Jr Ross

I know that there are several threads on growing moringa and willow, but I haven't seen anyone address this question directly. I'm interested in growing both this spring but concerned about planting them near a neighboring fenceline. The moringas I would like to grow as close as possible to the fenceline both for privacy and for consumption. How close would you advise planting near a fenceline? I've read that the roots are deep, but do they spread horizontally in an aggressive manner. If it matters, I'm in a subtropical climate (9b).

As for willow, I am planning to plant Black willow (salix nigra) and coppice/pollard them. I've read that willows should be planted 50 feet away from water lines or foundations, but does that apply to coppiced willows? Does coppicing control the root spread? The spot where I would like to plant is probably 25 feet away from a fence and about 35 feet away from a neighboring building? Is this far enough for willows that will be kept under 15 feet tall?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for the ideas. The paddock post is very helpful; I think that's basically what I'm envisioning--4 big paddocks to rotate every 10 days or so. I would like to outline the paddocks with some nice round posts.

Now, I'm wondering...what would be optimal for the fencing? Again, electrified netting and barbed wire are out because of the students. Does anybody have ideas for a fencing material that I could connect quickly from post to post? This might be crazy, but I've thought about using the Premier One netting but just not electrifying it. We've had these sheep since they were babies, and they are incredibly docile and don't really test their fencing much. Other than that, I'm wondering if I could get some big spools of wire and run them from post to post. It would be especially nice if it was something that students could easily work with.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I run an agriculture program at a school and am seeking some ideas about how to best set up a rotational grazing system for our sheep. This is hardly a farm; we only have two sheep, and the goal is hands-on education, not food production. Here's my situation:

We have a small pasture area (probably about 100 x 75 feet) on campus. In the past, I simply zip tied together some cattle panels and created a 16x16 grazing pen. I would take them out there from a dry lot  and pull it to fresh grass every day. After that, the sheep moved out to the pasture full time, so I created a new cattle panel pen that is 16 x 48 feet and gets moved about every 4-5 days. I keep a small shelter on skids for them to take cover.

The problem with these systems is 1) it is too heavy for my students to help much 2) 16x16 is too small for a permanent home but 16 x 48 is cumbersome and takes too long to set up

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to set up a series of pastures that we could rotate the sheep through. I know that rotational grazing is typically every 4-5 days, but I'm wondering if we could get away with 7-10 days. Again, there are only two and I think we could mitigate some parasite issues by growing taller fodder and running chickens behind them. My other major concern is that I would really like to give these animals some room to run, so something like 15x40 would be ideal.

However, due to the school setting, some conventional methods are off the table. For example, I can't use electrified netting.

Anyway, just brainstorming right now. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.