With spring around the corner, the countryside’s hedgerows will soon be bursting with life. It’s easy to take hedgerows for granted, but Coleg Gwent’s agricultural students recently learned about the importance of preserving and managing these unique features of the landscape using traditional methods.
Students from Animal Care and Countryside Management courses based at Usk Campus teamed up to learn the basics of hedgelaying, and spent a week learning the skill on farmland in the local area.
The traditional practice, which varies slightly from region to region but has essentially remained unchanged for more than a hundred years, is carried out to encourage thickness and to prevent the hedge eventually becoming a line of trees. Managing hedgerows is an important part of good farming practice as hedgerows provide shelter for livestock such as sheep and cattle, as well as a habitat for wildlife.
After cutting stems and clearing the hedge of dead wood, the cut stems are bent at an angle, known as pleaching, and threaded through stakes driven into the ground along with the remaining dead wood. This forms a barrier against larger animals such as cattle pushing into the hedge and helps protect new growth on the hedge stems.
Countryside Management student Sam Roberts, 20 from Gilwern is enjoying learning the new skill, he said: “It’s great to be outside and doing practical work like this. The course is so diverse we’re always doing something interesting. Hedgelaying is an important part of estate management, so it’s an essential skill to learn.
“Although it takes years of practice to become highly skilled at hedgelaying, I’m enjoying beginning to learn and having a go. Working with students from different courses makes a big difference as we can all learn from each other and help each other out. After a week working on different sites I’m starting to get the hang of it.”
Another Countryside Management student keen to learn is 17 year-old Ella Parkinson, she said: “It’s very physical hard work, cutting and carrying wood, but it’s also fun and very worthwhile.”
Lecturer Kelvin Vater said: “Students have made good progress and have been picking up the skill quickly. It’s an important part of their course because it teaches them the value of good estate management, and benefits both the farmer and the natural environment.”
