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.
We have to make a lot of assumptions to make this model work, but we strive to keep it accurate, simple, and usable so that farmers can make informed decisions as they consider integrating trees into their operations. We try to give a range of values for each part of the model so that you can be as conservative or optimistic as you like.
At this point our model is focused on beef value, but as we develop it, we hope to include milk production as well so that dairy farms can use it without conversion. We are also eager to revise our numbers as pieces of the data puzzle come in; please let us know if you have access to relevant data sets.
One of the anchor points of our model right now is ‘Temperature Humidity Index‘. We soon hope to utilize the THI adjusted which also accounts for solar radiation and wind speed. (The solar radiation number is especially applicable to the beef cattle industry which favors black angus cattle.)
So, give this a try and give us some feedback.
Trees For Graziers Silvopasture Model (Microsoft Excel)
(Hint: If you don’t have Excel, you can download the Excel file, open up Google Sheets, create a blank spreadsheet, click File & Import, and select the silvopasture model file and click Insert. Alternatively, you can open the model in Apple Numbers.)
Happy Number Crunching!
