Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay

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Oral istory Society

Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay: Farm Practices, Oral History and Nature ConservationAuthor(s): Mark RileySource: Oral History, Vol. 32, No. 2, Memory and Society (Autumn, 2004), pp. 45-53Published by: Oral History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40179798.

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S K T H E FELLOWSW H O C U T T H E H A Y

F R M PRACTICESO R A L HISTORY N D

N TURECONSERVby MarkRiley

ABSTRACThis article considers the value of oral history to today's discussions ofnature conservation. It shows how the intimate knowledge which farmershave of theirfarms and past practicescan complementsparse data sourceson haymeadow decline and change. On anotherlevel the oral histories chal-lenge official narratives of the move from hay to silage production andconsiderhow traditional' he prescriptionsof currentconservation schemesare. The article uncovers the often underplayedsignificance of 'community'and non-financial considerations which impact on farming practice. Thearticle concludes that with current mandates to revert to more traditionallandmanagementoralhistorycan make a valuable contributiono the futureconservation of the Britishcountryside.

KEYWORDS:Environmentalhistory; haymeadows;agriculture;farmingpractices;natureconservation

The oft-referenced ork of GeorgeEwartEvansfrom which the title of this article is taken isconsidered mongst hepioneeringwork of oralhistory n Britain.1nhis work Evansattemptedto interpret and record changing customs,workinghabitsandpracticesas well aschangingdialects and language.Paramount n much ofEvans'work was the desire to record informa-tion aboutchangesto farmingpractices.Evanssuggested hat Intheprovinceof rural killsandcrafts the oral traditionholds much of the oldempirical nowledgewhich s worthpreserving',but went on to suggestthat 'scientists odayareusually mpatient f anyclaim he old knowledgehas worth'.2Although Evans viewed the mainvalue of the oralmaterialhe collectedas lying ntheir simple recording of past practices, this

article attempts to illustratehow similaroralhistoriesmay playa significantrole in contem-porarynature conservation. While there is aconspicuousabsenceof work on environmentalhistoryandnature onservationwhichhasdrawnon personalexperienceand collectivememory,that brought togetherby Stephen Hussey andPaulThompsonhas started heprocessof fillingthis voidbyconsideringhe role of oralhistory naccounting for the origins of environmentalconcern.5Through ocusingon haymakingandhaymeadowmanagement, he following paperarticulates he possible policyrelevanceof suchstudies,demonstratinghow much of the infor-mationwhich conservations urrently equire oconservebiodiversehaymeadowsresides,oftenexclusively,n the oral testimoniesof farmers.4

Autumn2004 ORAL HISTORY 45

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Hay meadowshave become aconservation issueafter their declinein number anddiversity over thelast 50 years.

HAYMEADOW DECUNEUntil the latter part of the twentieth centuryhaymakingwas the dominant form of fodderconservation within the UK. Technologicaldevelopments within agriculture in post-warBritain,in particularthe refinement of silagemaking,coupledwithgovernmental upport orintensiveagriculturemore generally,has led toan overalldecreasein the practiceof haymak-ing.5Duringthe 1980s the significanceof suchchanges to managementpracticeswas seen tobe a drasticreduction n the botanicaldiversityof meadows.6 ubsequently oncern or this lossin botanicaldiversityand the associatedeffectson faunahas led to haymeadowsbeingdeemedworthy of preservation under contemporaryagri-environment chemes as well as the insti-gationof programmes or their reintroduction.7The researchdocumented n this articlewasconducted n the Peak DistrictNationalPark nthe UK, a locationhighlightedas a targetareafor the conservation of upland hay meadows,and where research nto theconservation f haymeadows is in progress.8 ntotal, 62 interviewswereconductedwith farmerswhich focussedontheir histories of hay productionand the agri-

culturalhistoryof theirfarms,as well as theirattitudesandopinionson the currentconserva-tion efforts. These oral historieswere supple-mented with participant observation of thehaymaking rocesson twenty arms.Thispartic-ipantobservation,as JohnEyleshas suggested,offered the advantageof allowingan examina-tion of whatpeopledo as well as whatthey say.9Thiswas important or the studyin two ways.First, t facilitated he triangulation f informa-tion gainedfrom the oral historieson the samefarms. So for example,where farmers n theirinterviewshad talked about the order n whichmeadowsweremown, thiswas clarifiedduringparticipantobservation.Second, it allowed anappreciation of activities that could not beverbalisedwell in an interviewsuch as patternsof mowing, and the assigningand assumingoftasks and roles.ORATINGTHEUNKNOWNDespite the generalacceptancethat there hasbeen a decline n the grossareaof land usedforhay production, the UK Biodiversity Groupnotes that there is no definitivedata on actualloss.10ndeedTimBlackstockhassuggested hat

46 ORAL HISTORY Autumn2004



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'Locating,describingand evaluating he dwin-dling cover has been a major challenge forconservationists'.11t is herethatoralhistory anmake a valuablecontribution o the discussionof natureconservation.The research onfirmedthe findingof JudithTsouvaliset al who havereferred to the 'intimate knowledges' whichfarmershave of their land- somethingwhichwill be discussed in more detail later in thepaper.12s a mixeddairyandsheepfarmerwhohad farmedhis current,150 acreholdingall hislifenoted:

I knowevery nch of this land.Ihavefarmedit manandboyandcan tellyouevery ump,bumpand bird'snest overit.15Althoughnot all responsesillustratedsuchan encyclopaedic recall of information themajoritydemonstrateda veryclose affinitytotheir and,recallingn somedetail helocationofmeadows n the pastandgeneratinga chronol-ogyof thechanges o theirhaymaking ractices.In terms of the development of hay meadowconservationnow is the time to collect what Iwould refer to as these spoken environmentalhistories. In the case of haymeadows it is thelastthirtyyearswhichhas seen the most signif-icant, and often destructive, changes to theirmanagement and there are a diminishingnumberof farmerswho recallhaymakingprac-tices prior o thisperiod.The ability o narrate,in some detail, past land use change is high-lighted in the case of an eighty nine year old

farmerwho discussed the changing fate of aparticularmeadowon his farm:We were instructed to plough the fieldduring hewar and twasplantedwithpota-toes.Westoppedploughing twhenthewareffortwasoverandwent back o using t forhay....Three years ago my son joined theStewardship14nd they asked us to put itin...becauseof all its flowersandherbs15

Although hisinterview xtractwaspartof awiderthemewithinthe farmer's ralhistory nwhichheconsidered hechangingnatureof theagricultural upportsystemin the UK, it illus-trated heveryspecificwayin whichsuchinfor-mation can be of use to ecologists with aninterest n the phenologyof haymeadows.Theobservationllustrates hat n thisspecificcaseameadowwas able to maintainor re-establishdiversityover a period of approximately ixtyyears, even after complete disturbanceof theswardthroughploughing.The significanceofsuch findingsfromoralhistoryis accentuatedwhen considered alongside current scientificresearch ntohaymeadows.Although here s a

wealth of information being gleaned fromdetailedscientificexperiments,RogerSmith etal havesuggested hatconclusiveresultson theexact effects of management regimes on haymeadow diversity may take between ten andtwentyyears.16he oral historiesof farmerswhohave worked these meadows for a number ofyears can often provide the most conclusiveobservations on the cumulative effects ofmanagement hangesover longtimeperiods.Tapping nto these intimateknowledgesofthe land and its management lso proved nfor-mative n thediscussionof pasthaymaking rac-tices. A thoroughunderstanding f this past isimportantor current gri-environmentchemesas the intention f these s to 'Conserve rasslandby maintaining traditional grazing and haycuttingpatterns'.17hisallows the oral historiescollected to have much wider resonance thanbeing used simply in the positivist sense ofmapping he pastdistribution f haymeadows.First,a numberof the assumptions n academicand policy circles relating to the decline andmanagement f meadowscan beaugmented ndchallenged.Second,the extent to which farmersconsider hemanagement rescribed nderagri-environment schemes as 'traditional' can beassessed,somethingwhich s vital nconsideringhow readilythese voluntarymeasures will betakenupinaddition o howlikely he farmers reto havethenecessary killsto implement hem.CHALLENGING SSUMPTIONSA firstnarrativeprevalent n the academicandpolicyliteratureswhich the oralhistoriesdesta-bilisedwas thatrelating o themovefromhaytosilage production. t has beena commonlyheldassumption hat the move by farmers rom thepracticeof makinghayto that of makingsilagewas a simple, unproblematicand rapid shift.GrahamHarvey orexample n his polemictext77*6?illing of the Countrysidestates that 'a mono-cultureof perennial yegrass asreplaced heoldflower rich hay meadows... as dairy farmersembracedhenew wondercropof silage'.18imi-larly heBiodiversity ctionPlan orUplandHayMeadows uggests hattherehas been'ageneralshift romhaymakingo silageproduction'.19hefarmers'oralhistories llustrated hatthismovefromhayto silagewas muchless rapidand lesswelcomed by farmersthan official narrativessuggest. While commentatorssuch as Harveytakecontemporaryilagemaking,withits advan-tagesof greaterproductivity ndfreedomfromconstraintsof weather,as a cue to suggestthatsilagewas a readily mbracedwondercrop nthepast, the recollectionsof farmersreveala morecomplexsituation.Although silage today is associated withmodernmachineryand sophisticatedtechnol-




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ogy, the oral histories revealed that until the1960s silage was made in a very primitivemanner,with grass being piled in stacksratherthan the airtightpits which have become morecommonrecently.The differencebetween theoral testimonies and the assumptionsmade inthe policyand academic iterature s that silagewas not seen as a preferential lternativebut asa fallbackposition in the attemptto makehay.Rather than planning to make silage as incontemporary griculture, armersat this timeattempted o makehayand resorted o primitivesilage making n stacksin the event of adverseweather. Youdidn'tset out to makesilage,youjustendedup with something ikesilage f it allwent wrong'20 ommented a farmer who hasused grass stacks to salvage his grass cropduringbad weather.Anotherfarmercomparedthis impromptu silage' makingto his currentsilage making:It wasn't planned, not like today. It wasmade as hay you see, and then stackedwetif it couldn'tbegot.Thegrasswas long,andthere was no properpitting...It was reallydone out of necessity, but it wasn't reallythoughtof as a viable alternative o makinghayat that time .21

The latter part of this extract points toanothervital factor which has been ignoredinrecent literature, the cultural attachment offarmers to the process of haymaking. Onefarmer peakingof thisprimitive orm of silagemaking commented 'Well, I suppose it wassilagemaking,butit was silagemakingbefore twas fashionable o makesilage'.What is inter-esting is thatalthoughsilagehas morerecentlybecome synonymous with progression andmodernity n farming,there was a time whenfarmers were judged as 'go ahead' and 'goodfarmers' n thebasisof theirability o makehay;silage n theseearlystageswasviewed as incom-patiblewith such an identity.Makinghay wasconsidered o have beenan integralpartof thefarming alendarandplayeda significant oleinidentityformationwithinthe farmingcommu-nity.The followingextractsare takenfrom theinterviewswithfarmers ecalling he move fromhayto silage production:

I think t was thechangereally. 1meanfolkhad beenmakinghayfromtime immemor-ial, and to think of doing it differently,orsomethingcompletelynew was againstthegrain [...] Haymaking was a big part offarming, and about being a farmer. Mygeneration were brought up makinghay... .that's what summers wereabout...gettingthe hayin22

Haymaking was the done thing in thosedays.Do youknow whatI mean?.Everyonewho keptstock madehay.Itwas one of thebiggest obs of the year. one of the biggestchallenges I suppose [...] I suppose you'dsaythat it sortedthe men fromtheboys. itcertainly tood the workers rom the shirk-ers. I supposethatwas partly t really, hatyou were trying to take a short cut... Ireckonpeoplethought hattheywerebeinglazy, you know, thought that they werescaredof the work involved n haymaking23

These viewpoints uncover the often under-played significance of more cultural factorswhich impingeon farmingactivities.Toooften,and particularly n the discussion of hay andsilage production,economicfactorsare consid-ered to be the primarydeterminants f change.Indeedagri-environmentchemes n the UKarebased on thispremise,withincentivepaymentsgivento farmerso manage heir and na partic-ularway.The oral historiescollected illustratethat financialconsiderationsmakeup onlyonepart of the decision makingprocess, and thatpractices are often not taken up where theyconflict with existing values and past experi-ences.An oralhistoryapproach andeepenourunderstanding f such barriersand thus playasignificantrole in currentconservationdiscus-sions where it is being found that financialinducementsalone areinsufficient o persuadefarmersto change or alter theirfarmingprac-tices.24UNDERSTANDINGAND REINVENTINGPRACTICEA more direct contributionwhich oral historymakes to the discussionof haymeadowconser-vation is in the information provided abouthaymakingpractice.The first issue which willbe discussed s the cuttingdate. The date whenhaymeadowsarecut is thought o have a signif-icant effect on meadowdiversity,with the moveto earliercuttingenabledby silage productionthoughtto haveaffectedflora and fauna.25 hecurrent recommendation under the Environ-mentallySensitiveAreas scheme forexample sthat meadows shouldnot be cut before 15 Julyto 'ensure that ground nesting birds havesuccessfully completed their breedingseasonand thatgrassesand herbsare allowedadequatetime to set seed'.26The interviews completedwereimportant otonly ngivinga fullerunder-standingof farmers'opinionsof suchmanage-ment prescriptions, but also in assessingwhether thesemanagementprescriptions eallyare analogousto the 'traditional'managementcarriedout byfarmers n the past.The first areaconsideredwas the argument




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thatcuttingshouldnot takeplacebefore15 July.My aim was not to contest the preliminaryresearchwhichsuggests hata latercuttingdatewas beneficial o certainplant species. Rather,myintentionwas to questionthe validityof theimplicitassumption hatmowingafter this datewas 'traditional'n thepast.Thefollowingquotefrom a farmerwho for severalyearshad madehayin June llustrates his area of contention:

That's the difference between what they[conservationists]hinkand we think. Juneis the start of hay time, and when theweather's ightit'salwayslike that. There'salwaysbeenhaymadein June...always.27A morethoroughunderstanding f historicalcuttingdatesof haymeadowswas central n thisresearch, because the long-term effects ofcutting variation are somewhat uncertain. Ofparticularnterestwas the idea of makinghay nJune, something which was referred to ascommonplace in the past by the majority offarmers nterviewed, despite being viewed asdetrimental o meadow diversityby conserva-tionists. Several respondents for examplereferred omaking sweetJunehay'.While somerespondentswereuncertain n theirexact recol-lection of when hay was made in June,others

were able to saywithcertainty hattheyhad,atleaston occasion,madehay n June.Various idsto recollectionwere encountered.Commonly,biographicalevents were used in pinpointingJunehaymaking n particularyears, includingpersonal events such as family weddings (20respondents)and birthdays(11 respondents),and sportingevents such as tennis at Wimble-don (4 respondents). Two more unique 'aidememoires'were also noted. Thefirst involvedanarrative resented roma tractorogwhich hadbeen completed by the farmerbetween 1938and 1944 (see overleaf).Althoughthe log wasinitially introducedby the farmer to illustratemechanizationon his farm,the sectionrecord-ing the dates of activities confirmed that'mowing'had been carriedout in June or fiveout of the six yearsrecorded.A second similarrecollection was supported with a personaldiary.Herea meadow which a schemeecologisthad apparently referred to as having 'moreflower species than they'd seen before in thispartof the PeakDistrict' was reconstructed nsome detail. The recollections confirmed thatthe meadow had been mown earlier than therecommendedmid Julycuttingdate more than15 times.Although t is difficult, n the absenceof precise species data, to determinewhetherthis early cutting had been detrimental to the

Gerrald Shaw inthe field recallingthe changes tothe practice ofhay-making.




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Extract from tractorlog written in / 94 1documentingmowing takingplace on 1 June.

meadow'sdiversity, t can be suggestedthat themeadow hadin this instance maintaineda highlevel of diversity despite repeated cutting at adate earlier han recommended.On the surface, t would seem that recollect-ingthe order n whichhaymeadowswerecut inthepastwould have ittlerelevance o the discus-sion of their currentconservation.That this wasuntrue was noted when I was discussing theorder of mowing with a dairy farmer in theSouth West of the Peak District. The farmerillustrated on a map the order in which hemowed each of hismeadows,startingwith thosecloser to the farm and then moving to thosefurther away. The order of the mowing, forseveral reasons, had stuck to a generally rigidpattern or the lastfortyfiveyears.Inparticular,two meadows, because of their more difficultaccess had always been the last to be cut, andhad never been mown before the end of July.28Forsimilarreasons of access the meadows hadnever received any applications of inorganicfertilizer, nd hadonly sporadicallyeceived ightapplications of farmyardmanure. It could beassumed therefore that these two meadowswould be ideal for entry into a conservationagreement, as indeed they were in 1998. The

farmerwas however reluctant o entermoreofhis meadowland nto managementagreementsand used these meadows as a case in point tojustify his decision. The following extractexplainsthe farmer's iewpoint:

We'd always mown those pieces last, andthey'dnever been intensified,so theywerethe ones that [the conservationists] wereinterested in when they came to lookaround.Weput those in but I was reluctantto put any more in because I'd seen whatthat typeof managementhad doneyou see.Iknewthatcuttingvery ate letyellowrattletake hold in those two pieces...there's ittleelse in themnow.The otherbits nearerhomehad been cut earlieron occasionand therewas never as much of the stuff in them...Ihad watched those two bits over the yearsand so could see what would happento therest...they'dbe overrunwithrattle.29

Whilerecentecologicalresearchhasexploredthe role of the species yellow rattlein meadowdiversity, he farmer's wn oralhistoryrevealedthat he himself, through yearsof observation,had a prior understandingof its effects. Inter-




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estingly,althoughthe farmer saw the effect ofyellow rattle as negative, as it reduced theamount of grass species in the meadow,ecolo-gists have highlighted hat the effects are posi-tivein the sense of reducing oilfertility o allowmore of the less vigorous meadow species tocompete and flourish. Nonetheless, this caseillustrateshow through heirfirst hand observa-tions and recollections of changing practicesfarmers can provide important informationwhich can contribute ignificantlyo the discus-sionof haymeadowconservation.COMMUNITY N THEHAYFIELDAn areahighlightedbythe participant bserva-tionaspectof theresearchwasthe hiddenvoiceswithin he officialacademic ndpolicynarrativesof haymaking and hay meadow decline.Although herewas no historyof gangsof trav-elling workers employed in haymaking asGeorgeEwartEvans refersto in otherareas ofthecountry, herewasa strongsense of commu-nitypresented rom he oralhistoriesof haymak-ing.30 t has been widely documented that ageneral problem faced by agriculture is thelinkingof labourrequirementswith the unpre-dictabilityof the biologicalrhythmsof nature,andhaymakings a pertinentexampleof this.An understanding f how these fluctuations nlabourdemandshavebeensatisfied,bothin thepastand moreimportantly t present, s essen-tialto the understanding f hayproductionandthe feasibility f its persistence or conservationpurposes.

A first issue which the oral histories ofhaymaking rought o lightwas thenumberanddiversity of people who were engaged in thehaymaking process and how this has variedthrough ime.Whenone farmerwas askedhowmanypeoplehelpedwithhaymaking n hisfarmhe responded that 'over the years we've hadhundreds, iterallyhundreds'.The farmerwenton to recallaninstanceof haymakingn themid1960s: 'Wecounted37 folkin the fieldhelpingus, we seemedto havemorehelpersthanbalesthatnight'.32n addition o the largenumbersofpeople drawn upon what was also significantfrommanyresponseswas the transitorynatureof thisengagement. ndiscussinga friendnearbywho had helped with the haymakingfor overtwenty yearsone farmercommented We don'tsee Alanfromone yearto thenext. He keepsaneyeout forwhenwe've baledthe hayup andhewandersoverandgivesusa hand.Hegoeswhenwe've finishedandwe don'tusuallysee him onthe farmagainuntil the nextyear'.35Whatwasapparent romthese interviews s thatpersonaltestimony s theonlywayin whichthenatureofthese labourrelations,and particularly hangesto them,canbefullyunderstood.Due to thefact

thatmanyof the people engagedin haymakingdo so withoutpayment,andquiteoftenhave noother input to the farmfor the rest of the year,they constitute what I would call a 'hidden'labourforce. That is theydo not appear n offi-cialnarratives f agricultureuchasgovernmentstatistics,with agricultural ensus returnsonlyrecording paid full-time,part-timeand casuallabour.A second aspect in relation to labour andhaymakingnformedbythe oralhistories s whatI would term the 'community of haymaking'.Morespecifically,he oralhistories llustrated hechangingnature of this haymaking ommunity,two aspectsof which are of significance or theprogrammes for the conservation of haymeadows. It was seen that haymaking,particu-larly n thepast,has been notjustanagriculturalpracticebut also a social andcommunityevent.Thisfinding s byno meansuniqueto thisstudy,with severalreferences o the socialnatureof thehay harvest in artistic works such as GeorgeStubbs' 'The haymakers'. Haymaking waspresentedas a communalactivityby a numberof farmersand what was salient within theirnarrativeswas the oftenaltruisticandreciprocalnature of this help. Two examples of this areillustrated n the followingextractswhich referto help fromfarmingand non-farmingpeoplerespectively:

We had a lot of help from the village ladswho worked in the quarries.They'dfinishwork at fiveo'clock,go home andhave theirtea andthen walkupandhelpus cart. Mostof thenon-farming hapswould helpone ofthe farmsaroundhere at night.34You always helped your neighbours,always.Wepulledtogetherat haytime.Youwouldn'tsee even yourworst enemy strug-gling to get their hay collected if the rainwas moving in.35

Countlesssimilarexamplewere recordedofsuch communalhelpduringhaymaking.Signif-icantly the majority of this help was givenwithout monetary exchanges. Indeed theexchange of money seems to have beenconsciouslyavoided n manycases. I spoketo anon-farmerduringthe participantobservationwho toldme thathe 'didn'tdo it for the money'and that he would be 'offended' if the farmertried o payhimforthishelp.Thissystemof non-paid help is similar to what Carlos Salazarreferred o as a 'moralcommunity' n his studyof rural communities in Ireland.36 ndeed itappears that a reason why haymaking haspersisted n certainareasin a time of capitalistagricultures thatmanyof thosewho still make




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The author duringparticipantobservation,August 2002.

haydo so through he help of familyand socialnetworks. Significantly however, this moralcommunity eems to have been eroded n manyareas, representingwhat George Ewart Evansreferred o as a loss of the 'old culture'.Such aloss holds ramifications or theattempts o rein-troducehaymeadowmanagement. t seems thatmuch of thecommunity etworkwhichwas crit-ical to hay production n the pastmayno longerexist to permit ts continuance r reintroduction.I found an exception to this trend on threesmaller (less that thirtyacre) farms. Here thelabour orce was madeup largelyof newcomerswho had moved to the area n the last tenyears,and who had no previous links to farming.During participantobservationon these farmsseveralaccountsof thesehelpers'relationship ohaymaking were collected. Although thesepeople did not have a background n farmingthey provided heir own accountsof haymakingand what it meant to them: 'We like to join inandhelp.I love thesmellof hay, t remindsme ofwalking n the countrysidewhen I was young.Isuppose it sounds a bit good lifey doesn't it?'.Althoughother accountssimilar o this were notrecorded there was common reference tometaphors and sayings relatingto haymakingsuch as 'makehaywhile the sun shines'.What ssignificant ere s thatwhile therehas been muchsaidin recentyearsregarding he destructionof

traditional ural arming ommunities s a resultof secondhome ownersandruralnewcomers,nthis case thisnew community, lbeit n a differ-ent way, and often with different reasons,sustains the continuanceof hay productionbyproviding henecessary abour orce.CONCLUSIONThis articlehas shownthatdespitethe tendencyof scientists to dismiss the spoken word offarmers,as GeorgeEwartEvansnoted over40years ago their oral historiescan in fact playasignificantrole withinnatureconservation.Onone level this research illustrates that oralhistory may be used in a positivist sense as asource of informationregardinghay meadowlocation and hay meadow decline. I havesuggestedthat farmers,particularlywhen theyhave farmed he sameareasof landover a longperiod,have anintimateknowledgeof their andwhich often provides greater depth than thesparse level of documentarydata at the fieldlevel. The materialhas shown that eventhougha different nomenclature may be used byfarmers they often possess a detailed under-standing and recall of the floral and faunalchange within these meadows. It has beenshown that throughthe use of an oral historyapproach information of direct relevance toconservationists uch as the locationextentand




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managementchanges to hay meadows can beuncovered.The second area where oral histories fromfarmersplay a vital role is in the actual prac-tice of haymaking.The oral histories revealedthat there was a strongcultural attachment tohaymaking, with the ability to make hayconsidered as an important part of identityformation among farmers. The symbolicsignificanceof haymakingwas also highlightedin relation to the unpaid involvement andcommunity spirit in the practice. This offers

crucial pointers for current conservationschemes in revealingthat financial incentivesmaybe only partof a much widerset of factorswhich impinge on hay production. Moresignificantly, n light of the recentmandate ofthe UK government to promote Traditionalfarming in the modern environment 37 hisstudy has highlighted that oral history, inunveiling information on past practices andcultures, is well placed to make a valuablecontribution to the futureconservation of theBritishcountryside.NOTES1 George EwartEvans,Ask TheFellowsWhoCuttheHay,London: aberand Faber,1965.Fora reviewof the contributionf Evans o oralhistoryee: AlunHowkins, Inventing veryman:George EwartEvans,OralHistory nd NationalIdentity',OralHistory, ol 22, no 2, 1994.2. George EwartEvans,Where BeardsWagAll: TheRelevanceof the OralTradition,ondon:Faberand Faber,1970.3. StephenHusseyand PaulThompsonTheRootsof Environmentalonsciousness:PopularTraditionnd PersonalExperience,London:Routledge, 000.4. Theterm'hay'is referredo inthisarticleasgrassstored na driedstate, 'silage'is used torefer o grassstored nan uncured r partiallycuredstate.5. PaulBrassley,Silage in Britain 88O1990:Thedelayed adoptionof an innovation',AgriculturalistoryReview,vol44, no 11996, pp 63-87. Brassley ffersa detailedchronology f thedevelopment f silage inBritain,llustratingow despitedetailedexperimentsntosilage production uring he1800s itwas not untilhe latter alfof thetwentiethenturyhatsilage displacedhayasthemostcommon ormof fodderconservation.6. NatureConservancyCouncil,NatureConservationnGreatBritain, hrewsbury:NatureConservancyCouncil, 1984.7. Andrew ones, We plough hefieldsbutwhat do we scatter?A look at the science andpracticeof grasslandrestoration', ritishWildlife,April,2000, pp 229-235.8. HelenBuckingham,aneChapmanandRebekahNewman, 'The uture f hay meadowsinthe PeakDistrict ationalPark',BritishWildlife, une, 1999, pp 3 1 1 318; PeakDistrict ationalParkAuthority, eadowsBeyondtheMillennium, akewell:PDNPA,1997.9. JohnEyles, Interpretinghegeographicalworld:qualitativepproaches ingeographical

research',nJohnEylesand David Smith eds),Qualitativemethods n humangeographyCambridge:Polity,1998, pp. 1-16.1 O. UKBiodiversity roup,ActionPlan orUplandHayMeadows, Peterborough: nglishNature, 1999.1 1 TimBlackstockTheextentof semi-naturalgrasslandcommunitiesnlowlandEnglandandWales: a reviewof conservationurveys1978-96' Grassand ForageScience, vol 54, 1999,PP 1-18.1 2. JudithTsouvalis, usanneSeymour, ndCharlesWatkins, Exploringnowledge-cultures:precision armig,yield mappingand theexpert-farmernterface',Environmentnd PlanningA,vol 32, 2000, pp 909-924.13* Interview ithStanley ohnson,born n1928, 150 acre sheep and dairyfarmer;12 May 2001.1 4. TheCountryside tewardshipSchemeis anational cheme inthe UKadministered y theDepartmentorEnvironmentood and RuralAffairswhich offerspaymentso farmers ndlandmanagers o enhance and conserveEnglishandscapes, theirwildlifeand history.1 5. Interview ithHaroldDeaville,born n1915, 110 acre dairyfarmer;1 1June2002.16. RogerSmith,HelenBuckingham,nd AlanYoungerTheconservationmanagementofmesotrophicmeadow)grassland n northernEngland.Effects f grazing,cuttingdate,fertilizer n thevegetationof a traditionallymanaged sward',Grass and ForageScience,vol 51, 1996, pp 278-291.I 7. DEFRA, heCountryside tewardshipScheme- Informationnd how to apply,London:HMSO, 2002, p 41 .1 8. GrahamHarvey,TheKilling f theCountryside,London:Vintage,1998, p 25.1 9. UKBiodiversity roup, 1999, p 35.20. Interview ith Frank rince,born n 193 180 acre sheep and beef farmer; December2000.21. Interview ith GerraldShaw, born n

1944, 140 acre dairyfarmer; June2002.22. Interview ithIngridMellor,born n 1948,1 1 1 acre beef farmer;14 July2002.23. Interview ithErnest itterton,orn n1920, 60 acre beef and sheep farmer;6 June2001.24* JoannaBecker, Can sustainableagriculture/habitatmanagementpay off?',Journal f SustainableAgriculture,ol 17, no 12000, pp 113-128.25. RhysGreen and TimStowe The decline ofthe corncrake rex crex in Britain nd Irelandnrelation o habitatchange',Journal f AppliedEcology,vol 30, 1996, pp 689-695.26. DEFRA,outhWest Peak ESA guidelinesforfarmers,London:DEFRA, 002, pi 5.27. Interview ithFrank rince,born n 1958,68 acre sheep and beef farmer; February2002.28. Themeadows were separatedfrom herestof theholdingwhichmeanttravellingeveralmiles rom he farm o reachthem29. Interview ith LeslieAskew,born n 1938,84 acre dairyand sheep farmer; June2002.30* George EwartEvans,1965.31. SusanArcherMann, Agrarian apitalismin theoryand practice,Chapel Hill:UniversityfNorthCarolinaPress,1990.32* Interview ithGeoffreyMellor,born n1935, 90 acre dairy,beef and sheep farmer;10 June2002.33. Interview ithIsaacGibb, born n 195 189 acre dairyfarmer;18 June2002.34. Interview ithRobertEllis,born n 1912,60 acre beef farmer; January2002.35. Interview ithSheilaJohnson,born n1933, 70 acre sheep farmer;14 April2002.36* CarlosSalazar,A Sentimental conomy:Commodity nd Communityn Ruralreland,Oxford:BerghahnBooks, 1996, p 41 .37. Slogan used for theCountrysideStewardshipScheme- DEFRA,002.My thanksoJoannaBornat nd AlistairThomsonor advice on thisarticle.

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Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay