#21 Silvopasture benefits

Hello, I am Jim Elizondo from Real Wealth Ranching where our goal is to help you maximize your profitability while you improve your land the fastest.

Welcome back to another episode of Fat Cows, Fat Wallet Podcast. I hope you are having a great week. And today we are going to talk about something that is transcendental, improving your land at a low cost with management.

We have learned some important things in this podcast, for example, soil humus is the real fertility of your soils, soil humus was much higher a long time ago which means we are mining the humus of our soils and we are not putting back or creating more of it.

Please invite or share this podcast with others you think could benefit from it as I want to help as many people as possible to regenerate their land to achieve good for all.

Trees are essential for the best health of soil and ecosystems; they help regenerate the land and landscape much faster than other low-cost methods. 

My students of Total grazing know how important trees are for their business and what are the best methods to create the best environment with trees.

Silvopasture is the deliberate integration of trees and grazing livestock operations on the same land. These systems are intensively managed for both forest products and forage, providing both short- and long-term income sources.

This definition is from the USDA forest service, but my own definition is different. 

Silvopasture, to me, is the integration of trees with grazing/browsing livestock operations to maximize profitability while improving the land the fastest. This is best done with leguminous or not, trees that can also provide high-quality fodder to our livestock in times of need. This has the potential of huge economic and environmental benefits for your land and is one of the most promising.

Today we will go through 5 points on the importance and why of silvopasture, next podcast will talk about how to create the best silvopasture to fit your goals.

While most recommendations are for trees that cannot be damaged by livestock as they are using continuous or selective grazing I am going to base my recommendations on experience on the ground while doing Total Grazing at high stocking rates. 

This may sound not very important but believe me, it makes the whole difference in maximizing profits and improving your land.

1. Abundant trees in your pastures 

We need around 30% of the area with trees to maximize their benefits to your land. By this I mean 30% of the area needs to be shaded. It is best to have species that cast a diffuse shade so that grasses/forages can grow up to the trunk.

Normally I build permanent electric fences on both sides of my tree row to protect them from livestock damaging the tree by peeling off the bark, especially when young.

2. The best species can be leguminous or not, but with extremely high quality/palatable for browsing or coppicing.

The following species come to mind: Leucaena, Mimosa, Honey locust, Mulberry, Siberian pea shrub/caragana, etcetera. Most important when selecting the species is that they are adapted to your environment as we do not want to try to grow trees that want to die.

3. Plan with the end in mind.

People usually do not like to plan long term, but with trees, it is a necessity. Will they be in rows? Will they be in islands? How many trees per each 100 ft of row? Which will be the row orientation? What will be the distance between rows? Will they be at the end of the paddock in a certain area, or in rows, or islands all over your property? Will it be a single species or a mixture? Will they be directly browsed in time of need, or will they be coppiced?

Hedge effect is where the trees or forest meet the pasture and is very important to maximize biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Remember that species like deer, quail, pheasants, and turkeys need a place to hide from predators and pasture to feed in. If you intend to create a savanna effect for wildlife, as in a place where you use livestock grazed under total grazing to enhance and upgrade the environment for wildlife like for hunting, then islands spread around the property may be a better option.

4. What are the benefits?

Trees are mineral recycling pumps which bring the minerals that have lixiviated too deep for the grass to bring them up to the soil surface. Trees have deeper roots and help recycle minerals to the surface when browsed, coppiced, or from leaf fall contribute to better mineral status in your soils.

Temperatures under the diffuse shade of trees are lower than under direct sunlight, this means a more efficient nitrogen cycle which helps grass grow better under them than far from them. I have recorded 40% faster regrowth under the diffuse shade of Leucaena trees, this means that total production can be increased by planting trees in rows. 

Now, my total grazing students have learned that stocking rate determines profitability and the speed at which land is improved. Let us mention other advantages of integrating trees:

• Trees provide shade for us and livestock.
• Trees provide habitat for wildlife and insects both above and below 'ground. This improves biodiversity which is need for resilience in your land.
• Trees are beautiful to have, some species provide beautiful blooms and scenic value.
• Trees can be used to provide much-needed fodder for livestock in tough times, serving as standing hay, by coppicing them.

5. Highly palatable trees give higher nutrition and mineral status than most forages.

This is important as by providing tree fodder your livestock will be healthier and, in many cases, they help control internal parasites with their tannins and insect pests with the habitat required for birds that prey on them.

Imagine being able to save money on protein supplements in the dry season and/or hay in the Winter with species like Mulberry, Leucaena, mimosa, caragana in some environments and species like willow and others in other environments. Please remember, tree fodder is of higher quality than grasses and improves the rumen function by including diversity.

Conclusions and recap

1. Plan for abundant trees in your pastures, around 30% of the area with diffuse shade. Remember it is important to protect them from your livestock.

2. Select high-quality species that grow fast and have high palatability. Consider if you are going to allow your livestock to browse them directly or if you are going to coppice them

3. Plan with the end in mind, get detailed plans before you start but do not delay as it takes time for trees to grow. In my case, it was 3-5 years for shade and fodder from the first year.

4. Consider the many and huge advantages that trees will bring to your life, land, and profits.

5. Remember that tree fodder is higher quality than most grasses and can be used when grass quality or quantity is low.

Next podcast I will talk about how to no-till drill trees into your pasture to save 30 times the cost it would be to transplant trees. 

I will also detail the numbers and profits that palatable trees bring to your business.

Goodbye, make sure you subscribe to the podcast n Spotify, iTunes, or YouTube, you can also join us on the weekly email at www.rwranching.com/join