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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Food for Free. Fabulous Forage Part 3. Tree Fodder & Tree Hay

The idea of tree fodder is inextricably linked with the changing landscape, the full domestication of animals, the concept of farming and the clearance of the forests. It should therefore come as no surprise that this practice of feeding livestock, which started with the prehistoric herders and mostly finished in Europe around WWII is, through forest gardening, permaculture and modern silviculture, undergoing a revival. Although ostensibly seen as a way of feeding ruminants and of particular and prescient value in drought-ridden and soil-eroded areas, there is no reason why it can't be used in our own gardens as a great way to feed poultry. The mother hen below is jumping up to pull down the hornbeam leaves for her chicks. This is just one method...

I stumbled across this practice quite by accident, as I have a real 'thing' about people snipping bits off our hedges. Nobody wants bad blood with neighbours, so I was quietly investigating who was making the tell-tale clipping noises when I discovered it was the chicks! As I have so often written in this blog, I believe poultry know more about their own dietary requirements than we ever will.

Early Forest Farming, Tree Fodder and Tree Hay - Lost Knowledge & Social History

From  Double D Delights Pinterest

If we take the UK for example, it has oft been quoted that prior to the clearance of the woodlands and formation of the royal hunting parks under King Cnut (Canute) at the beginning of the 11th century, a squirrel could travel across Britain by jumping from tree to tree without ever touching the ground. The earliest of the Anglo Saxon experiments in 'taming' wild animals were part-domesticated pigs or hogs, which were bred on a homestead and then turned out to feed in the forests with a herdsman or swineherd. Although the Stone Age farmed pigs were thought to have arrived from Asia, it was this secondary domestication of the wild European boar, which is perhaps the most interesting. However, over the Winter period the pigs became too difficult to feed and to all intent and purposes were returned to the 'wild'. Alone they could forage much further in the vast public forests to find the necessary beech masts and acorns and other choice arboreal items, with which to sustain themselves. These hogs were then re-captured in Spring and returned to foraging alongside their herders.

Furthermore, even as early as the 9th century, royal charters were drawn up to limit the foraging of hogs between certain periods of the year, which of course were the crucial Winter times, when the owner couldn't afford to feed his pig.  Seizure of property was permitted in the case of 'trespassing' swine, or perhaps more fairly under King Alfred, the introduction of pascua porcōrrum, or denbǽra, feeding rights, which became payable at the end of the fattening season, in pigs. So much was this 'rental' a part of rural life that the practice became synonymous with the month of November, as seen here above in the calendar page for that month in the Queen Mary Psalter c 1310 (British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts). Thus from a semi-wild food the pig became a currency, not only for such worldly usage as the payment of dowries and rents but also accepted by the clergy to say masses for the dead. It is a great pity that according to the accounts of this period I have read, themselves based on copious contemporary legal documentation, that pig keepers seemed to have lost the ancient art of Summer coppicing and tree-hay making known to their Neolithic ancestors. My thinking is, that as the former were living in a feudal system, relying on hierarchies inculcated by laws, they had abandoned the self-reliant savoir faire of the autonomous prehistoric herders. In fact the continuance of leaf and twig fodder gathering in Scandinavia, long after it had been abandoned in Britain, has been linked to the home-grown food production in the harsh Northern climes, whereas to quote Napoléon Bonaparte, England is/was a nation of shopkeepers, relying on trade and as such has always imported a great percentage of its food. 

The figure left, taken from a manuscript, shows a swineherd in the act of feeding his pigs by knocking down the mast. The title of the image is 'pannage', which is the Norman version of the Saxon denbǽra, unfortunately the original article, which I would have loved to read, has gone from trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress but the image remains on their Pinterest site


Furthermore, DNA studies into the bone composition of early cattle has revealed that prior to early man's forest clearings for grass pasture and cultivation of crops, Aurochs and their kind lived on and in the swamps and woodland fringes of forests. This is witnessed by the tell-tale leaf derived nutrients in their skeletal remains. It seems therefore logical that poultry such as chickens, which were originally 'jungle fowl' would also thrive better on a paleo diet.

Tree Fodder a Wonderful Unlooked for Result of our Garden Plan

When we came here to this abandoned field and ruined house, our first thought was to plant wind breaks or shelter belts to cut down the drying and chilling effect of the westerlies from the bay. We travelled by motorbike in those days but it's surprising how much bare root hedging beech and hornbeam you can get on the back of an old-fashioned tourer.

When the poultry came along, I did like the idea that they could and would use the hedges as a secondary and additional layer in which to roost and socialise but I little thought then about it providing nutrient other than aphids and maybe the occasional unlucky caterpillar. (Photo below: looking back from the top left hand corner of this one, 15 years apart!).

Over the years we have also shaped the hedges so that we have a lower layer of hedging and then an upper crown of leaves. This allows more light into the garden and most importantly into the greenhouses. The shelter given by these hedges is incredible, I'm reckoning we have on average a 2°C difference in our garden to our neighbours and we can sit and work here on days when the wind is howling around the neighbourhood. We have also welcomed creatures I haven't seen in other locations here, such as bush crickets and tree frogs and of course we have a large population of wild birds.

How the Birds Forage Tree Fodder, When and Why?

You will see several ways our poultry forage in the video, from the incredibly energetic to the leisurely grazers and the lazy 'we'll wait for you to do it' bunch.  However, these latter, seen below eating beech, are perhaps the most sensible, as they are getting maximum food value whilst letting me do all the work.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

There is not a huge amount of detailed research available on the actual nutritional value of specific leaves but I have pieced together what I could find. This ranges from studies into pollution, using tree leaf nutrients as a marker to actual charts of leaf fodder breakdown, which includes basics such as crude protein and fibre as well as more detailed mineral analysis. I do feel though that there is a great deal more to come and with the renewed interest and need for fodder, this is sure to happen. Overall and just from observation our chickens are consuming leaves from June through to September. I compared this to the charts on-line for leaf fodder nutrition and find these as the high protein and high fibre months. 

In action: Our hens (right) 'grazing' on beech leaves. Trees growing on rich soil will produce nutrient rich leaves with differences in mineral content also occurring in limestone areas, where, for example, Sodium, Magnesium and Potassium content are higher. There are also some nutritional differences between the lower level leaves and those in the crown. This is interesting as one of the forms of taking tree fodder or making tree hay was to pollard the tree by removing the crown.

The following are the mineral contents of the beech, Fagus sylvatica, which, along with hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, my birds are seen eating in the film:

The main minerals
(above 20g per kilogram): Calcium  and Potassium

followed by:                    Iron, Phosphorus, Sodium and Sulphur

and in trace amounts:    Cobalt, Copper, Manganese, Molybdenum, Selenium and Zinc

Molybdenum is involved in enzyme activity and also in the assimilation of sulphur to allow for effective liver cell detoxification, antioxidant protection and brain and nervous system function.

The crude protein content of the leaves is around 20% (dry matter) falling off to around 14% in September. Fibre, hovers around 25% throughout the season but peaks in July to 27%. Fibre as we have discussed before is of great importance to poultry, in that not only does it aid the digestion of the bird but non-digestible fibre actually fosters the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Beech leaves are also used in tisanes or herbal teas because they contain anti-oxidants and Vitamin C.

Hornbeam (above),  Carpinus betulus, which is another of our hedging trees the birds consume, contains similar amounts of protein to beech but less crude fibre it also contains measurable amounts of boron, which works in synergy with other nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and Vitamin D, (which it converts to D3), to maintain mineralisation of the bones. Boron is also linked to cognitive brain function.

MEDICINAL VALUE

Research on sheep and their consumption of tree fodder has brought to light the role that tannins and phenolic compounds, which the plant produces to prevent leaf damage, may play in the prevention of parasites in and on  the animal. Sheep, self-medicate for internal parasites by eating leaves, such as oak that are rich in tannins and phenolic compounds. I have also read of mares about to foal eating leaves such as willow and poplar, the former for its pain killing abilities and the latter for its anti-inflammatory compounds. Traditionally beech leaves have been used for poultices and the tea as both an anti-inflammatory and for the treatment of respiratory conditions.

Another thing I have noticed with my poultry is that they readily eat up any Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) flowers which fall to earth. However, I intend to devote a whole article to hens and blossoms, so more of this later.

Conclusions

Having experienced my hens eating beech and hornbeam last year and having already observed them eating lucerne/alfalfa hay out of their nest boxes, I am now decided on making leaf hay this year as an experiment. However I can already confirm that my quail certainly prefer Sweet Chestnut leaf bedding to hay or rather straw in the Winter!

Hedges of edible leaves can be planted in any garden to form not only a secondary living space for poultry but also as an additional repository of valuable food and potential medicine. They also provide additional areas for wild life and invertebrates and thus another potential food item. (See left, Stanislas awaits the descending caterpillars). Although leaves may in the long run only form an additional supplement to your birds diet, they are no less a valuable one and in line with our ancestors, help to put us one step nearer to autonomous poultry husbandry and self-reliant living.

.. and now if you'd like to sit back and watch both my own film and a very interesting one on leaf hay...


If you have enjoyed this blog and found it interesting then please think about subscribing, sharing it and/or commenting. Please also feel free to ask questions. 

All the very best,

Sue

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Providing Forage for Organic Poultry Part 2

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©  Sue Cross 2016