Leucaena

[RSL]

Here are some photos I took in Queensland, AUS on a tour of Leucaena production. The Leucana is a tree that they plant in rows and graze cattle on. The tree fixes nitogen, provides high levels of protein, and they figure it should remain in the stand around 100 years. It originally came from Mexico. The DPI (ag department) provides rumen bugs to help populate the cattle so they can digest the trees.
Ozzie Cow I thought was cool.

Leucaena Rows

Establishment - they cultivate and seed the trees. The grass comes back by itself just like a bad weed

Leucana trees and close ups

Aussie Cowboys on a Leucana Tour

 

[DustDevil]

Looks alot like Senia(sp?) beans, that take over neglected pastureland here on the upper Tx Gulf Coast. It gets so thick that, going through it horseback, you can't see another rider more that 10' away. I always figured it was in the legume family by the shape of the leaves and seeds, but boy, will it take over. Real tough stuff.

 

[WyomingRancher]

Grazing trees, what an interesting concept. On our forest allotment, the forest service screams bloody hell if the cows start munching on the precious willows. Makes me wonder the nutritional content of the willows, and how/if it differs throughout the grazing season. Hmmm...

 

[kolanuraven]

Kinda looks like the locust trees/ honey locust trees here in the South. Leaf structure looks the same and the bean pods also.

 

[MO STOCKER]

Yea, looks like the same family as our locust. Cows will eat the heck out of locust except for the THORNS.

 

[Blkbuckaroo]

In the tour pics it looks like the available feed is eight feet in the air,which makes it a tough feed for cows. :???:

 

[RSL]

They mentioned that the trees had gotten ahead of them. the 8 feet took about 6 months. They try to graze them to keep them at 6 feet or less.
I think they planned to cut them down with a brush cutter and then let the cows have at them again.