Search

Cattle Bos taurus can perform valuable ecological functions in the maintenance of high nature value (HNV) pastoral systems. They have also attracted attention as potentially filling the ecological niches of megaherbivores, notably the extinct aurochs Bos primigenius, in rewilding initiatives. Native cattle breeds are recognized under the 1992 Rio Convention as components of biodiversity. They are used in HNV settings, but their conservation as breeds has rarely been an important consideration for their management in these contexts.The Chillingham herd has been kept under minimal management in Chillingham Park (northern England) for several centuries. Chillingham Park is not a rewilding scenario, but the long‐term study of the cattle can be informative for the design of rewilding schemes that involve cattle as megaherbivores. The pastures of the park are species‐rich seminatural grasslands.To 2004, pasture management was influenced by the need to provide herbage for a flock of sheep that was under separate ownership, as well as for the cattle. Surveys of the vegetation conducted in 1979 and 2006–2008 showed a decline of plant species richness (species per 100 m2 quadrat) from 33.8 in 1979 to 22.6 in 2006–2008. This was acceptable as the conservation priority has always been the cattle herd. With removal of the sheep from 2004, it became possible to include recovery of plant diversity as a management goal.In 2017, the cattle numbered 111 (64 in 1979). Plant species richness in 2017 had increased to 26.3 species per quadrat. It has therefore been possible at Chillingham both to conserve the cattle herd and to improve plant diversity. While providing basic information of relevance to the management of cattle in free‐ranging situations, this study also suggests a general principle, that the management of pastoral landscapes by native breeds of cattle, can deliver multiple conservation benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parks where the botanical interest of the sward has been retained are relatively unusual in the British Isles. Chillingham Park, northeast England, has been managed primarily to conserve its native cattle breed and the sward has been of only secondary importance in conservation terms. A liming programme was in operation from 1980 to 2004 in order to secure the nutrition of the cattle herd. The relatively species-rich vegetation was surveyed in 1979; in 2008 plant species richness of sampled quadrats was found to have declined by 23%. Species characteristic of higher soil pH and fertility, increased light and decreased wetness had been favoured, with a decline in stress-tolerating species. Possible causes of these changes include liming and inputs of fixed atmospheric nitrogen. Few if any plant species have been completely lost, and grassland diversity is now the subject of conservation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]