Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

12.1.4 Traditional agriculture and associated products
Various fen plants, including Glyceria grasses, are both palatable and highly
productive, which has led to a long history of grazing fens and mowing for hay.
Grazing plays a dual role in fen management: potential income generation, and a
management tool to maintain the diversity of wetland habitats through the eating
and trampling of rank vegetation (see Section 6: Vegetation Management). The
lifting of slaughter-age restrictions for cattle and increased demand for meat from
traditional breeds may increase the demand for rough grazing, but demand for
grazing and profitability will always be subject to persistent long term cycles in
agricultural economics. The foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001 and bovine
spongiform encephalitis (BSE) restrictions had a significant impact. The costs of
infrastructure necessary for grazing, including fencing, handling pens, vehicular
access for delivery and removal of livestock all need to be taken into account when
assessing the economic viability of grazing fens. Some reserve managers have
chosen to keep livestock for conservation benefit alone, rather than letting grazing
or selling animals.
‘Marsh hay’ or ‘bog hay’ from the East Anglian and Scottish Borders fens was
a major commercial product in the days of horse traction and transport. Coarse
hay of low fodder value is still favoured for horses and hardy traditional breeds of
cattle and sheep for which hay and haylage from intensively managed ryegrass
swards can be too rich, provided the hay does not contain ragwort, hemlock waterdropwort
or other poisonous plants.
It is worth bearing in mind that grazing or other agricultural use of fens may trigger
entitlement (and be essential) to single farm payments and agri-environment
schemes.
12.1.5 By-products from habitat management work
Scrub control, long rotation cutting of reeds, restoration cuts and channel
clearance all produce bulk materials of potential value as mulch, stock bedding
(provided material is free from harmful plant matter) and compost. The economic
and environmental disadvantage of these low value bulk products is relatively high
transport costs, which often limits sale to local use.
Composted reed and sedge could potentially replace the use of sedge peat as
a traditional soil improver, but compost production needs to be on-site or nearsite
for local sale. Large-scale commercial composting operations supplied by
domestic collections and local authority waste usually charge to take away material
from other sources. There may also be licence implications for control of leachate
from compost, so the appropriate regulator should be contacted for advice (see
Appendix V). Cut common clubrush has value for rush work products, and can be
marketed as a craft material or made up into saleable items by on-site craft workers.
12.1.6 Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical use in medicines and cosmetics is generating new markets for
some wetland plants. Bog myrtle (or sweet gale) has long been used for beer
flavouring and insect repellent, but Boots the Chemist have now produced a range
of products using the herb for acne treatment and to help delay ageing effects
on skin, which is worth several hundred pounds per hectare, compared with less
than £20 per hectare for sheep farming. Fens provide a valuable reservoir of gene
material with significant potential for further pharmaceutical development in future.
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