a DARTMOOR farmer and commoners’ council leader has warned that a proposal by Government body Natural England to take 90 per cent of their livestock off Dartmoor to protect wildlife could kill upland farming.

Dartmoor Commoners Council vice chairman Layland Branfield said he and other upland farmers in the heart of Dartmoor were facing removing 90 per cent of their stock over the winter.

He was speaking as a House of Commons debate will on April 17, next Tuesday, consider a request by local MP Sir Geoffrey Cox and other MPs for a public inquiry on whether Natural England’s call for stocking levels to be massively reduced to help wildlife was backed by science.

Mr Bradfield said that after 25 years in which he and fellow farmers had reduced their stock on triple SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) on the moor.

This includes the 27,5000-hectare Forest of Dartmoor Common, where Mr Bradfield, who farms at Two Bridges, runs his sheep and cattle.

He says he has been asked to remove most of his sheep over the coming winter, and the cattle this summer.He has 150 sheep and 40 cows and is being asked to reduce that number to 20 sheep and five cows to allow animals to move as a herd or flock. He estimates that if Natural England’s plan goes ahead, then 10,000 sheep and 3,800 cows would have to come off the Forest of Dartmoor common alone. He said most would need to go for slaughter as farmers did not have space on farms to overwinter all the animals.

‘The problem then is you can’t just restock the following year,’ he said, adding that they feared a ‘project of rewilding’ at the heart of the project, ‘which attacks our culture and survival.’

Talks between Natural England and interested parties on Dartmoor, including the national park authority, reached a stalemate last week.‘They had a long debate about it and agreed to meet in three months’ time,’ said Mr Bradfield. ‘The problem is there are some where they are expecting this to happen in the next three months and it isn’t going to happen at this time of year because farmers are calving and lambing and have little time for negotiations with National England. So basically, what we as farmers are asking is that we don’t do anything in 2023 and that gives us 12 months to see if we can adjust our businesses and get evidence as to whether what they are proposing is backed by science.’

Farmers are paid by Natural England under an Environmental Stewardship Scheme and Mr Bradfield said they were now facing a mutiny. ‘They are saying this is a line in the sand, a step too far. For the last 20-25 years they have been reducing their livestock in the belief that this would restore the SSSIs to favourable condition. If it is not working, then we need to do something else. Myself and one or two others had got to the point where our only recourse was to get our MP to get in touch with our MP to get Natural England to see sense.’

He added: ‘We reduced the number by 50% in 2001 and reduced again in 2013 by another 20 per cent, so we have been complying with Natural England’s regulations for the last 20 years, yet they are telling us these reductions are not having an impact on the moor and they have got to do more.

That is something that we has farmers do not understand.’