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Our tree species profiles give a silvopasture-focused summary of species showing the most promise in silvopasture systems—particularly in the eastern half of the US. Many of these trees are already providing shade for cattle, grass, and graziers and offering ecosystem benefits to the farms who have embraced farming in nature’s image.

TFG uses this document as a guide to lead our clients into thoughtfully expressing their vision and goals.

This is Trees For Graziers Planting Plan but with additional explanations to give TSPs and other silvopasture professionals some insight into the thought processes behind the questions.

Here’s a list of nurseries that we’ve found to have good nursery stock for silvopasture projects.

Trees For Graziers prepared this document with the aim of showing what an NRCS cost-share for silvopasture could look like, if it reflected the techniques that TFG has found effective in establishing trees in pastures. As of writing it is not being used by any NRCS office. Our goal is simply to lay out our methods in a way that fits within the NRCS format, so that it can be used as a template for NRCS decision-makers.

For those who want to geek out on the numbers, we’ve been working on an Excel spreadsheet. The purpose of it is to reasonably and conservatively predict the value of silvopasture to a farm based on the value of shade and feed produced by the addition of trees to pasture—especially as those trees mature over time and offer adequate shade and valuable winter feed drop.

Silvopasture, particularly the establishment of trees in open pastures, offers significant upside in terms of production, profitability, and sustainability in the face of a changing climate. Yet because of the significant time, money and effort required to establish silvopasture, adoption is very slow. The delayed ROI is especially challenging for many farmers, as they must wait years before seeing any fruit from their investment.  Let’s consider the investment case for silvopasture.

Here’s a  short course for professionals developing a silvopasture-focused business.