Cows go back to the future

May 22 2009 by Kaiya Marjoribanks, Stirling Observer Friday

HIGHLAND cattle are making a return to Loch Katrine as part of a unique forest management project.

The innovative lochside project is reviving low impact forestry techniques from the distant past to tackle a range of land use issues.

The 60 cattle – predominantly from top pure bred West Coast Folds – represent some of the best and hardiest traditional Highland cattle blood lines.

Introducing them on the site will provide a return to the traditional land management of past centuries.

Welcoming the move, Holyrood environment minister Roseanna Cunningham said: “We all try to keep up with the fast pace of progress and that can mean we lose sight of traditional ways of doing things.

“Sometimes this is no bad thing but occasionally we miss a trick.

“This project is reviving techniques that will benefit the immediate environment, that will enrich the visitor experience and which, longer term, could have a beneficial effect on the rural economy.”

Forestry Commission Scotland leased the Loch Katrine site from Scottish Water in 2005, with a view to enhancing and expanding the remaining native woodlands.

Donald Hendry, spokesman for the commission in Cowal and Trossachs, said: “By turning to this traditional land use we are taking advantage of Highland cattle as ideal conservation cattle.

“They are perfect for the job because they are much less selective grazers than deer and sheep.

“Their heavy trampling of the ground can be a useful tool in stimulating seedling regeneration, and at higher grazing densities, the cattle will maintain open space in the woodland. This is good for biodiversity and will also help us to retain the stunning loch and mountain views.

“Grazing impacts will be monitored so that we get the right numbers of cattle on site at the right time. Varying densities of managed grazing in woodland pasture can stimulate initial woodland regeneration and also regulate the density of later regeneration.

“Highland cattle are used to a harsher environment so I am confident they will adapt well to the milder environment at Loch Katrine and make an important contribution to our development and management of this site.”

Quality female stock will help create a breeding herd that will provide animals for other upland conservation grazing projects and, potentially, crossbred heifers for sale to commercial upland farming units.

The Loch Katrine cattle are the first domestic livestock to graze the site for seven years after sheep were removed from the site by Scottish Water in 2002 over water contamination issues.

A new water treatment plant has been built at Milngavie and permission granted to resume domestic livestock grazing in the area.

The site forms part of The Great Trossachs Forest, the legacy project of the Scottish Forest Alliance, a unique collaboration involving Forestry Commission Scotland, RSPB, Woodland Trust Scotland and multi-national company, BP.

The project will bring land owned and managed by the partners under an integrated management plan and identity to form a single, landscape scale project site.