[Steph Hen]

I've seen a few posts on here about tree hay, and have read stuff on google and YouTube but wondered if I could pick any brains from people who've done this. I'm happy with coppicing and pollarding, the best tree species. Typically branches 1-2m are cut in summer and tied into manageable bundles. Store in dry with airflow, out of reach of animals till needed.

I like the idea of feeding tree hay to my two goats in the winter. I'm thinking a bundle every day or two.
Last year There was some greenery around till Christmas, so it's really Jan to April. 14 weeks, four bundles a week = 60 bundles.

My first thought is to throw a string over a rafter, hoist each bundle up out of reach in the rafters and tie off my end of the string on a nail in the wall. It can then be lowered into range at feeding time... but with 6o strings, from all different angles, and goats that stand taller then me and eat string, I'm not sure this is going to work..? 

I'm also expecting a new baby at Christmas (probably C section) so kinda need a system that requires little effort to drop each bundle and doesn't require me to climb ladders or ballance on chairs. On the plus side, I have lots undercover shed space... Things like string, rope, wood, loader and tractor to get heavy stuff up if need be. We also have rats on and off, constant persecution dampens their numbers, but every so often they start multiplying so I am keen to get the branches way up off the ground where they will be safer from all animals eating/damaging them. Any thoughts would be well appreciated! 

I'm off to cut some branches: sometimes having the problem to look at is better than just thinking about it (foolhardy).

[Fleecewife]

We feed our sheep willow branches, especially in winter.  We just cut them as needed, which pollards the trees by degrees, then put them out for the sheep straight away.  I wonder how much of the nutritional value of the bark is preserved after several months of drying as tree hay?  Do the leaves fall off or remain until fed?

[Steph Hen]

Just wrote a reply and then iPad restarted and lost it grrrr!

From what Ive read, the leaves stay on and the nutritional value of bark and leaves stays pretty good.
The dead or clinging leaves (like beech) have minimal feed value. I would imagine that bark has some value even in winter but don't know.

I cut ash, probably about 40kg. It was anything but manageable! Even after splitting in half I could only just lift them. Managed to get one in the back of pick up and tied the other balanced across the tail flap. Not easy. I think I'll aim to make them more like 10-15kg next time, as this size is bound to get pulled apart by goats and have more of it wasted.

Came up with an idea: tie the bundles all up between rafters. To remove, a knife on a pole to could cut couple strings and let the days food fall down. (Would need some sort of movable manger to catch the branches as any food on the floor, even their favourite food gets trampled and wasted in minutes.) but it's another idea at least.

[Fleecewife]

I thought that tree hay was made from small whip type branches from pollarded trees, which can easily be stored in neat bundles.  It works for willow but might not with ash.

How about for cutting through your strings, get a long pruner, the type for pruning tall apple trees etc?  I don't know if it would cut through string, although you would think so if it was in tension from the weight of the bundles.

[Steph Hen]

The ash Ive cut is straight regrowth that I can harvest with lopers, so not whips, but not logs either 
Long pruners might be a useful thing to have around, thanks.

[clydesdaleclopper]

Either Aldi or Lidl will regularly sell the long pruner / lopper tools pretty cheaply

[Steph Hen]

Either Aldi or Lidl will regularly sell the long pruner / lopper tools pretty cheaply

Every time I see them in there I wonder if I should buy and a week later wish I had!

[Steph Hen]

Found this and reproduced for anyone interested. Protein is good in some species.
Table of leaf nutrition. Percentage of constituents in tree species compared to hay and Red clover
water    ash    fat. sugar  protein     fiber
12.6   9.9    2.9   49.2     13.2   12.3  elm wych
11.9   5.9   6.5   50.4      9.9   15.4   Rowan
11.5   6.1   3.8   50.3     11.6   16.7.  Willow goat
10.8   8.5   6   43.5     13.3   20.9   Aspen
11.6   6.3    3   50.4       12   16.7   Ash
11.9   3.9   5.9   43.6      17.6   17.4.  Alder
11.7   3.9   7   49.2       12   16.2.   Birch
15.   5.42   2.2   44.43   8.51   24.56  grass with herbs and legumes.
15.7 5.17   1.88   36.76   10.98   28.56. Red clover.

Adapted from The Cultural Landscape: Past, Present, and Future, Birks et al, Cambridge University Press, 1988.

[Rupert the bear]

Goat willow whips tied in bundles and strung up in the roof,thats what I have always understood tree hay to be , at the moment Mrs RTB is cutting and drying nettles, again they will go yup in the roof space until needed , I may try willow herb / rosebay as well this year , lay out on a couple of raised security fence panels to dry them then bundle. I did once toy with the idea of baling nettles with the mini round baler , but memories of feeding the old square baler came back to haunt me..
Steph Hen, looking at the table you posted may prompt an assault on the alder that is quite plentiful here

[Black Sheep]

Your bundles on string may work fine. Just run the string along the inside of the roof and out a hole in the wall and secure to a nail in the outside wall so they can't get to it.

[Steph Hen]

Procured 4 tonne bags of beech clippings today. Woohoo! This has more than doubled my tree hay collection.
Plan is to empty them into ventilated bags and hang them 20 feet up under lean-to shed roof.  Dry with lots of air. Will have to get a bag down at a time I guess, put it in feed shed and pull out handfuls as needed. Not the completely easy-feed system I'd dreamed of, but hopefully will be fine.

Most of my bundles of elm, ash, Rowan and beech are still just on boxes and stuff around the sheds and garage. Not yet got round to sorting a proper storage/feeding system which isn't great. On the one hand, the bundles are lighter now, but I'm a lot bigger (baby due 14th December) so not happy going up ladders into the barn eves.

[arobwk]

I'm intrigued by this 2016 thread - tree hay - what?! 
I have absolutely no understanding of live-stock nutritional needs and the relative merits of various feed-stuff.  The table posted by Steph Hen (post #7 as I recall) means nothing to me.  However, I will be planting, in due course, some 2-3 acres of willow.  So, I'm wondering whether any discarded willow harvest (not up to standard for basketry etc) might have some use/market value as feed compared to chipping it as a mulch (?)  I'm presuming very low road miles for the sale-of,  i.e. very very local market.  Would anyone buy a 'bale' of willow by weight in preference to a bale of hay?   

[cloddopper]

I had a very big pampas grass to take out several years ago , , told my Italian friend what I was about to do over the next few days .
 She said break it up into rooted stalks & I'll give you 10 p per root stock .
 She wanted it to provide winter feed for her goats .

 200 stalks later she was over the moon especially when I used a five foot long one inch pointed  round bar to rive the planting holes for them ,then used the bar to nip the hole closed one it had been planted up . Three years later she had  a beautiful long row of pampas  starting to produce lots of new growth .
If I remember rightly her son used to hack half a dozen tufts down every Sunday during winter & bring it to the goat sheds .

 The pampas were also very good for holding/ sheltering  pheasants & partridges during the winter .

[arobwk]

Not exactly the answer to my question cloddopper  , BUT very interesting post - goats and pampas grass!  Will they/can they also eat New Zealand flax (Phormium) by any chance?  (Probably best I re-post that Q in the goat section!)

[Steph Hen]

I wrote a post here a while ago but it seems to have vanished!

Best speak to local goat keepers to see if there's any interest in your spare willow.
I'm also interested to hear about the pampas grass as goat food, especially as my friend is removing one from her garden.

From my own experience with this, I won't be cutting big branches again. Takes up too much space and branches are a pain to dig out of the litter. The bags of trimmed leaves and twigs were far better. Easier to store, feed and completely eaten by goats so no waste. The beech leaves were dry enough not to rot.