Brett Chedzoy's Posts - silvopasture2024-03-28T19:04:27ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoyhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2538067204?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://silvopasture.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=02htqh38l1vkh&xn_auth=noManaging Livestock Density and Impact in Silvopasturestag:silvopasture.ning.com,2018-01-27:6457695:BlogPost:201122018-01-27T02:30:00.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>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. </p>
<p>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…</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.).</p>
<p>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:</p>
<ol>
<li>If the bad plants are already present (even if in seedling or seed form), they quickly respond to the increased sunlight and become big, bad plants. Be prepared! It's usually most cost-effective to control the undesired understory vegetation in conjunction with a commercial harvest, but this has to be weighed against "dealing with a little problem before it becomes a big one". Chemical controls work especially well on little plants (and not so well on bigger ones where it's hard to get good foliar coverage or enough active ingredient in to the plant's system to kill a larger, more vigorous plant).</li>
<li>It's tough enough to achieve really high livestock densities in open pastures, but even tougher in silvopastures with lots of trees, stumps, branches and other obstacles in the way. We've tried to increase densities to ~300,000 lbs/acre during the mid-summer rotation in silvopasture areas, but this is equivalent of putting 100 cow-calf pairs (weighing an average of 1,500 lbs each) on a half-acre at a time. Between the trees, the calves (which readily duck under the polytwine and make for an upset momma cow on the other side), and scares forage in these young silvopasture areas, it's just not possible to get much more than half of that density (~150,000 lbs/acre, or the whole herd on an acre at a time). But even at 300,000 lbs or more of density, I'm not convinced that it would be enough to control the really noxious stuff. In our case, this is primarily: privet, multiflora rose, and barberry - but you name it, we grow it. And it's all tough to kill just from trampling and defoliating. </li>
<li>Consequently, we've shifted our focus to using our winter bale-grazing period to achieve high densities and impact. Last winter (2016-2017) was too mild and wet most of the time to get the bales in to the silvopasture areas nor graze them. But the cold came early this year, so we've spent the past six weeks feeding most of our hay in brushy spots. 20 hungry cows standing in a 15' radius around a round bale is the equivalent of ~1.5 million lbs of density/acre! Plus, unlike the grazing season, they pretty much stand in the same spot for hours, eating and trampling. And when they're done, there's a nice patch of fertility left behind the jump start new forage growth on the spot that will help to outcompete the invasive woodies. This probably will need to be repeated several times every other year or so until the bad plants fully succumb. We've been throwing bales in to brush patches for at least five years now, but this is the first year that we're able to start hitting the same spots twice - so it remains to be seen just how much it takes to get the job done. But even after a single bale is fed, there's a noticeable improvement by the following summer. </li>
</ol>What We Can Learn From Silvopasturing in Other Corners of the Worldtag:silvopasture.ning.com,2015-08-19:6457695:BlogPost:124332015-08-19T18:40:34.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>This forum unintentionally drew an initial concentration of members from the northeastern US, though many folks have since joined from other parts of the country and globe (welcome!). Silvopasturing practices certainly need to be customized to the local area and situation, but the principals remain largely the same no matter where working trees and livestock are raised together in a sustainable manner. </p>
<p>In hopes of broadening discussions, participation and what we can learn from…</p>
<p>This forum unintentionally drew an initial concentration of members from the northeastern US, though many folks have since joined from other parts of the country and globe (welcome!). Silvopasturing practices certainly need to be customized to the local area and situation, but the principals remain largely the same no matter where working trees and livestock are raised together in a sustainable manner. </p>
<p>In hopes of broadening discussions, participation and what we can learn from others that are not in our back yards, I'm going to start this blog (please add to it!) and share some of my personal experiences with silvopasturing in a place that's far away, but near and dear to me: Argentina. </p>
<p>Having just returned from a wonderful, crazy, rare family trip to Argentina, I'm busy catching up at the office and farm - but will post at least once a week over the coming months under this blog to get the ball rolling. Again, please share what you've seen, read about and do in other parts of the world with regards to silvopasturing.</p>
<p> </p>Silvopasture Development Progress at Angus Glen Farmstag:silvopasture.ning.com,2015-08-19:6457695:BlogPost:121222015-08-19T17:00:00.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>I've had the best of intentions to be more active on this forum this summer to share my thoughts and experiences with a recent "low grade" timber harvest at our farm to promote silvopasture development. The harvest wrapped-up a few weeks ago, and I just returned from quick trip to Argentina. With that behind me, it's time to get some pictures and storied up about the project. But first, as a bit of background, I've pasted below an article that I was asked to write for the current edition…</p>
<p>I've had the best of intentions to be more active on this forum this summer to share my thoughts and experiences with a recent "low grade" timber harvest at our farm to promote silvopasture development. The harvest wrapped-up a few weeks ago, and I just returned from quick trip to Argentina. With that behind me, it's time to get some pictures and storied up about the project. But first, as a bit of background, I've pasted below an article that I was asked to write for the current edition of the NY Forest Owners' Association "Forest Owner" magazine (<a href="http://www.nyfoa.org">www.nyfoa.org</a>)</p>
<p><b>Walking The Talk When It Comes to Forest Stewardship: The Experiences Of A Family Tree Farm</b></p>
<p>My parents, Jim and Rose Chedzoy, purchased our farm in 1988 from retiring dairy farmer friends. The 190 acres of woods, fields and old overgrown pastures was a young forester’s dream come true. Although the activities on the farm have shifted through the years, our commitment to making the land better for the next generation has not. For the past 27 years we have enjoyed nurturing our woods by attempting to “grow the best and harvest the rest”. The perennial challenge, however, has been to dedicate sufficient time to getting the work done. Commercial timber harvests in 1989 and 1994 were a start towards improving our woods, but the thinnings were focused mainly on salvaging unhealthy trees and those killed by gypsy moth outbreaks in the late 80’s. Since then, the removal of hundreds of cords of firewood and many more thousands of girdled trees seem to have hardly made a dent in the yet overstocked woods. </p>
<p>When NYFOA’s Restore New York Woodlands (RNYW) initiative began a few years ago, it provoked me to realize that I could and should do more to properly tend our woods. After all, if a forester can’t do it, what right do I have to preach to others what they should be doing in their woods? </p>
<p>The first step towards implementing a more complete and robust management program for our woods started by acknowledging that time was a limiting factor and that we needed help. Fortunately, most woodland owners today are able to take advantage of a variety of timber markets to thin trees and decrease the competition for growing space in their woods. In our case, help came to the rescue in the form of a forester by the name of Jim Shuler, and an Amish logging company headed by Aiden Zook from Addison, NY. Both Jim and Aiden have built their businesses around marketing low-quality, low-value timber. Neither would tell you that it has been easy, but on the other hand it’s not hard to find work doing what no one else wants to do!</p>
<p>Two years of planning came to fruition this May when Aiden and his crew arrived with a grapple skidder, a slasher (a machine that bucks logs in the landing and loads the trucks), and a good assortment of chainsaws and strong backs. The first week was dusty, the second week was just about right, and by the third week in early June we were averaging a few inches of rain per week and “mud season” ensued, despite most of the woods being on high, dry gravelly ground. Careful time management by the loggers allowed them to stay productive by felling on the wet days and skidding on the dry ones. A month in to the job, Nature threw her own “twist” into the weather-related challenges with a tornado that tore a two mile path through parts of our farm and the neighboring Watkins Glen State Park. Fortunately, the homes and buildings were largely untouched, but the storm corkscrewed dozens of large oaks from the ground, and left many dozens of other mature trees shattered, split and snapped off well above the ground. On the several acres that received a direct hit, at least I was able to enjoy seeing the woods as I had envisioned it looking post-harvest for a couple of weeks before a localized natural disaster had the final say. On the upside, now I can blame some of the post-harvest messiness on the storm!</p>
<p>The 60 acre harvest took two months to complete, and generated about 1000 tons of pulpwood, 10,000 board-feet (three truck loads) of pallet logs, and a similar amount of grade sawlogs. The value of pulpwood and pallet logs are usually interchangeable, but forester Jim Shuler likes to supply both markets in case one dries up. The roughly ten percent of the volume in grade sawlogs represented over 90% of the overall timber value from the harvest. Those of you familiar with timber harvesting in New York know that most commercial harvests today yield almost entirely grade sawtimber, sometimes with a little firewood (pulpwood) in the form of “cull trees”.</p>
<p>So why would any of us want to have a large, messy-looking timber sale where most of the trees harvested are worth little or nothing? Well, the gardeners in the audience understand that an untended, unweeded garden pays poor dividends at the end of the season. Changes in the woods come more slowly, but the principals are largely the same where judicious weeding can greatly enhance the growth and productivity of the desirable plants. Unfortunately, most of the trees removed during timber harvests today are those of significant value, while the “weed trees” are largely ignored. This is comparable to removing part of the tomato plants each time the garden is tended, but passing over the weeds that compete with the veggie plants for sunlight, water, nutrients and space. After several such harvests, little remains of value – though plenty of remaining green stuff still gives the false appearance of a productive garden or woods. The major difference, however, between the garden and woodlot is that we can own up to our mistakes and start over again the following spring in the garden. Fixing such mistakes in the woods can take decades, and the legacy of poor woodlot management will linger for generations. </p>
<p>Each of you reading this has your own reasons for being a woodland owner. But I feel safe in generalizing that all of you enjoy your woods and would like to make it better for the future. What if that means forsaking a big windfall timber harvest in the short term and instead receiving peanuts for dozens of truckloads of pulp/firewood? And what if the heavy “weeding” of low-quality trees meant radically changing the appearance of your woods? (probably for the worst, in the eyes of most) Throughout my career as a forester I’ve overseen the harvest of many thousands of acres of forest, ranging from light thinnings to clearcuts. I still find the visual changes from these silvicultural activities to be striking, especially when it happens in my own woods. I also recognize that this is largely how the public judges forest management: taking a beautiful woods and making it look less beautiful in the short-term due to logging slash, muddy skid roads, etc. Wouldn’t it be nice if both we, and the public passer-by’s who judge what we do on our land became as comfortable with weeding the woodlot as the garden – and fully understood the importance and benefits to both? I don’t believe that any of us who loves our woods will ever be able to remove visual impacts and aesthetics from the list of criteria that we use to evaluate our management activities, but I do hope that we can balance these important considerations with others to implement the best silviculture and stewardship possible on our family tree farms. Our legacy will be judged by how the next generation of forest looks, not by the short-term unsightliness of “doing the right thing” today.</p>Silvopasturing at the Stone Barns Centertag:silvopasture.ning.com,2013-08-16:6457695:BlogPost:94052013-08-16T16:00:00.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>Peter and I recently had the opportunity to present a day-long workshop on silvopasturing at the Stone Barns Center in the lower Hudson Valley. The Stone Barns Center (<a href="http://www.stonebarnscenter.org">www.stonebarnscenter.org</a>) is located on the former Rockefeller dairy farm, and today serves as a showcase of "sustainable food systems". …</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818663?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="583" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818663?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>Peter and I recently had the opportunity to present a day-long workshop on silvopasturing at the Stone Barns Center in the lower Hudson Valley. The Stone Barns Center (<a href="http://www.stonebarnscenter.org">www.stonebarnscenter.org</a>) is located on the former Rockefeller dairy farm, and today serves as a showcase of "sustainable food systems". </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818663?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" height="583" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818663?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818801?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p>The main entrance to the Stone Barns Center. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area!</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545832835?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545832835?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p> The "livestock team" of the Center practice innovative multi-species grazing with meat chickens, laying hens, turkeys, pigs, cattle, and sheep.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833044?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833044?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p>The Center has about 60 acres of woods - mostly mature, mixed hardwoods dominated by heavy understories of shade-tolerant shrubs and vines that pose a challenge to establishing desirable natural regeneration. Storms like Sandy have caused significant damage in the aging forest and further stimulated the growth of interfering vegetation.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833337?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833337?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p>For the past several years, the staff at the Center has effectively used pigs to reduce noxious plants in the farm's woods. In this picture, a Berkshire sow can be seen rooting up a oriental bittersweet vine. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833502?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833502?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p> According to "livestock team" member Dan Carr, the pigs thrive while foraging in the cooler, partly-shaded silvopasture areas. This practice has allowed them to not only begin rehabilitating their woods in an organic and cost-effective manner, but also results in happier, healthier (and less expensive to maintain) pigs. A sugar maple sapling can be seen in the foreground that is being protected from livestock and deer with a chicken wire cage supported by bamboo stakes. Numerous young trees were observed being successfully protected this way throughout the forest</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833881?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545833881?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p>Pigs are rotated in small paddocks every few weeks (+/-, depending on ground disturbance and other factors) Hot, single-strand polytwine fences are used to create paddocks for the larger pigs. Each paddock is broadcast seeded with a grass mix immediately after the pigs are removed. The picture above shows a sequence of two paddocks that were seeded about 1 month apart. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545834221?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545834221?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p>The seeded areas eventually look like the photo above. Areas may be grazed with the pigs 1 or 2 times (after recovery and revegetation), depending on residual undesirable plants and other factors. Once the silvopasture understory has shifted to mostly grass and herbaceous plants, it can be rotationally grazed with cattle, sheep and even poultry.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545851453?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545851453?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024"/></a></p>
<p>Dan Carr shows widely-spaced black walnut trees in an open pasture area that are being protected by wire cages wrapped in barbed-wire. The wire prevents cattle from rubbing on and damaging the cages and trees. Many other useful fruit and nut trees, like Paw Paws have been planted around the center - some in current and future pasture areas.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Workshop Materials from the Silvopasture Field Day - McVeytown, PA - June 7th 2013tag:silvopasture.ning.com,2013-06-14:6457695:BlogPost:91882013-06-14T16:11:39.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>Thank you to the 40+ who were able to attend the workshop last Friday in McVeytown. The handouts used for the workshop are attached below as .pdf files. -- Brett</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545817294?profile=original" target="_self">Silvopasturing.pdf</a></li>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545817591?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Examples%20of%20Silvopastures.pdf…</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thank you to the 40+ who were able to attend the workshop last Friday in McVeytown. The handouts used for the workshop are attached below as .pdf files. -- Brett</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545817294?profile=original" target="_self">Silvopasturing.pdf</a></li>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545817591?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Examples%20of%20Silvopastures.pdf</a></li>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818540?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Economic%20Case%20Studies.pdf</a></li>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545818991?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Creating%20Quality%20Silvopastures.pdf</a></li>
<li><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545819194?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Site%20Evaluation.pdf</a></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>Reducing forest density for acceptable forage growthtag:silvopasture.ning.com,2013-03-15:6457695:BlogPost:88012013-03-15T19:00:00.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>During the "silvopasture day course" trainings last August, we expressed the need to reduce forest stand stocking levels to about 60 sq. ft./acre of basal area (approximately 50% relative density, depending on the stand type) in order to achieve "good" forage productivity of the more shade tolerant cool season grasses. For more information on this, refer to the .pdf file attachment titled "Creating Quality Silvopastures" from the August blog post on the day courses - or read the section on…</p>
<p>During the "silvopasture day course" trainings last August, we expressed the need to reduce forest stand stocking levels to about 60 sq. ft./acre of basal area (approximately 50% relative density, depending on the stand type) in order to achieve "good" forage productivity of the more shade tolerant cool season grasses. For more information on this, refer to the .pdf file attachment titled "Creating Quality Silvopastures" from the August blog post on the day courses - or read the section on thinning in the "Guide to Silvopasturing in the Northeast", available at: <a href="http://www.forestconnect.info">www.forestconnect.info</a> (publications page). </p>
<p>With that said, a forester member of this forum noted that in some of the recently posted pictures the silvopastures appear to have been thinned signficantly below 60 ft2 of basal area/acre. The reason that these silvopastures were thinned more heavily (~ 25 to 50 ft2/acre) is because they were understocked with trees of good vigor, value and quality that were worth leaving (foresters refer to this as "acceptable growing stock", or AGS). In each of these areas, a decision was made to remove all "unacceptable growing stock" (UGS) - or trees that had no hope of producing more than firewood or pulpwood now or in the future. Consequently, only AGS were left, opening up the silvopasture more than might be necessary to simply achieve acceptable forage growth.</p>
<p>Even though it might seem logical to remove all trees that don't have sawtimber potential (current or future) to allow even greater levels of sunlight to reach the ground, there are a number of reasons why we may want to retain higher stocking levels - even if it means leaving some UGS. Examples include: to reduce epicormic branching, sunscald or thinning shock on crop trees (AGS), reduce incidence of windthrow, to hold excess firewood/pulp trees until a more appropriate opportunity to harvest, or to reduce overall thinning costs or workload. Shading is also another very important benefit that trees provide to grazing livestock in silvopastures, so we want to leave enough shade - even if the trees don't necessarily fit our criteria for AGS. </p>Agroforestry Field Day at the Big Flats Plant Materials Centertag:silvopasture.ning.com,2012-11-20:6457695:BlogPost:71032012-11-20T15:30:00.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>60 people attended "Working Trees in Agricultural Landscapes: An Introduction to Agroforestry" on November 16th at the USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center in Big Flats, NY (and 120 people attended the 3rd annual Cover Crops Field Day at the PMC on the prior day!) This inaugural agroforestry event at the PMC featured NRCS soil health advocate Ray Archuleta. Some of Ray's key messages throughout the two days were: "Farm in the image of Nature"; "Feed the soil"; and "Nature hates monocultures". …</p>
<p>60 people attended "Working Trees in Agricultural Landscapes: An Introduction to Agroforestry" on November 16th at the USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center in Big Flats, NY (and 120 people attended the 3rd annual Cover Crops Field Day at the PMC on the prior day!) This inaugural agroforestry event at the PMC featured NRCS soil health advocate Ray Archuleta. Some of Ray's key messages throughout the two days were: "Farm in the image of Nature"; "Feed the soil"; and "Nature hates monocultures". The five agroforestry systems discussed throughout the day certainly showed how the thoughtful combination of trees, crops and sometimes even livestock can go a long ways towards making our agricultural production more sustainable. For more information on Ray and his work with soil health:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://vimeo.com/14291588">http://vimeo.com/14291588</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://vimeo.com/channels/raythesoilguy">http://vimeo.com/channels/raythesoilguy</a></li>
</ul>
<p>For a detailed list of more agroforestry resources, open the following attached .pdf document:</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545817200?profile=original" target="_self">Agroforestry%20resources.pdf</a></p>
<p> </p>Silvopasture Day Course Materialstag:silvopasture.ning.com,2012-09-14:6457695:BlogPost:61382012-09-14T19:38:39.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>Thank you to everyone who attended the two "Silvopasture Day Courses" at Black Queen Angus Farm in Berlin, NY on August 24th, and at Wellscroft Fence Company in Harrisville, NH on August 25th. Also, thank you to the Hudson-Mohawk RC&D Council, the Granite State Graziers, NY GLCI, Albany CCE, Albany SWCD and others for helping to organize and make those events possible!</p>
<p>85 graziers, foresters and agency folks participated in the two workshops. This was the first time that we have…</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who attended the two "Silvopasture Day Courses" at Black Queen Angus Farm in Berlin, NY on August 24th, and at Wellscroft Fence Company in Harrisville, NH on August 25th. Also, thank you to the Hudson-Mohawk RC&D Council, the Granite State Graziers, NY GLCI, Albany CCE, Albany SWCD and others for helping to organize and make those events possible!</p>
<p>85 graziers, foresters and agency folks participated in the two workshops. This was the first time that we have been able to go beyond the classroom to look at how to put silvopasturing into motion in the Northeast. The attached documents are the handouts that were used for the workshops. I wanted to get these posted now to avoid further procrastination, but based on course feedback, we'll be making numerous changes, additions and hopefully improvements to the materials in the near future and add them as sections to the "Guide to Silvopasturing in the Northeast" (available at <a href="http://www.forestconnect.info">www.forestconnect.info</a>)</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545865391?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Economic%20Case%20Studies.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545865711?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Site%20Evaluation.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545865810?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Planning%20Framework.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545866161?profile=original" target="_self">SP%20Creating%20Quality%20Silvopastures.pd</a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545866161?profile=original" target="_self">f</a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545875249?profile=original" target="_self">Silvopasturing.pdf</a></p>
<p> </p>Suitable Speciestag:silvopasture.ning.com,2012-02-06:6457695:BlogPost:37072012-02-06T18:47:18.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>I was recently asked the following questions regarding animal and tree species for silvopastures: </p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">"... is silvopasture just suitable to beef breeds? Or would dairy and dual purpose breeds be equally suited to Silvopasture? I was also wondering about tree species composition. Obviously allelopathic species like Black Walnut are not conducive to growing good forage, but could you use a super dense Hemlock grove for a living barn (relying on hay for feed…</span></p>
<p>I was recently asked the following questions regarding animal and tree species for silvopastures: </p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">"... is silvopasture just suitable to beef breeds? Or would dairy and dual purpose breeds be equally suited to Silvopasture? I was also wondering about tree species composition. Obviously allelopathic species like Black Walnut are not conducive to growing good forage, but could you use a super dense Hemlock grove for a living barn (relying on hay for feed instead of depending naturally growing forage)?"</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">With respect to beef vs. dairy or dual-purpose breeds, the suitability of a silvopasture towards meeting a particular breed's needs will depend on three main factors: A) the nutritional quality of the accessible vegetation in the silvopasture; B) the way in which the livestock is managed; and, C) the animal's "biotype" </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">A) Research has shown that the nutritional quality and palatability of the "edible stuff" in well-managed silvopastures can be as good as, or even better than the same plant species in open pastures. The key here is that the silvopasture has to be managed so as to allow sufficient sunlight to reach the target vegetation. Plants growing in excessive shade may have unbalanced protein/energy ratios, and dangerous nitrate levels - not to mention poor growth. The quality and quantity of plants in any pasture will be influenced by numerous factors including weather, plant maturity, and grazing management. The later two can be controlled by the producer to meet the needs of his or her livestock. Another consideration is that the accessible vegetation in well-managed silvopastures is likely to be more diverse in terms of species and plant types - this may provide additional nutritional benefits to livestock by allowing them to pick and choose the plants in the sequence and amounts that best fit their needs, per the sensory feedback mechanisms between the animal's stomach (rumen) and brain. The more diverse mix of plants may also supply beneficial plant compounds not available in less-diverse plant communities.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">B) Pasture (or silvopasture) management will also play a big role in maintaining adequate nutritional levels. More frequent rotation allows animals to have a fairly consistent and good-quality diet because they are given access to a fresh paddock on a regular basis. An analogy is putting a group of us at a buffet. First we will eat all of the good stuff, then the so-so stuff and finally the iceburg lettuce until all of the food is gone. If the buffet is replenished every day, we probably won't suffer much because we won't go long without eating the good stuff. If the buffet is only replenished every few days, we'll eat well the first day, so-so the second, and poorly on the third (or run out of food!). This roller coaster diet can be very detrimental for ruminant performance because the rumen is constantly trying to adjust to the different levels and quality of food.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">C) Within species there are breeds. Within breeds there is genetic variation (genotypes) that allows some animals to perform better than others in particular environments. As managers, we can select for the most suitable genotypes (genetic makeup) by evaluating the phenotypes (appearance). A biotype would be a group of animals within a breed that appear to have very similar genotypes - this is usually judged from the phenotypes, that's to say, all of the animals appear and perform similar. Any biotype that has been proven to do well in an unsupplemented, pasture-based production system should also perform well in a silvopasture enviroment. </span></p>Silvopastures on marginal sitestag:silvopasture.ning.com,2012-02-06:6457695:BlogPost:37052012-02-06T16:08:12.000ZBrett Chedzoyhttps://silvopasture.ning.com/profile/BrettChedzoy
<p>A friend recently inquired if it would be possible to convert her low site-index oak/white pine woods into silvopatures to expand the grazeable acreage on her cattle farm. Most any site can be managed to grow forages and browse for livestock grazing, but not every site can grow <span style="text-decoration: underline;">enough</span> food to make the investment worthwhile. Another consideration is the senstivitiy of the site, particularly in the case of steep slopes or poorly drained…</p>
<p>A friend recently inquired if it would be possible to convert her low site-index oak/white pine woods into silvopatures to expand the grazeable acreage on her cattle farm. Most any site can be managed to grow forages and browse for livestock grazing, but not every site can grow <span style="text-decoration: underline;">enough</span> food to make the investment worthwhile. Another consideration is the senstivitiy of the site, particularly in the case of steep slopes or poorly drained areas. </p>
<p>One approach to answering the question "should I?" is to conservatively estimate all of the likely benefits (increased grazing days, increased shaded grazing, improved timber management, invasives control, greater production to amortize fixed costs, etc) as well as an honest estimate of all of the costs (fencing, water, net thinning costs, etc). If the ratio appears to be positive, then it probably makes sense to develop a given wooded area into silvopasture. However, there may be additional barriers on low-quality sites that are difficult to overcome. On poorly-drained sites, for example, the "window" for suitable ground conditions may be so narrow that total forage growth over the course of the season can't be efficiently harvested by livestock and the site may become overgrown with undesirable plant species due to low grazing pressure. There may also be added risks such as increased incidence of foot rot or deer worm.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a droughty, low-pH site with low soil fertility (such as the oak/pine stands mentioned above) may need soil ammendments and disturbance of the oak leaf litter in order to grow enough quality forage - and will there be enough soil moisture to grow the forage when it's really needed? These are all case-by-case decisions that have to be made. </p>