Conservation Grazing - Askham Bog

Welcome to Askham Bog this site is a small remnant of the ancient Yorkshire landscape nestled between the A64 dual carriageway, East Coast Mainline railway, golf course and farmland.

Red horned cow surrounded by mainly Alder & Oak trees, with a fallen tree across the bottom right corner of shot

At Rosewood Farm our Dexter Cattle are helping the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to manage the site by conservation grazing to maintain the rich floral and faunal diversity of fenland habitats that can be found here.

 

You can help us to achieve this by;

  • Dogs are allowed onto the boardwalk if kept on a short lead. our cattle are acting as a proxy for the extinct wild aurochs here, no matter how unlike a wolf your dog may look, it can still trigger the same fight or flight instincts in the cattle and we don’t want to cause you or your pet any harm nor cause our animals undue stress. 
  • Please clean up after your dog - in order to manage the site for wildlife (by supporting lots of dung beetles and other invertebrates) we don’t routinely use worming chemicals on our animals. Unwormed dogs can pass on harmful parasites to the cattle and wormers will harm the insects directly so either way it is better to bag it and bin it.
  • Avoid leaving anything behind that may harm the bog or the animals grazing here. If you can take any stray litter away with you (even if it doesn’t belong to you) to dispose of that is really appreciated, but if it isn’t convenient for you take it on the bus or a long walk it can be left by the sign at the entrance to the boardwalk and we will take it away.
  • We carry out the grazing voluntarily so our work is funded by selling grassfed Dexter beef direct to you via our website. We make local deliveries while doing our rounds checking the cows and also offer free delivery by next day courier throughout mainland UK. We supply beef too for the freezer at Food Circle York’s twice weekly markets (each Saturday morning & Wednesday evening - it’s well worth a visit even if you don’t eat meat!) at Tang Hall Community Centre.  

While you're on site you can also track the current location(s) of the herd here.

Thank you & I hope that you enjoy your visit to this beautiful corner of Yorkshire today.