Shade trees in dry lot

[lucky7chief]

I have a dry lot that I use to gather cattle and wean calves. The trees have died and I would like to add some back for shade. What types of trees will hold up to dry lot (other than honey locust)? I mostly use for a few months in spring/early summer for weaning. I know I'll have to protect them until mature.

 

[snakegap1]

I have a dry lot that I use to gather cattle and wean calves. The trees have died and I would like to add some back for shade. What types of trees will hold up to dry lot (other than honey locust)? I mostly use for a few months in spring/early summer for weaning. I know I'll have to protect them until mature.

ginkgo, pecan and white oak are all trees that don't have surface roots and that type of tree might survive. None of those 3 are fast growers through.

 

[bird dog]

Hackberry. It may be time for a shade structure instead.

 

[Lucky_P]

Mulberry is just a big ol' woody weed - grows fast, provides shade in a hurry, and the cows will enjoy any leaves that they can reach. I've got 3 or 4 planted around the corral here, and a couple more around the barnlot.
There are some folks who are even exploring different mulberry selections as a source of forage for ruminants, seeing which work best in a coppicing program.

And, if you plant or graft them over to a good fruiting selection like Silk Hope, Lawson Dawson, etc., the fruits are a tasty treat for man or critter. In my experience, those trees benefitting from the cows 'lounging' (and other things) beneath them, make larger, juicier, tastier berries than the same variety growing in my lawn or orchard.
Also, if you decide to take them down at a later date, they make decent fenceposts and firewood.

 

[Chuckie]

@lucky7chief, I have a Bur Oak in my barn lot. It was doing real well until the horse begin to stand up next to it and started pulling bark off close to the top. They are packing the soil close to the trunk even with the 10 ft diameter protection I have around it. So, I now realize I have to put greater protection around this tree. When the weather breaks, I am going to put a 32' X 32" livestock panel square around the base of the tree to get them off of it further. I will leave one panel where I can get inside and keep the rose bushes off of it as the birds land and deposit seeds around the base. I will start putting horse manure around the base, but not thick so it will nourish the roots below.

I have watched "Joe" rear up underneath the tree and stand on his back legs to pull the leaves off the tree. Why, I do not know. He and his woman have a 5acre pasture that I have to keep clipped to keep the seeds heads off. They stay fat as all get out. But that tree is a great interest to them. There are trees lining all around the creek bank and then 3 or 4 that hang over from the yard over the pasture. He constantly walks and sucks in those tiny acorns. He definitely picks up every one of the huge Bur Oak acorns that fall. Candy!!

 

[Lucky_P]

Chuckie,
IMO, Horses are dedicated to reducing any place where they reside to a facsimile of the treeless Eurasian steppes where they originated. If I don't cage them off from any valuable tree in the pasture or barnlot... they will do their best to kill it, regardless of what sort of forages they might have available. Cows will eat them and rub them, but once they're tall enough to be out of reach and large enough to stand up to rubbing, they can survive cows.

 

[coachg]

I have a hackberry and a pecan that are doing well in our catch lot . N Alabama

 

[Dave]

Plant the trees on the south and west side of the pen. On the outside of the fence.

 

[lucky7chief]

Hackberry. It may be time for a shade structure instead.

I'm thinking about that too

 

[lucky7chief]

Plant the trees on the south and west side of the pen. On the outside of the fence.

I'm thinking about this too but don't want trees hanging over fence dying