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Livestock and Woodlots Do Not Mix
Although it may not be as common as it once was, allowing livestock to graze in woodlots is still a practice that continues today, unfortunately. This is not a recommended management practice for woodlots. The damage caused by grazing cattle can take years of corrective management measures to restore. It can be very costly for woodlot owners.
Grazed woodlots have a barren look. They are characterized by the absence of young regeneration in the understory, and the steeper slopes will show signs of erosion. In addition, the understory is often dominated by undesirable non-commercial species.
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A fenced woodlot prevents regeneration from being trampled and grazed by cattle. Note the absence of any regeneration and young saplings in the “unfenced” area (right) versus the “fenced” area (left) of this woodlot.1
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The value of your woodlot is not measured by its productivity as a pasture, but by the production of quality wood products. The forage value in a woodlot is relatively low compared to a managed pasture. In fact, your woodlot may contain common woodland plants, shrubs and trees that may be poisonous to your livestock (e.g., black cherry, chokecherry, pin cherry, bracken fern, white snakeroot and some varieties of nightshade).
Some of the negative long-term impacts caused by grazing include:
Damage to residual trees – hooves cause damage to tree roots and often livestock will cause bark scrapes by rubbing against the tree. These provide points of entry for insects and disease and will affect wood quality. In some extreme cases, livestock may destroy trees by girdling – chewing and severing the bark and underlying tissues around the bole of the tree. Long-term grazing may result in reducing stand density, and with the added sunlight, grass may invade the forest floor.
Damage to regeneration – grazing results in the elimination or in the deformity of young seedlings. The removal of the regeneration from the understory provides opportunities for less desirable species to invade and occupy the site. The loss of high quality, young seedlings threatens continued production of quality timber from your woodlot.
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This lowland ash woodlot is has very little forage value compared to a managed pasture and has been adversely effected by soil compaction.
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Soil compaction – grazing will pulverize and destroy the leaf litter and humus layer. Soil compaction prevents the forest floor from absorbing water, which will affect tree growth. On steeper slopes where active grazing loosens the soil, erosion may occur. Research by the U.S. Forestry Service estimates that a grazed woodlot can lose one inch of valuable topsoil every 20 years through erosion.
Cover and food for wildlife – grazing can reduce or eliminate the understory vegetation layer in the woodlot. This will diminish the quantity of wildlife habitat.
Invasion of undesirable species – grazing can often result in changes in the species composition of the woodlot understory. With the elimination of advanced regeneration, grazing provides an opportunity for the invasion of non-commercial species, such as ironwood, blue beech or hawthorn. These species are generally not favored by livestock, and over time, can overtake the forest understory and limit future establishment of regeneration of desirable species.
A solution to this problem is relatively simple. Essentially, the best management practice is to fence livestock off from the woodlot. To provide livestock with summer shade and protection from the winter winds, you may want to include a very small treed area in your pasture land, while the remaining area of your woodlot is protected from livestock.
Photo Credits
1 University of Minnesota, Bugwood.org
This article was featured in a past edition of the S&W Report, the newsletter of the Ontario Woodlot Association.
© Ontario Woodlot Association, 2011
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