The Irish Agroforestry Forum (IAF) recently held an event in Ballinspittle, Co. Cork to showcase the agroforestry efforts of beef and sheep farmer Michéal O’Donovan.
O’Donovan and his family last year selected an area of 2.4ha on their farm to plant as silvopasture for their lowland sheep, as he felt the steeply sloped ground would benefit the flock.
This type of agroforestry involves the growth of trees within a grazed pasture in a particular pattern, which can bring numerous advantages.
Environmental benefits of this include decreased runoff, increased carbon sequestration, an extended grazing season with higher grass utilisation and the ‘mining’ of phosphorous from a greater volume of soil.
Inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Eugene Curran and Teagasc forestry advisors Tom Houlihan and Noel Kennedy attended the event, where they shared their agroforestry knowledge and experience.
As well as IAF members, farmers and agricultural organisation staff, the public were also invited to come along to the walk. Keely McGarr O’Brien, an IAF member said it was an informative meeting:
“It was a brilliant event, there’s no learning like chatting to the people who are actually doing it [agroforestry]. It was such a good chance to meet other agroforestry enthusiasts as well.”
Michéal and his family planted the area or “the agroforestry” in January this year with funding from the DAFM.
They planted three broadleaf species: Oak; birch; and cherry, all of which the family reports are growing successfully.
Planting trees such as this on pasture areas has a host of benefits for the livestock as well as the land. They provide shade, shelter and nutrients, and can also contribute to worm prevention when the animals browse the tree leaves.
The walk was held as part of a wider agroforestry education and promotion project which is being funded by the Woodland Support Scheme (WSS). The WSS is holding a number of events over the course of the year to promote the benefits that trees can bring for livestock.