What can we do for partridges? And cheaply please!

What to do for partridges? In the previous post (Why were there partridges before and now there aren't? (and what can we do to fix it) we have already seen how the landscape has changed and is causing the disappearance of partridges. Today we are going to see if we are able to recover part of the partridges that have disappeared.

The Magic Recipe

We told you how the landscape had changed in a specific place, and We give you the recipe for that specific place. We cannot re-plot the terraces like in the 1950s, or mow by hand, or cultivate a little bit of everything. But can we leave 1% of the farm unplanted?

Well, it's not a big loss, especially in rainfed cereal areas like the ones we have in Castillas and much of Spain.

We will make a proposal for the distribution of the new borders or horses that we are going to create. Why? Well, because it is the place where he prefers to raise the Red partridge. This will give him a place to shelter, raise and feed. These borders or horses have sometimes even been subsidized to establish them and should be financed by funds for the reforestation of agricultural land or with the CAP, because they represent an improvement in agricultural exploitation and income diversification. And not to mention other improvements for the environment and the landscape.

We are going to make the boundaries with certain conditions:

• With a width of at least 1.2 meters.
• The initial height should be 0.4 meters (we will do this with landfill passes).
• It is necessary to leave another half meter on both sides untilled. Better yet, make the double horse, which has one part in the middle without lifting, so that there are two horses of 0.6 meters wide in parallel.
• He must not turn into a bully. We should not end up covering them with all the stone we remove with the peelers, we want it to be a place for the partridges.

Why these conditions?

For partridges to have a better chance of surviving, we need areas from which to monitor, for males to have a pulpit, insects can bury themselves, breed, water runs and grass grows...

The objective is to diversify the terrain, so partridges already know what they have to look for, when and where. And we give it to them.

Now we do the numbers

In the end, we get a horse about 2 meters wide.

If the area to be improved has, for example, 200 hectares, if we take 1% away from it, we will have 2 hectares of horses.

Applying a width of two meters, for two hectares, we will create 10,000 linear meters, yes 10 kilometers, which will cover 20,000 m2, the two hectares we were talking about. Surely it doesn't escape you that 10 kilometers of new boundaries is a very significant change in the landscape, in exchange for very little surface.

How much does it cost?

It depends on whether we do it with our own resources or hire someone or if there are already adequate personnel and own machinery on the farm. I think that the reasonable and most normal thing is that it is done with our own means and therefore we are only going to calculate the cost of the machinery, gas-oil, and plant to be purchased, and assuming that labor is a fixed cost, which is going to be taken if or yes, from the operation.

Cost (€)

Performance Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 FinalLifting 2 ha of horsepower with landfills (10 km linear with 1, 2 kilometers wide the horsepower plus 0.8 meters without lifting)-2300,00,00,00,0-230.0Buy broom and rosemary for 10 kilometers of horses (one plant every 15 meters)-4000,00,00,00,0-400.0Do not till or cultivate 2 ha of rainfed land110110,0110,0110,0110,0550,0Do not harvest 2 ha of rainfed cereal (yield of 1500 kg/ha of barley)-480-480,0-480.0-480.0-480.0-2400.0Lease of the hunting ground02500, 02500, 02500, 02500, 01000, 0 0 Results - 1000 21302130213021307520

This chart is a reference. Everyone will have to see if it fits the costs of their operation and how is the leasing of reserves in their area. Assuming that the first year, we leave it unleased and incidentally so that the partridges “breathe” a little and the population recovers, the first year we would have expenses that we would not recover. In addition to these expenses, there will be other costs (drinking fountains, day care, hunting technical plan...) This chart is not exhaustive, take it as a reference.

If we do things right, we can gradually recover the partridge populations and even make the most of it. These partridges will not be the “plastic” ones, maybe there aren't many, but whoever wants to enjoy a good throw will know how to value it, he said Miguel Delibes “the identification of game with a backpack is an aberration”.

Finally, if in addition to doing the knights, for the PAC Do you apply the Honey fallow As we have already told you, you can be sure that partridges will soon run through your terraces. The honey fallow accounts for 1.5 SIE units, for the 200 (ha) you should plant 6.67 ha to comply with the CAP. Sowing a mixture of veza, or gecko with white pepper or rapeseed and in several patches of 1 or 2 hectares will give you excellent shelter and feeding areas for partridges, rabbits and other bugs. (If you want to know what fallow honey is click Here, it suits you)