We participate in many different conservation grazing programmes with various partners using our Highland Ponies and Highland Cattle. The land we graze is basically “Wildland” (left very natural) that is managed by grazing animals to promote greater biodiversity in plant and flower species which also benefits many types of wildlife too but especially ground nesting birds. We have been in many government and European sponsored environmental schemes over the year and the current one started in 2019 and runs for 5 years. It will be interesting to see their focus in the future now we are out of the EU.
Highland Cattle and Highland Ponies are not only native to the area they are indigenous and the ponies are even listed as being endangered on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust lists. Our family have been involved in the management of livestock in the are for Badenoch for 150 years and we can claim to have the oldest breeding stud with the same bloodlines from one family and can trace our Highland Ponies back to two mares bought in 1833 from the famous Lochaber cattle drover John Cameron of Corriehoillie.
Our partners and places we have grazed now and in the included RSPB, Wildlands, Historic Environment Scotland, National Trust, some Northwoods partners including Ballinlaggan and Ballintean and hopefully in the future Transport Scotland. We have well trained livestock that is easy to handle and shift so are ideal to use like a “fly grazing squad” to tackle land that would benefit from some low impact grazing. Because we use indigenous native breeds they are well suited to what is often low quality forage not always suitable for commercial livestock who do not thrive so well on it.