FOAM LAKE, Sask. – Researchers and farmers have much to learn before perfecting the harmonized production of trees, cattle and forages in silvo-pasture.
“We’re just scratching the surface here,” said Larry White from the Forest Development Centre in Prince Albert, Sask., during a recent field day.
The first silvopasture in Western Canada has been established near Foam Lake, Sask., to demonstrate alternative land uses. The forestry centre and the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, based out of Humboldt, Sask., conducted a literature review to learn more about silvopasture over the past year.
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Philip Leduc, manager of resources and development at PAMI, said much of the information about the concept of silvopasture came from the United States.
Added White: “Now we have to take that and try and adapt it to the crops we have here, the trees we have and the forages we have and the livestock we have and so on.”
“On-farm experience we’re short of right now,” White said.
“So that’s why we’re feeling our way a little bit on this and glad to have a project like this where we can do some research and demonstration over time.”
Kris Springer planted 7,200 trees to create the silvopasture. He said there is little maintenance aside from fence checking, but he admitted converting his fields into silvopasture was, and continues to be, a learning experience.
“The first thing that came up was I didn’t have the spacing wide enough on the tree rows so the cattle were still able to reach underneath and nip some of the tops of the poplar off,” Springer said.
He moved the exclusion fencing so it now spans 1.5 metres with the trees in the centre.
Deer and wild animals pose another problem.
“On the paddocks that I never even had any cattle on, I notice quite a few trees nipped off.”
Ken Van Rees at the University of Saskatchewan said hybrid poplar trees usually rebound quickly after being grazed by deer or other animals.
Springer said he plans to plant more trees next year after he knows how much winterkill the trees experienced. He would like to incorporate more species beyond the hybrid poplar and conifer now there.
“I guess one of the big drives for me is to try to come up with a system that is low maintenance, low cost, yet effective, that maybe would appeal to a lot more ranchers or farmers.”
