Swansea, south Wales. UK, Monday 08 July 2013 Pictured: Farmer Richard Cook with his English Cob Griffin bashing the bracken in Mumbles Hill. Re: A Herefordshire farmer has been helping to keep areas of the Gower in south Wales bracken-free. 36 year old Richard Cook is regularly working for Swansea County and Council to bash the bracken the old-fashion way in hard to reach areas. Credit: D Legakis/Alamy Live News
Swansea, south Wales. UK, Monday 08 July 2013 Pictured: Farmer Richard Cook with his English Cob Griffin bashing the bracken in Mumbles Hill, near Swansea, south Wales. Re: A Herefordshire farmer has been helping to keep areas of the Gower in south Wales bracken-free. 36 year old Richard Cook is regularly working for Swansea County and Council to bash the bracken the old-fashion way in hard to reach areas. Richard Cook, who is originally from Cradley, is helped by his trusty 8 yearl old English Cob Griffin, who is pulling a bracken roller through paths and fields in order to minimise the growth of the bracken. The roller, build by Cook, consists of blades which break the bracken in three or four places along its stalk, which causes it to bleed of its fluids, hence its reduction in size. "The plan is to make it grow smaller year on year" he explains. "But due to the very wet weather this year it has managed to grow more than expected" he added. "Back in the old days there was livestock roaming which helped keep the fields clear of bracken, but that's not the case nowadays" he said. As to why he is using a horse-drawn roller he said: "You cannot replace the versatility of a horse with any modern machinery, it is simply impossible in hard to reach areas".
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