Farmers hope the nature-based solution will help control bracken levels, allowing wildflowers, invertebrates and birds the optimum conditions to thrive. <\/p>
It\u2019s found on every continent except for Antarctica and is one of the commonest plants in the entire world. Perhaps that\u2019s why bracken is not universally loved, renowned as it is for taking over British hillsides in dense swathes that crowd out wildflowers and other flora.<\/strong><\/p> But now scientists and farmers are trialling a new method to control \u2013 though not completely eliminate \u2013\u00a0this ubiquitous plant: livestock, and cattle especially.<\/p> Katharine Pinfold, who farms sheep<\/a> and cattle<\/a> across 400 hectares in Loweswater<\/a> in the Lake District is one of them. \u201cBracken is a bit of a monoculture, it spreads and takes over, choking out other vegetation, including grass for grazing animals,\u201d she says. “Animals don\u2019t eat bracken and once it takes hold, there is nothing for them to eat.\u201d<\/p> Previously, farmers were able to use a herbicide called Asulox, under annual emergency authorisations, to knock bracken back, but in 2023 this became unavailable.\u00a0<\/p> So, Pinfold, along with seven other farmers in the north of England, is trialling a method whereby they place salt licks or hay among the bracken to encourage cattle (on her farm, belted Galloways) to go into the foliage.<\/p> \u201cCattle trample and squash the bracken and weaken it,\u201d she says. \u201cAlready we can see areas where they have opened up paths through it and that the bracken is smaller and thinner than it was previously.\u201d<\/p>