This Forgotten Tree Can Feed Your Herd All Winter: Why Did They Erase It?

Comments · 65

• BA

  @BackyardBenjamin · 7 months ago · pinned

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• FA

  @Farmerdude-i5z · 4 months ago

  Check out the research done on this tree at Virginia Tech. It is impressive but no, a single tree does not feed 20 cows, not for long. &nbsp;Va Tech research indicated that the pod yield (about 4000 lbs per acre) of the thornless variety Millwood selected for high sugar pods was roughly equal to the yield of the tall fescue pasture underneath, and therefore the yield of the pasture was doubled by the presence of the roughly 35 trees per acre, &nbsp;and that fescue under honey locust outyielded fescue in open pasture. I had a pasture I was able to rent cheaply because it was covered in &nbsp;the nasty thorny wild strains with relatively low pod yield, as long as I cut them down. After I cut the trees down, we had a major drought and the smooth bromegrass in the pasture was brown and crispy in midsummer, except where a honeylocust tree once stood. There were dark green circles with grass completely unaffected by drought. This was not a nitrogen effect, as urine spots in the pasture were taller but still brown and crispy. Honeylocust roots are reported to be covered in mucigel that holds water.

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• DA

  @davidpeightal4918 · 7 months ago (edited)

  I have an acre of honey locust. &nbsp;I graze sheep and goats in there. And once they learn, there are several layers of food. grass does grow under them. Not only is there filtered sunlight coming down, Locust put on leaves late in the spring and the spring grass flush has already happened under the naked branches. in the driest hottest part of the summer, it’s the only place here where grass is flourishing. The stock eats the green tree leaves they can reach. (I have seen locust trees called “the giant Legume”). They strip bark off the saplings keeping the forest clean, they think the pods are candy this time of year (February), and they will graze the fallen leaves like hay. &nbsp; People around here hate Locust trees. &nbsp;I guess because of the thorns and ground litter. &nbsp;But I love them. &nbsp;They make exceptional firewood also. &nbsp;People who forage wild plants for human food do learn that things with thorns usually (always?) are highly nutritious. The thorns and stickers are a defense mechanism to prevent over grazing. &nbsp;It’s why the honey Locust does not have thorns up higher than the tallest ancient grazers. &nbsp;And: Bonus: the inner wood glows in a black light.<br>(I doubt his “hundreds of pounds of pods per tree” &nbsp;no. “One tree feeds 20 cows”. Absolutely not.)

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• TA

  @tammy1156 · 7 months ago

  if the thorns can damage livestock hooves, then I wouldn&apos;t include it in a grazing area.

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• MA

  @markenge9348 · 7 months ago

  We had a thornless honey locust tree that thrived on our farmhouse lawn in Wisconsin back in the 50&apos;s &amp; 60&apos;s. &nbsp;It had an enormous bounty of pods every year. My mother considered the pods a messy nuisance. This is the first I heard of using them for feed. I wish we would have known that our dairy cattle would have loved to eat them.

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• CH

  @chris-d5e8u · 6 months ago

  Sounds very much like native mesquite which cattle love.

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• OL

  @oldoldpilgrim7898 · 7 months ago

  The thorned honey locust have been just as devastating to tractor &nbsp;tires as described and are not worth my time. &nbsp;The grafted trees without thornes might be worth propagating. &nbsp;If I live long enough, I might plant some for my great grand children.

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• DI

  @dianneiverglynne · 1 month ago

  I had honey locusts with thorns all around a pasture years ago. Had horses, sheep and goats on it. The animals loved the pods and the leaves...but one of my fillies came in one day with a thorn right in the center of her eye. The vet got it out and her eyesight recovered, but I stopped using that pasture altogether because of that incident. If the variety without thorns produces a tree the livestock like even half as much as mine did it would be worth having. It was a beautiful pasture. The trees are graceful on the landscape, too.

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• DA

  @David-p5v1k · 5 months ago

  Trees that provide great fence posts and excellent firewood. The fence posts lasts for decades.

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• DE

  @deadcenterarts29 · 3 months ago

  I thought the foliage and pods of locust trees were toxic to livestock? Could have sworn I saw that all over the internet.

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• IN

  @inthecompanyofnone3597 · 7 months ago

  I&apos;d plant anything that is native and good for the earth.

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• JE

  @JesseBoone-e8f · 1 month ago

  We do need to use trees as forage again. They provide much more than just grass they provide nitrogen pictures as well you can control them with coppicing and pollarding