Hay Meadows Aren't Purely For Christmas

The Hay Meadow is typically connected with romantic unspoilt country side but regrettably over the last few years they have been disappearing at an alarming pace. Therefore, what basically is a meadow and why are they so crucial to protect? The word 'meadow' is strictly speaking employed to describe grass fields that are grown for hay. Nevertheless a great number hay meadows may also be grazed by cows at some point and some meadows that are mostly used for grazing can also be mown for hay. To begin with many farmlands that we are used to looking at are intensively farmed to produce the best potential crop yield. They will have been ploughed and seeded, most often with 1 or 2 genetically enhanced top yielding grasses such as Perennial Rye Grass. This form of intensive grass production leaves precious little space either for diversity, or for flora and fauna. In contrast, meadows will be very infrequently ploughed. Many might not have been disturbed in living memory thus meadows carry plant and animal communities which have been formed over a very long time. Meadows also have specific other attributes in common. They are pastures which are grazed at a reduced intensity or the grass is cut and then utilized for haymaking. The grazing of low quantities of cattle or sheep prevents scrub and woodland from growing up, and favours a variety of plant and insect species. They receive little if any fertiliser. This means that they mainly consist of a combination of grasses as opposed to the mainly Perennial Ryegrass swards of intensive fields. This mixture will possess wild grasses. The meadow will have had a modest fertilizer application. This may very well be either artificial, or natural fertilizer i.e. dung or slurry. The very low input is critical to the existence of meadows simply because most wild flowers are adapted to quite low soil nutrient amounts. Meadows generate a modest output with regards to yield for the land owner. The grass output of meadows will nowhere near equal those produced from the common, intensively farmed grass fields that have largely taken the place of meadows. A mixture of monetary enticements remain to encourage farmers to preserve their meadows. Meadows are small fields, frequently found on earth of reduced fertility or where there might be bad access for machinery. Individual meadows are usually a fairly uniform habitat overall, albeit one armed with an incredible diversity of plant and animal types. Hay meadows are cut back later on in the summer time. Whether or not meadows are cut for hay, the grass is enabled to grow high, flower and set seed before it is actually cut back. This allows animals, for instance ground nesting birds occurring in the meadow, the time to rear their off-spring prior to the arrival of harvesting machinery which removes their cover. It in addition gives creatures such as butterflies time to complete very important parts of their lifecycles. The flowers and seeds from the grasses and all the other plants in the meadow in also have chance to develop and complete their life cycles. This also delivers food for countless insects, birds and small animals. Hay meadows are, naturally therefore, key to conserve in order to support a superb array of flora and fauna together with continuing an approach to landscape control which has been out there for a number of years.