UNHIDE Agroforestry booklet 2025.09.22 - Flipbook - Page 14
Östergård farm: Combined forest grazing & forestry, Sweden
The 30 hectares grazed forest is fenced and divided into three large areas. The herd has grown to
8 cows and a bull.
Anders calculates with one cow for clearing 1-2
hectares during 3-5 seasons. The time frame
depends on the season. The recovery time is crucial in order not to overgraze or destroy natural
values; when there is not enough pasture, sheep
tend to eat bark and cows and wildlife browse
buds.
To avoid overgrazing, the animals are rotated by
controlling the availability of water and salt. By
closing off one water station and opening the
next, the cows move. The water tanks will eventually be replaced by rainwater ponds in sunny
pockets, connected by ditches, while making use
of the same system of allowing and restricting
access.
“With this type of rotation, it’s important to give
the cows access to a road, otherwise they will
make their own path and damage the trees”
Anders explains. “The carbon in fallen branches
goes into the ground when trampled, instead
of being oxidized. Without the grazers, it is a
huge job to clear the forest of branches. After
the cows have grazed in the forest, it is easier to
walk around, and we have lowered the risk of fire
during the late summer.”
Among Swedish forest owners there is an increasing interest in forest grazing as a tool for
converting spruce plantations into broadleaf
“THE CLEARING
MUST BE DONE MORE
FREQUENTLY WITHOUT THE
CATTLE, AS THE ANIMALS
DO A MORE THOROUGH
JOB. THE EARLIER THEY
ARE ALLOWED IN
BEFORE THE FIRST
THINNING,
THE BETTER THE FOREST
GROWS. WITHOUT THE
CATTLE IT WOULD NOT
BE PROFITABLE.”
- Anders Rydén
forests, “many would absolutely go for it”, Anders
believes, if there was a separate compensation
system for it. “If you plan the forest grazing in
a good way and avoid overgrazing, which was
common in the past, the forestry companies as
well should realize the benefits. What is missing
in today’s subsidies for forest- and mosaic grazing
is the support for grazing as a tool to create more
robust ecosystems.”
The property also includes a stand of broadleaf
forest, where Anders’ flock of sheep will be let
in. The sheep eat leaves and leave the branches,
doing a good preparatory work before thinning.
In addition, Anders states that they got rid of a lot
