Silvopastoral Practices

Agroforestry for ruminants: a review of trees and shrubs as fodder in silvopastoral temperate and tropical production systems

“…Although a wide variety of systems exists according to objectives and management procedures, silvopastoral systems are commonly achieved in two ways, either by planting trees on an established pasture or by introducing livestock and/or forage production in a forestland (Peeters et al 2014). In accordance with Etienne (1996) and Sharrow et al (2009) at farm-scale level, three main silvopastoral structures can be considered in terms of plant composition:  trees on pasture: woody perennials are planted widely-spaced on an already established sward in order to benefit from product diversification and/or from woody-herbaceous plants associations; 6  grazed forest: an existing woodland or forest is thinned and sown to take advantage of the components interaction and/or diversification;  forestry in a livestock farm or forested rangelands: trees and shrubs are planted at high density to diversify production at whole farm level.…”

“…Silvopastoral systems are encountered worldwide (Hove et al 2001;Dalzell et al 2006;Sharrow et al 2009;Bestman et al 2014) and reported as the most prevalent agroforestry system in developed countries (Sharrow 1999). They are diverse and complex: forest grazing or silvopastures (Sharrow et al 2009), woodlands or wood-pastures (Rackham 2013), locally named as the Dehesa in Spain, Montado in Portugal (Dupraz and Liagre 2008) or Streuobst in some temperate European countries (Herzog 1998). In some systems, animals are set to graze the pasture growing under or beside the woody resource but are not fed with it, while in others, it is considered as feed, assuming that two types of fodder may be produced from shrubs and trees, the foliage (i.e.…”

“…), planted for soil conservation in New Zealand (Pitta et al 2005) and to produce wood chips for energy in United Kingdom (Smith et al 2014), is used to feed livestock at the same time. Shrubs and trees may then be established within grazing systems for environmental purposes as silvopastoral systems are considered to supply ecosystem services, at a range of spatial and temporal scales (Jose 2009;Sharrow et al 2009). Planting shrubs and trees on farmlands has been shown to improve air and water quality.…”

Agroforestry Standards for Regenerative Agriculture

“…Silvopasture is an agroforestry practice that "combines trees with forage (pasture) and livestock production" [47]. There are two approaches to the establishment of silvopasture: (1) the planting of tree species on pastureland; or (2) the thinning and management of existing forestland to establish forage crops and accommodate grazing of livestock, sometimes referred to as forest grazing [15,76]. Through either approach, trees and pasture are managed as a single integrated system that is actively used to graze livestock [77].…”

“…Through either approach, trees and pasture are managed as a single integrated system that is actively used to graze livestock [77]. Converting pasture to silvopasture diversifies a rancher's sources of revenue and can provide the security of mid-to long-term revenue from tree crops, such as fruit, nuts, and/or timber [76]. The trees in silvopasture systems can also shade livestock from direct sunlight, as well as abate winds to provide livestock limited protection from cold weather [77].…”