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Randal,
Dealing with the slash and leaf litter on the ground in recently thinned areas is a challenge. Too much slash can be an impediment to the grazing animals, which are needed to help control the brush and weeds that want to come rushing into a recently disturbed wooded area. The leaves can act as a mulch barrier and also need to be scuffed up somehow in order to allow grasses and forbs to germinate. Summer logging will usually provide adequate soil scarification. As for the slash, I would attempt to lop the tree tops so that they're fairly close to the ground. That way they'll break down more quickly and animals will be able to pass more freely through the tops.
In a commercial thinning (logging), the ideal scenario would be to harvest in the summer and remove the whole tree. Chip markets exist in many, but not all parts of the Northeast - though whole tree harvests usually require larger acreages to be viable for the loggers. Where whole tree harvesting isn't possible, attempt to concentrate the slash in windrows or piles. See Jeff Jourdain's posts in the forum on how they're dealing with the slash in a silvopasture thinning in MA.
another option is to broadcast the seed then attempt to "hoof it in" with the animals during soft (but not too soft) ground conditions. This may require giving them a little incentive to move around within the seeded area, like distributing hay across the site. This would work better with a large herd of cattle than a few goats or sheep.
Short-term rotational pig grazing can also provide plenty of soil scarification. See the posts on here about the Stone Barns Center and other pig grazing.
another option is to broadcast the seed then attempt to "hoof it in" with the animals during soft (but not too soft) ground conditions. This may require giving them a little incentive to move around within the seeded area, like distributing hay across the site. This would work better with a large herd of cattle than a few goats or sheep.
Short-term rotational pig grazing can also provide plenty of soil scarification. See the posts on here about the Stone Barns Center and other pig grazing.
Started by Casey Pfeifer. Last reply by Scott O'Bar Sep 7. 17 Replies 1 Like
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
Started by Scott O'Bar Sep 2. 0 Replies 0 Likes
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
Started by Ben Harris. Last reply by L kas Sep 1. 1 Reply 0 Likes
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
Started by Scott O'Bar Aug 28. 0 Replies 0 Likes
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
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