Woodland Grazing

[Rossymons]

I've tried searching around and haven't found anything in the TFF annals so here we go!

We have about 25 acres of woodland on our patch. Some of it very mature and a small but expanding area of natural regenerative woodland and some acres of steep, gorse and bramble covered ground.

After years of neglect we're FINALLY getting around to managing it properly with the help of myself, my sister and BiL and probably my girlfriend and her daughter when they're not jumping in puddles of swinging from the trees.

We've recently got our felling licence for the wood after its management plan was signed off.

A key part of managing it is going to be introducing animals to the areas and grazing. What animal I dont know- that's where this thread will hopefully become my diary about what we're doing and how it's working. I very much doubt we're the only ones in this position so hopefully my inevitable failures will be of use to someone.

Pigs and goats have been mentioned from a woodland point of view. Ever the agriculturist I'm concerned about escaping and knowing what market I'll be selling something into - something I know exactly where I am with cattle.

We have my sister's wedding next week and the chainsaws will start whirring in October. So now is time for planning so I'll keep you posted what we decide.

I'm totally out of my comfort zone I'll admit. So any questions please ask as I'd like to challenge ourselves. For now enjoy the blue bells.

 

[soapsud]

We tried it with sheep on rented ground. Despite bluebells and even forget-me-nots being poisonous. No animal got ill. Shade and shelter were the main benefits. Forage not so much

 

[Loadabullocks]

We tried it with sheep on rented ground. Despite bluebells and even forget-me-nots being poisonous. No animal got ill. Shade and shelter were the main benefits. Forage not so much

Yeah I’m a believer of the instinctual knowledge of animals to not kill themselves… providing they’ve got enough other stuff to eat and natural ish conditions

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Ha! Memory fades on this but I went to visit the UK Christmas Tree Grower of the Year’s place in 2010 with The RFS.
It was a great day out.
There were Christmas trees like you wouldn’t believe; Nordman, Norway & Serbian to name a few.
I loved the colours!
The crew put a lot of effort into presenting each tree in the best possible way.

They had pigs-in-the-woods, on some grant or other and from what was seen they were doing very nicely.
The venue was Stokenchurch so you may be able to find more details with an internet search.
Sorry to not be able to offer any more help than the above
SS

 

[Bury the Trash]

I've tried searching around and haven't found anything in the TFF annals so here we go!

We have about 25 acres of woodland on our patch. Some of it very mature and a small but expanding area of natural regenerative woodland and some acres of steep, gorse and bramble covered ground.

After years of neglect we're FINALLY getting around to managing it properly with the help of myself, my sister and BiL and probably my girlfriend and her daughter when they're not jumping in puddles of swinging from the trees.

We've recently got our felling licence for the wood after its management plan was signed off.

A key part of managing it is going to be introducing animals to the areas and grazing. What animal I dont know- that's where this thread will hopefully become my diary about what we're doing and how it's working. I very much doubt we're the only ones in this position so hopefully my inevitable failures will be of use to someone.

Pigs and goats have been mentioned from a woodland point of view. Ever the agriculturist I'm concerned about escaping and knowing what market I'll be selling something into - something I know exactly where I am with cattle.

We have my sister's wedding next week and the chainsaws will start whirring in October. So now is time for planning so I'll keep you posted what we decide.

I'm totally out of my comfort zone I'll admit. So any questions please ask as I'd like to challenge ourselves. For now enjoy the blue bells.

why the heck would you want to put stock in there for one thing its beautiful but it wont be after theyve destroyed it by shitting around and skummering about .. another they wont do on it just go and poke around and go back out to find proper grazing again

 

[Bury the Trash]

We tried it with sheep on rented ground. Despite bluebells and even forget-me-nots being poisonous. No animal got ill. Shade and shelter were the main benefits. Forage not so much

sheep dont even naturtally feel comfortable in woods ,they think there may be preditors in there and they cant flock properly in amoungst a loda of obsticals or like shadows or dark places.

 

[soapsud]

sheep dont even naturtally feel comfortable in woods ,they think there may be preditors in there and they cant flock properly in amoungst a loda of obsticals or like shadows or dark places.

There's woods and woods. Depends. . On the road from Salisbury down to Blandford is a great yew copse. Huge veterans. Wonderful on a hot summer's day! No sheep would last in that. But wide spaced deciduous trees are OK for them. A few glades.A bit a ground ivy. Even some bird's foot trefoil. And they were OK. Plus given the choice, most of our ewes lamb under trees - we lamb outside - just a hobby flock of 400 or so.

 

[Bury the Trash]

There's woods and woods. Depends. . On the road from Salisbury down to Blandford is a great yew copse. Huge veterans. Wonderful on a hot summer's day! No sheep would last in that. But wide spaced deciduous trees are OK for them. A few glades.A bit a ground ivy. Even some bird's foot trefoil. And they were OK. Plus given the choice, most of our ewes lamb under trees - we lamb outside - just a hobby flock of 400 or so.

i farm some parkland with large couple of hundred year old oaks mostly and a few relatively younger chestnuts they ought o be fended around really but the landlord say nothing of it.
yes they like to lie under those a fair bit ,tbf they are on higher ground which sheep like ,so they can look out for predators i suppose plus higher ground tends to be better drained which they like as wll. as does the arae around the stock of a tree, its drained well.

but in the woods further down i the valley, they are not keen at all , plus there rank stuff they dont eat and harbours ticks well, deer in the woods dont help that aspect either.
people claim sheep to be stupid, but they arent, not a stupid as cattle i reckon. lol.

now im older i do feel much more of a sense of responsibility towards trees etc. they have been here lonmger than me so far and will be there when im gone if allowed as well is a sobering thought.

 

[soapsud]

i farm some parkland with large couple of hundred year old oaks mostly and a few relatively younger chestnuts they ought o be fended around really but the landlord say nothing of it.
yes they like to lie under those a fair bit ,tbf they are on higher ground which sheep like ,so they can look out for predators i suppose plus higher ground tends to be better drained which they like as wll. as does the arae around the stock of a tree, its drained well.

but in the woods further down i the valley, they are not keen at all , plus there rank stuff they dont eat and harbours ticks well, deer in the woods dont help that aspect either.
people claim sheep to be stupid, but they arent, not a stupid as cattle i reckon. lol.

now im older i do feel much more of a sense of responsibility towards trees etc. they have been here lonmger than me so far and will be there when im gone if allowed as well is a sobering thought.

If they've poor grazing or lacking minerals they'll gnaw on young bark here. Lost a few ash - a few to the sheep - mainly to Die Back.

Here in Dorset woods are on steep sided hills on down in damp dark valleys where cropping wouldn't naturally be easy. Few of ours would tolerate overgrown thickets and closed in dankness.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Cattle are said to be very happy in woodland. The real benefit of introducing livestock would be from limiting access to short periods to prevent overgrazing. A great deal of effort is put into keeping deer out of woods because of the damage they cause.

Obviously late summer would be a better bet than in the nesting season.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Naphill common was on a main drovers route. The beech trees that grew there were very valuable as this was in the area of major furniture manufacturing.
If the driven herd were to overnight the drovers built barricades around the trees to stop them being eaten. As with all younger woodland there was grass in the less covered areas.
I’d hazard this is how parkland came to be popular with the trees lower branches clipped by the grazing animals to just 6’ off the ground.
No harm in high pruning a beech and feeding the resulting brash to the herd either. This resulted in nice knot free timber and a few more pennies per cubic foot at the point of sale.
SS

 

[Hesstondriver]

woodland makes an ideal run back for out wintering , if you got grass or perhaps kale next to it

 

[Rossymons]

Whilst the blue bells above is a lovely spot in our woods it's probably the best area albeit very small.

We'll be opening up the canopy and thinning out areas. Old field maps show there are 2 or 3 meadows in there that have just grown over and turned into rubbish. ambitious plans have made to dig a pond near the middle. The old rides which connected each side of the valley will help provide some decent access each block.

The woods will be split into areas and we'll be clearing one area at a time - it's a long term project.

 

[Bury the Trash]

If they've poor grazing or lacking minerals they'll gnaw on young bark here. Lost a few ash - a few to the sheep - mainly to Die Back.

Here in Dorset woods are on steep sided hills on down in damp dark valleys where cropping wouldn't naturally be easy. Few of ours would tolerate overgrown thickets and closed in dankness.

The beggars will go for bark even if they are up together with vits and mins, it's more likely the tannins in the bark they are after for whatever other reason their mouths make it possible sheep can be real destroyers. Apple trees z good example as I've found to my annoyance

 

[Whitepeak]

There's a chap near us on the Chatsworth estate who is planting a lot of trees to create open woodland to be grazed by his herd of Longhorns. He's Bubnell Cliff Farm on Facebook and Instagram. I'm sure he'll be happy to chat about what he is doing

 

[soapsud]

Whilst the blue bells above is a lovely spot in our woods it's probably the best area albeit very small.

We'll be opening up the canopy and thinning out areas. Old field maps show there are 2 or 3 meadows in there that have just grown over and turned into rubbish. ambitious plans have made to dig a pond near the middle. The old rides which connected each side of the valley will help provide some decent access each block.

The woods will be split into areas and we'll be clearing one area at a time - it's a long term project.

Are there woodland grands/funds for this?
Agro-forestry is being pushed by some of the alternatives now.

 

[Bury the Trash]

There are grants availlable for planting, free trees even with limitations but not for cutting them down .

 

[Rossymons]

Are there woodland grands/funds for this?
Agro-forestry is being pushed by some of the alternatives now.

A grant covered the woodland management plan which includes the felling licence.

But I won't be going down the grant route again as I'd rather have the freedom to get on with it as I see fit.

Having looked at planting trees on a decent area in the past I've decided it's just too much of a faff for what I want to achieve which is at odds to what the various grants want to achieve.

 

[soapsud]

A grant covered the woodland management plan which includes the felling licence.

But I won't be going down the grant route again as I'd rather have the freedom to get on with it as I see fit.

Having looked at planting trees on a decent area in the past I've decided it's just too much of a faff for what I want to achieve which is at odds to what the various grants want to achieve.

We've planted lines of trees on fence lines because hedges are a pain. The AONB officer came out to advise on grants. They're funded by Natural England not Defra/RPA. Like you, we ended up saying "no thanks"!

 

[Rossymons]

We've planted lines of trees on fence lines because hedges are a pain. The AONB officer came out to advise on grants. They're funded by Natural England not Defra/RPA. Like you, we ended up saying "no thanks"!

Everytime they've come to see me they say my shoulder height gorse and brambles are too environmentally diverse and that planting trees would be a bad idea. I'm not sure they actually wanted to plant that many trees to begin with