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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:16 pm
by Broomcroft
My only experience with this is that we have a little wood where we put our sheep sometimes (Shropshire, who don't eat trees believe it or not), and a small group of Dexters sometimes. We had no problems till one day I let our Lleyn sheep into the area by mistake. They do eat trees. Within an hour or two they had scraped loads of bark off. Then as the sap had presumably been released, the Dexters started to join in and scrape and lick.
After a year of letting nothing in, the tree have healed and we now once again let our Dexters into the area, but only in summer if there's loads of grass.
I'm not sure that helps, but it might be interesting ???
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:40 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
We have similar experience with North Ronaldsay sheep going in with old apple trees. Clearly very tasty. Then when they go back to the usual patch with old hawthorn they start on that if grass is short. Cattle not primary offenders but they will make matters worse if the bark is wounded for them in the first place.
I don't think it is a sign of any deficiency, just the chance to taste something different.
Duncan
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:29 pm
by davidw
I noticed that over the past few weeks, my cattle were eating leaves off the trees. Some of the youngsters were even standing on their hind legs with front feet on the tree trunk in order to reach. One of the cows then went down with grass staggers and unfortunately we lost her. A blood test showed the others were seriously magnesium deficient. Is it possible your's are also seeking magnesium?
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:55 pm
by Saffy
We once had a cow in our dairy herd once with a condition called - I think - nervous acetonaemia, not the usual acetonaemia but I think the treatment was the same. Apparently they will attempt to eat unusual things, she was determinedly chewing the metal yard gate and then moved on to the scraper tractor!
However our Dexters love to forage and eat all sorts of things from the hedges, some more than others, maybe this new cow of yours is used to eating tree bark at her previous home and she simply has a taste for it.
Stephanie
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:56 pm
by Colin
I recall reading somewhere that eating bark could be a sign of phosphorous deficiency. However, my lot all enjoy stripping green bark from young trees if given the opportunity. So I agree it is likely to be just another source of food to them. After all, they are descended from wild aurochs of Europe, so are adapted to surviving in a European environment, of which woodland predominated.
Colin
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:20 pm
by wagra dexters
Ours aren't allowed in the orchard now because the calves ring barked some of the trees, but I am sure the best tasting meat we produce comes from the stock that is run out in the bush. They browse on eucalypt and acacia, and particularly like blackwood wattle. They leave the canopy level underneath, like they will with willow trees.
There are four other names on the list at the moment just as I logged in, those weird sites that I am a bit afraid of. Hope they don't get through.
Celebrating our hay harvest tonight, 116 silage bales, 75 ton. I had to ring Beryl in UK tonight to share our reprieve. From devastating drought to disastrous flooding, our wonderful little hay paddock has rallied yet again.
Margaret.
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:30 pm
by Saffy
Well done on the harvest there Margaret.
Stephanie :D
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:37 am
by Bridgehouse
We recently had some sheep in the orchard and one or two of them took a liking to some tree bark. From the point of view of the tree, I was told that the tree will not survive if it has been completely barked all the way round the trunk (which a couple of ours have been). Has anyone any knowledge of this or will we have to wait and see???
Some of my dexters have been in this same field and although they enjoyed the leaves from some they did not bother the bark.
Mark
Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 3:02 am
by Pennielea
First Posting of Christmas Day in the UK! Merry Christmas to all and after two days of sunshine for the first time in months it is a beautiful Christmas.
I had a small apple orchard completely 'barked' by goats which we were keeping as a favour for someone. The trees will die if the bark has gone from around the entire trunk.
I saved the trees by sawing them off at the undamaged bark level and grafting small branches from the top of the tree into the trunk. You may need to find a site on grafting fopr the details but roughly split the trunk with a hatchet and trim 'scions' from the upper branches into a 'v' and insert in the split in the trunk. Seal with wax (off gouda cheese) or red clay. All my trees survived, some even have different varieties growing from the same trunk. I had no previous experience just read it in a book.
Some thing similar to when I first kept Dexters!!
Once again Happy Christamas
Ian
Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 9:23 pm
by Saffy
There is a special wax that can be purchased especially for grafting - I don't know what it is called but it can't be difficult to find out. Very sticky - I think it has to be warmed slightly
Stephanie
Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:32 am
by welshdexterboy
You don't actually need to wax them, you can put moss around the cutting and bandage it on. This is how it was done in the dark ages. The tree dies as there is no food able to travel up underneath the bark, the flow is the in the part between the bark and the dry bit. If you get a heel cutting -- which is a small shoot ripped off so it has a little piece on the bottom-- then slice the bark with your penknife peel a tiny bit of bark back fir the foot/ heel in the gap, fold the bark back over and then bandage simple. It is basically what all fruit trees are now-- one type for the stock then a fruiting variety grafted on. Same principle for roses or any other kind of cutting you want to grow. Nadolig Llawen i bawb ac y Blwyddyn Newydd Dda. 
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:21 pm
by Kathy Millar
You can also do bridge-grafting which uses longer scion wood with both ends slipped under the bark. I don't know how wide a barkless strip you can bridge, never tried it. My Dexters love tree bark and have killed many trees up to the 8" diameter size, maybe more. My Shetland sheep are as good as goats when it comes to eating trees and brush. I saw a forest of Alders once that had all been chewed by pigs! If they are bored and hungry, livestock will eat anything!
Happy New Year, All! :D