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Paper short abstract:

Although the ancient agricultural practice of upland grazing around shielings is under threat, animals that still graze the outfields have not forgotten their ancient grazing patterns. Can past grazing practices be re-vitalised in a quest for sustainability?

Paper long abstract:

Many traditional grazing landscapes have changed dramatically due to lack of human and animal impact, resulting in the loss of specific eco-systems which rely on such impact. The sound of animal bells is the sound of a cultural and historical continuum of grazing cattle and the people who hung, and still hang, bells around their necks. In the past, the cow wearing the bell would know the way to the best pasture. The reason she knew is because she has once followed another bell cow as a calf, as a heifer. These animals are hefted to the land, they have become attached to an upland pasture because they have embodied a memory, a heritage of movement, throughout their lives.

With the quest for efficiency in modern agriculture, brushwood encroachment of heritage landscapes is prevalent. Although the ancient agricultural practice of upland grazing around shielings is under threat, animals that are still allowed to graze these outfields have not forgotten their ancient grazing patterns. Cows in an unbroken line of animals hefted to the land, maintain their practice despite lack of human encouragement. By tracking the cows digitally, their movement patters revealed that the cows sought fields surrounding old dairies that are long gone. These places had a higher biodiversity and a wider and probably more interesting selection of herbage to graze. Their hooves had habitually embodied the movement heritage of the land. Can past grazing practices be re-vitalised in a quest for sustainability, and can grazing animals reclaim their heft?