Tips For Choosing Trees for your Livestock Pasture

[canesisters]

@canesisters crepe myrtles are brittle and cows break them off. Not a good pasture tree for cows. The cows will eat them and tramples them down to nothing.

well shoot...

Humm... what I have an ABUNDANCE of: crepe myrtles, rose of sharron, mimosa. None of those are good choices.
Looks like I need to take a trip into the woods and along the fence lines to look for a few more suitable choices.

 

[goats&sheep19]

Legal??? Weeping willows are super common here. Used all over the place as decorative specimens near water features. I love how they look like umbrellas when livestock has access to them - huge, drooping canopy sheered off level with the animals' highest reach.
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Yeah, here in Australia some species (not all, ornamental weeping ones are fine I think) are classed as an invasive species, and one is not meant to have them.
Some of the rivers get completely clogged up, and they have done major spraying of trees to get it under control. We had to convince them to leave ours alone, as long as we trimmed (coppiced) them every year : )

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, here in Australia some species (not all, ornamental weeping ones are fine I think) are classed as an invasive species, and one is not meant to have them.
Some of the rivers get completely clogged up, and they have done major spraying of trees to get it under control. We had to convince them to leave ours alone, as long as we trimmed (coppiced) them every year : )

Chinese Tallow trees are the bane of east Texas and Gulf Coastal areas. They are a terrible invasive.

 

[Baymule]

Loved reading your post on choosing trees for livestock pasture! The idea of creating a silvopasture sounds fantastic. Shade, wind protection, and erosion prevention are huge perks. As the owner of a livestock farm, these tree-planting tips are pure gold! Excited to implement them on my farm for the well-being of my animals.

Before you plant anything, look it up to see if it is invasive for your area. Then study to see if it has any drawbacks. For instance, mulberry trees grow fast, make nice shade trees and bear delicious fruits if you can beat the birds to them! I will be planting white mulberry trees because of bird poop. I don’t want purple bird poop splatters on my car. There may still be bird poop splatters, but at least they won’t be purple! LOL