– to the Technical Editor
Waitaria
RD 2
GISBORNE
8/9 November 1998
Hello Gail
Please accept my apologies for the slow response to your letter. I have been doing up to 100 hours work per week in an effort to save on wages so things are a little overwhelming! Curiously in Gisborne and the coastal country are extremely dry so we seem to go from drought to drought. Because of the conditions the Matawhero cattle fair last week became a 2-day sale with in excess of 7,000 sold and regretfully most went outside the district.
Over the years I have worked enormously hard to extol the merits of Tree Crop concepts in this region but have not been at all successful. At Waitaria we are poised to succeed after all these years so we look toward actually capitalising on other farmers lack of trees. In times of drought they are forced to sell and we buy at bargain prices. In the early 1980s the late George Halliwell was the profound influence in my life concerning land use and I still have all his information on file. Our effort regarding fodder trees has to be dynamic and somehow very persuasive. My experience generally is that most farmer believe that nay sort of tree reduces pasture growth. Some say that trees attract flies and sheep get fly strike. Others say that stock sitting in the shade and not eating grass are not gaining weight. My neighbour actually removed a shed because his stock were trying to seek shade.
The horrendous reality is that there are Animal Welfare issues involved with this tree subject. The bottom-line simply, in my view, cruelty to animals. Overseas consumers seem to be demanding acceptable animal welfare standards and meat companies are muttering about these issues in their newsletters. Hopeful something will trigger action but it may have to be legislation. That is how seriously I view this situation.
Anyway, when farm livestock get into a garden they selectively devour trees and shrubs that taste best, rather like children in a candy store. Even an unmown lawn is of secondary interest compared to the taste sensation of camellia, loquat, karaka etc.
My experience is that sheep v cattle taste preferences differ. For example sheep enjoy eating carob foliage and small twigs whereas cattle do no appreciate the back scratching opportunity! During the winter I have seen cattle trying to climb a fence trying to get at casuarina foliage but during summer they have little or no interest in this tree.
We have actually done experiments collecting a varied menu of tree species including Catalpa speciosa, Castanea sativa, Loquat foliage, different willow, poplars, eucalyptus etc then stood back and watch the cattle select their preferences. A near sniff is sufficient to discount catalpa and eucalyptus and they quickly selected loquat, willows and poplars. My observations are that Castanea sativa foliage is not favoured but at some times of the year, especially spring, bark is eaten, possibly for tannins. If they eat it they need it!
Both cattle and sheep enjoy eating the leaves, bark, pods and twigs of Leucaena leucocephela selection K 156.
In winter I have observed in horror, gates made of poplar timber and also the trunks of lombardy poplar being eaten by donkeys.
Food forests of fruit, nut and pod bearing trees offer wonderful compatible land use options. (Note the pine tree forestry people have coined the term agro-forestry and in my opinion the agro really means agro, as in antagonistic. Compatible forestry is not a very dynamic substitute but we have got to come up with something. I suspect pine foliage would be on a par with catalpa in terms of preference but I have no first hand experience.)
This year in the height of the 1998 drought we purchased ewes at $10 and $12.50 to eat acorns. The trees were sourced from seed collected from the Eastwoodhill Arboretum specifically for livestock palatability. Our oak paddock had no grass or clover feed available so these ewes had only acorns to eat while desert-like conditions prevailed. The ewes did really well so the theory really works. Obviously the great advantage of oaks and chestnuts is that one ends up with valuable timber with great benefit along the journey. (Relates to the pig and the cow story!)
We also purchased 30 rising 2-year heifers in the 1998 summer drought and fed them almost exclusively on willows. Again they did extremely well. To this day we have not dosed them and believe we have proved that tannins have and anthelmintic effect on worms. The slaughter sale price on 10 was more than double the purchase price! (I could provide numbers if you wish.)
Our best success-buying cattle in time of drought occurred in 1989. We bought cows that were so skinny they almost rattled. We paid $230 per head if they were alive and able to get off the truck upon arrival. They quickly gained condition eating tree fodder, subsequently had calves and then sold for $720. Having a bank of tree food in drought prone regions is really just common sense.
Hope fully the various enclosures will be of interest for you. George Halliwell was one of the founding members of our Tree Crops Association and produced many quality content publications about Tree Crops concepts. Just as a suggestion could “A Guide to Tree Forage Crops” be reprinted and become part of Tree Crops Publications available to members. He was a very special remarkable man. George did an enormous amount of reading research with fascinating snippets of extra information.
Mike Smith
(R.I.P.)