Shade Trees for Pastures in Indiana

[jdawson]

All,

Over the years, many of the trees in our pastures have died due to lightening and compaction.  In some pastures, we have little to no shade.  I was hoping some folks who have attempted to transplant trees in their pastures could chime in?

1.) What kind of trees have you found to be fastest growing, the most hardy, and obviously safe for cattle?  We are in northern Indiana and have pretty sandy soil.  I recognize whatever I plant will require watering.

2.) Any creative thoughts or ideas on where to get the trees?

3.) For how long did you keep them fenced off?

 

[firesweepranch]

Not sure about Indiana, but in Missouri we have a great resource called the conservation. They can tell you what trees will do best, and help you out. I even get all my trees for free since I am hooked into the education system. The conservation will send trees, shrubs, berry plants, basically anything native and some not, for FREE (a normal homeowner can get them too, for a very SMALL fee)! As many as I want. I just order them through my college (used to do it through the high school when I taught high school ag), and can NOT SELL them, which is fine. We get the entire department together and send out the list of trees available and get an order together, then wait till spring when they send them. But, there is one "problem", they are yearling or two year old trees, so small to start. But, they are good hardy trees. Three years ago I put in a Silver Maple that was about 2 feet tall, and as big around as my pinkie. This year it has to be 8 to 10 feet tall and shades the corner pretty good. We just have to keep it well trimmed so it does not get weak limbs. This spring we are getting a bunch of nut and oak trees to put in, since we have lost a bunch to wind, drought, and age. Once again getting them for free.
A quick search yielded this resource, you might want to see if it is the same:
http://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/3606.htm

and specific information about trees that do well in your area:
http://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/3624.htm

When we plant, we just either run a strand of hotwire around the tree if it is near a fence, or roll a hog panel around it with a t-pole in the ground to attach it to on both sides. Leave it for several years, I have had many orchard trees snapped in half from cattle that got out and thought they would make great scratching posts! Grrr, expensive trees to replace, value and time wise...

 

[jdawson]

Thank you for the information.  I appreciate it.

 

[Lucky_P]

ANY tree you plant will have to have some fairly substantial protective fence to keep the cows(and deer) from demolishing it, until it's probably at least 4-6" diameter, and has branches well established above the 'browse line'. 
If you've got horses, a fence will be required for all eternity, as they're committed to reducing the landscape wherever they live back to the treeless plains from which they originated.

Red mulberry, northern pecan, black walnut, and bur oak get my votes for fast-growing, long-lived trees shade trees, that in an 'open' setting will spread pretty wide and make a good shade tree - and the pecans/walnuts(might also consider shellbark hickory) will give the added benefit of eventually (10-20 years down the road) providing some tasty nuts.  The oaks *could* be a problem, with regard to acorn toxicity, so consider that in your decision.
Bur oak is native to IN, and in my plantings, has been the fastest-growing of the oaks, typically putting on 2-4 ft of growth per year. Pecan & walnut seedlings, in good bottomland sites, will match or surpass that growth rate.
Most of the acorn toxicosis cases I see involve members of the white oak group(bur, white, etc.), so good site-adapted red/black oak species might also be worth considering, but I offer no guarantees that they would never be a problem.

 

[blackdiamond]

As someone who works for conservation, I wouldn't waste your time planting any trees in the pastures for shade.  The existing trees died for the reasons you stated, and most often, people won't take all the good steps to avoid that.  the other th ing, you'll need such a big fence around them to protect them, you won't get much shade.

do away with shade, and keep the cows out of hte mud holes, and out in the pasture grazing on the grass doing good.  Mud holes and shade trees are wasted ground. 

 

[jdawson]

Great!  Thank you as well.

 

[CAB]

IMO you can get trees to grow in lots or pastures and your cows will benefit from the shade. Make sure that you make a larger fence around them than it may look like you really need. You may want to plant a trio of trees of different variety to hedge against disease. If you are going to transplant trees, I suggest transplanting reasonable sized trees. By that I mean that I have seen PPL try to move 10-12ft. trees and seen them move 3-6ft trees at the same time and the 3-6ft. trees will pass the larger trees and have a better survival rate because of the trauma to the root system of the larger trees.