GS15: Haymaking supplement

Find out about eligibility and requirements for the haymaking supplement.

From:
Rural Payments Agency and Natural England
Published
2 April 2015
Last updated
4 January 2024 — See all updates
Grant type:
Supplement
Land use:
Grassland and Uplands
Tiers or standalone items:
Higher Tier, Mid Tier and Offer: Upland
Funding (per unit per year):
£101 to £200

How much will be paid

£157 per hectare (ha).

Where to use this supplement

This supplement can be located on the same area as the following supplements.

How this supplement will benefit the environment

To ensure the continuation, or reintroduction, of haymaking on fields which are, or were, cut for hay each year. It allows a crop of herb-rich hay to be grown and harvested, which will lead to wildflowers and grasses blossoming and setting seed. This will help to conserve many of the plants in the meadow and provide pollen and nectar for bees and other insects.

Aims

If you’re selected for a site visit, we will check that delivery of the aims is being met and the prohibited activities have not been carried out. This will ensure the environmental benefits are being delivered.

During the spring and summer wildflowers and grasses will grow. These will be cut to make field-dried, unwrapped hay or haylage in late summer. After cutting, the sward will be managed by grazing.

Prohibited activities

To achieve the aims and deliver the environmental benefits, do not carry out any of the following activities:

  • cut hay before 5 July (outside SDA’s) or 15 July (in SDA’s)
  • cut haylage before 1 August
  • graze meadows for at least 7 weeks before cutting.

On your annual claim you will be asked to declare that you have not carried out any prohibited activities.

To assist you in achieving the aims and deliver the environmental benefits for this option, we recommend that you use best practice.

We recommend that you:

  • cut and remove unwrapped field-dried hay or haylage every year
  • where spring grazing of meadows is a traditional practice, exclude livestock for at least 7 weeks before cutting and by 7 May at the latest
  • if haylage is made, cut after 1 August
  • if haylage is made, turn the swath at least once and wilt for at least 48 hours
  • graze the aftermath sward, preferably with cattle, aiming for an average sward height of no more than 8 centimetres (cm) by the end of the grazing season

Keeping records

Where there’s uncertainty about whether or not the aims of the options have been delivered, we will take into account any records or evidence you may have kept to demonstrate delivery of the aims of the option. This will include any steps you’ve taken to follow the instructions set out above. It’s your responsibility to keep such records if you want to rely on these to support your claim.

  • Field operations at the parcel level, including associated invoices
  • Any sites grazed will require a grazing activity record

At the start of each claim year, a percentage of agreement holders will be asked to take and submit the following photographic records.

  • Photographs of the management undertaken

Additional guidance and advice

The following advice is helpful, but they are not requirements for this item.

Cost of haymaking

This supplement is normally available for one of the following:

  • to ensure the continuation, or reintroduction, of haymaking on fields which are, or were, cut for hay each year
  • if the cost of haymaking is particularly high, for example: if buying machinery or livestock would lead to additional costs for making or storing hay
  • if there are long distances between the meadows and the hay barn

Further information

Read Countryside Stewardship: get funding to protect and improve the land you manage to find out more information about Mid Tier and Higher Tier including how to apply.

Updates to this page

Published 2 April 2015
Last updated 4 January 2024 + show all updates

  1. Update to How Much Is Paid

  2. New payment rate from 1 January 2022.

  3. Option updated for agreements starting 1 January 2022

  4. Updated for 2017 applications.

  5. Information updated for applications in 2016.

  6. First published.

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