Fences, nets and mesh are not only used to keep livestock within a paddock. When properly planned, they can organise grazing, protect crops and grassland, restrict access to sensitive areas and conserve selected patches and biodiversity islands. In LIFE ScrubsNet, livestock infrastructure can also become a tool for dehesa conservation.
A fence is usually regarded as productive infrastructure: it marks boundaries, controls livestock movement and makes day-to-day management easier. Its role, however, can extend much further.
The LIFE ScrubsNet document “Livestock and scrub management for dehesa regeneration” includes a specific section on physical barriers — fences, nets and mesh — and explains that they perform several functions in both livestock management and ecosystem conservation.
Controlling where livestock can go
One of the basic functions of fencing is to keep animals within designated areas and prevent access to places that may be dangerous or where grazing needs to be temporarily restricted.
The protocol highlights their role in access control, resource management and clear land subdivision, helping farmers organise and plan activities across the holding.
This is particularly valuable where different paddocks have different objectives, such as forage production, tree regeneration, scrub recovery or vegetation conservation.
Protecting crops and grassland
Physical barriers can also prevent livestock and other animals from entering areas where they might cause damage.
The document specifically identifies their role in protecting crops and grassland, as well as their contribution to effective paddock management and the conservation of ecosystems and pasture resources.
The same infrastructure can therefore serve both productive and environmental purposes by controlling livestock movement and determining where grazing pressure should be increased or reduced.
Giving vegetation time to recover
One of the most relevant applications of fencing within the LIFE ScrubsNet approach is the temporary protection of selected areas.
Where natural regeneration is the objective, the protocol recommends setting some paddocks aside for several years until young trees are sufficiently developed to withstand seasonal browsing more effectively. The required period depends on factors such as seedlings, existing small shrubs, the shrub seed bank and initial plant diversity.
Reducing or excluding grazing during this period gives plants a genuine opportunity to establish and grow.
Protecting patches without closing the entire paddock
It is not always necessary to exclude livestock from a whole area.
Specific patches containing woody vegetation can be fenced within a paddock while the remaining land continues to be grazed.
The protocol explains that these areas may be protected with fixed fences or electric fencing, allowing conservation in one part of a paddock while other areas remain available for more intensive grazing.
This flexibility can help create a more varied landscape mosaic.
Creating and conserving biodiversity islands
Protected areas do not have to be reserved solely for tree regeneration.
The protocol states that fencing and temporary exclusion strategies may serve different purposes, ranging from natural regeneration of holm oaks and cork oaks to the creation of biodiversity islands.
Scrub patches, hedgerows, small wooded areas and riparian formations can act as islands of fertility and biodiversity, contributing to the stability and resilience of the wider livestock ecosystem.
Fences can also help protect soil
Physical barriers may also have a role on land vulnerable to erosion.
The protocol notes that in areas prone to soil loss, these structures can contribute to maintaining soil stability.
Protecting selected areas may also allow woody vegetation to recover, which can be particularly valuable on steep, rocky or shallow soils.
Permanent, temporary and electric fencing
Paddock design should reflect the real conditions of each holding.
Because fencing can represent a substantial investment, the document recommends beginning where possible with temporary layouts or electric fencing. This allows the design to be tested and adjusted before permanent infrastructure is installed.
Water availability, topography, pasture supply, livestock numbers and grazing periods should all be considered during planning.
Productive infrastructure and ecological infrastructure
A fence does not conserve biodiversity simply by being present. Its ecological value depends on why it is installed and how livestock are subsequently managed.
However, the LIFE ScrubsNet approach shows that the same infrastructure used to organise a holding can also provide vegetation with recovery time, protect young trees, reserve scrub and maintain biodiversity islands.
The protocol states that appropriate planning and maintenance of grazing infrastructure can support operational efficiency and animal welfare while also contributing to environmental and biodiversity conservation.
A fence can therefore be more than a boundary: it can become a management tool for deciding where livestock graze, where vegetation rests and where biodiversity is given space to develop.
The LIFE ScrubsNet project is co-funded by the European Union through the LIFE programme, LIFE20 NAT/ES/000978.