Churchyard grazed by .... what, for instance?

Annemieke · Post by **Annemieke** » 12 Aug 2013, 15:23

Our churchyard, in the middle of nowhere/the countryside, used to be grazed by sheep. Romantic and handy: the grass never needed cutting. There are not a lot of graves, and people soon learned not to put flowers on them!
Now the sheep have gone for various reasons, mainly regulations. Cows are too big, and also regulated. What else could we have? Any animals which eat grass, and are so strange that noone has thought (yet) of regulating them? Goats sounds good, but I heard they get tangled up when tethered.

Post by **Totally Scrambled** » 12 Aug 2013, 15:36

Goats aren't really grazers they like herbage better and they are expert at escaping and will chew through just about anything.
When we had our goats I still had to trim their paddock about every 5-6 weeks as they didn't really touch it. They did however eat rope, wood, chipboard, a tarpaulin, plastic plant pots and the rubber trim off a car bumper so not sure they are the best choice for your situation.
Are rare breed/heritage type sheep regulated in the same way as bog standard sheep? Some small breed like Jacobs, Soay, Hebridean spring to mind. Maybe a rare breed would be seen by the authorities in a different light.
Dom

Post by **Totally Scrambled** » 12 Aug 2013, 16:00

We have a chap who keeps rare breeds near us and I saw him passing a few minutes ago so I picked his brains. He says even rare breeds are regulated as the main breeds but there are sometimes exceptions made or loopholes in the legislation that allow rare breeds where others may be disallowed.
He gave me the name and number of a bloke out your way who works for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust who may be able to give you some advice re rare sheep or an alternative animal to use. I will PM you his name and contact number )t'

Dom

Post by **manda** » 13 Aug 2013, 08:34

Geese would sort out the grass but the mess might not be a great pay off....and they can be a bit aggressive

Annemieke · Post by **Annemieke** » 26 Aug 2013, 19:44

Geese would sort out the grass but the mess might not be a great pay off....and they can be a bit aggressive

You can say that again ......

Thanks for your tips. In the end the regulations turned out to be rather less strict than a law-abiding parishioner had told us. A telephone call to Defra taught us that sheep are allowed to graze on any un-registered holding within five miles of their own territory. So the other neighbouring farmer can just open the gate to let his sheep in

Kuikentje · Post by **Kuikentje** » 03 Sep 2013, 21:50

This on a churchyard gate near us: I'm never quite sure whether it's information or instruction, or exactly who it's aimed at!