New Zealand Tree Crops Association

– an overview of the benefits of Trees to Livestock Farmers.

Basic rights

Do we have the right to food, shelter and water? Are animals are entitled to the same? What makes it right to leave animals in ‘green deserts” which we see turn very brown in dry conditions? Or let animals be washed away by floods?

Animal Welfare uses the ‘five freedoms’:

Not all problems can be avoided but some may be alleviated. Planting trees can have real benefits for people, animals and the land, thereby enabling these animal welfare issues to be affected.

Lifestyle/small block holders v farms

Recent news articles state that MAF are receiving a disproportionate number of complaints about the welfare of livestock on lifestyle blocks. I can but wonder if this is the whole picture. By their very size they are highly visible but on the other hand there are plenty of ‘real farmers’ who still think their stock do not reach production levels if they have access to shade. I have read “Sun will not hurt your cows”, “Cutting down trees in your pasture will increase dry matter intake and milk production”, and “Never provide shade as cows will stop eating and stand in available shade”. ii
In the same article the farmer stated that “Cows will take only a certain number of bites of grass per day” so it seems to me that there comes a time when they are not going to be grazing but resting, ruminating or generally doing their own thing. When we are stressed we usually lose our appetites. Maybe animals are the same.

Solutions with Trees

We can use trees to solve numerous problems for both our animals and us.

With a little thought and forward planning we can maximise our land use to help prevent the disasters which are likely to befall us at some time or other. While some pasture can be lost with the initial tree plantings it is certain that you will reap some benefits along the way. By conserving your land, protecting your animals and tending to their well being, ensuring pleasant surrounding for yourself as well and making that ever so important accounting word ‘money’.

Why plant trees?

Trees have an effect in increasing total precipitation more that you recorded on your rain gauge. Water is collected on twigs from fog, rime and drifting cloud. Trees influence run-off by slowing it down to prevent soil removal, silting and scouring. A narrow belt of trees along the foot of a slope can stop the soil brought down the hillside by rain.

Planting trees can help local rainfall. Trees are the best translators and moderators of incoming energy. Sunlight, wind and precipitation are modified for life and growth. Trees not only build but also conserve the soils, shielding them from the impact of rain or hail and the drying out caused by wind and sun. Without trees we create deserts and droughts and we are seeing this increasingly around us.

All parts of the tree create biomass zones. These are the visible parts, such as the trunk and crown, humus and detritus at the soil level and roots and fungi underground but together forming a total entity.

Wind has an effect on trees and trees can effect the wind. Wind carries moisture, snow, ice, dust, sand, bacteria and seeds. Different species of trees react differently so the right trees need to be in the right places. By day the evaporation off trees cools air in hot weather and the night condensation warms it. We can utilise these microclimate conditions.

Trees help create our soils and atmosphere by root pressure and the breakdown of rock, adding humus and other decomposers along the way. They also establish and maintain oxygen in the atmosphere and an active water vapour cycle essential to life.iii

Some good reasons to plant trees?

Trees are the guardians of water and soil

The main cause of most floods – and losses – are our abuse of watershed lands. No matter what its size, it is from a watershed that a river gets it water supply, and what happens here can affect places many miles away. There are the catastrophic floods which make the headlines but much more often a torrential storm over a small drainage area causes only a local flood which destroys the land or crops of only a few. But because they are so numerous, collectively such floods from minor stream cause more damage that the spectacular ones. (We have a neighbour up a bit who grazed his treeless land during a big rain here last year. Needless to say most of that area washed down silting and blocking drains on our adjacent neighbour and our land entailing costs to us both to repair the damage. GN)

Although the earth’s water supply is limited and finite, and although humans, animals and plants constantly use enormous quantities of water, not a single drop is ever lost, and the available supply always remains constant. The water cycle – water vapourised by solar heat rises then cools to precipitate as rain, hail, sleet or snow. Two thirds fall back into the seas. Large quantities are immediately taken up by plants, crops, grasses and trees and in time returned to the atmosphere through transpiration without ever having fed a single creek or stream. It is the watershed land that nourishes the creeks that combine to form the rivers carrying the water back to the sea – the water that can sustain us or destroy our creations.

Precipitation falling on a watershed disperses in four ways. A small amount evaporates, roots of trees or plants take some, some will sink into the ground to become part of the groundwater system and some may stay on the surface and run off to lower ground.

The last two are the greatest interest to us as only groundwater can maintain the even flow of creeks and streams: water that stays on the surface causes floods.

If precipitation becomes groundwater or surface water depends on the condition of the watershed. So it is here that trees play one of the most important parts in the cycle because if the watershed is covered with trees it can absorb many times the amount a treeless area could.

Rain falling on a treeless watershed strikes the unprotected ground with its full force. The bomb-like drops soon batter and churn the ground, filling the spaces where the water could enter the soil. Badly compacted ground can’t absorb the overflow so the water races downhill in millions of little currents. These combine to become torrents of water that deeply gouge and gully the hillsides, taking large amounts of topsoil, gravel and stones and dumping them in reservoirs of blanketing the lower land with choking layers of silt.

The same misuse of land that increases flood dangers is also largely responsible for water shortages. When water from rain or snow runs off quickly rather that being stored in the ground there is no reserve to keep springs, streams and lakes supplied during the dry season.

If the watershed is covered with trees the foliage and branches break the force of the falling rain and the decomposing plant matter and mosses prevent the soil from being splashed about. This forest litter keeps the soil porous, ideal to store large amounts of water. This way the rain falling from the trees percolates into the groundwater system.

Trees also influence Snow accumulation and melting. In a sheltered site the snow can remain unmelted and water released later rather than contributing to high flows in early spring.iv

A Farmer’s Experience

Droughts, floods and erosion are major problems for some regions. Multi-purpose trees will play a vital role cushioning the severity of these events. Traditionally pasture or dependence on the top six inches of soil dominates much of our land use. This syndrome is a recipe for disaster, but the great tragedy is that traditional farmers are unable, unwilling or unaware of the need for changes. Perhaps many farmers regard the addition of a tree or trees to a pasture as a retrograde step because the shading may decrease pasture production. This is true of some trees, for example pasture and pine trees frequently referred to as agro-forestry. A more compatible tree in a pastoral situation is Honey Locust.

From my own experience shelter trees have been a lifesaver for my farming enterprise. Primarily the shelter was established to protect horticultural crops, but immense benefits have been gained for pasture and livestock. Briefly benefits include:

Mike Smith’s farm in the Gisborne area is in a critical drought situation with virtually no grass available for a resident cattle population of over one hundred animals. One option was to truck them out of the district to a location with abundant grass but the cost was a disincentive. Instead he opted to trim shelter; Lombardy Poplar, Willow (Salix triandra) and Leuceana and feed out in a similar way to feeding out hay in the winter. Extra work sure, but the shelter needed trimming anyway. The whole exercise went extremely well and the cattle are happy and content, and it has provided employment. The overall cost has been less than the trucking account to send the cattle away and the grazing fees.v

Trees as Fodder

There are three main types of fodder trees:

Foliage trees are tasty so some protection will be needed so they are not ring-barked or killed by the stock. They can be grown behind or between fences, netting, or other protective barriers. Then when you want you can cut and drop the branches as either emergency fodder in times of drought, flood or as part of your grazing routine. The time of year you want the fodder will determine the type of tree you use.

Tagasaste (formerly Tree Lucerne), an evergreen woody shrub is mostly short-lived so needs constant harvesting to maintain maximum leaf production. It grows quickly and is comparable to Lucerne in dry matter with the additional advantage of the pods if it gets a chance to mature. Because of it’s seasonal cycle this food would be available when other trees such as willow or poplar are leafless. A Blenheim farmer has planted his tagasaste in a grid pattern with room to cut by tractor-mounted mower on four sides and top of the clumps, giving at least five nutritious feeds per paddock. Other all year round fodder trees to consider are Tree Medic and Carob.

Willows and poplars are being developed which are extremely successful as summer fodder. These as well as Plane can be coppiced (cut close to the ground or pollarded (cut higher so animals can browse underneath).

We have seen the stock come running at the sound of the chainsaw. (GN)

Trees with edible fruits and pods can be used for stock food as well as for you. As fruit ripen at various times of the year they can be used to provide extra nutrients just before sending animals to the works, breeding or survival in times of low feed supplies. If you have an orchard, animals can clean up windfall, diseased or excess fruit which in turn dramatically reduces pests. It is a common observation that in the Bay of Plenty that where peaches are grown where animals can graze have practically no brown rot. In Nelson during the drought we saw stock fed apples then kiwifruit (GN) – be careful though in introducing new foods to your stock not to overfeed as this can have disastrous results. As always a balanced diet is a must. Honey Locust is good because they drop their pods over an extended period.

The most common seeds fed to animals are those from the family that includes oaks, chestnuts and beech, as they have protein that is unusually high in amino acids which are lacking in grass and clover. vi

Mike Smith of the Gisborne area has experience that sheep and cattle taste preferences differ eg sheep enjoy carob foliage and small twigs whereas cattle do not. During winter cattle have been seen trying to climb a fence to get at casuarina foliage but during summer they have little or no interest in this tree. His observations are that Castanea sativa foliage is not favoured but at some times of the year, especially spring, the 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 a Leucaena selection. Younger stock and some adult cattle displayed reluctance to eat tree feed, but hunger was a persuasive influence.

Care should be exercised because leaves of some trees can be poisonous, e.g. Rhus, Oleander and Rhododendron.

The conclusion is that while there may not be pasture available all the time there are many other tree crops that can be fed to animals and prevent the disastrous losses that are becoming more prevalent in these times of seemingly regular drought/flood conditions. Farmers with trees as a fodder crop can certainly capitalise on the low purchase price of stock at these times. During the drought of 1989 in Gisborne cows that were so skinny the almost rattled were bought at $230 per head if they were alive and able to get off the truck. They quickly gained condition eating tree fodder, subsequently had calves and then sold for $720. Just common sense really.

Feeding out the trees has taken pressure off the pastures during the dry months by not having touch supplies of winter-feed. After the drought breaking rain the cattle go through lean times as the grass becomes slushy and the cattle will not eat it.

Other benefits

“The benefits of feeding out trees are enormous and many of them are hidden.” Poplars are high in zinc and this can help counteract liver damage through facial eczema. Feeding out trees also helps prevent cattle grazing too low into the litter where facial eczema spores are concentrated.

If you are worried by worms willow leaves contain a natural anthelmintic which can help protect animals from worms and al so have salicylic acid which is the main ingredient in aspirin. This can give relief for ailments such as arthritis. The higher the content of salicylin the less likely the trees will end up on the possums’ menu. The leaves are also useful in preventing spring metabolic problems and contain cobalt which can help prevent bush sickness.

Shelter

Shelter is protection. Shelter from weather conditions - wind, either hot dry or chilling, heavy rain, hail, snow, and sun. Trees can provide privacy, for people and stressed stock.

Shelterbelts with the right siting (generally east-west to provide shade) and the correct composition (evergreen, deciduous, fodder types, porousity etc) and their management have a major role in protecting livestock

Most animals in their natural habitats use their knowledge of the local area to maintain body heat by seeking shade, moving into windy places or standing still. We could give them this chance in captivity.

Heat stress, which adversely affects reproductive performance, and cause other health problems, can be alleviated by access to shade.

Cold winds cause hypothermia and death in recently shorn ewes and newborn lambs. Many South Island farms have sleet or snow storms during the lambing period and here shelter from snow is critical. The purpose of the snow shelterbelts is to filter the wind thus trapping the snow. Stock who have shelter grow faster and are healthier.

Conclusion

It is our moral responsibility implicit in the ‘five freedoms’ described by the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee that providing and moving stock to adequate shelter, providing water, freedom from unnecessary stress and enough food to eat. All of these can be attained with the use of trees.

Gail Newcomb, Technical Editor, 1999

Sources:

i    MAF, Sustainable Agriculture and Animal Welfare

ii    FW Owens, Owenlea Holstein Article

iii    Bill Mollison, Permaculture Design

iv    Andreas Feininger, Trees

v    Michael Smith, Personal Notes

vi    Nick Nelson Parker, Tree Cropper Article
       NG Gregrory, NZ Journal or Agricultural Research

 

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