Establishing Forages in Silvopatures

[Brett Chedzoy]

The following was sent to me by email today, and since the reply is relevant to this forum, I've posted it below.  -- Brett

Question: Hi Brett,

Saw your Cornell U. silvopasture  webinar—very helpful. 

We recently browsed 10 goats in 2 acres of woodland which had been opened up to sunlight with a shelter wood harvest 3 yrs. ago.

Invasives were bad & the goats did  a good job.  We moved them to another section & plan to market them this winter.

Are considering planting some sort of grass seed mixture in that area after scarfing the soil.  What  grass variety would you suggest? 

We live in Chester Co. on the edge of PA Highlands (Welsh Mt.) and hope to continue pasturing goats next year again as we expect the invasives will be growing back unless we start growing something else there.   

My response: If the silvopasture site is relatively adjacent to existing pasture and field areas and seems to have a decent seed bank of grasses and forbs, then it may not be necessary or cost-effective to do supplemental seeding.

 A number of cool season grasses are reported to have moderate tolerance to shade and should grow acceptably well under forest canopies of ~ 50% relative density, or about 60 square feet of basal area/acre: orchardgrass, bromes, tall fescue, gama grass (if suitable for your area) and reed canary grass.  Some varieties of white clover will also tolerate moderate levels of shade, though soil pH and scarification is critical for good establishment.  Note that there are numerous other factors beyond just sunlight at the ground level that will affect the establishment and persistence of your forage base in the silvopastures.