Silvopasture
The process of silvopasture as an agroforestry or sustainable land use project is a combination of grazing livestock production with trees and forage for the greatest possible benefit to each individual component. The benefits of silvopasture are far-reaching and include enhancing the local environment and ecosystem, increasing farm income through diversification, and assisting the local wildlife habitat as you can still see in one of the plenty natural parks in California.
Simply letting livestock graze in a wooded area is not silvopasture, but established forest areas can be effectively managed and maintained to be used for grazing animals as well as the production of timber products. Forage growth is the element that is often missing from established forest systems and must be added to the structure to provide an effective silvopasture process.
Starting a silvopasture from an empty pasture will allow the landowner to create a long-term timber farming scheme. Sapling trees allow the forage crop to receive a great deal of sunlight and as the trees grown, they will provide increasing amounts of protection from the wind and sun for the livestock. The key factors to success are the control of grass around the young trees as they start to develop and then managing the density of the trees as they grow.
It is not realistic to expect all pastures to be turned into silvopastures, but strategically placing them to complement the current system of grazing can benefit the landowner in many ways. The added income from harvesting the trees for timber products is just one way to increase the value of the farm. Creating a combined system of pastures and silvopastures can allow for the recovery of each component by placing the grazing livestock into one area and then once the other area has recovered, move the livestock over.
Advantages of silvopasture are the improved climate for the grazing animals, shade for certain forage plants, reduces the effects of deforestation, and increases the flow of nutrients in the soil as the deep reaching tree roots grab lower level nutrients and bring them to the upper layers. There are relatively few disadvantages to silvopasture such as potential increases in fencing costs, increased need for management of grazing cycles, and the trees and forage might hinder operation of farm equipment.
While any type of livestock can graze upon silvopasture, cattle and sheep are the primary users of such systems. The reduction of stress from heat is improved and nutritional quality is increased as well. Conventional or open range pastures produce more intense heat than a shaded pasture and shade is proven to improve animal production. Cold stress is important to protect against as well and properly designed silvopastures can provide protection for calving areas and feedlots.
Choosing forage that is tolerant of shade is important because once the full canopy of the forest area is developed it can be difficult to get any forage to grow. Portable or permanent water tanks are important to provide animals with the required amount of moisture they need while grazing. Need for water will decrease as the temperatures are maintained easier in a silvopasture system, but will still need to be considered.