Coppicing for Tree Hay

William (The Permaculture Consultant) shares how he’s letting trees regrow to feed grazing animals:

We attempted this back at the end of 2022:

However, our main problem with the method was the deer!

Instead of letting the stumps regrow, they grazed the heck out of them, destroying the new shoots repeatedly and reducing the vigor. The shoots never managed to reach back to even a few feet in height, so it was an overall failure. I also didn’t see any improvement in the blueberry production, though that may just be a seasonal thing. Some years are better for berries than others.

As I commented on William’s video:

“I tried this in our woods and the deer destroyed the regrowth. Was hoping for firewood and biomass, but they really chewed them up. A year later, they were barely growing because of all the deer grazing. Next time, I will pollard at about head-height. My cows won’t be able to self-feed, but the deer won’t get it first!”

If you have less deer pressure, or are running animals through an area occasionally, cutting the trees low might make sense. However, if I cut trees low and they were in a cow pasture, the cows would destroy them even without the help of deer. So it’s head-height for us.

Overall, I think we fail to recognize how very much potential our land may have. I urge people not to clear indiscriminately. Forests take a long time to grow and you may lose more than you think when you clear them. First of all, you lose timber and firewood. You also lose all the leave and nuts that may fall. Acorns fatten pigs, and hickory can be a good nut to eat. You may also lose wild fruit, like mulberry and persimmon. And edible mushrooms that grow around the roots of trees, like chanterelles. You also lose all the tree hay, as William explains.

Don’t just run willy-nilly and clear everything down to make pasture unless you’ve really thought it through.