Farming on hen harrier land

lalababa wrote: »

What's the best (or only) way to manage rushes on hen harrier land. What are the other restrictions on such land RE drainage/ploughing etc. Or is there a good website with this info?

When you say hen harrier land- are you in a scheme?

In my case- licking rushes allowed and topping not allowed between March 15th and July 15th.

Rushes should be topped according to the photo attached.

lalababa wrote: »

I am researching unique types of farming in Ireland.Many thanks. Are the measures very farm specific? Good god! You can only top half the field and in linear alternating lines! Yet you are allowed lick? Can you lick all fields? I heard you cannot lick? Any more info. greatly appreciated.

Yeah half the field- no silage/baling in the area that we have designated for glas. Less than 40units of artificial nitrogen/acre/year.

Really it’s about creating a sward greater than 100mm.

The glas guidelines are in the link below. There is a page of what is required for the scheme and the payments etc.

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmerschemespayments/glas/

There is also a new scheme to promote hen harrier development and is more results based than actions. I am not in this scheme so know very little about it.

The actions In this one are farm specific AFAIK

http://www.henharrierproject.ie

50HX wrote: »

Have hen harrier land in as part of the glas measure

Can I top away/weed rush lick in strips at this of year

I don’t know about the licking but definitely no topping.

Also as far as I know, you can lick the entire place but top in the strips.

50HX wrote:

Have hen harrier land in as part of the glas measure

50HX wrote:

Can I top away/weed rush lick in strips at this of year

As far as I can remember from the GLAS specs you can only lick if the ground conditions dictate that it's to difficult to top. Topping is the preferred method though and only outside of the dates specified.
I would suspect that the licking could only be done in strips also or it would defeat the whole purpose of trying to create a habitat

Base price wrote: »

We are not in the Hen Harrier scheme but reading the GLAS specifications rushes are integral to their breeding habitat and are not considered a noxious weed - therefore weed licking is out. According to the specs if grazing cannot prevent rushes taking over 70% of the parcel than rotational cutting of no more than 50% of the parcel is allowed.
See page 19 - 6. Hen Harrier in the link - https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/farmingschemesandpayments/glastranche1/GLASTranche1Spec161015.pdf

That's what i've been reading but can't find any dates to adhere to

kollegeknight wrote: »

Page 31 of the specs- no control of rushes from 15th of March to 15th of July.

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/farmingschemesandpayments/glastranche3/GLAS3Specification031116.pdf

Your spot on, thanks

Shadow Dancer wrote: »

Depends as well which tranche you are under I believe. If you are in tranche 1, you can top any time of year (to the best of my knowledge).

I got that from reading the guidelines too. I’ve contacted my ag advisor to verify that.

I hope you’re right.