AG-05 · 01 Agriculture
Silvopasture in short rotation
Trees, forage and a small herd on the same ground, moved often enough that the pasture recovers and the canopy is not browsed to death.
Origin
Dehesa and montado systems; managed intensive grazing
Materials
- A small ruminant or cattle herd sized to the forage, not the ambition
- Mobile fencing
- Fodder trees and a nurse crop
Method
- 01
Size the herd to a drought year, not a green one. Overstocking is how silvopasture becomes a dirt lot with sticks.
- 02
Plant or protect fodder and shade trees in rows the animals can move between. Guard young trunks until they are above browse height.
- 03
Move the animals before they take more than half the forage. Recovery time is the actual crop.
- 04
Let manure lie. It is the fertility transfer from canopy to grass.
- 05
Keep a paddock map. The pattern is the infrastructure.
What this makes possible
- Shade, forage and protein from one piece of land
- Soil covered and rooted in both woody and herbaceous plants
- A herd that can be destocked or moved when the season turns
This is a field record, not a permit. Adapt to local law, climate and skill. If you have run this method, send what you learned.