Biodiverse Polyculture (USDA 8a Zone Pasture) - sounds better than "My Acres of Weeds"

[BlindLemonChicken]

Not nearly so bad

Bracken Fern - Monitor and manage

View attachment 2753535

Neither the chickens nor the goats seem to have any interest in it whatsoever. Located primarily at the edges where forest meets pasture, and in the forest undergrowth, this plant prefers shaded areas and never grows densely. Where it appears sporadically and other feed sources are present, this can be ignored.

This perennial fern is hardy, even surviving intense fires, and is toxic to livestock, particularly horses and pigs. Chemicals thorough the plant, but concentrated in the rhizome attack Thiamine (B-1). Introduced species, particularly in full sun, will crowd this out in time. No management typically required, except when concentrated in a newly cleared area of the forest.

Limited food benefit can be obtained from this, with significant preparation - long boiling or roasting to break down the B-1 destroying enzymes. Not recommended. It has no known benefit in the pasture. I could find no literature on use of this stuff as a coccidiostat, or any prophylactic effect its presence might have on native soils. Assume none

I love this thread! Just curious if this particular plant could be used to treat coccidiosis-would its attack on B1 do something similar to corid/amprolium?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yellow Woodsorrel, in dower

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Bog violets

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Cud weed- the ducks love it

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Rock Rose

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Supposedly, this is evening primrose or ramping. It does well on bare clay soils, but nothing seems to eat it...

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Bermuda grass, another good one for clay soils.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Goldenrod - this becomes a pollen issue later in the year.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Dogfennek

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Veldtgrass