The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: Leefle on July 11, 2021, 02:19:58 pm
-
Hi
I would like to be able to create a forest garden within a field I use for grazing sheep.
Looking the subject up on the web this is possible to use the area to help all the the wildlife flourish, I would also like to be able to let the sheep in to help manage, has anybody got any experiences they could share and what fruits and herbs would work well, I was also thinking of nut trees?
Early stages getting ideas.
Regards
Lee
-
Most sheep will ringbark trees, so you might have to be prepared to put guards around all the trees. Plus, my understanding of a forest garden is that it's multiple levels, from tall trees down through the storeys to ground cover plants. Sheep will eat all the lower-level herbage, so I cannot really see how sheep and a forest garden can cohabit.
What you could maybe consider is making a forest garden in one section, or around a part of the perimeter, and having sheep in the grassy bits - fenced off from the forest garden bits.
-
Hi
I would like to be able to create a forest garden within a field I use for grazing sheep.
Looking the subject up on the web this is possible to use the area to help all the the wildlife flourish, I would also like to be able to let the sheep in to help manage, has anybody got any experiences they could share and what fruits and herbs would work well, I was also thinking of nut trees?
Early stages getting ideas.
Regards
Lee
Have a look at Richard Perkins from Ridgdale Permaculture farm on YouTube.
This is exactly what he does and what we do.
If you want to have sheep in the same field with lots of trees and fruit bushes you need to plant everything on rows with wide (10-12 metres let's say) lanes of grass between them. You manage your sheep/cows/goats/whatever other animals, with portable electric fencing.
The best thing for the sheep is electric net or at least several strands of wire.
-
Hi [member=200704]Leefle[/member] , I wonder if, rather than us trying to teach our Grannies to suck eggs, you tell us how much you know, and which aspects of forest gardening you have found would work for you? Then, ask specific questions. Open ended topics tend to end up not being relevant unless you let us know precisely what you want to know, and give feedback when someone has offered an answer. You have found that it is possible to keep sheep in a forest garden, but if we know what you are already considering then we can give our relevant experiences.
I grow a lot of trees, but for them to survive I keep my sheep well away from them, allowing them only to eat overhanging leaves and branches, or branches we have cut for them to eat in winter.
Similarly, our sheep are not let anywhere near our veggies, or we would have none.