Mob Grazing Impacts on Soil Health - Get involved in a Paired Farm Study
Many farmers are adopting Mob Grazing management of their livestock, aiming to employ a system that’s closer to natural livestock ranging behaviour, to deliver improved profitability, animal health and soil health. However no studies have yet been able provide robust proof of the soil health benefits of mob grazing to UK soils.
This study, carried out by ADAS and funded by Natural England, aims to engage with groups or pairs of farmers around England who are practising mob grazing or more conventional approaches, and take and analyse soil samples to find how how mob grazing is affecting soil properties like organic matter, density, structure, nutrients, and earthworms. The study can make comparisons between fields on the same farm under different management, or compare management between different farms.
To make this comparison, we’re asking mob grazing farmers to contact and encourage others nearby that might be interested to explore how their more conventional systems compare to mob grazing in terms of soil health. The soil sampling will happen in February or early March 2023.
In return for your involvement, you’ll receive the soil results from your field or fields, put in the context of the national results.
If you’re mob grazing, or if you’re not, and are interested to get involved, please provide your contact and farm system details below. Natural England and ADAS will both have access to your data, but we promise to not share your contact details with anyone else, and only to contact you about this study, as well as allowing you to unsubscribe simply at any time. However, we’ll also give you an option to keep in touch if you want to get involved in other projects.
If you want to encourage a neighbour, friend or colleague to get involved, please send them a link to this form. Please don’t send us their details directly!
If you’d like more information about this study please contact Lizzie Sagoo: lizzie.sagoo@adas.co.uk