Sweet on Silvopasture

Silvopasture is an effective technology that producers can use to meet multiple objectives in managing their grazing lands.  Silvopasture combines trees with forage and livestock production. The trees are managed for high-value sawlogs and, at the same time, provide shade, shelter, and forage for livestock thereby reducing stress and sometimes increasing forage production.

A recent article in “Inside Agroforestry – Sweet on Silvopasture” notes how wildlife can be one of those benefits.  Getting wildlife managers and cattlemen to agree about how grazing lands should be managed can be a difficult task.  A cattleman’s objective centers around the forage needs of large herbivores, whereas a wildlife manager may focus on the needs of small ground nesting birds.  Silvopasture systems are common ground for the wildlife manager and the livestock producer.  Both have long recognized the value of native warm season grasses as a source of forage and a valuable habitat for grassland bird species.  Native warm season grasses, combined with trees and livestock production, enhance habitat for quail, turkey, and a variety of non-game species.  Using a double-row set of trees with 30 to 40-feet between sets, in combination with a native warm season mix, has the potential to create excellent habitat and also add forage for the livestock operation.

Sweet on Silvopasture, featured in the current issue of Inside Agroforestry, was a collaborative effort between the three National Technology Centers and the National Agroforestry Center to focus on silvopasture technologies.
Your contact is Anthony Burns, NRCS Technical Assistance to State Resource Conservationists, at 336-370-3358.

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