Practice Abstract - Research and innovation

Silvopasture - Better Biodiversity And Better Performance

Climate change brings more extreme weather - heat and drought in summer, more rain/wind in winter. At the same time the ratio of stock to hedgerows have increased. It is common therefore to have a lack of shelter, with too few trees leading to trampling and overcrowding in these areas, more issues of heat stress in summer, and hypothermia in winter.A well planned tailored silvopasture system integrating shelter belts, hedgerows or in field trees or alleyways can provide farm livestock with benefits including air quality, shelter and shade as well as supplementing their diets as tree browse or fodder if browse height is below 2 metres for cattle, and 1.3 metres for sheep. Silvopastures mitigates climate change, and sequestrate more carbon than just woodland. It can also reduce soil erosion, reduce nutrient leaching and manage water flow. Better shelter leads to better social behaviour - more licking, less stress/disease easier handling- Shelter and shade helps keep animals within critical temperature - improved fertility and health in dairy, improved feed conversion in beef and lamb, and improved lamb survival rates. Pinetrees have insecticidal properties, walnut trees produce a pheromone that deters flies and Willow produces salicylic acid - a metabolite of asperin. Ruminants natually browse (20% of sheep diet) and gain from energy, protein and trace elements.Leaf nutrition is similar to grass and tannins promote high quality rumen by-pass protein, reduce methane and parasite burdens. Willow is high in zinc and cobalt - balancing the natural grass shortage of cobalt in drought conditions leading to increased lamb growth rates. These benefits are in addition to greater biodiversity

Source Project
NEFERTITI - Networking European Farms to Enhance Cross Fertilisation and Innovation Uptake through Demonstration 2 of 2
Ongoing | 2018-2022
Main funding source
Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
Geographical location
France
Project details

Project Keywords