Silvo-pasture

Located in the Salish Sea bio-region and dedicated to sustainability, we have the challenge of developing pasture on land that is forested, rocky and wet.

Our Thetis Island farm is in the process of developing a new pasture area on a south facing hillside. The hill is gentle so it drains well without being treacherous for footing. The southern exposure means that it gets adequate sunshine. This leaves us the jobs of thinning the forest enough that it is easy for sheep to walk through and manage access to the developing clearings in such a way that organic matter can build the soil and the grass doesn’t get overgrazed. And fencing.

This month, we’ve erected over a kilometre of livestock fence around this area and have begun the thinning of the forest and limited grazing of the new pastures.