Silvopasture: A Guide to Managing Grazing Animals, Forage Crops, and Trees in a Temperate Farm Ecosystem

I'm a small farmer on a 56 acre farm, raising hay, a variety of crops in gardens, and pigs, sheep, chickens, and goats. This book, in theory, should be perfect for me. I am quite interested in managing the forests on my farm, and would love to do so using my livestock.I was thrilled to see this book at Amazon, and ordered it immediately.And just a few pages in, I found myself hectored, yelled at, and guilt tripped. Apparently I'm a bad person because my skin is pinkish in color, and because I'm male. The entire institution of farming in America, which seems to be, from the emotional tone, the worst country ever in the history of mankind, is inherently racist and sexist (I need to tell my wife this so that as she works in her vineyard and tends her sheep she can curse at men).Are pigs good for removing invasive species under trees?It's not clear - but it is clear that when I swing a pick to remove invasive Japanese knotweed rhizomes, I'm evil and racist.Should sheep be used in the understory of a forest?I don't know - but I do know that the fact that I was "assigned male at birth" makes me a bad person, and I'm personally responsible for all of the evils ever associated with Native Americans who had departed this land 200 years before I was born.I'm going to return this book and look for another that actually has information on silvopasture and not just tedious virtue signalling.

This book is so loaded w politically charged language & leftist talking points that it's difficult to read. A part of me wants to burn the book and quit my personal silvopasture journey just to irritate this bleeding heart Nazi.Every other paragraph is pure tripe. In the prologue alone, we have solid declarations as fact of "all white people are evil"; "Native Americans have farmed in the same perfect way for thousands of years"; "all non-whites are still being exploited"; "white people are still colonizing the world"; "climate change is going to kill us all"; "most farmers are white people, and that's bad"; etc.Is there data here worth looking at? Advise worth taking? Guidelines worth following? Very likely. But I feel like a miner in a barely profitable mine where I need to shovel through tons of worthless rock to find the few nuggets of useful information.

This book has lots of useful information however it does also have a lot of political opinions on climate change, racism in food, and lack of diversity in farming for minorities and women. I am only half way through but I have to say that I think this book would be far more useful with this edited out. I agree with some of what he says but he keeps hammering on it and quite frankly it’s a major turnoff in my opinion.Again lots of good info just be prepared to wade through the authors political opinions to get it. I personally would rather just have the info which is why I rated it the way I did.

I am 1/3rd into the book so far. I have found this book helpful. Especially when you are dedicated to create a balanced ecosystem between your livestock and the environment. I have practised silvopasture in the past and know the positive impact it can have. Cutting down forests never made sense to me.But something here caught me with a surprise. I am giving this book 3 stars is because it is actively used by the author to spread lies and sophisms through political undertones. I felt I was reading a book by someone who was trying to write this book on two completely different subjects at the same time with nothing in common with each other. It would have been a great collection if the writer stuck to politically neutral language. Maybe writer should consider upgrading to a neutral scientific language so that average people can enjoy this book.Technically I can not recommend this book to anyone due to the language used in this book.

Two years ago, we purchased a property that had pasture that had been neglected for decades; now we have a "forest" property full of invasive species. The book gives us confirmation for some things we are currently doing (moving pigs, sheep, and goats through the forest with portable electric netting) and plenty more helpful suggestions that we look forward to implementing. Often it seems the author is walking through our specific property (well, the parts that are now open thanks to pigs and goats) with his advice, but he also helps those with a property that requires adding trees, shrubs, grasses; he also includes smaller projects to help those that don't want to go "all in," but can add some diversity to their farm/property.Just a few of my favorite topics covered:- Thinning the woods for maximizing tree growth and allowing sunlight for grasses- Recommended trees that work well with livestock- Bringing trees into pasture- Sample budget for sheep operation in a silvopasture system- Examples of specific farms actually using some methods that are in the book.- Using tree fodder for livestockSide note after reading a review on Amazon: This book does not get "political." No one is banging the reader over the head with an agenda other than caring about our planet. Gabriel is addressing the possibility of climate change or other extreme weather conditions on your farm, not going into pages of politics. Silvopasture can be a way to avoid extremes and make for a more profitable farm.If you have interest in building resiliency in your property, buy the book!

Great book for farmers wanting to plant grazing land with trees/ shrubs for animal forage, shelter etc, or to make better use of current woodland that’s been forgotten about. Also for the woodlanders who are thinking of bringing in animals (chickens, goats, sheep, cows) to clear area of unwanted vegetation, improve the soil (without damaging it- keep them moving!). Silvopasture is one of the best ways to sequester (lock up) atmospheric carbon and this book is a great manual for those wanting to give it a go.

Superb evidence review for silvopasture. Good quality except for ink streaking on some pages

The book is not a farming book. It’s a testament of cult indoctrination or a book by someone so mentally unstable he can’t think. This VEGETARIAN who can’t hide his hatred for people of European ancestry thought he should write a book about raising animals for food. And he came up with this testimony to his cult membership instead. These academic “farmers” really like to say nothing with many words. They love to posture knowledge, like they posture virtue, understanding neither. That’s what this book is intellectual posturing... in a FARMING book... plus the frothing at the mouth hatred for all that is good and proper from the evil of the “intersectionality” cult. False advertising. Stay to your cult you petty, evil man.

Great book, very useful.

Très bon livre bien documenté et écrit par un vrai passionné