Archive - Tuesday, 2 October 2001


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Sheep back to roam on the range

Sheep and cattle will be allowed to winter graze the military firing ranges at Castlemartin from next month.

Foot and mouth disease movement restrictions had left 11,500 sheep and 300 cattle stranded on the training camp for a month last spring.

Consequently the base, which generates its income from providing training facilities to military units, was forced to abandon two months of training.

Despite this disruption, the sheep which graze the Preseli Hills in the summer will return to Castlemartin on November 17th to join cattle on winter tack from nearby farms.

Range commandant Colonel Michael Portman said the stock, in particular the sheep, play a vital role in preserving unique flora and fauna.

They are absolutely critical from a conservation point of view," he maintained.

The grass is eaten back hard which allows the orchids and other flowers to blossom and drop their seeds in the summer when there is no stock here."

They are also important from a military point of view. If the land is not grazed there is a high risk of fires and consequential disruption to training exercises.

Representatives of the Ministry of Defence will meet the Preseli Graziers on November 7th with a view to moving the sheep to Castlemartin from November 17th.

It is understood that, under the current rules, all the sheep and cattle will have to arrive within a ten-day period.

A meeting between farmers, DEFRA, Defence Estates and representatives of Castlemartin Range is scheduled to clarify this position.

Having been bitten once we want to make certain that the rules have been interpreted correctly before the livestock are moved on to the range," said Colonel Portman.

In past years, 20% of the sheep were moved off the range in January. This did not happen this year and compounded the situation in the spring.

The grass had been grazed down even harder this year so we had nowhere to move the sheep to when we needed the firing ranges," said Colonel Portman.