Partnership Spotlight: Silvopasture

Building successful silvopasture pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Andrea Chandler Farm – Pittsboro, NC

Project size: 8 acres

Chatham County, NC

Type of operation: Small ruminants/ cattle/ poultry

Objective 1: Establishing silvopasture in a successional forested area.

Step by step:

  • Fall 2019: Learned of farmer and landowner through project outreach on listservs and public forums.
  • Fall 2019: Initial farm visit to evaluate landowner property. Worked with area Extension Forestry agent to assess the site. No mature pines, so no real pine value at the current stage. Landowner did not want to wait years for select pines to mature. Assessed thinning ratio at present stage.
  • Sept 2020: Contractor thinned trees using forestry mulcher head on a skid steer.  The contractor established lanes by clearing out 30 ft swaths of trees and leaving approximately 20 lanes of trees in between lanes.  Those lanes of trees were then selectively thinned to eliminate the sweet gum trees, scrubby pines, and other undesirables leaving the better pines, maples, and other select hardwoods. 
  • Fall 2020: Began clearing woody residue by hand from mulching reseeding area and burning it. Once cleared the open areas are ready to be prepped and planted to forage.
  • Fall 2020: Applied lime, fertilizer, and seeded fescue.
  • Spring 2021: Temporary fencing installed. Animals introduced and fed hay to build up nutrients from residue

Summary:

Ursula Vernon reached out for help in developing her property to support a small farmer.  This farm, like many in rural NC, was originally a tobacco farm many decades ago.  The tobacco farm was fallow (or perhaps planted, we don’t have accurate historical information on that) to grow up into trees that were harvested for timber approximately sometime in the late 90s after which it grew up in densely populated pine and assorted softwoods. The initial visit with the area with the NCSU Extension Forestry Specialist determined that there was very little to no market value for the timber due to the small diameter of the trees and the small acreage of the tract so thinning would not be offset by any income from timber.  Given that information, NC Choices assisted the landowner in locating a few contractors to look at the property knowing that she would have to pay for the services of clearing the property.  The first contractor was secured to thin and remove the trees for pulp but ended up not being able to start due to conflicts with other work.  A second cortractor was found with a forestry mulcher and was able to start immediately.  This contractor brought in two skid steers with forestry mulcher heads and worked for 3 days to thin the site to allow for approximately 60% light penetration to the ground.  The landowner had a budget of $20,000 to complete the clearing which only allowed for the thinning of 7 of the 8 acres.  The challenge to this method was that mulching created a thick layer (up to 8-9” in spots) of woody debris across the ground.  To make the ground suitable for planting, this debris would have to be removed or broken down.  

Andrea Chandler, a military veteran farmer moved onto the site and began the process of clearing and breaking down the debris to prepare for planting.  This was accomplished with two approaches.  First was the introduction of ruminants to the property and feeding them hay.  The residue from the round bales combined with the manure from the animals coated the woody mulch and provided the nutrient sources necessary to expedite the breaking down of the mulch.  These feeding areas were rotated as adequate material was deposited to cover the mulch.  This method was based on the popular regenerative agriculture practice of bale grazing to replenish nutrients.  The second approach was to clear areas by hand raking the mulch up and burning to remove the debris and expose the soil so that grass seeds could be planted.  These techniques resulted in a slow process for developing forages but since the vast majority of the budget was dedicated to thinning the timber it was necessary to make this part as low cost as possible for the farmer.

Initial assessment

Two cattle are laying in the grass under tall trees. Sun rays are showing through the canopy of the trees
Stats of light colored deck wood are in the foreground on the right of the photo going almost to the very back. On the left and back are trees sparsely populated and grass
One tall pine tree in the foreground. The picture is looking at the understory of a sparesely populated forested area. There is green grass and dead plants on the ground
Tall trees with a cattle in between their trunks
In the foreground on the left, there is a person with a red shirt and white hat looking at the canopy with their back to the camera. In front of them is a forested area in shadow with not many green leaves
On the right foreground there is a person facing forward looking at something in their hand. In the background there are trees and bush without green leaves
There are two people in the foreground talking. In the background are down trees with little green and a brown ground with some green grass

Clearing

Two bobcat compact loaders clearing away downed trees. There are still intact trees inbetween the machines
Brown forest floor is visible with thin trees dispersed within the area
A bobcat compact loader is clearning trees. There are intact trees and the forest floor is invisible. The whole scene is foggy with dust
Brown forest floor with dead twigs and grass in the foreground. In the background encircling the open floor are trees with green leaves
A bobcat compact loader is clearning trees to create an open area of forest floor. This open area is brown with dead twigs and grass, it is surrounded by intact trees with green leaves

Hay Sun

Image of a forested area. Trees not densely populated are dispersed in the area, their think trunks and their green leaves are visible. The brown forest floor can be seen in between the trees
Most of the picture is of the brown forest floor with a few trees
Birds eye view of the forest floor with gray/brown twigs, dead grass and hay

Animals moved

Two large black cattle eating hay. They are located in a low density forested area and have trees on either side of them. In the background is a high density forest area with a fence
About 7 goats and sheep standing in tall grass/hay
Two tall trees at the front of the photo. The trunks of tall trees are seen throughout and the forest floor with hay and grass takes up a lot of the photo. There is a wire fence moving up and down, and also across the photo