I'm 70 years old. My grandma back in the 1950s told me her uncles saved their farms this way. It was around Peoria Illinois, and there was a multiple-year drought in the late 1920s and early 30s. They fed tree leaves to their cattle and saved their farms.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Now that is a valuable history!

@loquat44-40

11 ай бұрын

I did not realized that the dust bowl drought extended into illinois.

@brendaann727

11 ай бұрын

My dad taught me on my grandfather's farm that they raised "mangles" to help feed the horses and cattle through winter. He pulled some out of the ground for me, I was very young at the time, but I do remember they looked like extra-large turnips. It left a great impression on me whenever my dad took the time to teach me something like that. The one he pulled out was the size of a grapefruit.

@MichaelDiSalvoSATandACTTutor

11 ай бұрын

Yes very important. Cbdc is being rolled out by 90% of banks. We will be shut out of the "normal" economy

@liltexashomestead5083

11 ай бұрын

@brendaann727 , mangles are large beets. I bought some seed and want to try it this fall. Last fall, I overseeded with turnips, and they did great and fed chickens, sheep, and us humans.

Friends of ours who were sheep herders one year could not get hay so they raked leaves in their small town or collected bags of raked leaves. Fed their sheep all winter. They had the leaves of Osage Orange,( also known as boudark or hedge) tested for nutrition value and it was way higher in protein than alfalfa! On our farm we have lots of small leaved elm(piss elm) . We cut them back and feed to our goats. They will eat the bark as well. Very high in protein. And you can't kill those trees! They just keep coming back! Years ago I started buying extra hay so I always had an extra winters worth in my barn. This year no one around us cut their hay. We had none to buy. But I have a winters worth to fall back on! We took the hay money and bought more fence to close in more pasture! You do what you got to do!!!

@liltexashomestead5083

11 ай бұрын

Deborah, thanks for the Osage Orange tree tip. We have some growing in a tree line behind our property. I looked it up, and it's related to Mulberry, so it would be nutritious. I harvested some leaves this evening, and my sheep really liked them.

@rectorkirk1158

11 ай бұрын

Cool.

@patament4520

11 ай бұрын

Another very nutritious fodder that is used around the world is mulberry. It suckers readily. I read that it can be cut multiple times a year. There has been much research on the value of using mulberry, it has higher food value than corn.

@Elementaldomain

11 ай бұрын

The Indigenous people’s highly prized the wood to make their bows….and early farmers grew the Osage as hedges to keep livestock from the gardens (they have gnarly thorns)…but mostly stopped doing that after barbed wire was invented.

@deborahmcsweeney3349

11 ай бұрын

@@Elementaldomain it was also planted around here for the dust bowl times to stop soil erosion.

One of my biggest stresses is animal husbandry during shtf/hard times... you make it a little less stressful THANK YOU

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you, my friend!

@featheramericangoodeagle

11 ай бұрын

Thank you. This is also my major stressor. I live in NC and we did not get our first cutting of coastal B hay until after the first week of June! Don't you know we were in a panic? My horse eats leaves off the ground when the wind blows, and the vet has always said that that was a bad thing. Come to find out, it wasn't leaves making him toxic, but commercial "feed".

@GodsSparrowSpeaks

11 ай бұрын

@@featheramericangoodeagleExactly… Same with most commercial dog foods.

@GodsSparrowSpeaks

11 ай бұрын

Also, stock ate chestnuts and chestnut leaves all winter, until the great American chestnut blight brought in from …you guessed it - Chinese chestnut trees imported in to America that have a parasite that wiped out American chestnut trees used for home building, furniture, fencing, and fodder

@sheenahspermacultureparadi8407

11 ай бұрын

Yes we need a giant heavenly place to go where we can all be together and hoe some of the long rows!

I highly recommend mulberry and grape vine leaves. I have all my trees growing as bushes. Easy to harvest, less water usage. A mulberry, if cut down to the ground, will grow 12’ high x 8’ wide in one summer season. And because they are bushes, the stems are less than 1/4 -1/2 wide and they will eat that too

@MFaith777

11 ай бұрын

And mulberry is super nutritious for our animals!

@Rattlerjake1

10 ай бұрын

And DON'T do like these two are doing and cut tree limbs of trees that you don't know the name of. Black walnut, cherry, and several others are toxic, especially to horses. I do this for my goats and pigs, even during the summer.

@MFaith777

10 ай бұрын

@@Rattlerjake1 there are different opinions on black walnut. Black walnut is a natural dewormer so I’ve read that it is toxic for horses, but there are differing opinions on pigs and goats. Many people use black walnut for dewormer on pigs and goats. My pigs never had any problems with black walnut and animals are “usually” pretty smart about what they should and shouldn’t eat.

Yes! Never heard of tree hay but Suddenly, hay here went from 10$/bale to 26!!! Husband wants to get rid of our cows.This might help. Thank you for sharing!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I think the powers that shouldn’t be want us all out of the animal husbandry business.

@patriciareynolds2729

11 ай бұрын

beef all time high in USA- but also are the inputs. time to sell a few, keep calves later. beef turnover is slow compared to chicken, pork, or fish.

@wojohowitz5432

11 ай бұрын

DO. NOT. GET. RID. OF YOUR .COWS! Thats what "they" WANT. Cows are nutritious food and managers of our earth.

@carmenmariacortesmarin2664

11 ай бұрын

I strongly suggest to look for people who don't have a farm but want to eat grass feed cows. Where are you at? I'm in Northern Ohio and want to find a farmer who could raise and have the cow butchered. I will buy one. Tell your husband to look for people like me in your area. We can't afford to move to a farm, I'm retired, but refuse to eat worms or whatever it is they want us to eat, and are doing their darndest to have farmer to get rid of their cattle. Please, don't give up on your way of life. You are the ones who feed the world. For that, I thank you all.

@wojohowitz5432

11 ай бұрын

@@carmenmariacortesmarin2664 thank you for this comment. You represent a very big segment of humanity. Of course there are those who have “fallen” and are controlled by the matrix, but people like you will help swing the pendulum back to common sense, truth, freedom, consciousness….. Humanity.

A challenge I see in the near future is how to not be as dependant on the feed store. It seems like every time I go to buy a sack of feed the price has gone up. A lot of people are giving up or cutting back on their flocks because of high feed prices. I think this is going to get worse before it gets better.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

It’s definitely going to be a struggle for all of us. I agree with every word.

@stephaniecallahan8576

11 ай бұрын

I read a great article where a gentleman lived on a tight fixed income. He started sprouting oat seed for his chickens, could also use barley but it was more expensive where he lived. Great source of protein & they get greens all year long.

@johnndavis7647

11 ай бұрын

@@stephaniecallahan8576 I bought a bag of deer plot forage seed and I sowed it thick in a raised bed. When it got about eight inches high I turned the chickens loose on it. In three days they had eaten every sprig of green. In three more days they had dug up and eaten every bit if roots. This worked well in the winter months but that seed mix didn't germinate well in the hot summers I tried some black eyed peas and they germinated and grew well. But the chickens wouldn't touch them. No idea why. I have some buckwheat seed and I hope to try that soon..

While I have always feed browse to my rabbits I never thought to use it as a winter "hay" I love how the two of you work together on projects. GOD bless you.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, Margaret!

@Mrmike1969

11 ай бұрын

Don’t feed rabbits anything but poplar or willow leaves. You’ll thank me later

@MargaretFinnell

11 ай бұрын

@@Mrmike1969 Ok thanks for the heads up.

@deadparrot5953

10 ай бұрын

​@@Mrmike1969Why not? Are other leaves toxic in large quantities?

I haven't tried this, but I think the tree hay thing goes beyond supplementing or feeding critters. I think the old timers would've used the leftover sticks for different things. Dry winter sticks for kindling. Wet green sticks for wattle fence/panels, baskets, etc. I've seen on another video where the coppiced wood of a willow, and presumably other species, grows back not only super fast, but also super straight. No wasted movements, only value adds.

@craigsurette3438

11 ай бұрын

Yes, coppicing was used a bunch for all sorts of uses, where straight , fast growing, renewable small wooden bits were needed. For example, In England, the hazel planted to make hedgerows, was not only bent down to make natural fencing, but it was also coppiced , so that a heedgrow would grow a great multitude of straight flexible rods, for all kinds of uses, including fencing, wattle for making structures, fishing traps, baskets and any number of uses.

@robertmccabe8632

11 ай бұрын

Bamboo. Standing feed (for areas where it will grow ) Use as needed, then burn for wood, posts in wet soil.

@Growmap

11 ай бұрын

@@robertmccabe8632 Yes, bamboo can be highly useful. Bamboo sprouts are good for stir fries for people food, too. But it is also highly invasive! Consider planting the clumping type that doesn't spread so aggressively. And plant it somewhere far from your house and garden or you may live to regret it.

@christianwitness

11 ай бұрын

I have native hazel I planted 25 years ago. I harvest the rods for many, many uses...

@Mr_Luca82

11 ай бұрын

@@Growmap Watched something not too long ago about managing bamboo... Not hard at all. It's when people let it go that it can spread uncontrollably. Definitely check out "the bamboo guy" in Tennessee. Good videos on this subject.

This will help us out tremendously!! We only have 8 goats and one mini donkey, but we have been worried about what we do since we don’t have money for hay, but we do have 6acres of trees!

@CBraxton

11 ай бұрын

Goats are arbivores by nature-they can eat pretty much anything, but leaves are referred.

You gotta say ""The Problem IS the solution with an Aussie accent. My goats LOVE mulberry, tulip poplar, pine, oak, rose of sharon, and sycamore among others. Not trees, but grow Jerusalem artichoke and luffa gourd vine for them and the rabbits too.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I definitely need to brush up on my Australian accent!

Especially for cows, people forgot that the ancestor of the cow was the aurochs which was as not a steppe dweller but lived in fluvial plains in mostly forested areas and would consume a lot of shrub and tree leaves...

@IshawooaPass

3 ай бұрын

Yes, and if the cows get into a young orchard area, protecting the trees from them is very difficult. They will devour them if let alone.

I run dairy sheep on very limited pasture in Texas. I started with tree fodder last year. This spring, I put in a hedge of willow, and I planted some Mulberry to extend fodder in times like right now where it'd super hot and dry and to dry for winter. Next year, I'll be adding Poplar and more Mulberry. I did a test of which the sheep preferred, fresh or dry willow and they liked the dried willow better. It might be the drying process increases the sugar in the leaves.

@annellacannella5674

11 ай бұрын

Hi. I’m also in Texas. South central. Another thing you might look into is sea breeze bamboo. It stays green in the winter mostly and if you just trim the branches off the culms they will grow back. Sea breeze is a clumping bamboo that puts on branches all up and down the culm so it could made into be a hedge. It might take a bit of water to get it established. Also moringa will grow just fine here but freezes to the ground. The root however just goes dormant and shoots the tree right back in summer when the ground warms up. Great idea on the mulberry’s. Shangra La will make huge leaves and awesome berries. I also grow the Pakistan variety. Mulberries are so easy to propagate with cuttings. What type of willow are you growing?

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like you’re off and running my friend!

@liltexashomestead5083

11 ай бұрын

@annellacannella5674 , the willow is one that was growing at the back of my property so I really don't know the variety. I did plant a bamboo this spring but it died in the heat. Where did yoy get your bamboo from? Also, with the Morings, did you start with seeds, cutting or plant? If it grows well for you, it should for me. I'm north of you.

@elizabethblane201

11 ай бұрын

You might also try tagasaste in Texas.

@liltexashomestead5083

11 ай бұрын

@elizabethblane201 it looks interesting, but I may be a bit too far north. I'm also in very heavy black clay soil. Whar I read about it suggests it prefers a sandy soil. If you know a source in the US. I would give it a try.

Native American women and native Alaskan and Canadians were known for stripping the bark off of Willows to feed the horses during the winter’s.

As far as I've researched, back it the old days in Russia, tree hay was very popular too. There difference is that Russian tree hay was harvested *only* in Spring (as far as I've found the info) - the soft tree shoots with YOUNG leaves (because leaves are the most nutritious in Spring & early Summer; in late Summer & Autumn trees collect bad things into leaves before shedding them, so they transfer the nutrients back into trunk & roots for winter). They collected primarily willow, since its a very common & abundant tree with many medical & utility uses.

Brilliant vid. Coppicing is an ancient art that is largely forgotten, but perfectly suited to modern homesteading on forested land. Coppicing is also brilliant for fuelwood, for sticks for wattle & daub houses, & for wildlife. Cheers~

So much know-how has been lost...thank goodness for Billy and his family for resurrecting this for the rest of us.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, my friend

I have so many privits. I cut them down and they grow right baxk. I threw the branches into my chixken coop and they went crazy over the leaves. I was so happy to find a use for these bushes.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

The problem is definitely the solution in your case!

This would coincide really well with milling wood on your property. Drop trees and feed the animals.

@colleenbowman1399

11 ай бұрын

We only have chickens but we’ve dropped about 100 trees on our property, bought a mill and are working on an outdoor kitchen with pizza oven we can use if and when the SHTF.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That’s what I’m talking about!

@aaronfieguth3476

11 ай бұрын

This is exactly what we do. Drop a tree, send limbs to the livestock and logs to the sawmill. After they are done eating the leaves and bark we chip the remnants for mulch and bedding.

@marlenepopos12

11 ай бұрын

Can you te me if these hay would be good for bunnies?

@marlenepopos12

11 ай бұрын

Also can I use apple trees

Also a good way to avoid Grazon poisoning your garden if you compost the poo from your animals to fertilize.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That’s exactly how we do it!

@d.shermandesantos3570

11 ай бұрын

Yup, that is the main advantage for anyone who has had land ruined by aminopyralids in hay, straw, or manure.

Good job... Some trees can be eaten fresh green and when fully dry. Caution with feeding anything wilted. We cut out and down all the Cherry when we bought this place 37 years ago because of out sheep and then horses. Lots of homework to do.

Chickens Too! I planted a greens garden for my chickens but dogs tore open my coops, the chickens got out and destroyed it! So to supplement their feed I have been giving them mulberry leaves and the weeds we pull and they are tearing it up! Great video! ❤

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Sorry to hear that!

Billy, it has been a long time since I have seen something so new and useful like this. TREE HAY! A blast from the Permaculture Past! That is awesome! Thank you both for your work on this.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I’m so glad this was useful to you, my friend!

@annashealthylifeeverything8583

11 ай бұрын

😂😂😂 "new"

@homesteadaquarius

11 ай бұрын

@@annashealthylifeeverything8583 I hear you... It aint exactly a "New" technique right? But it is the most new thing I have seen shared, I hadn't heard of this before. Work with me here.

We got our comfrey roots and crown from y'all (two days ago) and are looking forward to it naturalizing on our property! We don't have ruminants here (due to county regulations and only having a little over an acre of land) but we do have some animals and other plants that will benefit greatly (as well as us!). Thank you for sharing about the "tree hay" - Worst case, if you harvest more than your animals need, it can be used as mulch or placed in compost in the Spring. The other thing would be that cleared areas can be seeded in a mixture of understory greens that grow in different times of the year to offset some of the "hungry times" for the animals in certain climates.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Do you have the right idea all the way around! Thank you for your business!

@genxerfool9797

11 ай бұрын

My chickens love comfrey

You mentioned the cherries as being bad, but I avoid any of the pitted fruits. They all produce cyanide. The majority of the cyanide is in the pits, but the leaves contain some. Once the leaves turn brown, the cyanide will concentrate. True, the animals won't eat them if they have something else, but if food runs short they may.

@karensprings4237

11 ай бұрын

The same goes for oak leaves and tannin in them. Many trees can kill if eaten to excess. Make sure the animals can handle that species of tree. My horse does love ash and mulberry though. 😍

@drakthorzodin-son3643

11 ай бұрын

its when the leaves dry typically.

@patriciareynolds2729

11 ай бұрын

yes wilted cherry leaves toxic in Tenn, acorns can kill also plus we have some wild hemlock weeds!!

@amyjohoffrichter7562

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this with us.

Once you get your trees established your input cost is done. Started this last year for our goats and rabbits. IT'S CANDY! Bought a brush chipper from harbor freight a couple weeks ago, also has a hammer mill for the smaller stuff. I'm chipping and grinding it for feeding in troughs, also plan to try making silage for winter feed. Remember gorilla tree, hay if you live in an area where there are trees growing in the road right away harvest some limbs there (I'm doing that now, saving ours for winter). Thanks Billy and Michele. Thumbs up to the camera man.

@dwighthires3163

11 ай бұрын

That sounds creative

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That’s what I’m talking about!

@Jerry-yk1fh

11 ай бұрын

Biggest problem I have is that I'm just now learning about all this stuff about permaculture after all these years of frustration. I mean after all I'm just 71 years young! Seriously I would like to know if anyone out there in kudzu country have tried making silage with it, I've heard that stuff will grow a foot or more a day. I'm a thinking that has a hugh potential for a great source for feed.

@MissBetsyLu

11 ай бұрын

​@@Jerry-yk1fhit's edible to people also, I'm thinking

@OrganicMommaGA

11 ай бұрын

@@Jerry-yk1fh I'm definitely in Kudzu country and I can tell you some of our chickens will eat it and some won't go near it. I'm told goats and sheep devour it, but have no experience with that. It's non-toxic and edible in a real pinch, but even after being cooked down is ... not great tasting. LOL On the plus side, the vines can be dried and woven into durable baskets and the fresh blooms do make an interesting tea or jelly. Also I've seen t-shirts dyed using the leaves.

Be careful to avoid red maple for horses. Very toxic and they will definitely eat it. Same with some lawn vegetation/cuttings like boxwoods. Also be careful with oak/acorns, especially if nothing else is available for forage. Animal toxicities are much more common when animals are hungry and adequate forage is not available. They will definitely eat toxic plants if nothing else is available. Thanks for the video and ideas!

Just want to add that people need to be sure the plant/tree isn't poisonous to animals. We had a bunch of antelope die one harsh winter because they ate Japanese Yew (I personally wouldn't have that shrub in my yard). Sometimes hungry animals will eat what they normally wouldn't when times aren't so tough. I knew a couple who lost horses because they fed them a neighbor's grass clippings (no chemicals) with yew clippings mixed in. They didn't know how deadly it was. I leave tree trimmings on the ground for the deer. They clean them right up, then I use the bare branches for kindling.

@squidward5110

11 ай бұрын

Yea I'm sure it makes a lot of difference what kind of animals you have but "throw it all in animals won't eat it if it's poison" seems kind of like irresponsible advice

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like a pretty awesome strategy, my friend!

@AgnesMariaL

11 ай бұрын

Yew makes an excellent deer fence, though - the deer will munch away as they go by and not bother with any gardens etc on the other side :) It doesn't bother them, it's easily propagated and grows in very quickly! I bought a yew to start a hedge with, but then learned how toxic it is to my sheep etc, so now I don't know where to plant it, lol.

@shelley2086

11 ай бұрын

@@AgnesMariaL The problem is that the animal dies if it is eaten. Dozens of antelope died in my area one winter from it. I wouldn't plant it. It's not worth the risk. Barberry would make a good hedge.

@AgnesMariaL

11 ай бұрын

@@shelley2086 deer are immune. My previous home I lived at for ten years, and the deer coming through and munching on the yew hedge were the same deer, year after year - look it up, just like I did...

My rabbits like mulberry leaves, but they are much more excited for the sweet potato greens (they grow like weeds and are highly nutritious for both animal and man). Sweet potato vines taste like spinach when cooked, but it never turns bitter in the summer. Very tasty and nice texture when cooked. It's also lower in oxalates for those who get kidney stones; it's a healthier choice VS beet greens or spinach. I don't know how ruminants like them, but I get sad to see so many gardeners wasting them when they're so nutrient rich.

Awesome tips, I’m sure this will help many people feeding their livestock especially during winter months.😊

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I think so too!

@Growmap

11 ай бұрын

@@PermaPasturesFarm21 Have you seen the guy in Florida's channel? He lived entirely off what he grew or foraged for a year. Major survival foods that could also be fed to livestock are yam (not what we use at Thanksgiving -- these are HUGE) roots - harvest, eat some, give some away, replant the rest for more the next year. Also, sunchokes. Both spread well.

Lots of good stuff here. I’ve been cutting tree forage and bamboo for feed for nearly 20 years. Did it today. Different minerals then grass, parasite free, and home grown. We take the remaining branches and turn them into biochar to improve our soil. Biggest downside is that it is labor intensive if you are feeding more than a couple animals. I view it more as a supplement than trying to replace a large portion of their diet. They will eat a lot of fallen leaves as well, so just planting (and protecting) a few trees in your pastures can generate a lot of feed. Mulberry and tulip poplar are excellent choices if they grow in your area.

Thank you for letting the sheep keep their tails. I once watched my grandfather banding the tails on his young lambs. He told me that w/o the blood circulation their tails would fall off. I was little and remember feeling horrified.

Wow, the sheep went right for those sapling trees! Great idea, thank you.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

You are so welcome!

Tree hay is o.k., but I am planting bamboo. It has a faster growth rate, and is evergreen. I can harvest it during winter if necessary to feed my goats.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That is definitely a wonderful strategy!

@yvettemallory585

11 ай бұрын

But its illegal to plant in the usa

@HoneyHollowHomestead

11 ай бұрын

@@yvettemallory585 No it's not. They are planting it in many southern states for industry. I purchased mine from a bamboo nursery in the US.

@crawwwfishh3284

11 ай бұрын

Man your asking for a pain in the butt. You better dig a ditch around it and put sheets of tin in to keep it from spreading. U can’t kill it or stop it. Worse mistake I ever made.

@HoneyHollowHomestead

11 ай бұрын

@@crawwwfishh3284 Do you have goats? I planted it for my goats to eat. Ever seen goats take down a small tree to get to the leaves? I have. These goats are capable of taking down the species of bamboo I got. There is info on the internet on how to kill it.

My comfrey plants that survived the winter last year are doing wonderfully, thanks Billy

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for your business, my friend!

I could also use this method for inside my chicken house and range area. The price of straw is $18 here.

I do this on our small property, but another great way is: mow lawns. Collect the grass up in little windrows and flip it once a day for two days then pile it up and cover it. If you're mowing neighbors lawns and have a mulch bag its little work and pays you to do it.

This is great info to be made aware of . My sheep were chowing down on a tree on my fence line I was contemplating cutting it down because of its location. Upon closer inspection I learned it was a mulberry . That tree is staying obviously . Didn’t even think of feeding autumn olive until you two shared this little tidbit . Thank You 😊

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for checking out my friend

I'm in NSW Down Under. I watched this a few hours ago. Good thinkin 99! I live in my Camper Van, with my dog & was parked at the local library, for free wifi, which is next to a shopping center. I went into a discount store & bought mini bypass pruners, for $8. My food garden is in the backyard of my brothers business, which I cleared of large weed trees last spring, so almost 1 year ago. Large mulberry trees hang over the South fence & massive old Avo' tree over the west. Most of my plants, fruit, vege, herbs n spices grown from supermarkets & charity food banks locally. Busy building new beds now too. 👍

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like a wonderful life, my friend!

Thank you for addressing this and would offer there is so much to cover, organize and further develop as its clearly more benefit than just a fodder. Further I’d ask that it be considered that further content development would be of great value in exploring this over time. As an example this approach feeds not only sheep but goats, pigs and chickens too! Then with whats left it can be wood chips, addition to compost or with what can become logs for mushrooms, fencing and many many more ideas. Again, thank you.

@terrycurtis9757

11 ай бұрын

How so, with chickens?

@7ann7seven13

11 ай бұрын

​@@terrycurtis9757Chickens will eat anything that they want or need for nutrients

@terrycurtis9757

11 ай бұрын

@@7ann7seven13 thank you!

another similar thing you can grow instead of hay ,is bamboo , which is also winter green and can be cut in winter as required fresh , and depending on species grown can also be used for canes and construction poles

@Jerry-yk1fh

11 ай бұрын

Three questions please, what part of the US are you, USDA zone and what type of bamboo are you growing ? Thanks

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Bamboo is definitely a wonderful strategy!

@ricosuave5120

11 ай бұрын

Look up your gardening zone and buy appropriate bamboo for your area. It depends on your lowest winter temps. I know I've seen bamboo growing in zone 5 and warmer.

@johnslaymaker

11 ай бұрын

Insane that bamboo isn't planted everywhere --- super productive for forage, human food, tools, firewood, building materials, everything else. People who complain about it spreading are just too lazy to make money from it.

@janc8199

11 ай бұрын

​@Disabled.MegatronAre they allowed in all areas. They are very invasive.

I discovered by accident how much my rabbits love mulberry leaves. Wet or dry. So I did a little test and cut some, hung it for the winter. It worked great. Thanks for this video and sharing ! Plenty of trees here, so won't be buying anymore hay.

@snowmiaow

11 ай бұрын

Groundhogs love them too

I like your shirt! I live in the tropics and every morning I take a walk around my property and feed cuttings that I collect for my 2 goats. i=I give it to them fresh. Mango & Jackfruit leaves, papaya, Mexican sunflowers, bamboo, and more. Don't have to buy hay at all. Good talk!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That's a great idea!

Back when we had agriculture here, we would feed yard waste to cattle and goats. Since we have no seasons here hay was never needed. However, in the dry season grass doesn't grow but trees do!

Just subscribed. I don’t have any animals that need hay now but know many that do and this seems like good advice! I’m trying to learn more about foraging and older solutions that we have forgotten. My great grandmother knew all this but unfortunately it’s been lost in our family.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for subbing!

Right on! Thanks guys! Good to see you both and William behind the camera 😊 Blessings 💕🤗💕

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

So wonderful to hear from you, my friend!

in the South cottonseed/ hulls are cow feed, but they may have lots of chemicals in them!!

I have seen, in the middle east, seen goats grazing in the branches of acacia trees, also known as honey locust or mesquite. Australians call them wattles. Goats don't mind the thorns in their mouth. They'll go as high up the tree as branches will support the weight. These are also drought-resistant nitrogen fixer trees. Just my 2 cents.

@dungeonmaster6292

11 ай бұрын

The three species you mentioned are all very different and are definitely not synonymous

@johnslaymaker

11 ай бұрын

@@dungeonmaster6292 Very closely related & comparable ecologically. Relax.

@johnslaymaker

11 ай бұрын

Goats are amazing browsers & can eat practically anything. This is marvelous -- and terrible. Most of the barren areas of the Mediterranean were once richly forested, but were overgrazed by goats & destroyed. With no vegetation, the rain took away the topsoil. BE WISE IN USING GOATS. God bless.

@dungeonmaster6292

11 ай бұрын

@@johnslaymaker no

@rebekahhobbs9605

11 ай бұрын

I just recently read a book called Tree Crops. All the trees the original commended mentioned were in the book. They are all excellent sources of nutrition for livestock. They are also meant for different climates, so no matter where you are in the world with your animals, there is a tree crop for you.

Awesome. I'm a huge machete fan , though. lightweight and pretty safe with good technique . I get hand cramps from shears. Young maple flowers are a great human food also.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the tips!

Been giving my goats tulip poplar young tree trimmings... they are loving it!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That’s what I’m talking about!

This is fine for your "homesteader" type operation but if your working at any kind of larger scale it's too labour intensive as a substitute for winter hay. I need 75 round bales each winter. I have a thorny brush on my property that I cut down during drought for my cattle, I'd tell you what it is but don't know how to spell it. I just drop these small trees with a chain saw and the cows love it. She says 20 is a good size flock, I have 60 sheep, 70 goats, 65 cows, plus horses and mules. Gathering fodder like this isn't an option for me, I'm 57 with a bad back.

@johnslaymaker

11 ай бұрын

Your thorny brush sounds like mesquite, or one of the many locusts? Regarding labor intensivity, it's all dependent on animals per acreage ratio. Ten goats on a thousand acres versus a thousand goats on ten acres -- that sort of thing. Sounds like you need 300+ acres to feed your stock in good country, 1000+ acres in bad country. As for labor -- lotta cheap labor in this country, unfortunately.

@felixlufkin7636

10 ай бұрын

This could be mechanized, with fodder trees grown in plantations. It’s competitive with hay nutritionally, and would nice to see it available to larger scle famrers as an option

We are currently clearing trees to increase pasture for our flock. This is information I’m going to want to remember as we rotate our sheep through. Thank You!

Poplar is everyone’s favorite. I wonder if they like the asprine like chemicals in it

One thing about this in forestry is you leave one to two around the stump for growing fast for firewood or lumber. So this would be another benefit

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I wish I would’ve remembered to say that. Excellent point!

We don't have hay here in Southeast Asia, we feed them just this way - tree or shrubs all year round. Plants grow like crazy here especially in the rainy season. We just watch out they don't forage on greens for humans like Moringa and farm crops.

@BaliFoodTreePlanter

11 ай бұрын

@janjanobando1148. Which animals do you feed. In Indonesia, horses and sheep eat moringa, comfrey in my experience....but not bamboo. Bamboo has sharp parts too to be aware of and poisonous snakes

@janjanobando1148

11 ай бұрын

@@BaliFoodTreePlanter Hello! 🤗 Here in the Philippines, the usual farm animals - water buffalos, goats, pigs and the fowls - chxns, ducks,geese,quails! The well off could afford horses and other exotics. Yes, they avoid bamboo. We need the Moringa so we give them Ypil-ypil instead but they always happen to sneak into one or two😄. And those sweet papayas and plump mangoes of the neighbors receive no mercy if animals are allowed free reign. Even in urban areas, the goats would rummage the food leftovers for coconut leaf wrappers of our hanging rice we call "puso". Yes they also like comfrey.😄🇵🇭

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

We definitely need to catch up with the techniques. You all are using over there!

It's so cool that your sheep have their whole tail

@AgnesMariaL

11 ай бұрын

I've had sheep for just over two years now, and always read that the long-tailed varieties need to be cropped or else they'll get flystrike... I recently bought an older pair of NCC, both with full-length tails (like, almost touching the ground) and the fleece around their rumps was SO thick and filthy, I thought for sure they'd have/would get flystrike! Been checking them daily since bringing them home, and got the ram all trimmed and cleaned up (ewe is too skittish, but not as bad around the private parts), and no sign of flystrike... I'm thinking now that this is just another myth that we're being sold in order to keep our veterinarians in business!!! I have sheep with half tails (either cropped or natural) - covers their bums just as much as the long tails do - so, really, at the end of the day, what's the difference?

@AgnesMariaL

11 ай бұрын

Edit: not discounting flystrike! Only discounting the narrative ;)

just mowed the lawn......about 1/2 acre.....much needed......picked up the clippings and made my first compost pile.....I have a big pile of wood chips that a tree service has dropped off about 4-5 years ago.....only partially decomposed.....we added chicken manure a while back to the wood chips......and it heat up quite a bit......now have it mixed with green grass clippings.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love hearing that kind of stuff!

The reason I had successful stump grinding business, those suckers will grow forever. I have a black ash in my yard that works incredible growing this way.

You guys are a HUGE blessing every day!!! Thank you so much!!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

You are also a wonderful, blessing, my friend!

Tree fodder is a good way to give goats and sheep what their bodies really want. My aim is mulberry trees for leaves and fodder while leaving most of the rest of leaves as mulch fodder. do crop rows and work on a massive market garden. this winter i will likely be stuck with haying and graining. I will likely put my buck to sausage, baby buckling to sausage and stock up the freezer while minimizing hay costs. Until i can get alot of cuttings to mature trees that produce tons of fruits and leaf fodder feed. Also someone could grow comfrey between trees as a companion planting garden.

The old saying 'make hay while the sun shines' applies here.

One thing I do for winter is I allow smilax (briars) to climb and grow up trees. They’re evergreen so they’ll stay green when most other vegetation is dormant. You can pull the vines down and feed them to your livestock.

Apparently labor is free. As long as you have an army to slowly collect small branches for free this is definitely a money saver.

@johnslaymaker

11 ай бұрын

They're called "children." That's why our forebears had lots of them & we should too.

10:47 sheep release was best part. My younger brother is a dingbat & had youthful investment in sheep. He did nothing to secure fence, so frequent problem. He needed my help to catch & tag ~25. I will never forget diving and power tackling two in back of old barn amongst loose hay. For the rest of my life, I have thought about easily being impaled by whatever dumb metal thing under hay (pitchforks?). His /my sister (adopted siblings) and I fixed fence for 6 hours and all sheep back to enclosure…tagged ;-)

Just got my order from You yesterday. Looking forward to planting them. Great video thank you so much

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the kind words and thank you for your business, my friend!

For years I've been stripping leaves off trees and leaving them in dry kiddie pools in the sun to dry, then putting them in bags. But I don't think I could feed the whole herd without hay also. This is a slow way to get adequate forage.

We’ve done this with our animals. They definitely love it! We love in a forest, so trees are in abundance and grazing area is sparse. The downside is the energy to harvest it and also storing for winter. One semi-alternative has been feeding bagged leaves from the fall.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I’ve never tried doing it from the back before.

@gaymurr988

8 ай бұрын

Oh my ... so strange for me to see tails on your sheep . All our sheep got their tails cut when they were little . Lol

It's great compost material if not doing the hay thing. Just stack it on the ground so it gets air and dries out and then chop it up for a compost pile. I have a cherry tree that spreads via its root system so I dig up shoots & roots in some spots. Melts down pretty fast when it hasn't become an established wood yet.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That's a good idea!

Hey Billy and family. Great videos lately, dialed in...interesting and watchable. To think I found you guys cus you left a comment on Spirkos channel. Thats puttin in work to build a channel, good on ya.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, my friend!

I am thinking of using this for my Ruth Stout garden method! I have been using grass clippings and leaves anyway. Thanks for the idea.

I never thought of doing this, and it's absolutely brilliant!! Nice t-shirt with the Flyover Convervatives motto❣

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! Cheers!

Love this video!! So great!! I love how you give us so many ideas and solutions ❤

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for that my friend. That’s really our primary purpose!

Thank you. We have resorted to letting our animals into the house yard, because we are in such a drought the pastures are dead. I don’t know if anyone around here realizes we likely won’t get a second cutting in our area because the fields are dead, and many of the acres are burnt from wildfires.

This is very labor intensive , I have done it . I am looking at other greenhouse feed during the winter . Just to supplement if nothing else.

THANK YOU for providing another resource for winter!

Weve been supplementing our chickens with our cracked wheat mush leftovers mostly every morning. They love it and continnue to give us beautiful large eggs. They forage, eat grass and the layer pellets in their coop. We live in town and only have 1/3 acre, but there's still plenty of refuse for the hens. Raspberry leaves, fallen apples...pig weed and so forth.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like a wonderful strategy!

@medbeds

11 ай бұрын

Do you feed raspberry leaves to your hens?

Great Work as always! Stay strong, we love your Team..

You reminded me I need to cut some bamboo tree hay for my rabbits! Thanks for the encouragement to just get it done.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

You can do it!

So glad I came across this and learned it. Thank you for helping us

As i know the terms, coppicing is what you do in winter for firewood and such and is cutting it back to the ground. Pollarding is what you do in the growing/hay season about july/august and is above access height of the grazers below it. So coppicing leaves a shrub like growth and pollarding leaves a shape like a planted broomstick.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't heard of this! Things the industrial agricultural systems don't want you to know! Thank you!!!

My goats like black locusts, even the spiky sapling bark! But I worry about the toxicity. I appreciate your clearing up the question I had about it. Yeah, i will allow them to choose how much they want to eat. The oak leaves are a favorite of theirs, too.

Pollarding allows livestock to graze beneath the fodder trees without reaching the potential crop. Agribusiness encourages farmers to regularly spray off and resow monoculture pastures, so as livestock can't find medicinal plants.....big boon to the AgriPharma industry. I wish my local farmers had the intelligence to realise this.

Awesome video! I will certainly be implementing this. Those maples just keep coming back too!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Awesome, thank you!

Oh man I just saw you hit 100k subs congratulations guys. Well deserved success

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

Always great information stay blessed and happy new year

This was brand NEW information. Wow. I think this is going to come in really hand for me. Thanks.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

This is absolutely awesome!! I can't wait to share this with my husband ❤😊

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

I’m so glad it helped my friend

Increasing our mulberry tree numbers here for this reason along with fruit and small firewood. Learned from the best. The Bonds.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

You are so very kind, my friend!

@liltexashomestead5083

11 ай бұрын

I planted Pakastani Mulberry this year. We've had a miserably hot and dry summer but the Pakastani mulberry is green and growing. My standard mulberry tree which has been in for years is struggling.

really great video. One tree I found and did a lot of research on is the Paulania tree. This tree should be replacing most of the commercially grown trees for several reasons. Superior wood qualities, leaves that are large and great for animal feed, blossoms that give large amounts of nectar for bees and much more.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info!

@davidpatillo7404

11 ай бұрын

With all it's good qualities, paulownia trees, (also call Empress tree or Princess tree), is/can be invasive. Requires careful management.

@gsmscrazycanuck9814

11 ай бұрын

@@davidpatillo7404 I look at it this way...a plant that has so many benefits isn't invasive. Also, there are non "invasive" varieties. I will be planting some this fall.

Very interesting video and it kinda set a light bulb off in my head. Ive got all these plants and it can be a " battle " keeping a few acres cleared. I dont have anything other than chickens but its time to expand and the wheels are turning. I just happened to fins your channel so i just wanted to say thanks for sharing your insight!!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for checking us out!

In my area farmers used the fruit of the locust trees is grows like a bean on it

I haven't heard the term sapper knots in decades, handy knots for constant tension.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That’s what I’m talking about, my friend!

😮 COMPLETELY new concept! Great info, y'all ❤

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

So glad it was helpful!

Really love your sbows and content!

Good stuff. Glad I found this channel. Subscribed!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

So glad we found each other, my friend!

Awesome! I have been buying hay to mulch my plants, now I will just cut some tree limbs and use them as mulch.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

That is definitely a great strategy!

@davidpatillo7404

11 ай бұрын

Research "chop and drop". If you have the room, consider planting an area in annual rye. Grows fast and has deep roots. can be mowed and collected several time a year. Makes great mulch!

My first time here. Wow! I love you two. Thanks for the tips.

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for checking us out, Renee!

Excellent information! Thank you!❤

Really loved the history lesson. Great video!

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for checking it out, my friend!

Thank you thank you 🙏 great ideas just outta you two

@PermaPasturesFarm21

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!