Blog Archives
Improving the health of the grazing cattle
The Tru
st is funding a programme to start vaccinating commoners’ cattle against BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea). Commoners are volunteering to have their Forest-run cows and replacement heifers vaccinated against BVD. This is being done on a first come, first served basis and administered when cattle are marked up for the Forest or commons.
New Forest CDA Chair Andrew Parry-Norton said: “This is an initiative we have been working on for some time so I am very pleased the funding has now been approved for it. Vaccinating cattle clearly has a number of benefits, with one of the most significant being that it would stop abortion and the more cattle that are vaccinated, the greater chance we have of reducing the transmission of the disease. Being able to offer the vaccination is also a way of helping commoners out from a financial perspective which we know is extremely important right now.”
Commoners’ Salt Lick Project
The Tru
st is very pleased to be supporting the New Forest Commoners in their project to provide salt bins away from the unfenced roads, thereby keeping their animals away from the freshly gritted and salted roads in the winter months. Their first trial in the north west of the Forest has been very successful and they are looking to provide similar salt licks along other roads that have hot spots for tragic incidents this year.
Fallen Stock
Not the nicest thing to have to deal with, 
but the Trust has been pleased to support the New Forest Fallen Stock Collection Service, so that it can offer a fully professional service to the commoners
Pine martens return to the south of England
A very rewarding project that we’ve supported was the study that confirmed that pine martens, a species previously only thought to have survived in the North of England, have established a population in the New Forest . Our grant enabled the team from Wild New Forest to conduct DNA analysis of pine marten ‘scats’, or droppings, to help determine the number of individual animals present in various areas.
Common Cause: Shared Forest
Funding has been provided to help support the Shared Forest Project, which aims to increase public awareness of commoning as a modern farming system and as an important part of the New Forest’s cultural heritage. It also aims to encourage local residents and visitors to better understand commoning and help safeguard animals grazing on the open Forest.
More information about the project can be found at: www.newforestcommoners.com/
