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Locust foliage for animal feed

Started by moodnacreek, September 12, 2018, 07:06:25 PM

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moodnacreek

Sawing locust this week and does the inner bark stink as it is warm, wet and spoiled. I remember my grandfather saying his father would cut the branches for the horses. Anybody ever feed it ?

nativewolf

Legumes, they feed foliage to to cows and goats all over the tropics.  In fact you'll be hard pressed to find an uncoppiced legume tree in much of India, Nepal, or much of the Sahel.  
Liking Walnut

nativewolf

And on another note, locust lumber is selling really well for me.  Logs that are worth sawing are tough to find.
Liking Walnut

Southside

My cows will graze locust, poplar, maple, standing on the edge of an alfalfa field. Lot of fiber and micro nutrients in trees that are not in grasses. They know it, we are the foolish ones who know "better". 
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Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
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moodnacreek


You guys put a smile on my face. It's really nice to know there are some real people out there, thanks.

Ianab

Handy trees to have around if you are in a drought prone area. Locust / poplar / willow etc will still be green and edible after the grass has browned off (deeper root system). Coppicing / pollarding are ways to recover fodder for your livestock, and still leave the tree alive to regrow a new crop. 

Pollarding is possibly a way to eventually grow a decent sawlog, while feeding your livestock as well?

Here's an article from the local farm forestry magazine about using hybrid poplar and willows as a "backup" food source though summer. 
NZ Farm Forestry - No. 22 Poplars and willows for drought fodder
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

TKehl

My goats love Locust (Black and Honey).  I call it "goat crack" the way they go after it when I drop some.  Only thing they like better is Elm or maybe Hedge.
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

samandothers

Interesting link Ian.  I know when we'd cut trees the cattle were happy to come partake.

We did not cut and leave Wild Cherry where the animals could bet to it.

Wudman

We used to run a commercial hog operation.  Our sows free ranged in open pasture.  One of our neighbors dumped a bunch of honey locust seed pods into the pasture after raking his yard one year.  His dad had fed locust to their hogs when he was kid.  He meant well.  The hogs loved it.  Now, 30 years later, we are fighting honey locust from one end of our farm to the other.  Hogs are pretty good at dispersing seed.  I was running the bush hog one day and took a thorn through the sidewall of a tractor tire.  As a teenager, I took one through the front of the boot into the tendon in the front of my leg just above the ankle.  That put me down for two weeks.  I don't care much for honey locust - at lease not the thorns (more like 10 penny nails).

Wudman
"You may tear down statues and burn buildings but you can't kill the spirit of patriots and when they've had enough this madness will end."
Charlie Daniels
July 4, 2020 (2 days before his death)

TKehl

The goats love the seed pods too.  Funny when they get in a new pen, from a distance it looks like they have a mouthful of snakes!   :o

We have a TON of honey locust trees that have grown up and the goats are an integral part of the TSI plan to thin them out pretty hard.  I hinge cut the smaller stuff and they will get 3-5 grazings on it before the root reserves are used up.   ;D  Looks like hell for a few years, but after I clean that up for firewood, the areas look like a park.   ;)

In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

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