Volunteers needed to help with conservation herd calves

Two new additions to its conservation herd means it would welcome more volunteer help.

The group has just taken on two new steers, currently being bottle-fed twice a day, and herd manager Will Harford-Fox said a few extra hands would be very welcome.

‘It would really suit people who love animals, care about conservation and don’t mind a bit of practical work,’ he said.

‘I’m more than happy to talk to new volunteers about what the job entails.

‘Although I’m relatively new to it, we have some really experienced volunteers already who have lots of knowledge they can share.

‘We can be flexible with time and it’s really only one or two hours a week.’

Mr Harford-Fox took over the herd six months ago and this is his first time dealing with calves.

‘They are friendlier than I thought,’ he said.

‘They love to nuzzle up to you. But they are also slightly smellier than I thought they’d be too.’

The two calves were born on different farms – one at Les Fauconnaires and one at Les Jaonnets a few weeks ago, and will spend the next few months growing stronger before joining the main herd towards the end of summer.

At the moment the calves are just in a small enclosure but will soon have the run of the field in Castel.

Launched in 2014, the herd has been grazing around the island for almost 12 years. Mr Harford-Fox said the benefits of this type of land management were now bearing fruit.

‘There are a lot of benefits for nature, especially our grasslands’ he said.

‘Having the herd of different-sized animals creates a lot of niches for small insects, plants and small mammals, and the animals vary their grazing preference with age, with the older ones happy to tackle things like bramble, which all adds to the biodiversity.’

For more information about volunteering email conservationherd@societe.org.gg.