Today we are talking about livestock fodder trees and why, if you’re raising livestock and want to continue eating high-quality meat and animal products in a time when livestock are being demonized as the cause of all things bad…you’d be wise to start growing and diversifying your feed inputs for your animals.
Fodder trees produce highly palatable and nutritious feed for livestock in the form of leaf vegetation, small twigs and branches, fruit and nuts. Planting livestock fodder trees enable grazing managers to dramatically increase the number of calories produced per acre by stacking yields vertically and temporally without diminishing (and often improving) the growth of grass-based forages underneath the tree canopy. Using trees for fodder – either as direct browse, cut and carry, chop and drop, or in the making of ensilage or tree hay – has a long history in Europe, and is making a resurgence in North America as the adoption of agroforestry practices like silvopasture (the integration of livestock rearing and tree production) increases due to the many advantages provided by such systems.
We’ll cover the benefits of silvopasture systems and incorporating livestock fodder trees into your existing pastures, how to select appropriate fodder trees for your region and grazing operation, and a few different ways to manage your trees in concert with your animals.
Resources
- TSH – Livestock Fodder Trees For Temperate Climates
- Feedipedia
- TSH Fodder Trees YouTube Playlist
- TSH Silvopasture YouTube Playlist
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Music by Alex Grohl
