Silvopasture

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fargus

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Mid-western Ontario, Canada
Has anybody fooled with intensively managed silvopasture before? This isn't a new idea, and something we are considering implementing on a small portion of our land in another year or so.

In theory it sounds great, the management for the first several years while the hardwood seedlings are establishing is going to be a challenge and one of the largest drawbacks. We use wood for heating fuel in the winter, so we'll have a use for cull trees and those that don't survive as the stand is maturing. This is certainly a very long-term investment (and likely won't even pay off for us, it will more likely benefit the next generation at Leitir Mohr Cattle Co) but something that if it works well is a commitment we are willing to make.

Looking for any experiences you folks have had, good, bad and ugly. We are looking at using high value hardwood species (around here that is hard maple, red oak, black walnut, black cherry.) I realize in the south-east this is commonly done using yellow pine, and conifers are not out of the question here. (They are lower-value timber products, but do reach marketable age much quicker.)

TIA for any input you folks can offer.
 
Are you planting trees or is this an established stand? Cattle will graze trees. Better if you can wait to pasture it after the terminal leader is above the graze line. Even with good grass underneath they will still graze the trees.
 
We would be planting trees. If I have to fence them out of the planted alleys until the trees are established enough that is what we'll do. I have a few ideas of how to accomplish that without it being a huge pain.
 
You are right. This is not a new idea. Lots of research has been done on this subject by the USFS and UGA. I used to manage a forest that dealt specifically with this subject. It is very interesting. However, from what I have been reading of late there is a new twist to this which sounds like what you are considering. Before you do this you may want to look at some facts and figures and temper the academian theory with this before you go to far and invest too much of your own money. First I would suggest calculating the present value of each tree so you will know just how much you can afford to invest in their establishment, maintenance and protection from cattle. I'd also suggest discounting the future value to the trees considerably due to grade, cattle induced disease and impracticality of logging. In my opinion, grazing woodlands as pasture can be profitable but I think you are going backwards making improved pasture into woodlands. JMO
 
cowboy43: Leitir Mohr is what my grandfather named this place when he bought it after WWII. It means "gentle slope" in Scottish Gaelic. We chose to keep that name for our operation, it is a little bit more unique then the name my parents used of Reid Haven Farms.

Jogeephus,
Thanks for your response. We are definitely going to continue to plant single-row windbreaks in most of our permanent fencelines, and that is a priority right now. The silvopasture idea intrigues me, and we have a lot more research to do first. Fortunately our Ministry of Natural Resources, as well as our local Conservation Authorities subsidize tree plantings on rural properties, so that helps with the establishment costs of windbreaks, shelterbelts, buffer stips and reforestation projects. Our hardwood values have dropped locally to less then half of what they were 5 years ago. Mostly as a result of the higher Canadian dollar, so we aren't exporting high-value lumber or furniture to the USA like we were.
The forest that you managed; was it hardwoods or a pine forest?
 
I'm in the pine belt. Our government has put subsidies and cost share funds out there for the same type thing. This new silvo-pasture isn't going to work to well here. On paper it looks good but in the field there are a lot of variables they are not considering. Oaks are very subject to damage from cattle here and they will become dotey or hollow. Same with poplar. Additionally, the limbs in these open grown trees make the quality of the trees very poor unless you prune. Pruning is expensive. The other thing you will see is that trees sap a lot of moisture about 80 gallons per day. The effects of this are evident if you have any cropland near trees. Another thing you have to consider is how the wood will be sold. If you are able to sell using a stick scale rather than weight your economics will be much better. I won't go into details of this but it will make a huge difference so I'd definitely find out how its normally sold before I went too far. I guess what I'm saying is that you can't have your cake and eat it too. Growing trees in a pasture is going to rob from the pasture. There will be a compromise cause each will take something from the other. But it will be interesting and will definitely look nice.
 
The cows will do some pruning for you.

As long as you fence them out it should work but it will be a long term project. Hot wire may be an option. What will your spacing be. I think you would need wide enough alleys for a cow to turn around in.

There is always a trade off with multiple use mgmt scenerios
 
I am not a tree expert, but we just had part of our property logged for oak last summer and I spent a lot of time talking to the loggers and seeing what they look for. I think the points made by Jogeephus are right on with what my loggers were telling me. You can't get good high quality timber if the trees are spaced apart very far. You will get some awesome shade trees! You can't grow grass if the trees are planted close together. For timber, you don't want any branches off the bottom 15 feet or more of the tree. If the canopy starts down low at 6'-7' (about where the cows prune to) you will get low grade timber and you will be docked. The wood will have a lot of knots in it. The cows will also rub on the young trees and damage them that way. Trees will grow best planted close together so they have to go straight up to get any sunlight, over the tops of the other trees. Also, pick your north facing slopes for your best timber. That is where it naturally grows the best. I am working on doing the opposite of what you have. I am clearing out wooded land to get back to pasture and trying to save some of it for timber in maybe 15 years or so. Much easier, since my trees are already big enough the cows can't mess with them too much. Just need to let them grow out a bit more. Good luck and let us know what works. I am very interested in how it works out.
 
Sounds like an interesting project. By no means am I an expert and just got in to cattle myself, however I grew up around the business. We have been harvesting timber for many years now. That being said we are in the process of converting some of our land to be duel purpose as an economic hedge. In our first section we have Loblolly Pines and Pensacola Bahia Grass, and we are in the process of converting two other sections which are 50/50 of bottom land and upland with a mix of Pine and various hardwoods. We are working with a forestor/biologist because most of these lands were initially set up as wildlife habitat. However we found that keeping these lands exclusively as wildlife habitat became very expensive because we found ourselves constantly fighting Chinese Tallows, Sweetgums, and other brush in between controlled burns. The Bahia Grass and cattle have helped knock back the invasives and now we can spend more time and capital on planting legumes to benefit both our cattle and wildlife and be overrun by invasive species. Our forester/biologist is not a big fan of cattle in forest systems, however he is becoming more an more of a believer as he sees what we are accomplishing. We usually keep our cattle off our Pines for 3 years min. to 5 years. Good luck.
 
We're still in the early stages of discussion, planning and research for this project. I'm going to have a chance in early March to talk to some experts from our part of the world at a Profitable Pastures conference. I'm not sure what our spacing should be yet, and we will certainly be using hot wire to fence cattle out of the alleys for the establishment phase. (We already use portable hot wire fences to move the cows through our MIG system, this would just require a little bit more time when we were moving the pairs through that chunk of ground.)

This would certainly improve the aesthetics of the place, as well as providing some shade and shelter either when it's really hot or really cold in the winter. Thankfully for any damaged logs or trees we can use them for firewood. We use between 18 and 25 face-cords of hardwood to heat our house each year, so there will be a useful outlet for any unsaleable timber. Unfortunately, we don't have any north-facing slopes on our home property that we own, they're all south-facing. At least that will be good for winter bedding areas for the white-tails. No matter what we end up doing I'll post photos and keep everyone updated on this little project.
 

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