This video was filmed during data collection in June and July 2020. PhD student, Vicky Bowskill, demonstrates how she is sampling floodplain meadow hay to investigate the way nutritional content changes, depending on when it is harvested. This can help land managers to maintain healthy meadows, whilst also providing a balanced diet for pasture-fed livestock.Continue reading “Video: The Art of Hay Sampling”
Author Archives: Vicky Bowskill
Video: Yarnton Mead and the importance of haymaking
This video was recorded shortly before National Meadows Day on 04 July 2020. Meadows are a fantastic place to see an abundance of wildlife, but they’re not as wild as you might think; they’re an ancient part of our agricultural landscape that has evolved from the need to produce hay to feed to livestock. But,Continue reading “Video: Yarnton Mead and the importance of haymaking”
Floodplain meadows are not as wild as you might think
This article appeared on the FAI Farm blog in August 2020. Read the original article here. Meadows are a fantastic place to see an abundance of wildlife, but they’re not as wild as you might think; they’re an ancient part of our agricultural landscape that has evolved from the need to produce hay to feedContinue reading “Floodplain meadows are not as wild as you might think”
Make meadow hay while the sun shines, but when?
This article was posted on the Open University News page for National Meadows Day on 04 July 2020. Read the original article here. As the haymaking season begins, an OU PhD student is researching the importance of getting the timing of hay cutting right. Vicky Bowskill, a PhD student in the OU’s Faculty of Science,Continue reading “Make meadow hay while the sun shines, but when?”
Haymaking is critical to our heritage meadows, but is later really better?
This article is published on the OpenLearn website and you can read the full version here. Meadows are not just about wildflowers, they’re also about hay as an agricultural crop. But they don’t make it like they used to. PhD student, Vicky Bowskill, explains how researching seasonal changes in the nutritional content of hay canContinue reading “Haymaking is critical to our heritage meadows, but is later really better?”
Vicky Bowskill 