Agroforestry for livestock farmers: Results of innovations

This Deliverable within work-package 5 summarises the results of eight “lesson-learnt” reports within the participative research and development network focused on agroforestry for livestock farmers. The individual lesson learnt reports are available on the associated web-pages for each stakeholder group.

The results of some of the innovations are related to specific types of livestock. However it is possible to draw the following general conclusions.

  1. Animals welfare can benefit from the inclusion of trees which provide protection from solar radiation, from the wind, and in the case of poultry, a perceived protection from predators. This can support the poultry in using the entire range area which has benefits for reducing infection risk and nutrient leaching.

  2. Across systems the inclusion of trees supports biodiversity and soil organic matter.

  3. The foliage from the trees may represent a significant feed resource depending on tree species, in particular in terms of energy, protein and micronutrients for cattle. In particular, white mulberry (Morus alba) and common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) seems interesting in this respect.

  4. Data on composition and feeding value of tree leaves can be found in an on-line fodder tree database.

Hermansen, J.E., Smith, J., Bestman, M., Kongsted, A.G., Novak, S., Mosquera Losada, M.R., Luske, B., Bondesan, V., Burgess, P.J. (2017). Agroforestry for livestock farmers: Results of innovations. Deliverable 5.14 (5.2) for EU FP7 Research Project: AGFORWARD 613520. (15 January 2018). 9 pp.

A description of some of the dissemination activity related to the lessons learnt is provided in the following report:

Hermansen, J.E., Novak, S., Smith, J., Bondesan, V., Bestman, M., Kongsted, A.G., Mosquera Losada, M.R., Ferreiro-Domingues, N. (2018). Agroforestry for livestock farmers: dissemination of results and recommendations. Milestone 25 for EU FP7 Research Project: AGFORWARD 613520 (26 January 2018).  16 pp.