Air Meadows - Food for Free Part 9 - Pollarding and Pruning Tree Fodder (Part 2)

In part one of this article we looked at the rich heritage of tree fodder and how it had been used as a form of arboricultural farming for many thousands of years. In this article I want to look at the practice in detail with reference to the choice of individual species, their nutritional value and their suitability as fodder and medicinals for both poultry and other livestock. If you haven't read part One you can find it here.

Below, one of my quail snacking on the first flush of hornbeam. I noticed that the quail preferred to eat the flower buds of the tree first. When I consulted the detailed nutritional breakdown of hornbeam from the  European Data Base, this gave me some insights into why that might be but more of this below.

 

The 17th century English Agricultural author,  John Worlidge encouraged the planting of trees to be pollarded in hedgerows: 

 

‘For Ash, Elm, Poplar, Willow, and fuch Trees that are quick of growth, it is a very great profit that is made of them where Fewel is fcarce, by planting them in Hedge-rows, and other fpare places, and fhrouding them at five, fix, eight or ten years growth; they constantly bear a good head, and every time whilft the tree is in proof, the fhrouds increafe. They are out of the danger of the bite of Cattle, and require no fence’ (1669: 126).'

In France, many rural hedges still contain both ancient and newly planted pollards, now mostly for fuel rather than fodder, although this practice of using leaf fodder is now coming back with the growth of smallscale organic farming and permaculture. Pictured below in the background is a chateau driveway of ancient pollarded poplar, with a hedge of relatively new mixed deciduous pollards in the foreground field. Note the large tell-tale callouses or 'boilings' on the ancient poplars.

 

 

Tree Species Suitable for Pollarding or Pruning for Fresh Fodder or Tree Hay

I have avoided my natural aversion to pollarding  by simply just pruning my trees for immediate consumption. That way I don't have to be haunted by gnarled fingers but can still supply my poultry with nutritious and  readily-available forage. In a forest garden this is an absolute boon as I have no grass available for immediate consumption or of course, for hay. Any grass I have has to be brought in from neighbours' meadows and with the present increase in homesteading and food production, these 'set asides' are getting less and less common. It is worth remembering, in their wild forms, poultry rarely forage in open grass lands, they live in jungles and other wooded areas. It is also worth noting that many present day grass-fed livestock such as cattle, for example, started life as swamp and woodland dwellers, which is probably why the Neolithic farmers carried on the practice of silviculture and air meadows.

 

Throughout the centuries trees used and seen as excellent fodder crops in Europe were:

• alder, Alnus glutinosa
• ash, Fraxinus excelsior
• aspen Populus tremula
• beech, Fagus sylvatica
• elm, Ulmus minor
  
• hazel, Corylus avellana
• hornbeam, Carpinus betulus (pictured below pruned by the poultry!)
  
• poplar, Populus
• white hawthorn, Crataegus punctata (below left)
  
• willow, Salix
  

with 

• sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa and oak, Quercus robur mixed in with other leaves

That said specific countries, such as Norway, for example include other favourites, which they still use to this day such as:

• goat willow, Salix caprea
• pine Pinus
  
• rowan, Sorbus aucuparia

Depending on your climate and native (or well-established) species of trees there are so many options to choose from when planning to grow these valuable forage crops. Researching of your local farming history should lead you to the best varieties to choose. I include below just a few examples from outside European and similar climate zones (such as parts of the USA and Canada), however, it would be really useful if you could share any experience or knowledge of good choices for trees for poultry, in the comment section, as those species included below are general livestock forages.

African small livestock farmers for example, have for centuries fed forage on a 'wild browse' basis rather than specifically cultivated leaves for such. The continent has nearly 10.000 species of trees of which 75% are suitable for livestock feeding. Just a few examples of trees popular in arboriculture for use in this respect being:

• gum arabic (Acacia senegal)
• whistling thorn (Acacia seyal)
• yeheb nut (Cordeauxia edulis) 

A few examples popular in Central America

• hairy stamen leadtree (Leucaena trichandra)
• red calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsu)
  
• wild tamarind (Leucaena diversifolia) 

The above are just a straw poll garnered from the net but I've included some links below to useful sites.

 

Poultry Specific Air Meadows?

My answer to this is; observation. With a forest garden we already have a good mix of trees both native and exotic to provide a smörgåsbord of leaves, flowers and fruit as potential fodder. We also have some prolific climbers, (more of the latter in a future post) and which are certainly part of the canopy and thus the air meadow. My philosophy has always been that poultry know more about what they should be eating than humans ever will. So I let them get on with it. By noting what is readily consumed at browse height, such as rose bush leaves, beech and hornbeam, I know their preferences. Just by watching what is and conversely what isn't, consumed when pruning, also informs me on my birds' choices in leaf fodder. For example wild clematis (above top) is prolific in leaf production and I was very gratified to find my hens eating them with gusto from the prunings.

 

Below: photograph of a quick walk around the garden looking for 'Nibble Test at Browse Height' evidence of what is and what isn't to the taste of our poultry.

 

 

Tree Fodder Zero Waste

 

After the birds have eaten the leaves, buds and any other bits they fancy the twigs are then left to dry and later used in our rocket stove from which we get hot coffee and food and on a cold day (or even a hot one) under which the chickens like to 'sunbathe'.

Nutritional Value

In my previous article on the subject of leaf fodder, I actually went into quite some detail as to the nutritional value of leaves such as hornbeam and beech and you can find this linked in the related articles below.  Listed at the end of this article you can also find an incredibly useful resource: European Data Base which you can use for the trees existing on your land or to give you an idea of those that would be useful fodder. Below is a screen shot of just a small part of the data sampling at various times of year for the first tree in my list - alder (Alnus glutinosa). This, to give you an idea of how useful this rich resource can be when planning your air meadow. You can also set certain parameters within the search to look at specific food values, which can inform your choice of tree or shrub.

There is also a link below to a Tropical Tree Forages List and the Forage Trees of Nepal which includes nutritional breakdowns and traditional uses. It is interesting to note also that in some countries there are still communal forests where livestock can be fed tree fodder and where branches can be cut for tree hay.

 

Tree Fodder as a Medicinal

Researching this subject you quickly realise that trees have a long and worldwide history of uses in medicine from heart treatments (hawthorn) and anti-inflammatory properties (Ash and Alder) to anti-bacterial (Beech) and painkilling properties (Willow). I've already mentioned sheep self-medicating for parasites, and seemingly it is the high tannin oak leaves that they choose. If you look at the uses of tree leaves in tisanes or herbal teas, again you will find a wide range of properties from poultices to the treatment of respiratory conditions. As always I observe my poultry to see what they are consuming at any given time of year because often tree leaves provide vitamins and minerals that may be lacking or scarce in other forages. For example pine needles contain a high amount of vitamin C, which is one of the first vitamins to be lost when the body is under stress (such as is caused by extremes of temperature), I have seen my poultry pecking at the needles in Winter and at the new growth pine buds in early Spring.

 

Small Scale Air Meadows - Maximising your vertical growing space

The other consideration in growing trees for your poultry is to remember that many of them produce not just leaves which are edible but also blossoms and fruit. However, the leaves of certain fruit trees, in particular stone fruit are viewed with caution, as in some of the literature, I have read they are considered toxic. I've found varying and contradictory reports on this however.  I've even seen peach leaves mentioned as toxic and here in North Western France we make peach leaf wine. Conversely I've seen elderberry and mulberry mentioned as suitable forages but my birds will touch neither. So before you plant consider both searching for hands-on testimony and the 'Nibble test' and seek out some sample foliage.

 

One example of an incredibly valuable 'multi-forage' tree in our garden is Amelanchier or Serviceberry also known Saskatoon, an anglicisation of the Cree; misâskwatômina, meaning 'the fruit of the tree of many branches'. Mixed with tallow the dried berries, makes an incredible Winter survival food and as such was highly prized by the First Nations. It also has the advantage of being a very pretty tree both in blossom and in leaf, although you do not get the full idea from my image captured yesterday of the last few remaining petals.

 

My birds, love its petals, they eat every single one that drops to the earth and if it wasn't for the thorny Kiftsgate rose growing through it, I'm sure they would be up the tree snacking on them up there. The blackbirds however often beat both the chickens and ourselves to a major share of the berries. It's always a good gauge of the value of a plant when such fierce competition occurs.  The foliage is a fodder crop both for wild deer, rabbits and livestock. 

Amelanchier has not only nutritional benefits but it has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years. It is particularly prized for its  antioxidants, specifically phenolics, flavonols and anthocyanins, with the latter at a higher level than most other berry fruits. This however is just one example, use the links provided to check for more possibilities!

 

Here's the film:

 

As already expressed my intention is to continue this theme with a look at harvesting tree hay for poultry (this will be in June), before then however, another article in this series will look at climbing plants for air meadows. 

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!

Until next time, all the very best from sunny Normandie! 

Sue

 

© 2021 Sue Cross

REFERENCES

John Worlidge: A compleat system of husbandry and gardening; or, the gentleman's companion, in the business and pleasures of a country life. ... The whole collected from, and containing what is most valuable in all the books hitherto written upon this subject; ..

Pollarding Trees: Changing Attitudes to a Traditional Land Management Practice in Britain 1600–1900

Online fodder tree database for Europe - Nutritional Values 

Tropical Forages List 

Fodder trees for improving livestock productivity and smallholder livelihoods in Africa 

James Main: The Forest Planter and Pruner's Assistant: being a practical treatise on the management of the native and exotic forest trees commonly cultivated in Great Britain.. 

Fodder Trees of the Nepal Hills 

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Air Meadows - Food For Free Part 8 - Pollarding and Pruning Tree Fodder (Part 1)

'Air meadows' is the beautiful description for a multi millennial old tradition of feeding European livestock. How do we know this?  Well because in this form of silviculture, the standard way of growing trees for an optimum harvest was to pollard them and thus create a yearly plethora of thickly growing, thin leafy branches above browse height. Evidence of whole stands of trees pruned this way have been discovered dating from the Neolithic Period all over the continent and there still exist examples of ancient pollarded trees in parks common land and pre-Enclose Act hedgerows. It is very interesting to note that up until the beginning of the 20th century more tree hay, was cut, dried and stored for use in Europe than conventional (grass) hay. Furthermore, air meadows didn't just provide food, sheep in particular are known to self-medicate for internal parasites by using the tannins and other phenolic compounds found in leaves. So for free food and medicine, look to the sky.

Some time ago I made a film and wrote an article about using leaf fodder for poultry but it wasn't until an  interesting comment from Akın Çekinmez in Turkey asking if I had ideas on specific trees for sheep and goats, that I began to look into the history of sky meadows. This,  as opposed to the ad hoc pruning of hedges for our birds or grazing them on a 'self-service' basis. Of course with many of my poultry being good flyers and climbers they already have the option to forage up in the trees but I think it is more likely that they would rather I did the leg/ladder work and brought the greenery down to them! 

 

Pollarding? - Historically A Vexed Question

I have to admit right from the outset that I do not like pollarded trees, I find the practice ugly and quite frankly unsettling. Living in a country where every municipality pollards every tree, I can not fail to be effected by a Winter urban landscape of gnarled and tortured trees, raising their raw bare knuckles to the sky in supplication. Poetry aside however, this is a practice which has been documented in writing since Roman times and was used not only for the feeding of livestock but also for the silviculture of wood for fuel. In the coloured plate left: The illuminated page for February from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1416); we can see a stand of pollarded trees, no doubt crucial for Winter heat and fodder for 'the flock in woolly fold'.  Witness the man in the blue coat, pollarding his trees, this was often done with an axe or billhook by the skillful practitioner. 

In opposition to this practice below left, in the background of the scene for 'April' witness a stand of trees, not yet in leaf, exhibiting to my mind the true ugliness of the pollard. It was perhaps this offence to the aesthetics of 19th Century England, as well as the need for trees for shipbulding both through increased warfare and trade, that caused the eventual demise of the practice in the country. Other factors involved were the concentration of land ownership, the various Enclosure Acts and the rise of coal as a major fuel source. Another two major causes were; the influence of the new Timber Trade  and the gathering sway of  celebrity Landscape Gardeners such as Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton, of whom Uvedale Price wrote in 1792:

'...he would deserve a statue if he could inspire Mr Pitt with such an aversion to (stripped elms) as to make him exert his great authority and eloquence to put an end to such a horrid practice’. 

Price argued that the ending of pollarding;

 ‘....would do more towards beautifying the face of England than all the sums that ever have, or will be laid out in improvements’

James Main writing in 1839 in his book 'The Forest Planter and Pruner's Assistant' argued that pollarding was akin to ‘mutilation’, ‘distortion’ and ‘bad taste’ and that ‘only natural disbranchement by wind or lapse of time’ could produce a natural shape that could be admired. Looking at some of the horrors of crown pollarding and terrible lopping attempts that disfigure the meadows near me, such as this once majestic oak, left, I'm afraid I have to agree!

As with all things down the ages and through to the present day, everyone had their own agenda from aesthetics, warfare and commerce to food and energy security and plain just staying alive.

It is true however, that in the urban, suburban and semi-rural landscape, pollards spring up like mushrooms and I can't say I find them particularly appetising. This in particular when contrasted with the surrounding beauty of naturally growing and expanding trees. 

 

Left is an example of such on the outskirts of a neighbouring small town.

Young trees like this are pollarded at under 19cm diameter, cutting into the sapwood. The exposed tissue will then callous over  to create a fist shape or 'boiling' making such trees most unsightly in Winter.

Pollarding Protocols

If you decide on pollarding, then there are certain guiding protocols that have been observed throughout the centuries for the best practices of this craft. It has to be said that, although slightly controversial with respect to certain tree species, such as elm, for example, the general consensus seems to be that correctly undertaken pollarding can extend the life of a tree, and thus its fodder and fuel production.

 

Fuel 

 

The picture above shows our local organic dairy farm pollarding oak trees grown within the farm bocages (Basse Normandy raised hedges) for fuel. This is chipped on site, with zero waste, for a wood biomass heater and the pollarding is done every 15 years, which is the traditional standard for fuel pollards in this part of Normandy. However, pollards for fuel depends and depended very much upon the type of tree cut and also, as the following evidence shows, upon the rules of the particular forest or land-owner. Dr Oliver Rackham, the Cambridge academic, in his book The Last Forest. The Story of Hatfield Forest published in London in 1989  used the evidence of tree-rings to show the differences in the pollarding cycles of the Essex forests: 

Epping Forest had a thirteen year cycle, 

Hatfield Forest's was between twelve and thirty-six years and

Hainault Forest between eighteen and twenty-five years.

 

Fodder

 

Pruning and pollarding for forage was/is often done on a yearly basis, although others promote longer pollarding cycles from 3 - 8 years. To avoid excessive wounding to a tree, easy healing and thus problems with fungus the advice is to cut branches that are less than 7.5 cm - 3" in diameter. It is also advised, to avoid die back to any one area of the tree, to prune/pollard the whole tree equally. 

Tree hay

The protocol for tree hay in Europe is to cut in full leaf - preferably from of end of June and through July, when the nutrient (including mineral) content in the leaves and twigs is at a maximum. Dried and stored these nutrients will remain within the tree hay to provide an excellent winter forage. I have never tried making and storing tree hay for poultry but will do so this Summer and will write that up as a further part to this fodder series.

In the Part 2, which you can find here, we will look at aspects of modern pollarding practice including nutrient values and examples of suitable fodder trees for different climates and spaces.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!

 

 

Until next time, all the very best from sunny Normandie! 

Sue

 

© 2021 Sue Cross

 

REFERENCES:

Pollarding Trees: Changing Attitudes to a Traditional Land Management Practice in Britain 1600–1900

Online fodder tree database for Europe - Nutritional Values 

Tropical Forages List 

Fodder trees for improving livestock productivity and smallholder livelihoods in Africa 

James Main: The Forest Planter and Pruner's Assistant: being a practical treatise on the management of the native and exotic forest trees commonly cultivated in Great Britain..  

 

Fodder Trees of the Nepal Hills 

 

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