burren LIFE

Conservation
‘BurrenLIFE – Farming for conservation’ is a new model for farming in the Burren. It involves a number of practical changes to the way we currently farm so that we can go on producing great quality food but in a way that helps to protect the Burren.

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Heritage
While the heritage value of the Burren – natural and built – is widely recognised and valued, the relationship between this heritage and the people of the Burren is often overlooked. The Burren is not a museum or a wilderness: it is a living landscape which is shaped by human presence and threatened by human excess and neglect. The impact of people – particularly through farming – permeates every aspect of the Burren, a cultural landscape which reflects the combined works of nature and man.

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Grazing
Over the past five thousand years, the Burren has been greatly influenced by farming practices, in particular grazing. The practice of outwintering
livestock on the rocky hills of the Burren is one of the defining features of the region: a wonderful sight to behold, a tradition of great antiquity and of major cultural and ecological significance.

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Feeding
The past four decades have brought many changes to the traditional winter grazing systems of the Burren. New market forces, a changing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other factors led to farmers switching from grazing store cattle on winterages to grazing suckler cows and to the replacement of traditional breeds with continental crosses.

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Scrub
Scrub control is difficult, time-consuming and expensive; it should not be undertaken lightly. The aim of this booklet is to provide you with the information needed to decide how best to go about controlling scrub on your farm, particularly in Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). The booklet is based on the practical experience gained during the BurrenLIFE Project.

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