Planting trees in pasture

[Crazy Farmgirl]

Pine needles can cause a cow to lose a calf if she is pregnant. Does anyone know how hardy the Maple trees are? I really like Maple trees, but I don't know how hardy they are. Could they grow successfully in the Northwest?

I would assume that they would survive in the northwest, as they quite a hardy tree. Here in Northeast MI they do very well. Just fyi so you can compare to your climate, here we see a wide range of temps from 80-90 degrees and humid in the summer to well below 0 with blustery winds for most of the winter (this year was an exeption, much warmer than normal). I know they also grow MUCH farther north than here. Easiest way to know for sure is to check with you local extension or conservation district. As was stated earlier stay away from the Red Maple as their leaves are toxic to most livestock.

 

[BettyLandercasper]

Single trees gives you no grass and mud all around it. A few trees right outside the fence works.
We planted some fast growing willows that worked well, put a bale ring around them at first
Volunteer box elder seems to be un-killable. Cottonwoods have tough bark and can take quite a bit of abuse.

 

[ousoonerfan22]

Silver maples grow fast but they're prone to wind damage.

 

[Ouachita]

I'm certainly no expert on this, but I'll give my limited exprience..... I bought our current property in 96'. At that time we cleared the houseplace, yard, built a pond (tank? ), and cleared about 10 acres around that pond. When it was cleared (timber cut, bulldozed) I had them leave a few large trees, and 2 groves of sapling pine/oak. These 2 groves were about 50 foot diameter, and the saplings were about 1 to 3 inch diameter trees; basically a briar thicket with a few trees sticking up above the briars.
Fast forward 15 years. Most of the larger trees are dead; were a long time ago. The 2 groves of saplings are now 2 groves of really nice shade. I've thinned them out every couple years, and now have the same diameter groves with 6-10 inch trunk size trees, 20, 30 and 40 feet tall. I've since cleared another 40 acres, and have employeed this knowledge/experience, and it's worked out well; leave one tree, it'll most likely end up dead in 2 to 4 years. Leave a grove of saplings, thin it out once every couple years, and it'll be there.
Like I say, I'm no expert, but I've got another 60-80 acres I'm planning on clearing for grass, and I'm going to sell that marketable timber and leave some small groves of saplings again.

 

[s&w]

We use a 16' cattle panels to protect young trees in the pasture. Connect the ends together to make a nice wide circle around the tree and then secure it to a T-Post or two. This keeps goats, deer and cattle off the trees giving them enough time to grow big and strong. This only takes a couple minutes to setup and if needed you can move them as you rotate livestock in and out of the pasture.

Hope this helps.

Joe

 

[Eagle Eye]

I don't know if this will help but I have one site that has many types of trees in it, so if you don't have and idea, what you think of it? It might give you some. www.treestypes.com

 

[skeeter swatter]

Cattle will leave good grass to eat acorns. Cattle LOVE acorns.
I've never had a problem if the cows are there when the acorns fall, but be careful moving cows into a spot loaded with acorns already on the ground.

 

[jerry27150]

ditto skeeter

 

[Howdyjabo]

I seed (gather pods from mature trees)Mimosa for shade. once you get one producing seed, it will fill in a fenced out area real fast for some good shade. And they hang over the fence giving better shade at noon. Its one of the few trees that can compete with our fescue.
Another bonus is seedlings will spread into the pasture giving some high quality forage in the summer.