Integrating Livestock with Trees.

For several decades governments and movements such as LandCare have encouraged the integration of trees into farms to provide shelter, reduce erosion, improve biodiversity and provide timber. While these efforts have helped improve many farm landscapes, they have contributed very little commercial timber.

Integrating Agriculture

Heartwood Unlimited takes the unique approach to flip this trend and integrate agriculture to our tree plantations. Our properties are designed with a combination of timber production and livestock grazing for mutual benefit. Areas of conservation are also identified on each property and managed to connect wildlife corridors, protect waterways, and preserve indigenous vegetation.

The Importance of Livestock

Producing high value timber requires trees to be pruned, to remove large branches, and regularly thinned, to ensure diameter growth is encouraged on the best trees. Each time our plantations are pruned and thinned, additional sunlight breaks through the canopy encouraging grass and understorey growth. Livestock play an important part in managing this grass and understorey, plus controlling unwanted weeds. 

Complementary Environments

Heartwood manages herds of cattle, sheep and goats amongst our trees to create a complimentary environment. The livestock benefit from having shelter from the hot sun in the summer and the cold wind and rain in the winter. The trees benefit from reduced competition for moisture and nutrients, minimise fire risk and the faster breakdown of pruned branches and thinned stems from the livestock browsing and trampling the debris. The livestock also provide important nutrient cycling in the topsoil and the entire system remains carbon positive with the trees absorbing far more CO2 than the animals emit.

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