This is a U.S. drought map for July and do you see that big brown burned up blob right in the middle... yeah, that's us...And, honey, it didn't get any better in August. You see, the Lord chose to grow our faith this summer instead of our pastures and if you could zoom in you'd see our family giving a sigh of surrender and then rolling up our sleeves and making hay while the sun shines. Not grass hay though... no, the grass is all burned up so we are making tree hay. Tree/Weed fodder to be exact.
Tree Fodder has been around forever.
I haven't.
no matter what my children tell you.
But finding someone to teach you to make tree fodder is hard. So jumping in with both feet and learning as you go is the best way... perhaps the only way.
The most important part of making tree fodder is to know your trees/weeds... not all are safe to eat. If in doubt google search it before adding it to your fodder pile.
What we use:
willow
mulberry
oak
hickory
elm
small amounts of walnut
redbud ~ pea pods attached add extra value. High protein.
apple
grape vines
kiwi
raspberry/blackberry cane
ragweed... all kinds of ragweed
sericea lespedeza - grows in the ditches
sunchokes
sunflower
small amounts of sassafrass - avoid if your cows are lactating.
garden waste green bean plants, cowpea, sweet potato vine, pumpkin leaves
comfrey
small amounts of redroot before it seeds... don't bring that mess to your pasture if avoidable.
I really think hedge apples, roses and locust would be good too if you could dry them without turning their thorns into piercing daggers in the cow's mouth... I'm still working through this one...
What we DON'T use:
sycamore
peach
cherry
pear
plum
these build up prussic acid when wilting.. it is assumed that once it passes the wilt stage and is fully dry it will be safe again... I'm not putting effort into trees that I may or may not be able to feed but those are decisions that we need to make for ourselves.
Collecting:
you want a chainsaw, a good pair of nippers or even a sawsall to cut the branches. I love nippers because it stops me from cutting too old of wood on any tree. The fresher the growth the more nutrition in it. If you have stumps that are constantly sending up suckers... you, my friend, have hit the jackpot. The new growth of suckers are tender and fresh and the perfect size for drying. Waterspouts from your apple trees are ideal here too.
Collecting tree fodder isn't the same as raking leaves.. when a leaf falls to the ground during Autumn, it fell because the tree pulled back the sap and all the vitamins and nutrients with it thus killing the leaf. In making fodder we clip the branch and dry the leaves with all the nutrients intact. They will feel like soft leather and still be quite green or tones of green when dry.
we cleared trees in this pasture with a chainsaw last winter and then seeded it with grass.. as you can see the new grass is struggling to gain a foothold from lack of water while all of the stumps sent up suckers, the girls are nipping the suckers and loading them.
The key is variety. Clipping from many different trees adding to the pile and mixing it all up. One important tip would be to lay them all facing the same way. It makes it easier for drying and handling.
I know there are some who would think that harvesting branches this time of year will do damage to the tree and I suppose it does leave it exposed to bugs on the cuts. If you feel it's necessary you can cover the cuts with wax but honestly, the lower the water table gets the more the tree struggles and trimming branches relieves some of the burden and allows trees to live that might have otherwise died.
don't forget to grab your weeds.
lespedeza is at its peak at 8-12 inches but if yours is taller, even if it's blooming still pick it because some nutrition is better than none. High protein.
Ragweed is the poor man's alfalfa... if you don't believe me send one in for an analysis. you'll stop spraying, at least in the field, I promise. It is best to let it grow as big as you can get it without it blooming. I, however, am also a beekeeper so I don't have that luxury. The same drought that is starving my cattle is starving my bees so I let mine bloom and when the girls have had their fill of pollen then I pull it. The ragweed in the picture is giant ragweed and it will hold it's own when dried. If you get a bunch with the feathery type leaves tuck them into the tree fodder before drying. It dries up quite small and the tree leaves will hold it in shape whereas otherwise it may just powder up and be too small to be of use. High protein.
sunchokes and sunflower leaves can be pulled from their stems doing this allows for regrowth if possible. high protein.
I guess I don't have a picture of comfrey..but just cut the leaves and lay them in your bundles. comfrey is high in protein.
here's another handy tip.. having a cute helper sure makes the work go easier. Only don't give him nippers... he is only two after all. A pair of pliers look just like nippers though and he'll stay busy bringing you back the cutest little bundles of nutritious weeds for his cows that you've ever seen. Man, that dude melts my heart.
Drying:
can be done multiple ways... it obviously isn't raining or you wouldn't be this desperate so pile them in airy piles in your driveway.. or barn, garage, living room floor..... you know your limits.
Our barn was empty so that is where we started. We cut for an hour every morning. then stack the dry and lay out the fresh. with no humidity, it dries completely in 2-3 days don't pack it tight until then because you don't want it to mold. If it rains or gets a heavy fog a willow will plump back up so you want them cut.dried and stored away on a dry day or you will spend your life bouncing back and forth....fortunately willow is the only one that gives me fits like that.
later when we finally scrounged up a few bales of hay I had to dry them tighter.
notice the variety in this bundle and the plastic underneath.. sometimes oak and hickory will shuck their leaves while drying. especially if you bounce them around too much when checking moisture. It doesn't happen very often but trust me, no one wants to work like this to have their leaves sitting in the dirt. a piece of plastic is just extra insurance and you can dump the loose ones in a gunny sack.
As they dry you can compact them into a tight corner and that leaves room for more. Here are dried bundles in a feed bunk waiting for winter. See how green they are even though totally dry.
also, notice the stinking Japanese beetle chew marks... lack of water didn't slow them a bit.
and then, notice the psycho photo bomber... it's okay, her antics make the work a little lighter. and now I have this picture preserved right here for me to show her man someday... appreciate it, sis!
and then there is my last tip of the night... don't cut your fodder in the same pasture as your cows... they will make you feel so guilty that they end up with half your fodder fresh and you know come January you are going to regret it.
Feeding:
when feeding be prepared for twigs to be left behind, this isn't a perfect system. The best way to feed is to think about the way you eat. When you fill your plate you take a little bit of everything, veggies, carbs, meat and so forth and that's how you stay healthy. Now you are filling a plate for your cows and you need to mix the high protein foods with the fibers. I find it is easier to mix the bundles fresh and let them dry together. Cows are not overly fond of ragweed (kinda like I'm not overly fond of kale but it is good for me) so having it dried into the bundle helps it all stick together and it gets munched down before the cows realize it was in there... I raised six kids... I know how this works. Stack a variety of foods together and then lay them flat or hang them and you will be surprised how they shrink up into a nice tight bundle that is easy to handle and feed. When dealing with the weeds that I have listed above please remember that they are very high in protein and you do not need to use very much of them per bundle.. an example of mine would be
3 oak branches
3 Hickory branches
a full ragweed shoved in the middle or 3-5 leaves from a sunchoke
a piece of grape vine or raspberry
maybe an apple branch or mulberry
3 willow branches- willow branches hold together really well so I would use on bottom and top. like a sandwich.
You will find that some things are just not ready for harvest all at the same time and you'll have to mix them as you feed. Most of the garden waste is that way.
That's really all there is to it, except I left out the part about the sweat and the whining but you will figure that out all on your own. The first year I made tree fodder was the drought of 12... I had five cows and a dozen goats, it was easy. Since that time we have sold the goats and the Lord has blessed our cattle herd.... there are quite a few more mouths to feed. It feels a little overwhelming, kind of like trying to store water in my pocket.... which is ironic because if I had any water, my pocket is not where I would be putting it. Yet, every bundle is one more day that one more cow stays on our place and the Lord promises to work all things for our good so I'm going to hold Him to it.
~Shell
Proverbs 31:21
