Орманда мал жаю практикасы

Agricultural practice of grazing animals in woodland

Silvopasture (silva is forest in Latin) is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct forms of agroforestry. Properly managed silvopasture (grazed woodland) can increase overall productivity and long term income due to the simultaneous production of tree crops, forage, and livestock, and can provide environmental benefits and has been practiced in many parts of the world for centuries. Silvopasture is not the same as unmanaged grazing in woodlands.

Open pasture systems are a result of mass deforestation, decreasing water availability, and increasing soil nutrients to a point that is damaging both to the ecosystem and to humans. A primary benefit of silvopasture is increased farmland utilization silvopasture can incorporate unused woodlands into production and produce multiple products on the same acreage. This diversifies farm income sources and increases farm viability. Silvopasture has been found to increase wildlife abundance and diversity.

Trees in silvopasture systems provide livestock with protection from sun and wind, which can increase animal comfort and improve production. Trees can provide shade in the summer and windbreaks in the winter, allowing livestock to moderate their own temperature. Heat stress in livestock has been associated with decreased feed intake, increased water intake, and negative effects on production, reproductive health, milk yields, fitness, and longevity. Certain tree types can also serve as fodder for livestock. Trees may produce fruit or nuts that can be eaten by livestock while still on the tree or after they have fallen. The leaves of trees may serve as forage as well, and silvopasture managers can utilize trees as forage by felling the tree so that it can be eaten by livestock, or by using coppicing or pollarding to encourage leaf growth where it is accessible to livestock. Wood pasture, one of the oldest land use practices in human history, Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme defines Wood Pasture, in the Farm Environmental Plan booklet, as a structure of open grown or high forest in a matrix of grazed grassland, heathland, and/or woodland floras. Their experience shows sheep use the trees for shelter from wind. This could provide significant animal welfare benefits. However, 'sheep time' close to trees results in soil compaction with the greatest compaction after trees are planted at very low densities. Some botanists recommend trees be planted at no less than 400 per hectare to ensure good establishment. Evidence of old wood pasture management is detectable in many of the ancient woodlands of Scotland, such as Rassal Ashwood in Ross shire, and at Glen Finglas in the Trossachs. The Dalkeith Old Wood, belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch, cattle grazing beneath ancient oak, is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) This fire resistant tree species originally grew at low density so that understory plants were available to browsing animals. The region was used as silvopastures by Spanish settlers from the sixteenth century and this use continued into the early twentieth century, along with felling trees for timber. By the 1920s, most of the longleaf pine which once dominated around 92 million acres (about 37 million hectares) of ground between the states of Texas and Virginia had been cut down by European settlers. Removal of the trees, and loss of their associated ecosystem, led to significant soil erosion as well as replacement with dense commercial tree plantations and open agricultural fields. There has been continuing interest in silvopastures in the residual longleaf pine forests and land restoration projects, with evidence that the multiple income streams of timber and cattle are economically advantageous, along with wildlife restoration benefits. The legal protection of some species (e. g. red cockaded woodpecker) that can be found in this habitat means that landowners may be able to add financial compensation as a further source of income.