I'm creating a windbreak on the west side of my property which happens to be a small field for my wife's horses. I heard horses do not like to nibble on Junipers & Cedars.

In the woods, I have alot of these seedlings. I plan to transplant/use most that are approximately 5" to 12" for the windbreak.

Are these too small for the horses to avoid, or is their munching precise enough to not disturb them?

If you have other suggestions, I would appreciate hearing them.

TIA,

-- Rudy (rbakker@wcrtc.net), February 13, 2002

Answers

Horses are precise munchers, but not very precise stompers.

-- Rose with a horse (open_rose@hotmail.com), February 13, 2002.

My horses distroyed all the pines and little trees, under 20 feet, in their corral. They used them as belly and butt scratchers. It was funny to watch at the time. They would walk over the trees so that the tree would run the length of their underside and then they would do it again. Butt scratches were obviously more pleasurable.

Susan

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), February 13, 2002.

My horses use them as back and butt scratchers too. The trees that are over 5 ft seem to survive it fine.

Those small trees you will have to protect from being walked over, some kind of fencing, even if its just some wire around it. Them place some maure around the edge so its not a place they want to graze. That should do it.

-- Stacia in OK (OneClassyCowgirl@aol.com), February 13, 2002.

As mentioned above, you will have to protect the trees. People around here put 4 posts in the ground and wire around the trees. The stock will scratch on the posts so they need to be solid. Good Luck with this, it is nice to get a windbreak started. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 13, 2002.

Hi,

If you are going to the trouble of planting a true shelterbelt, which is alot of work but well worth it, fence the stock out. Normally, you would plant at least 5 rows of trees and shrubs about 15 feet apart minimum with a spacing of 3 to 10 feet apart in the row depending upon species. You will have to thin one day but you can sell the thinnings for a fine profit. Trees will perform best if you cultivate them for the first 3 years or so, unless you live in deer terror land where you want to hide those trees from the deer.

Anyway, even with a single row of evergreens, plant them close and when they touch at the bases, transplant half of them (assuming 100% survival which will not be the case). Even if you run a rototiller down either side of the seedling, or plant them through a weed barrier fabric, you will still need to fence the horses out. An electric tape fence is pretty useful and easy to construct for this purpose.

I know that many here avoid taking anything from the government except roads, and schools and national defense and all, but look into cost sharing from your county soil conservation/NRCS office. If they will give you some cash to defray some of yor expenses and labor why not do it?

Good luck.

I believe that planting tree seedlings is proof that you care about your children's children and I believe that is a good thing. Of course I come from the windswept plains of this country where 50 year old trees are not very tall nor very wide at the trunk with the exception of the cottonwood and so trees are kind of mystical here.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), February 13, 2002.