Visitors to the Weymouth Wetlands do not be alarmed but we are about to witness our annual bovine invasion - slightly later than usual due to springs late arrival denying them sufficient fodder until now.
20 cows and our impressive (and thankfully docile) bull - imaginatively referred to as 'Bully' - arrive on Radipole today, with a further 25 younger animals to follow on Lodmoor. Cattle help us to maintain a mixed and varied sward, of benefit to birds and to invertebrates in more ways than one. When they first arrive on the reserves they are followed by clouds of swallows and martins ambushing the flies that their hooves disturb from the undergrowth.
Over the next few months the Radipole animals will be calving which is handy as 'suckler' herds tend to be far less picky in terms of their diet as the need to produce milk overcomes any faddishness and so they control rank vegetation and re-growth willow.
All the cows are Aberdeen Angus and come from our grazier Peter Broach's organic herd at Ewelease farm up the road in Osmington Mills. As a dyed in the wool veggie I am unable to comment on the quality of the meat but carnivores the office report that it is of the very highest quality.