As we get ready to move our 5 bulls from the "bull pen" pastures this weekend off to their respective breeding groups and other parts of the farm, I'm reminded that we're currently at the height of fly season and bulls appreciate the opportunity to use young trees for scratching posts.  Just because the cows may not cause excessive harm to young, desirable trees doesn't mean that bulls won't.  Case in point in the picture below from our ranch in Argentina.  These pines were ~ 5 years old and 10-15 feet tall when one of our bulls decided he was going to show off for the ladies.  As a result, we now have some not-so-straight pines scattered around the silvopastures.

The culprit (Mr. Bull)...

Note: just because this is the Southern Hemisphere doesn't mean the results would be much different in the Northern Hemisphere!

Views: 250

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Brett,

I am pretty sure in the northern hemisphere the trees would have been bent in the opposite direction. 

I snapped this picture last evening of two of our bulls here rubbing off some winter fuzz on a dead larch tree, and it reminded me of this old post on the importance of recognizing the potential for certain animals to cause more damage than others when grazing amongst vulnerable trees.

good info Brett, thanks for posting 



Brett Chedzoy said:

I snapped this picture last evening of two of our bulls here rubbing off some winter fuzz on a dead larch tree, and it reminded me of this old post on the importance of recognizing the potential for certain animals to cause more damage than others when grazing amongst vulnerable trees.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

About

Forum

Methods For Growing Lots Of Trees In A Small Footprint For Cost-Effective Silvopasture Establishment

Started by Casey Pfeifer. Last reply by Scott O'Bar Sep 7. 17 Replies

I thought I'd share my current methods using air pruning beds to grow various livestock fodder trees for silvopasture establishment in hopes that some other folks in this network are doing the…Continue

Tags: propagation, silvopasture, soil, mix, techniques

What Went Wrong With My Soil Analysis?

Started by Scott O'Bar Sep 2. 0 Replies

I realize this is a longshot to post this here, but perhaps someone could forward this to an agronomist or soil scientist colleague of theirs to get an answer to this.I sent the same soil samples to…Continue

Searching for tree seeds

Started by Ben Harris. Last reply by L kas Sep 1. 1 Reply

Hey y'all,I'm in search of tree seeds - fruits, nuts, fodder, N fixers, etc. Do you have favorite seed/nut sources or cultivars? I'm looking for production and vigor. Disease resistance will reveal…Continue

Virtual Fence

Started by Scott O'Bar Aug 28. 0 Replies

I've been hearing a lot about virtual fencing lately on podcasts I'm subscribed to. It sounds like a real game changer especially for a silvopasture context. Are any of you using virtual fencing?I'm…Continue

Tags: Fencing

Members

© 2023   Created by Peter Smallidge.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service