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Herbal leys on a North Wales sheep farm

Wales
Farm Practices
herbal leys
drought
Soil
sheep
rotational grazing

For Dafydd Owen, herbal leys are a key part of Coed Coch adopting an ever- more regenerative farming system

Coed Coch is a 400-hectare sheep farm covering both lowland and upland habitats near Abergele in North Wales. NFFN farmer Dafydd Owen explains how herbal leys play a crucial role in its nature-friendly approach to livestock farming.

The basics - why are herbal leys important?

“Herbal leys are part of our general move towards becoming ever more regenerative. We farm around 2,000 Romney ewes and breed our own replacements, managing the estate on a grass-only system with no fertiliser or bought-in feed, using rotational grazing.

“We mainly use the herbal leys after weaning, prioritising the best grazing areas for fattening lambs. We previously relied on swedes over winter, but moved away from forage crops to minimise soil disturbance and reduce cost, including on chemicals. 

“We’ve established around 100 acres of herbal leys, which still isn’t a huge proportion of the whole farm. They include deep-rooting plants like plantain and chicory, with mixes varying across the farm. Upland leys contain more cocksfoot and timothy, while lowland fields have higher levels of ryegrass and festulolium.”

The biggest impact of the herbal leys has been greater resilience to drought. As conditions in summer become increasingly dry, the deeper-rooting plants continue to thrive even as grass growth slows.

Dafydd Owen

What effect has this had on the farm?

“At the top of the farm, we’ve seen the natural seed bed regenerating, with lots of plantain, chicory and yarrow coming through. We’re now hoping to see more of this natural regeneration by opening up the surface over winter and making sure conditions are right in the spring. 

“The biggest impact of the herbal leys, though, has been greater resilience to drought. As conditions in summer become increasingly dry, the deeper-rooting plants, like plantain and chicory, continue to thrive even as grass growth slows. The increased species diversity creates variation in sward height, and by using longer grazing rotations we’re allowing many plants to flower and go to seed. 

“With climate change, there’s little balance in the weather: you get long wet periods followed by extended dry spells. When we go weeks without rain, getting roots deep into the soil to access the moisture and maintaining ground cover is absolutely crucial. Diverse swards mean there’s always something growing well throughout the year, whatever unpredictable conditions we face.”

What plans do you have for the future?

“When we were growing forage swedes, we would reseed straight after they finished, using direct drilling around April.  Now we’re no longer doing that full reseed, we’re hoping changes to the grazing systems will allow more grasses and species to come through naturally. We may also look at introducing new species in the future by stitching them in directly, without needing to spray anything off.”

And how has this financially impacted the business?

“Financially, moving away from bought-in feed and fertiliser has made a huge difference for us, there are fewer bills to pay if market prices fall. This makes the business more resilient and financial budgeting simpler, without fluctuating input costs. By measuring grass and feed budgeting, we can plan ahead, and if we do go short on grass, we would look to buy in some silage or fodder beet to fill that gap. 

“The most important thing for us is planning our grazing rotations and monitoring average farm cover, to make sure there’s enough grass for the pre-lambing rotation. That provides the ewes with high-protein grass to produce colostrum, which the lambs need to thrive, as we’re not feeding the ewes anything else. As long as we get that first spring flush of grass, we’re OK. Spring grass is better than anything you’d buy in a bag.”

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