Many farming families care for their hedges as heirlooms handed down the generations, and still of direct use to the farmer. They provide essential shelter from the Atlantic weather for livestock and field crops, and enable the farmer's herd to graze safely. The hedge growth supplies a source of trace elements and herbs necessary to the health of grazing animals. The hedgebanks prevent erosion of valuable topsoil and leaching of plant nutrients from field crops. They are the source of hedgerow timber, and they harbour a host of beneficial insects which prey on crop pests and attract birds and mammals to control aphids and rodents.
The hedges are a visual amenity attractive to paying guests, and make a screen and shelter for buildings, camp sites and car parks involved in farm diversification. In future the hedges themselves may be a source of cash income as valuable items in environmental schemes.
Indirectly these uses also benefit the general public. Meat produced from stock which has enjoyed comfort and health enhanced by the presence of traditional hedges is of superb quality. The hedges that provide good browsing for the farm livestock also attract wildlife to delight nature-loving walkers, and are a serious study resource for specialists in subjects from archæology to zoology. The shelter that warms the animals is equally essential for the people's comfort. A good Cornish hedge cuts wind-chill to the extent that outdoor workers, sunbathers, picnickers, riders, dog-walkers and blackberry pickers all bless the presence of the hedges.