MAKING HAY FROM TREES | AGROFORESTRY for feeding our GOATS & SHEEP
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2021
- FARMVLOG #71 continues where we left off in the last vlog, preparing to make tree hay.
Tree hay is the ancient process of gathering leafy branches in the summer, when the nutrients are at the highest, bundling the branches together and drying them to make hay to feed to the sheep and goats in the winter when grass is scarce. We look at the agroforestry systems we have planted to be able to to supply all our tree hay needs, namely the silvopasture systems we have designed, but also look at making tree hay from willow hedges that we planted to break the wind and stabilise a steep bank. We look at the methods for drying the tree hay bundles, moving the bales in our BCS two wheel tractor to our ruined blacksmith building for storage.
About Tap o' Noth Farm:
Hi, we're James and Rosa! Welcome to Tap o' Noth Farm, a quarter acre Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) market garden and 8 acre permaculture designed food forest farm/homestead in Aberdeenshire, NE Scotland. We practice home scale to small farm scale agroforestry and regenerative agriculture methods to produce organic fruit and vegetables, raise dairy goats for all our raw milk needs, Shetland sheep and geese to graze our silvopasture and coppice systems and laying hens, moved around in a Chickshaw, for an abundance of eggs.
Our FARMVLOGS are more 'how we do' rather than 'how to'. They are a daily diary or fly on the wall look at a young couple running a working permaculture farm. Our TAP TIPS videos are more of a focused tutorial style video.
Patreon: / tapfarm
If you're looking for even more content from James and Rosa then you can become a patron of Tap Farm. It takes James between 5-10 hrs to edit our vlogs, let alone the time it takes to film and farm at the same time! Your support will aid us greatly in producing our FARMVLOGS, enabling us to take the time needed to craft a beautiful film and to help fund the licences needed for the vlog soundtrack. We will list your name at the end of each vlog episode so everyone knows how brilliant you are! We will also keep you updated on our farm work/life by posting exclusive video content that is not available on CZcams such as FARMVLOG outtakes, behind the scenes footage, hints & tips and more in depth videos discussing the many permaculture systems to be found on the farm PLUS the odd photo from Rosa and James.
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#treehay #permaculture #makinghayfromtrees
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I always wondered why cows and horses in most states chomp on the tree branches ...........ANY kind or bush .......... now I know. All the oak trees are very uniformly chewed at a certain heighth.
They must LOVE the variety it provides, there are also Dairy cows that dine on leaves too!!
Pigs love this stuff fresh or dried too!!
I didn't know about tree hay!
What a great and smart permaculture method!
Thanks for sharing this knowledge.
God bless 🙏
SUPER PRETTY 😍😙😙😙😗😗😗😎
Thank you so much my Scotland ancestors for this wealth of knowledge. We live on a wooded 8 acres and where we live is big ag dominated and Pasture land is seemed to believe the only way you can raise cattle and sheep. We have goats and have been hesitant to get cattle or sheep since this type of education is nonexistent in this area kf the USA. I've already been looking at breeds of cattle and sheep that are able to be sustained on tree hay. Our animals have been so heavily modified genetically to be so dependent on grain, that many people have their cattle die because they're not getting enough grain. Bless you all and please keep sharing in detail all of your verbiage and knowledge so we can glean from your experience and wisdom working in this way on your Homestead. Shalom Aleichem.
Thank you!
look into Greg Judy videos, he raises cattle on no grain he in Missouri in the U.S.
God's provision for men...
He is unending His love.
There was no machinery in ancient of days.
Great ideas for the goats. Thanks…
Love the fiddle music with the 2 wheeled tractor
Yeah it's a good one isn't it!
I absolutely love your music selections! Thank you.
Thanks so much!
Thank you!
A sustainable cycle of life - bless you for your wisdom and your stewardship of this sacred land we live on!!!
Thank you very much!
Hey there my family’s Scottish, I’m from Oregon USA, but I’ve been learning and practicing permaculture and farmstead things for a while now. I love finding people who make it a productive life style! Looking forward to your content 😄👍
Hi...
You've been working hard!
Although I am not a farmer and don’t keep goats, your channel is increasingly informative. I value a sustainable and healthy source of food and hope that many more farms can adopt similar approaches. Thank you for keeping your channel going 👍❤️
Hi Nat - thanks so much for the encouraging and supportive words, great to hear that even though you don't farm our vlogs are of interest to you. Cheers!
Hey, I am from Bangladesh. I am an English teacher here. But I have passion for rearing livestock. I like the people who are involved in farming. Best wishes for you. Go ahead with your great work.
Md. Abdus Salam
🥩From the OZARKS 👋🏻
🌿Don’t Hay but Sure Part
of the Rotation 🍀
🕊
I first heard of this practice in a kid's book called 'Ronia The Robber's Daughter' by Astrid Lindgren (she also wrote Pippi Longstocking).
In the story, Ronia lives with her parents and their crew of highway robbers in some caves in Sweden (I think). The menfolk rob, and Ronia's mother maintains a goatherd.
There's a scene where the mother is gathering tree branches to stock up the cave for winter, to feed her goats. I guess the robbing industry falls off a bit in the winter months.
Hehe! I love watching the animated version of the story with my daughter.
This was so helpful....I'm Sheryl from Washington state and just purchased 30 acres of timberland where I will begin my retirement journey being self sufficient. There is willow, birch and aspen all over. We can farm only 4 acres and plan to raise goats but also want to be good forest stewards ... I had never heard of tree hay before this video...thank you.
You're very welcome, thanks for watching!
I LOVE ❤what y’all are doing!!!❤ I’m trying to learn what trees I can feed twigs, shoots & leaves to my rabbits… this side of the planet thanks you both! ❤ God bless from Texas!
Hi I love it
Nice blog. Goat's seem happy. Good day to all of you
Thanks for watching!
Thanks!!
Thank you!! Excellent video!! Well done!!
Great work and thanks for showing us.
Thanks very much!
Excellent video! Great explanation and ideas! Thank you
You both really are demonstrating how agroecology works, it's great. Thanks so much. How we need land to be regenerated in this way!
Thanks so much for watching! We agree with you, need more people working with ecology!
Seems like a great way to bypass the difficulties of grass hay with all the added benefits of having trees on the property. I'm sure you'll have some happy goats come winter :)
Very interesting idea.
We had Toggenburg goats. They are lovely. Just found your channel.
They are lovey! Thanks so much for finding us!
Great idea
Thank you! 😊
Thank you for upload very nice VDO
Thanks for visiting
1st time watcher. Very nice video. Very instructional and informative. You held my interest very well. Thanks for making!
Always enjoy seeing what your up to on the farm.
Thanks so much!
Great vid. thanks
Good work guys so much growth happening
Cheers!
Nicely done 👍👍👍Thanks for sharing
No worries, thanks for watching!
Brilliant. Fantastic idea!
Dude!
Love what you are doing ;)
Thank you!
lovely video
Thank you!
Your concept is great!
Thank you!
😂That window clip was awesome "here"
What's cool is I've had to rewatch our own vlogs to see which bits you mean sometimes! Haha!
@@TapoNothFarm really great show dude, keep it up man,I love them little bits of humour in the videos.I wish you and your family well and happy Xmas and New year .
@@Supwiyaman Cheers so much, here's to 2022!
Yes this was v interesting thanks. Lots of other interesting ideas here too. I'm checking out your other videos
Thanks very much!
Thank you kindly yet again! Just started to make tree hay for the first time, experimenting with rowan with the berries on!
Great to hear. Our goats love dried rowan berries so good idea to leave them on!
Great video. Never heard of tree hay. It's very interesting to learn new things.
Great, thanks for watching!
LOVE the fiddle tune around 4min. and again at 13min.! Could you please post the name of the tune and the fiddler? Thanks so much for all your hard work and invaluable advice on this video, especially since farmers are being squeezed off their land worldwide!
Love this! We’ve been doing this with our goats in spring, summer & fall, but no idea we could preserve some for winter feeding. Thanks for putting this out
No worries, thanks for watching!
Greetings from South Africa. New subscriber. Very interesting video. Thanks so much.
Thanks for finding us!
hi. Great job!
Thanks!
very nice channel. I love hearing knowledge being spoken, and experienced. It shall be a joy watching your past videos to catch up. .
Thanks so much, much appreciated!
Very interesting video which I've only just come across. A follow-up showing the Tree Hay being fed to your livestock would be great!
Thank you! Yes we agree, we hope to make one soon.
I'm switching to this method as well. It will be a bit different for us, however. Copperheads, rattlesnakes and water moccasins. A lot more adventure for us. Great video. Love listening to you two and that dog smiles a lot too.
Thanks so much!
Awesome place you have going 🌟 pruning is the best harvest!
Y’all’s videos are so informative and edited very well! Thank y’all!
Our pleasure! Glad you like them!
This was extremely helpful We just moved to a 5-acre piece of land in the US and have been researching and setting up our yard for goats. I'm excited to learn about the willow hedge. I think it will grow here. in North Georgia. We are new to this state, as well. We lived in Pennsylvania our whole lives. Looking for nutritional forage and learning about toxic plants has been both fun and overwhelming. Thank you for sharing your knowledge so that more of us can contribute to sustainable practices and tread lightly on mother earth. Glad I found you!!!!!
Hi, thanks so much, really glad the video was helpful. Best of luck with everything!
The honey locust would provide leaves as well as sugar through the pods
Hi. Love watching your videos. So much to learn from you both. Great farm.
Hi there! Thanks so much, great to know they are being enjoyed.
Brilliant! Much love from a MacLeod descendent in 🇺🇸
Love your videos!
Thank you!
So interesting - tree hay. Hmmm - never heard of that before. In my part of the world it's all grain hay, not even silage so much. I also really enjoyed the music you chose!! Thanks for this. Take care.
Thank you!
Great video! I've heard a lot about tree hay and it's fun to see it used irl!
Thanks so much for watching!
Hi there from Finland! Thanks for the lovely videos, found your channel today and really inspired to implement some of the agroforestry practices, especially tree hay, to our slowly developing regenerative farm.
Thanks so much for finding us, glad our videos are proving useful, best wishes!
Thanks. Been looking at tree hay a lot to feed my animals, but don't have a ton of established trees this part of the property.
Glad to help....with some of the hybrid willows or poplar it can be very quick to establish trees devoted to fodder/hay needs. Thanks for watching!
Great video my sheep prefer it fresh I work hard to ensure they get plenty through the year as don't have the luxury of my own silvopasture. Be aware of problems with feeding sycamore family . Keep up the good work 👍👍
Thanks very much!
Thank you so much for showing how you do this! I`ve planted a lot of willow and hornbeam for my rabbits and I hope to get sheep some day so this is very helpful. Thank you so much!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching and enjoy the sheep when the day comes!
You are very knowledgeable about what you’re doing, you work hard together, and your farm is beautiful! When I grow up I am hoping to have a similar set up!
Thank you so much for the kind words! Wishing you all the best!
I'm wondering if the farm was already set up or if this is the result of your 10 yrs hard work? I only ask because I'm trying to gauge a timeline for myself. Thank you! You're doing so great! I wish more people would get involved doing this!
I had unsubscribed because I thought you both had left CZcams. I don't do twitter or Facebook but I kept checking to see if your channel was back with videos & here you both are!!! 🙃🙂 Question: do you feed the tree hay & goat feed or tree hay one day, goat feed another day? Do you use less goat feed when supplementing with tree hay? I still haven't gotten any goats yet. I want to research more on tree hay. We're on raw land with tons of trees but there might be some trees that are not good for feeding goats (when we get a few goats). Glad you both are back! Nice to see your mum again in the video. Keep well.
Yes, we're back after wee break. We use the tree hay just like hay would normally be used in winter - if there's any grass still growing then the goats can still get fresh but if not then they get either grass hay or tree hay along with the small amount (handful or so ) of grain they get at milking. We're still working out just how many bundles of tree hay we will need for a winter. Thanks for tuning in to look for us, much appreciated.
@@TapoNothFarm -- Thanks for the info on tree hay/goat feed. It's great you all got some rest.
Fantastic video. We made balsam poplar tree hay last year but it’s pretty muggy here at times and it turned brown with some fuzzy stuff on the leaves so we chucked it. We’re in New Scotland (aka Nova Scotia 😉) we’ll try again this year!! Been raising Dorper/black belly for a year and hope to increase our flock soon! Love your stuff.
Thanks so much! We've had bundles like that sometimes, just down to humidity like you said and poor airflow. Hopefully the next batch will be great!
Fantastic. What sort of percentage of their over winter food do you think you could supply using this method?
Hi there - we're still working out questions like that but I think tree hay could replace grass hay to be honest as it is still a very nutritious winter feed.
@@TapoNothFarm thanks. It would be brilliant if you could all their over winter food from onsite trees, that'd be a fantastic example.
There are quite a few regenerative farms that I see on CZcams that get a lot of animal feed from off-site farms (hay etc), and you wonder if that soil is included in the regeneration calculation and if they truly are regenerative. It's great to see you guys reducing reliance on imports.
Hard to know the reality... Bloggers
Generally have some bias to say their systems are better than they are. 8 acres is a lot of land to then have to buy in hay from outside for a handful of goats...
Interesting, is that willow Salix candida? I have a load of that. I don't have sheep or goats, I put all mine through a wood chipper & use it for growing mushrooms & mulching. Lovely material for your animals. The mannie that had my croft 100 or so years ago was a carter & he planted loads of gorse hedging for multi-uses, one of which was as fodder for his horses. He had a horse driven mill that would bruise the gorse with a mill stone.
Hi there - yep well spotted that is indeed salix candida. That's so interesting, we've often considered gorse for that same reason...whin (an old name for gorse) mills were very common once.
This is definitely my new favorite channel. I love that you are sharing with out the unnecessary drama. Such good explanations of what you are doing and trying to accomplish! Keep up the good work! We are definitely going to be trying this soon. What trees are best for tree hay? I heard you mention willow and sycamore.What variety of willow are you using? Do you have issues with putting the sheep or goats on too fresh of grass? During spring our sheep get diarrhea if we don’t slow them down and get plenty of dry hay.
Thank you for watching!
Great video! Thank you for sharing! I am hoping to get started harvesting tree hay this season. Is there a particular reason why you store the bundles upright? (rather than laying them down in stacks).
Love this idea. Do you have any discusión of what trees you selected for your pollard system? And the considerations in planting and harvesting it - like amount and timeline.
I loved this video, and have been exploring tree fodder for ruminants for a bit more than 25 years, integrated agroforestry systems are the only truly sustainable agriculture. You taught me the practicalities of making it happen in a simarly damp climate. I am really excited to see how your project grows and subscribed to find out more. Da iawn chi'ch dau.
Thank you very much
Love the vehicle that pulls the trailer! What is it?
We still do hay with the help from contractors, but reducing our stock and relying on standing hay and tree hay, could be our way forward. How much tree hay for how many animals?
I just wish we were 20 years younger!!
Hi there! Yes, it's a great wee thing...a BCS two wheel tractor or walk behind tractor. It has a PTO that can be fitted with many different agricultural implements - tiller, plough, trailer, wood chipper - so very versatile for the small farm. Thanks for watching!
Great video. I hadn't heard of this. I'm at a good time of year to try this myself and was wondering if I could extend my free feeding period for my goats. Timely indeed.
Great, I'm glad this has given you some ideas. Hope it works out for your goats.
You guys are so helpful and comforting to watch! How many acres are you working with?
Thanks so much! We have just under 8 acres.
Found it.
Hello, very useful info. We don't have the labor to store as illustrated. Can you recommend a tree fodder system for strictly grazing? TIA
Any news on the archeological digs going on in your area? they sound exciting.
Yeah they are exciting. I'm not sure what's been found this year but there is so much being discovered here it's very interesting.
Hey there! I know I am arriving late to this video, but you mention towards the end of the video, that the distance between the rows of trees in your Goose Wood section was a bit too narrow for your goats. What distance do you see as suitable and why are more narrow rows not beneficial? Thanks a lot and have a great day!
I am planting hybrid willows this spring. Do you use them for fencing? This is so GOOD! I have goats and getting hay is increasingly harder. I am 66 and can easily plant trees and trim and bundle like I see you doing this. Poloting? I need to learn how you have begun all this process so I can put this in place on my property. I have 3.5 acreas. I need to get it planted as soon as possible. What all kinds of trees are the best to plant? This is so exciting to me! Growing hay is just not possible and as you say...goats are browsers. I need to learn! Teach me! Where to start? Thank you so much!!!
Hi Bonnie, thanks for watching and big thanks for becoming a Patron, much appreciated!
Pollarding...cutting the trees above browse height to then regenerate. Hopefully some of your answers will be found in the vaults of our vlogs :) Best wishes and keep up the great work!
Thanks, learned a new word, pollarding. Nice dog. Plus is that a tiller you are using to pull the cart. I've never seen or thought of that.
Great! It's a walk behind tractor that you can attach a tiller to and also the trailer. Very versatile.
Awesome! Beautiful people, doing beautiful things. (Course, even "pretty" people become beautiful when they are from Scotland). Planting for tree hay is a new focuse for me. It's so basic when you think it thru. Was that 2 Saanens and 1 Toggenburg, by the way?
Very kind! Yes, you got it, British Saanens and a Tog. Thanks for saying hi!
Can oak be used for tree hay?
Curious how many trees you'd have to harvest to survive a goat through winter. It also appears to require much more storage room compared to hay bales. I may see if willows are native to my area to supplement the hay feeding. Thanks for sharing :)
We are still learning that one and are curious to know too! As always there are various factors at play...breed of goat, tree species, severity and length of winter etc etc. So far we haven't set that as our goal as we are still happy to feed grass hay as well as tree hay. We see the tree hay as an important addition to their winter nutritional needs/diet but don't feel the need yet to use it to completely replace grass. If you check out the book Coppice Agroforestry there are some numbers in there that may help you i.e how many pollards per acre to feed x amount of goats/sheep etc. I think tree hay bundles can be stored a lot more efficiently that we did in this video. Potentially stacked or, as others do, hanging in a barn. Willow is great but there may be a species better suited to your climate than willow, just make sure not to include any toxic species.
I want yo plant rows of trees to coppice every autumn, that will provide fresh fodder in the summer for goats. They will then be able to harvest the fodder themselves along each row in a rotational manner. I would like to plant many different species in rows. My question is: what would the spacing between the trees and between the tows need to be to allow for adequate spread and growth of branches ( there would essentially be new growth every year, agter a coppice in the previous autumn). I would like to pack in as much as posdible over 3 acres. I would really appreciate some advice because its difficult to get this sort of knowledge! Thanks.
You can plant close together for fodder production and/or coppice....i don't know what species you are working with however but you can plant fodder hedges (very close spacing) or single standards at 2-3 m between trees. But, I think the goats will potentially eat and kill the trees (through stripping the bark off and ring barking) if they are allowed to "harvest the fodder themselves along each row".
I have been coppicing trees here on the homestead here in the Appalachian forest of NC for many years now, but I never heard of pollarding. I recently added goats and them not being able to reach the young shoots makes sense, otherwise them kill the root overtime. I've often thought of "tree-hay", so thank you for videoing this.
Do you have issues with the goats climbing your dead-hedges and escaping?
Thanks for watching! No problem yet anyway with the goats getting over the hedges as the hedges are quite high and the goats are quite a heavy breed which makes it less likely for them to jump over.
Those look like large smudges for roundabout centers. Giving the city some protection.
😆
Nice trailer for your bcs. where did you get that from?
It is very useful....we got it from BSG Tractors. BCS make one but its more expensive and takes a smaller load.
Besides the willow (what is the variety of this willow?), what other types of trees are best for goat tree hay, please?
The willow we were cutting mostly in this video was a hybrid called Salix Candida. Willow is great, hazel, ash, birch, alder, poplar all great. Avoid cherry due to toxicity potential.
Only mildly related a question but I'm looking at raising a couple of dairy goats myself and I'm wondering with all your goats, do you just mate them deliberately every year or two to keep them producing milk? What do you do with the kids? Just keep them around too or sell them etc?
Hi, we have only had kids once and we sold them to another farm. We have had some goats producing milk without getting them in kid for three years. Milk quantity will go down if you don't put them in kid. We'll be drying some of ours off to put them in Kid next year.
What kind of hybrid willow is it?
Salix Candida and Chinese Willow.
Kind of off topic. At Uni, I studied language and speech so without upsetting your lovely wife, I was wanting to figure her native tongue. It is hard to pinpoint because I hear several. How far off am I if I suggest Aussie and English mix?
Haha! Rosa was born and bred in London, but perhaps picked up a kiwi twang from living in New Zealand.
Torturing trees to feed goats. The back drop should be some mega death music.
Megadeth? A little tame for torture, Dave Mustaine's hair would get awfully messy 😝😜🤘🎸🐐
I absolutely love your music selections! Thank you.