This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 862357 Integrating crops and livestock: good for the sheep, good for the farmer, good for the soil? Introduction There is increased interest in revisiting the historical practice of grazing winter sown cereals to provide additional grazing during winter and early spring when grass forage is limited. Can integrating grazing livestock and arable farms have also have positive impacts on crop and soil parameters? Such integration may provide a win-win for farmer and environment providing feed and marketable crops as well as reducing synthetic inputs and improving soil health. Trials were carried out at SRUC Craibstone in Aberdeen and several other farms across Scotland testing the effect of grazing intensity on crop yield and soil health. Methods Replicated plot grazing experiments similar to those shown in Figure 1 and Figures 2 & 3. Three replicates of four grazing treatments - ‘no grazing’ and grazing for one, two and three days. Forage biomass and feeding value were assessed every few weeks from November until early May (Table 1). Tillering, disease and weed pressure assessed during the season as well as Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) and earthworm counts after harvest. At harvest, plots were combined and measurements of yield, straw yield and 1000 grain weight were taken. Engagement with farmers held throughout the project Conclusion Winter cereals appear very resilient to being grazed - recover well with no significant impact on yield or other agronomic / crop quality - be aware of potential damage to growing points. Evidence of potential legacy effect by increasing earthworm abundance No negative effect to soil structure observed Can be “mob” grazed or more extensively grazed like many of the Network farmers. Evidence of reduced disease levels with potential scope to reduce fungicide sprays on some Network farms. Network farmers reporting reduced seed rates and N fertilizer when grazing their winter cereals Winter cereals have a very good feed value profile Figure 3 – Example of plot design showing grazed and ungrazed plots on the left. On the right is the same site but mid-season showing no visual difference in crop Sheep trampling and poaching may have been expected to have a negative impact on soil structure leading to the grazed crops being trampled into the soil, however, grazing caused no negative impact on soil structure as measure by VESS. Figure 4 – Yield data from three sites across three years for wheat (brown) and barley (beige) Luke Harrold, Niamh Barry, Kairsty Topp, Zach Reilly, David Ross, Christine Watson & Robin Walker Figure 2 – Farmer engagement at Craibstone plots as well as Network Farm Results Despite being grazed to bare soil the crops recovered well and there was no significant difference in yield (Figures 3 & 4) Grazing significantly increased juvenile earthworms abundance at sites which looked at grazed vs ungrazed (p < 0.01) (Fig 5 A-J) Timing of grazing important (Fig 5K) as yield increased from early to late grazing but all were lower than ungrazed at this site. Both early and late grazing improved yield at site L. Figure 5 – Counts of juvenile earthworms at participating farms under different grazing management Figure 1 – Plot layout showing transition area and grazing plots