Even before commercially thinning ~80 acres of the woods on our farm, I had come to appreciate the challenges of controlling the vegetative response to letting in more sunlight.
In open pastures, the grazier can readily mow, spray or even till and re-seed to deal with noxious weeds and invasive brush. But livestock impact is often the only practical tool for managing vegetation in tree-covered silvopastures. Consequently, silvopasturing relies on intensive rotation of higher livestock densities. When done correctly, the stock put enough pressure on plants in the silvopasture understory to avoid a blow-up of brush, brambles and other problematic plants. Animal impact is a combination of: duration; interval and frequency – as well as: density, stocking rate and stocking capacity. All are within the grazier’s control to be manipulated to achieve the necessary impact. Impact is also influenced by: vegetation quality and quantity; soil conditions; diet (e.g. animal craves woody plant fiber due to low fiber ration); accessibility (think of inside a brushy area vs. outside) and season (ground conditions, forage maturity, etc.).
After two and a half seasons now of trying to increase summer grazing densities to sufficient levels to beat back the bad brush that wants to "fill the void" we've created through harvesting trees and removing much of the undesirable understory plants in the early summer of 2015, I now have a better understanding of a few important considerations:
how fast does the pasture recover in the spring/summer do you seed for grass? any new photos from the new season? thanks :)
the speed of recovery for bale-grazed areas depends on the amount of wear and tear. As long as we don't make too much soupy mud (grass plants roots are destroyed), the areas quickly bounce back in the spring.
very good news, thank you :)
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Started by Brett Chedzoy. Last reply by Brett Chedzoy Dec 15, 2020. 8 Replies 0 Likes
Posting the presentations here in the order they were givenContinue
Started by Brett Chedzoy. Last reply by Brett Chedzoy Nov 30, 2020. 1 Reply 0 Likes
One of the more interesting talks that I've heard over the years on grazing or silvopasturing was by Dr. Gene Garrett at the 2011 Northeast Silvopasture Conference titled: Silvopasture Ecosystem…Continue
Started by Ben Harris. Last reply by Ben Harris Sep 29, 2020. 14 Replies 0 Likes
As I thin some woods and open up some edge lines, I'm hoping to seed some perennial shade-tolerant forages. I'm mainly focused on wildlife at this point (I don't yet own livestock), and hope to get…Continue
Started by Joanne Vaughn Sep 16, 2020. 0 Replies 0 Likes
As we developed our plan we considered what to do about paddock edges. Hedgerows, windbreaks came to mind. Can't have an inside without a boundary condition.Is there a list of plants which are safe…Continue
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