidden old tree stakes, fencing posts and rusty old nails have resulted in lame cattle.

This highlighted that we need to integrate the sheep into the system at a slower pace to ensure land has adequate rest from previous over-grazing routines (especially important if this hasn’t been in your control), and it is important to ensure cattle housing and handling is available before bringing cattle onto the land. The real value in the livestock lies in the spreading of manures to improve the soils.

Arable crop planting rotation

We have enhanced the arable enterprise with the design of a 5 year crop plan, implemented direct drilling, planted diverse cover crops, and ensured rotational cropping. We found that OSR was the best crop to grow after grass and that it works well to direct drill it with berseem clover. Berseem has a great root structure and the rape follows this root structure. As the clover dies, it feeds the rape through the winter and provides nitrogen fixation. After OSR, we direct drill wheat, introduce a cover crop after wheat (usually black oats or clover), then a spring crop, and then put the field back into grass. If a field is in really poor health I’d suggest grassing it down.

Our biggest challenge is that more conventional ways of doing this would result in higher profits in the short term - you have to have a long-term vision to justify changes financially.

Tree planting

Over the last few years we have planted over 30,000 trees, equating to 14 hectares (ha), which are a mixture of mixed native and non-native species to link up the isolated woodland blocks across the estate. In addition to this we have undertaken a further 1ha of woodland restocking. This planting has significantly increased habitat connectivity across the estate, when established it will increase shelter for stock and crops, and help improve water quality by delaying/reducing run-off from storm events.

Soil monitoring, direct drilling and traffic control

Our main focus area has been soil health rejuvenation and improvement, soil health monitoring, and management. This includes limiting soil disturbance, introducing traffic control measures (widened tram lines from 24m to 30m) and introducing direct drilling across the farm, working to significantly improve soil organic matter.