Oak Tree MIG?

[Stocker Steve]

I have mature trees in some of my pastures. Over half are old oak trees. I think they are the final succession after the Hinckley fire in the 1800s. When I was a kid there were still some huge piney stump remains still out there, but they are gone now.

I am losing a few oak trees every year. Some split in the wind, but others just don't leaf out. Do you see a stocking density impact on oaks? We are grazing over 3X the cows that were here under previous management.

 

[dun]

The only impact I've seen is trees dieing from root damage with really high stocking density.

 

[cowgirl8]

We lost almost all our red oaks during the droughts which are less drought resistant. Our cows stand under all our oaks with no damage I can see...Some of the oaks have water stand under them during the wet months because of the cows standing around them and waller the dirt around them out.. Most our oaks die from either drought, disease or lightning..but not cows..

 

[Clodhopper]

Livestock affects the quality of timber, so it is natural to assume they are hard on the health of the tree.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Livestock affects the quality of timber, so it is natural to assume they are hard on the health of the tree.

Exactly. A timber broker told me you can have cattle or timber but you can't have both together. I chose cattle.

 

[Bigfoot]

Logic tells me that cattle loafing around a tree is not good for it.......soil compaction, root damage, rubbing on bark etc. can't say I've lost a tree to cows though. Tree health in general on my place is declining. Probably a combination of droughts, too much rain, and ice storms.

 

[cowgirl8]

We lose more big trees to lightning.. Over the 30 years we've lived on this ranch, never lost a tree the cows hang out under..it was a ranch before that too. But, if its a tree next to my yard I care about, i'm sure it would die. Horse are harder on trees. We have trees in our corrals. The electric company killed a huge one, and the horses (although the oak was stressed at the same time by electric company) were locked up in the alley where that oak was and they chewed all over the trunk and did it in. But it was all stressed to begin with and I don't think it was going to survive. BUt horses will chew on the bark, cows don't...

 

[Mat Man]

We had 12 heifers in dry 2 acre lot .Had a 100 year old oak to blow over.It was early spring when the tree had just leafed out.With in 2 weeks they quit come to feed.Had the vet do blood sample and their kidneys were shutting down .Same as eating to many acorns. Lost 6 of them the next week.The others ones lived but never flourished.Sold at market after we got weight back on them.Never heard of oak leaves killing them.We was told the feed we was feeding hurt them more then it helped because of the protien and their kidneys. We put them on new grass and no feed to see witch ones would make it. 6 out of 12 is a hard lesson.

 

[ddd75]

We had 12 heifers in dry 2 acre lot .Had a 100 year old oak to blow over.It was early spring when the tree had just leafed out.With in 2 weeks they quit come to feed.Had the vet do blood sample and their kidneys were shutting down .Same as eating to many acorns. Lost 6 of them the next week.The others ones lived but never flourished.Sold at market after we got weight back on them.Never heard of oak leaves killing them.We was told the feed we was feeding hurt them more then it helped because of the protien and their kidneys. We put them on new grass and no feed to see witch ones would make it. 6 out of 12 is a hard lesson.

wow that really sucks.. my 1st farm was all oaks. I had 1 get really sick from acorns.