UPL8: Shepherding livestock on moorland (remove stock for at least 4 months)

The following changes have been made to this action for SFI26 (compared with the SFI24 version):

• the payment rate has increased to £74 per hectare per year – this applies to both SFI26 agreements and existing SFI24 agreements
• you enter the parcel's whole available area, and that area is measured as it stands when you apply
• there’s a new exception for ‘supplementary feeding in extreme weather conditions’
• minor updates to standard wording which appears in all area-based SFI actions

This action’s aim is that livestock grazing on moorland is managed to avoid impacting features which are sensitive to damage from grazing, wherever possible.

The purpose of this is to:

• protect and improve habitats for birds, mammals and insects
• reduce bare ground and soil erosion
• improve water quality
• protect historic and archaeological features

What you must do

You must remove all livestock, except resident ponies, from land entered into this action for at least 4 consecutive calendar months.

‘Resident ponies’ means ponies which are traditionally kept on the moorland, such as Dartmoor and Exmoor ponies.

When the livestock are on the moorland, you must take reasonable steps to minimise their access to ‘sensitive features’ by:

• shepherding or herding them away
• using temporary fencing if that’s possible

Sensitive features are areas on the moorland that can easily be damaged by grazing or poaching caused by livestock. They include:

• bare ground, peat soils, gullies and steep slopes
• vegetation on wet peaty areas – such as blanket bog, wet heath, upland flushes, fens and swamps
• woody vegetation – such as fragmented heath, mountain heath and willow scrub, dry heath, long degenerate heather, deciduous woodland, and scrub
• grassy vegetation – such as upland calcareous grassland, limestone pavement, purple moor-grass, rush pasture and Calaminarian grassland
• historic or archaeological features, including scheduled monuments – these are identified on your SFI HEFER

You must not carry out supplementary feeding of livestock on land entered into this action, except with mineral licks. You must locate them away from sensitive areas.

When to do it

You must do this action from its start date, throughout each year of its 3-year duration.

Where you can do it

You can do this action on land located above the moorland line that’s:

• an eligible land type (as defined in section 5.1.1 ‘Eligible land types’ in the SFI26 scheme information)
• registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
• declared with a land use code which is compatible with the eligible land cover

If a land parcel is located above and below the moorland line, you can enter it into this action if:

• most of the area is above the moorland line
• it’s managed as one grazing unit with adjacent land parcels located above the moorland line

Farmyards or land used for turf or peat production are not eligible for this action.

Rotational or static

This action is static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.

Evidence to keep

You must keep the required written stocking and shepherding record and supply this evidence if we ask for it. It can be recorded on paper or electronically.