Around the Farm
Dairy Dreaming, Silvopasture Solution, an Orchard Update
After moving back out to the little sister of Viriginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Morgan and I are hopeful, if even a little eager, to try our hand at raising a dairy cow. Have you ever tried raw milk? It’s delightful. On top of being delicious and nutritious, it can act as the keystone to a homestead. Like the beaver whose daily activities bring about valuable habitat for countless other species in wetland ecosystems, a dairy cow’s daily ruminations provide, not habitat, but valuable protein for the homestead. Calf, cats, pigs, chickens, and of course humans are only a few beneficiaries of a dairy cow’s daily gift.
But with a dairy cow comes obligation. The fantasy can quickly turn into a ball and chain. But you could say the same about marriage. And, like marriage, the experience of having a dairy cow will depend on one’s intention, attitude, and effort. Unlike marriage, it’s not a lifetime commitment. So, although it feels daunting, we are moving in that direction and intend to give it a shot.
The plan is to build a barn first. Depending on who you ask, it’s a simple barn. But the plan is for me to do most of the building which means the process will be slow. I’ll do my best to keep you all updated with the process.
In the barn will be a shop. It will also house chickens and cats. There will be ample room for the dairy cow and calf, as well as, perhaps a few sheep. The key limiter is pasture.
What we have for pasture is roughly an acre and a half. The half portion is wooded. There is enough light making it through the canopy for grass and forbs (broadleaf plants and wildflowers) to grow underneath. The remaining acre or so is pasture. It isn’t the best pasture, but it isn’t the worst either. Which leads me to what I want to talk about next:
Pasture Management
I’m not short of passion. Or opinions. So, it may be no surprise to some of you that pasture management is a topic that I could wax on about for hours. Literally. And this is before I have seriously tried my hand at it. I have strong opinions on a topic that I have minimal experience. That fact isn’t lost on me. However, it remains true. And so, I look forward to leveling the equation and gaining valuable experience.
It will be a challenge to manage the acre and a half. I have a high standard. I want beauty. I want productivity. I want biologically diverse pastures, teeming with life. I want it produced with regenerative principles, without the use of synthetic chemicals.
This will be a challenge, but the idea of crumbly, living soil underneath a canopy of forbs, grasses, and wildflowers buzzing with insects of all kinds, underneath a canopy of diverse trees, really gets me excited. The truth be told - I’m more excited about accomplishing this and sharing it with others than I am about the milk, meat, or eggs. However, accomplishing the feat won’t be possible without the animals. They are vital to a silvopastoral ecosystem.
Silvopastoral Production Systems
There is a problem with southern pastures. Particularly in the area where our family lives (North Alabama). We have cold, wet winters; temperate, wet springs; hot, dry summers with thunderstorms; dry, temperate autumns. The problem lies in the intersection of maximum pasture productivity and rain events. It is temperate enough to grow forage (food for pastured animals) throughout the winter here. However, in early spring, when that forage should be fattening your livestock, chances are, the fields will be a muddy mess. In these conditions, you can’t let your animals out consistently enough because your fields will be ruined. The summers here are mild enough that we can grow excellent summer forage. But when the warm season forage should be at its peak, and packing weight on your animals, we are typically experiencing some type of drought conditions. This means it is difficult to consistently count on forage this time of the year.
Seasoned pastoral farmers deal with this by cutting hay during the late spring and early summer. This ensures they will have feed through the wet winter, early spring and dry autumn. But if you are like me and don’t have the capacity to cut hay, this is a problem.
The solution that I’d like to propose is a transition to a silvopastoral system. “Silva” is forest in latin, and like the name silvopastoral suggests, it means incorporating trees into the pastoral setting. This isn’t a new concept. It has been around for a while. Still, few farmers in my area have embraced the concept. None, that I know of actually.
But, I tend to be contrary. And so, I look forward to going the silvopasture direction. However, it isn’t just my penchant for contrariness - it makes sense. Take for instance the picture at the beginning of this section. It is a trailer with green grass underneath it. Surrounding it is brown grass. Why? Because the trailer has sheilded the soil from the drying effects of the late summer, Alabama sun. There are countless other examples around the Graham Farm and Nature, where I work. Under picnic tables, under the trees on the edge of pastures, on the north side of buildings where the shade is cast for much of the day.
The idea is simple: Plant trees that will provide shade for the soil during the heat of late summer.
Now, the problem is that trees require water. A lot of water. This means it matters what trees you plant in this system. They can’t be shallow-rooted trees that will take valuable resources away from your grasses and forbs. They need to be deep-rooted trees that will pull its water from deep down within the soil. There are other considerations as well. You can’t plant trees that are toxic to the animals you are raising, or trees that will change the flavor profile of the milk or meat. You also need to avoid trees that actively prevent plants from growing around them, like black walnuts.
A key principle will be diversity. I will plant multiple types of trees and over time I will learn what combos work best for our situation.
An Orchard Update
The orchard isn’t pretty right now. The trees are growing well. And so are the “weeds”. I don’t plant on maintaining the orchard like a lawn. More like a silvopasture. So, a blend of forbs, grasses, and wild flowers is great. But right now, the “forbs” and “grasses” are dog fennel and broom sedge. Not pretty. Not the goal. I’ll cut it all back and spread some different seed in the orchard this fall/winter to increase the seed bank diversity. I’ll also need to coordinate with the sheep farmer who is grazing in the orchard currently. They are eating everything but the dog fennel and broomsedge. Which means - they are selecting for it. I’ll start mowing behind the sheep and asking for longer rest periods in between grazes. This will allow the crops like plantain, clover, and comfrey to recover and expand.
I’d also like to mention that I didn’t trim any of the fruit trees this past year. I’ll do it in late winter this year. I will prune, train, and will likely keep all trees from fruiting next spring to make sure they send their energy to their roots to get well established. I should have done that this year but I didn’t.
Overall, I’m really pleased with the manure mulch we put down last year. It is doing a great job keeping other plants away from the base of the trees. This fall, I will add some wood chip mulch to go with some more sheep manure around the base of the trees.
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Awesome update! Excited to stay tuned to the process! We just started getting raw milk from a local farmer and my whole family is loving it!👏🏽
I can’t wait to see updates on your silvopasture! I’ve noticed how green things are under some of our trees- even the small ones. It sometimes seems like they’re helping pull water up from deeper in the soil.