Livestock & Forage

I’ve written about food forestry before and I talk a lot about perennial food systems, but some of you may be thinking “what about livestock?” and you’d be right.

It does you no good to set up if your animals rely on fragile ones!

So today I want to cover some general considerations for livestock feed, why you should consider perennial forage for your animals, and some ideas for the types of crops to be looking at. Let’s get into it!

Should I keep livestock?

This needs to be the first question everyone asks themselves. Livestock are a staple for homesteaders and permaculturists but people often fail to consider if it makes sense for them to even keep livestock!

Most large grazing animals need a LOT of space. You could have as much as several acres per cow on poorer soil, or as little as 1 acre. Either way, it might not be worth it on a small property to constantly buy feed for an animal that big.

You have to consider the carrying capacity of the land, the quality of your forage, the length of your season, and how much land you can spare to devote to feed storage for the winter.

While all food systems really need animals to thrive, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to own livestock yourself. Sometimes it’s fairer to ask, “what kind of livestock is appropriate?” not every animal will make sense on your land.

Let’s look at a few options:

• Wild game: Wild game can provide most of the benefits of domestic animals (fertilizer, pest or weed management etc) without the cost of feeding them. The downside is that you have less control over where they go and what they do, but this can absolutely be a valid strategy, especially if your land can’t support domestic grazing animals.

• Local animal products: Sometimes it makes more sense to buy your animal products (or at least the feed you need) from a friend or neighbor who does have the resources to raise animals. This is a good opportunity for trade and a community relationship as well!

• Small livestock: Maybe it makes way more sense to go with smaller animals. Maybe you opt for quail, meat rabbits, chickens, and geese instead of cows or sheep. Small scale fish operations are also a great option!

While you may be one of the few that own enough land and have enough resources to raise several head of cattle for your family, hopefully these are helpful points to consider.

Forage

“Forage” is the food your animal consumes out in the pasture. This can be legumes, grasses, fruit, nuts, insects, or whatever your livestock eats. What your animal needs depends entirely on the species, for example, chickens are omnivores, but quail are primarily granivores and have different nutrient needs.

While there are several options that can at least lower the amount of feed you’ll have to supplement your animals with, it is nearly impossible to go completely without some kind of grain supplement.

Here are a few ideas worth considering:

• Silvopasture: Some people plant forage trees (such as nuts, fruits, or leafy trees) specifically for animal feed in their pastures. This not only brings more diversity and provides shade for the animals, but also gives them a substantial amount of food over time that can minimize how much you need to buy and maximize how much space you can devote to hay. Essentially this integrates tree crops into the pasture itself.

• Black Soldier Fly Larvae: For some birds (such as chickens) it can be very economical to farm black soldier fly larvae as a protein source. This can be an amazing way to feed your birds through the growing season.

• Perennial Herbaceous Plants: There are a few options for perennial plants that may or may not meet the dietary needs of your animal. Kernza (a perennial wheatgrass), perennial sunflowers, cup plant, sunchokes, and comfrey are some examples worth exploring.

• Tree Crops: There are many fruit and nut trees that can supplement your animals’ diets! Mulberry and hazelnuts come to mind as fairly fast-growing trees that produce a lot of food for animals, but even apples, oak trees, boxelder leaf, hybrid willows, poplar, and persimmon make great trees. If you go this route, I recommend pollarding or coppicing the trees to avoid over-grazing depending on the size of the animals.

  I list this separately because these tree crops can be grown away from the actual pasture (if that makes sense in the right context) and grown for fodder rather than the trees being the fodder.

• Invasive Species & Weeds: Some plants grow so intensely that they act like invasive species. As you know from previous articles, weeds and invasives can be useful if you happen to have them. Duckweed for example is an excellent animal feed supplement.

Livestock Options

There are so many livestock options that could (or might not) make sense for your site.

Here are a few to consider:

Cows/Cattle:

Generally, need the most space, can provide a lot of nutrient dense food but are very difficult to do economically on a smaller scale. Good for dairy, meat, and hides.

Sheep:

Sheep need considerably less space and are more efficient foragers than cattle but still need at least a few acres as a general rule. Good for meat, milk, and hair.

Pigs:

Great animals for disturbance and clearing (although pasture breeds also exist) good for meat and fertilizer but need considerably less food than larger animals like cattle.

Llamas/Alpacas:

Good for raising on marginal land, good at browsing and grazing, but are generally only kept for hair. You will need more than one as they are social animals.

Goats:

Excellent foragers, good on marginal land, good for clearing and browsing, can be used for meat, hair, or dairy. Medium space requirements and can develop annoying habits (they can be real escape artists sometimes!)

Chickens:

Low space requirements especially when raised on pasture, can be used for pest control, fertilizer, meat or eggs, generally require supplemental feed but this is easier to provide for them since they are much smaller animals.

Ducks/Geese:

Low space requirements but a water source like a pond is strongly recommended (a small pool can suffice if needed) can be used for meat, fertilizer, pest control, and eggs, generally require supplemental feed but this is easier to provide for them since they are much smaller animals.

Turkey:

Low space requirements especially when raised on pasture, can be used for fertilizer, meat or eggs, generally require supplemental feed but this is easier to provide for them since they are much smaller animals.

Quail:

Perhaps one of the lowest space requirements on the list, good for eggs, fertilizer, and meat, granivores (they eat grain mostly) it might be harder to grow a grain crop for their specific diets, but it is possible.

Rabbits: 

Very efficient and fast-growing animals. Great for meat, fertilizer, and pelts, easy to breed and easy to feed.

Fish:

Can take a learning curve if you aren’t used to it, but these can be done both holistically or in a very space efficient environment. In colder climates koi or trout are recommended. I would research permaculture fish systems and compare it to backyard aquaponic systems to see which makes the most sense.

Insects:

While I don’t believe insects should be mandatory eating and I don’t think they fully replace meat, I think there are benefits to raising them. They can make great livestock feed, good sources of nutrients, and can offer pest control. These probably have the lowest space requirements on the list depending on what species you choose to cultivate.

Hopefully this article helped you think through some important considerations for raising livestock on your farm or homestead! Note that this is NOT a guide to raising these for profit, simply for personal use and family consumption.

Maybe I’ll do a part 2 if this was interesting enough for people!

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