Learn and discuss all things
Silvopasturing: IF YOU Can't beat Them, Eat them!
If you
By Brett Chedzoy ([email protected]) – Senior Resource Educator in Ag and Natural Resources
At the 2011 Northeast Silvopasture Conference, keynote speaker Jerry Brunetti stated: “The only practical way to control invasive plants on the landscape is to eat them.” He wasn’t referring to those in the audience, but rather to their livestock. Since then, over 150 regional livestock producers (as evidenced by the continually growing membership on Cornell’s silvopasture forum: www.silvopasture.ning.com) have shifted their thinking towards using their livestock as a workforce to control undesirable vegetation on their farms.
It has long been known that properly manage livestock can effectively and feasibly manipulate
plant communities. A groundbreaking three-year study known as the “Goats in the Woods” project
took place at Cornell’s Arnot Teaching and Research Forest in the early 2000’s to test the concept in sugarbush environments, where aggressive understory growth can be problematic for sugarbush management. That study lingered in the minds of many, prompting Cornell Cooperative Extension to formally begin educating audiences on silvopasturing: the sustainable integrated production of quality timber, forage and livestock. The first formal silvopasture workshop was held at Greene CCE’s Agroforestry Center in June 2008. Since then, dozens of events and publications have exposed thousands of livestock producers and land managers to the concepts of silvopasturing.
“The average NY grazing operation can increase profitability by $3,500/year with Silvopasturing”
What is
Silvopasture?