WBD8: Manage grassland to reduce nutrient levels in groundwater

This action’s aim is that there’s an intact grass sward throughout the year, with:

• a medium sward height during the winter months
• minimal bare ground
• reduced level of nutrient inputs applied

The purpose of this is to:

• reduce nutrient inputs to grassland in priority Water Framework Directive (WFD) groundwater failure areas
• help slow or reverse nutrient levels in groundwater

What you must do

You must:

• make sure there’s an intact sward throughout the year
• cut or graze the sward in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim – a medium sward height will usually be an average of around 5 centimetres (cm) to 15cm
• minimise bare ground, so the soil is covered by vegetation and is not directly exposed to the elements

You must not do the following on the grassland:

• plough, cultivate or re-seed it
• carry out supplementary feeding of livestock, except for providing non-energy based mineral blocks
• apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, or nettles
• apply manures or fertilisers, apart from when you cut the grassland for hay or silage

When you cut the grassland for hay or silage, you must not apply more than either:

• 12 tonnes of cattle farmyard manure per ha per year
• equivalent amounts of available nutrients as fertiliser or other organic manures as an alternative to cattle farmyard manure

How to do this action

It’s up to you how you do this action, as long as you:

• follow this action’s requirements – these are identified by a ‘must’
• do the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim

When to do it

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

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as:

• field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices
• grazing activity at a land parcel level
• photographs and other documentation

If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence.

You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.

Other actions or options you can do on the same area as this action You can do the following actions or options on the same area in a land parcel as this action.

Some actions or options can only be done on the same area if they’re done at a different time of year to this action. For example, winter cover followed by a summer companion crop. Read ‘What to do’ and ‘When to do it’ to find out when this action must be done.

Scheme Action or option codes OFC1, OFC3, OFM1, OFM4, AGF1, AGF2, PRF1, PRF2, SFI 2024 actions CIPM1, CNUM1, CSAM1

SFI 2023 actions IPM1, NUM1, SAM1

CS options OR1, OR3, OT1, OT3

ES options No ES revenue options

SFI pilot No area-based SFI pilot standards standards

If an action or option cannot be located on the same area, you may be able to do it on a different area in the same land parcel. Read section 6. ‘Eligible land in other funding schemes’ in the SFI scheme information for more details.

You can do the following actions or options on the eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into this action:

• SFI 2024 actions: CHRW1, CHRW2, CHRW3, BND1, BND2 and WBD2
• SFI 2023 actions: HRW1, HRW2, HRW3
• CS option BE3 (management of hedgerows)
• the introductory level of the SFI pilot hedgerows standard