Hello, I'm in southern Ohio. The trees that we have here that I call honey
locust, have thorns all over them. I've spent many hours trying to kill
them out of the fence rows. If you cut one down, 20 trees will sprout up
out of the ground from the roots of the tree you cut. I am constantly
pulling thorns out of flat tires. My cows will eat the pods from the trees,
but I wouldn't count on that as a feed source. The thorns don't seem to
bother the cows much. Occasionally we will have a cow with a sore foot that
doesn't seem to be caused by anything. It could be she stepped on a thorn
or maybe just a rock or something. I can't recall ever pulling a thorn out
of a cows foot. I have heard that they are legumes, but that nitrogen in
the fence row doesn't do me much good. I nicknamed them "Devil Trees".
I believe that there is a honey locust that is thorn-less, but I have never
seen one around here.
Just my two cents worth.
Mike Putnam
Grassland Dairy Inc.
Clarksburg, Ohio USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Oogie McGuire" <oogiem@desertweyr.com>
To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 4:07 PM
Subject: [Graze-l] Honey Locust trees?
> Anyone have any experiences or comments on using honey locust trees
> as shade trees in pastures?
>
> We need trees to lamb under trees to prevent eagles from killing the
> lambs. Also, we've found that our sheep gain better and in general
> are much happier and less stressed with shade in mid summer. Our
> extension agent has suggested honey locust as a tree to plant for
> shade in our area. In addition to being fast growing, tolerate
> alkaline soils and fairly tough she mentioned that the pods are
> edible so in times of drought the sheep might be able to be fed on
> the fruits. Also, they are legumes so increase soil nitrogen rather
> than remove it.
>
> Sounds great but I'd like to get some real world experience to
> compare with. <G>
> --
> Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
> Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
> Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
> http://www.desertweyr.com/
> Paonia, CO USA
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