Why do hedges matter?

Environmental Benefits: Approximately 3000 km of hedgerows are removed every year in Ireland for a variety of reasons but campaigners are trying to minimise this area. That’s because hedges have enormous ecosystem benefits such as carbon sinks, mitigation of heavy rainfalls, homes for the wildlife who use the hedges as navigational corridors to spread throughout the landscape. Last week I had to stop the car as a red squirrel scurried across the road – he had come from the hedge, not a forest! Hedgerows also contain many of our oldest trees and are great seed source for native trees. The next picture explains some of the benefits.

Financial Benefits: From 2023 onwards, part of farming payments from Europe will factor habitat area on each farm – farmers can claim payment on areas of hedgerows and small areas of “scrub”; previously farmers were actually penalised for these areas. This change recognises the public service farmers provide by having and maintaining these areas. Importantly these payments, although meagre on an annual basis, far outweigh any possible increase in production that might be gained through the expensive removal and reseeding of tracts of land. Grubbing out hedges and areas of woody pasture no longer makes economic sense.

Benefits for Farming: A good thick hedge provides a great windbreak for crops and grazing animals as well as recycling nutrients deep underground that grasses can’t reach. Traditional cattle varieties are often described as “hardier” than continental breeds and part of the reason is that they can self-medicate by selectively grazing from the hedgerows as certain plants come into season. So again hedges are crucial here: there’s little grazing on a barbed wire fence. In the picture above a landowner has gone to great expense to top his hedge to about 3 foot off the ground. There’s little shelter going forward and the shear grab used to snap the trees has left gaping wounds on the remaining stumps leaving the trees open to infection. The ground around the base of the hedge has been compacted by the weight of the machinery. It’s puzzling what benefit a farmer will gain once the cost of the operation and the downsides are taken into account: the hedgeline is not stock proof and additional fencing will still be needed. Teagasc provide a great guidance document on good hedgerow management.

Working With Hedges: In this picture the landowner has taken a different approach by simply fencing to the front of the existing hedgeline – a few hawthorne quicks in the back and the hedge will do the rest. There’s things a farmer can say that other commentators would be crucified for and so I’ll leave you with two of the observations of Thomas Duffy the former Macra President. He remarked that the worst butchered hedges often surround the worst managed farms and perhaps there’s some truth in that. Duffy also remarked on the noticeable green grass verge to be found under hedgerows during the coldest weather: vital for any farmer “out wintering” cattle – a trend which is growing again as farmers seek to reduce the heavy costs associated with housing stock over long winters and then dealing with the vast quantities of slurry created. For more expert guidance on hedgerow management go to the Teagasc website.