UKC

Pruning or eco vandalism

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 Bottom Clinger 15 Jan 2022

The farm near me was sold for 10.5 million the other year. Once arable, it’s no going to be part of a huge farming set up for dairy, growing mainly grass for silage. They’ve took to pruning mature oak trees - presume to let more light through and increase yield. And removing hedgerows. Check this photo - pruning in this case means removing 80% of the branches. This may be legal, not a clue, but I’ve reported to the council, they can decide. About 50 trees have received similar treatment. 


 Forester3 15 Jan 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger: If hedgerows have been removed, the owner’s probably broken the law: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/1160/contents/made . The Hedgerow Regulations 1997 are administered by local planning authorities, so hopefully, now that you’ve reported this to them, they’ll take it seriously and do something about it…

 wintertree 15 Jan 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

There are limits on how much timber can be felled without permission from the forestry commission; 11 cubic meters a quarter IIRC.

 summo 15 Jan 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

There might be site or tree specific 'tree preservation orders', also if there are holes in them which may house bats then surveys need to be done first. 

 Forester3 15 Jan 2022
In reply to wintertree:

> There are limits on how much timber can be felled without permission from the forestry commission; 11 cubic meters a quarter IIRC.

Under The Forestry Act. 1967 (as amended) an owner is permitted to fell 5m3 per calendar quarter before a felling licence is required, unless on of the exemptions applies; one of the exemptions to a felling licence being required is pruning…

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 Forester3 15 Jan 2022
In reply to summo:

> if there are holes in them which may house bats then surveys need to be done first. 

Indeed, all bat species, their breeding sites and resting places are fully protected by law - they’re European protected species: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/bats-protection-surveys-and-licences

In reply to Forester3:

Thanks everyone.

 Ciro 15 Jan 2022
In reply to Forester3:

> Under The Forestry Act. 1967 (as amended) an owner is permitted to fell 5m3 per calendar quarter before a felling licence is required, unless on of the exemptions applies; one of the exemptions to a felling licence being required is pruning…

Whilst I can certainly see the need for such an exemption, it seems like a big loophole for the unscrupulous if you can just "prune" all the trees you want to get rid of down to a bare trunk.

 Forester3 15 Jan 2022
In reply to Ciro:

I agree.
Also, I’d suggest whoever authorised this work is misguided as, apparently this is/is going to be a dairy farm, the cattle would have benefitted from the shade during the summer months…

 Toerag 16 Jan 2022
In reply to Forester3:

> I agree.

> Also, I’d suggest whoever authorised this work is misguided as, apparently this is/is going to be a dairy farm, the cattle would have benefitted from the shade during the summer months…


The cattle will almost certainly spend all their time indoors living off grass/hay/silage/maize harvested by tractor.

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 Pete Pozman 16 Jan 2022
In reply to Toerag:

> The cattle will almost certainly spend all their time indoors living off grass/hay/silage/maize harvested by tractor.

And think of all that lovely slurry. Wonder where that's going?

 Tom Valentine 16 Jan 2022
In reply to Toerag:

> The cattle will almost certainly spend all their time indoors living off grass/hay/silage/maize harvested by tractor.

That's not the case where I live. Dairy herds are often out in the fields in summer.

 Punter_Pro 16 Jan 2022
In reply to Tom Valentine:

It is not the case for the majority of mainland UK cattle livestock during the summer months, but a myth that is often believed by the public thanks to the damage caused by animal activists over the years.

I expect it will become even less common now that the UK begins its regenerative agriculture journey.

Post edited at 10:14
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 Ridge 16 Jan 2022
In reply to Forester3:

> I agree.

> Also, I’d suggest whoever authorised this work is misguided as, apparently this is/is going to be a dairy farm, the cattle would have benefitted from the shade during the summer months…

Reading the OP again it sounds like it's purely for silage, with the cattle located elsewhere.

 deepsoup 16 Jan 2022
In reply to Punter_Pro:

> It is not the case for the majority of mainland UK cattle livestock during the summer months, but a myth that is often believed by the public thanks to the damage caused by animal activists over the years.

I think it's a myth caused more by the general impossibility of nuance in online discussion.  UK cattle production is relatively eco-friendly compared to large scale production elsewhere in the world.  (Which, from a climate change point of view, is right up there among the very worst things we humans do.)

By 'relatively' I mean ranging from the genuinely sustainable to the mildly horrendous but obviously still nowhere near as bad as the world's worst (which involves burning down huge swathes of the Amazon rainforest).

I have a friend who 'shares' a lot of posts from the group 'Farmers against misinformation', holy shit they are not "against misinformation" when it supports their cause.  They often base their numbers on the assumption that vegans live entirely on almonds and avocados (which of course non-vegan humans never eat), and the assumption that global soya production all goes into feeding vegetarians and vegetarians (when the vast majority of it doesn't even directly feed humans).

Which is a shame if they're trying to protect their own farms, because they'd probably be a lot more successful in that if they focussed on persuading meat eaters to eat better meat, even if that means they can afford a bit less of it.

Post edited at 10:36
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