Glensaugh Agroforestry Site

 The site was established by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (now the James Hutton Institute) and Forest Research.

  • Glensaugh (56o54'N 02o33'E) is an upland site at 250m a.s.l..
  • Three-year mean monthly minimum, maximum and mean temperatures are 2.4, 17.4 and 9.1 o Celsius respectively.
  • Three-year mean annual precipitation is 1050mm.
  • The site is on a free draining cultivated brown forest soil on sandy to fine sandy loam.
  • The ryegrass-dominated permanent pastures are between 15 and 25 years old.

There are three tree species planted at a number of densities in separate plots (marked x in the table)

Species Density (trees ha-1)
Common name Botanical name 100 200 400 2500
Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus X . X X
Hybrid larch Larix eurolepis finished 1998 finished 1998 X X
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris . . X X
  • The 2500 trees ha-1 treatments are Farm Woodland Controls with no grazing.
  • There is a sheep-grazed Agricultural Control which has no trees.
  • The silvopastoral treatments are sheep grazed, trees are individually protected.
  • There are three replicates of all treatments and controls.
  • Grazed plots are either 0.72ha or 0.80ha in area.
  • Farm Woodland Controls are a minimum of 0.10ha in area.
  • On this site, trees are planted in rows oriented North-South on all plots.
  • Greyface ewes (average mature live weight 76kg) are mated to Suffolk rams.
  • The Greyface has an average prolificacy of 1.9 lambs born per ewe.
  • Mating commences in mid-October when ewes are removed from the experimental plots.
  • Ewes are off-wintered on silage with the addition of concentrates in late pregnancy.
  • Lambing takes place in a lambing shed.
  • Grazing on the experimental plots commences immediately after lambing, commencing in early April.
  • Lambs are weaned in mid-July.

Data collection conforms with National Network standards.

Site management conforms with National Network protocols.

Some images of the Glensaugh site.

Green Horizonatal Line

Reference

Sibbald A.R. 2006.  Silvopastural agroforestry: a land use for the futureScottish Forestry 60: 4-7.

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