My wild life

Jack Norris

Senior estates manager Jack is responsible for managing the Trust’s successful conservation grazing operation. Here, he explains how growing up in the Peak District sparked a passion for wildlife and agriculture and why his role perfectly combines both to benefi t nature.

I’ve wanted to be involved

in agriculture my whole life; I like the physicality of it. I grew up in the Peak District and though I didn’t grow up on a farm, all of my friends and neighbours had farms, so I used to help out a lot. When I was 11 years old, I bought my fi rst two sheep – a pair of rare breed Hebrideans – and my fl ock grew from there. Eventually, I went on to own a fl ock of 200 Lleyn and Texel sheep. Before joining the Trust, I studied for a degree in agriculture at the University of Nottingham, and then worked on a 7,000-acre organic estate in the Cotswolds as a shepherd, where I was responsible for looking after 2,500 breeding ewes and 300 cattle.

I’ve worked for the Trust for nine

years now in all, over two separate spells. I was initially employed as the fi rst stockman at a time when the grazing team comprised of just one part-time farm manager, myself and 13 cows. In comparison, today we have fi ve full-time members of staff in the grazing team and, of course, a lot more animals to look after.

My role now largely focuses on

coordinating the conservation grazing operation for the Trust. I have to work out which of our livestock animals are grazing where and when. We have around 250 cattle and 200 sheep and over 60 diff erent

“With the Trust having so many nature reserves where our livestock can graze, it can be like having 60 farms to think about at once.”

sites that they could graze on, so there is lots of logistical planning involved.

It’s important for me to liaise with our reserves offi cers as they have the ecological knowledge of our reserves and know what the ideal scenario is for achieving conservation goals. From those conversations, I will then devise a year-round plan that fi ts into our livestock breeding programme and animal health.

Conservation grazing is vital for delivering our conservation objectives at the Trust. When you have landscapescale projects, the impact of grazing animals is so important, and this couldn’t be replicated with machinery – it would come at a huge fi nancial and carbon cost and would also be less effi cient. Another benefi t is that livestock animals help create a more robust ecosystem that supports all trophic levels.

My favourite part of my job is lambing and calving season – when it’s going well. There’s something very special about bringing new lives into the world, especially if there’s a problem – like a calf or lamb getting stuck during birth or supporting an inexperienced mother – and you can solve it. It’s very rewarding to know you’ve saved a life. Of course, on the fl ip side, when things don’t go to plan and you lose an animal it can get quite emotional because you care about them and are so invested in their welfare.

I also really enjoy working for the Wildlife Trust because it brings a feeling that you’re actively benefi tting conservation and wildlife. And though I’m not saying how we manage livestock is how all farmers should do it, I hope what we do can act as a demonstration of successful landscape-scale conservation.

One of the biggest challenges in my role, I would say, is the logistics of making sure we comply with various schemes and government regulations. A lot of what we do is governed by TB testing, for instance, and the labour involved with that is phenomenal. And with the Trust having so many nature reserves where our livestock can graze, it can be like having 60 farms to think about at once.

The future of conservation grazing

and wildlife-friendly farming hangs in the balance depending on what the government decides for the future of agricultural environment schemes. It is worrying times because if they abandoned funding for active conservation on farms and bring back area-based payments, which are paid irrespective of food production or conservation value, it would signifi cantly aff ect operations like ours. We would need to raise additional funding from our supporters to ensure we can continue our conservation grazing programme. However, if the government is genuinely committed to conservation, then I see conservation grazing has a good future with lots of opportunities.”

Getting to know individual animals, like this Hereford bull, is key to Jack’s role.

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