Drovers Agreement: Redpath

Redpath was the third site to be grazed under the Drovers Project, and was grazed for the latter part of the 2004 season.

Profile:

The site is owned by the National Trust and is located within Harwood Forest. It has now been let as part of a Farm Business Tenancy with a condition that it is to be grazed by traditional breeds of livestock. Redpath is a wet rush-dominated pasture habitat with an abundance of soft rush (juncus effuses) and sharp-flowered rush (juncus acutiflorus), along with tussocks of tufted hair grass (deschampsia cespitosa), bottle sedge (carex rostrata) and small acidic flushes including areas of purple moor grass (molinia caerulea).

Objectives:

The objective for grazing Redpath was to assess the suitability of using traditional cattle as a management tool for a wet rushy pasture habitat. Although the site itself lies just outside the National Park boundary, there is an abundance of similar habitat types within the Park which would benefit from research into best practice grazing management.