How Do We Preserve Pineywoods Cattle 500 Year-Old Instincts?

How Do We Preserve Pineywoods Cattle 500 Year-Old Instincts?

A friend of mine asked me on Saturday: “Have you ever noticed the pineywoods grazing on acorns ? Some folks I was talking to today at the market said acorns will mess up the cows gut. I was surprised to hear that !”
 
My friend Chris Dorsey at Red Wolf Farms has seen his Pineywoods herd eat acorns. They don’t eat many. A few years ago there was a flurry of panic from farmers saying some of their Angus had died from eating acorns. I’ve heard the same about Angus dying from eating wild cherry. Our Pineywoods only eat the green leaves of wild cherry, the cyanide is much higher in the wilted leaves.

If your cattle can’t survive in nature maybe you should be asking yourselves if you’re doing something wrong - Chris Dorsey | Creek Nation

Pineywoods ran wild for hundreds of years and subsequently had minimal influence from human selection, although that has begun to change with some breeders. The same wild instinct has been bred out of commercial breeds in favor of faster growth and bigger animals. As a result these breeds eat too much or they eat out of season. Just like overdosing on pharmaceutical drugs, if cattle consume too much of a certain plant it can make them sick or even kill them. The difference is plants don't come with a label. The label comes in form of reliance that is held in the animals instinct, an instinct built up through hundreds of years of foraging. But this label becomes washed out when humans begin to interfere with that instinct by selective breeding or actions based on well-meaning intentions.
 
Chris said to the farmers warning of their Angus dying/getting sick from acorn consumption  (they also encouraged others to cut down oaks or fence their cattle out of forest) something to the effect of “if your cattle can’t survive in nature maybe you should be asking yourselves if you’re doing something wrong”. Chris boiled it down. His Native American heritage provides imagination to the past. Chris’ wisdom on this subject is just one example of how indigenous principles are the foundation of regenerative farming.
 
Last month we let our Pineywoods herd into 65 acres of  newly fenced forest. 60% of the trees are red oak. 

Three Pineywoods yearlings exploring the new forest

We have to take our cues from the self-reliance of the Pineywoods breed. We have to show the same reliance in ourselves when we make choices for the herd instead of relying on advice that is is rooted in commercial breeds

The video at the top of this post is of one of our Pineywoods Cattle, Blackberry, eating leaves from Black Walnut. The tree contains a natural anti-parasitic called juglone. Our herd takes a few mouthfuls, but they don’t eat it constantly. Just enough to keep any intestinal worms in check. A few weeks later we watched Blackberry pass up another bite while other members of the herd took a nibble. I suspect there is medicine in green Wild Cherry leaves when eaten in the right amounts too.

Pineywoods breeders are always enthusiastic about sharing the 500 year history of Pineywoods, But it’s our responsibility to consider, and discuss, how our actions may affect the Pineywoods population 500 years from now. Some of these considerations have to be driven by the fact that these are not commercial breeds. Much if not all of of the knowledge around cattle is based on commercial breeds, not on Heritage Breeds such as Pineywoods. There is a reason for that, Heritage Breeds are endangered with extinction. There are not many left. 

We have to take our cues from the self-reliance of the Pineywoods breed. We have to show the same reliance in ourselves when we make choices for the herd instead of relying on advice that is is rooted in commercial breeds. We have to question if vaccination regimes meant for cattle with lower disease and parasite  resistance than Pineywoods is right for the breed. We have to question the advice provided for cattle that have lower heat tolerance than Pineywoods. We have to question the foraging advice that is meant for cattle that can't thrive on bio-diverse forages like Pineywoods. 

Haliwa-Saponi Provides 7th Generation Guidance

To channel Native American thinking, many tribal people would counter that instead of trying to predict the future, ask what is worth carrying and honoring from the past that you would want the 7 generation to have? -Linwood Watson M.D. | Haliwa-Saponi

It can feel like a bit of a minefield. When it comes right down to it the welfare of our herd is more important than anything. Balancing that immediate need with what the breed needs to survive for another 500 years with their strong traits intact is not easy. But if we begin to wrap our decision making in the indigenous 7th Generation Principle, we have a chance. My good friend Linwood is a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina. Linwood lives with his wife and two daughters at AspenSkye Orchard in Fuquay-Varina, NC. I asked Linwood to put the 7th Generation principle into perspective for what we are trying to do as cattle farmers.

"To channel Native American thinking, many tribal people would counter that instead of trying to predict the future, ask what is worth carrying and honoring from the past that you would want the 7 generation to have/possess/use? Honor is universal currency among traditional Native peoples. Instead of predicting what the 7th generation will be like, emphasize what you would not want the 7th generation to lose.

Chris' comment about still maintaining livestock connected to Nature reflects things he does not want his 7 generation of cattle to lose. Mike and Sue’s focus on Pineywoods self- reliance conveys traits they want to last 7 generations.

Let me end with an illustration applied to Mike and Sue. Perhaps ensuring the 7 generation of self-reliant, “rough and tumble”, kudzu and cyanide (in small quantities) devouring, rambunctious Pineywoods versatility is for their farm to plant a bridge to future generations: A forest of 1-10 acres, off limits from today’s herd, and allowed to grow ungrazed for 25 years. Curate its diversity, but keep it off limits, until it is needed 25-30 years from now.*"

Growing Linwoods Bridge To The Future

Linwood's comment about establishing a forest off limits to the Pineywoods made me think of the Food & Medicine Forest that we are establishing. As I write this, the Food & Medicine Forest is in full summer bloom and the native Pawpaws, Wild Plums, Mulberries, Hazelnuts, Sumac, Muscadine Grapes, Persimmons and Aronia are flush with fruit in various stages of ripening.
 
It’s hard to believe this was a hay field when we moved here in 2014. The hay that grew on this land was cut and hauled away to feed our neighbors goats, llamas and camels. Now that same land feeds many more species of insects, birds, mammals etc. We’ve planted almost 200, mainly native, trees and shrubs, most of them since 2020.
 
Tomatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes Cucumbers, Cayenne and Jalapeño Peppers, Horseradish, Sweet Potatoes and many varieties of herbs and flowers grow beneath the still establishing canopy. Fig, Pear, Cherry and Apple trees are dotted amongst native trees and chickens, guineas and geese graze around the blueberries, wild plums and blackberries looking for a tasty treat. They are all watched over by the grandmother Pecan, Black Walnut, Eastern Red Cedar, Elm and Hackberry trees that have been growing here for a century and more.

Our spirit of care will linger on this land, as will Linwoods. Through his gentle advice, some of the native plants that have fed and medicated his Haliwa-Saponi tribe for generations now grow in the Food & Medicine Forest

The Food & Medicine Forest in full summer bloom

To provide long term resilience to the food & medicine forest, we chose to grow mainly wild sourced native saplings. The genetic diversity of nursery bought stock is limited. Wild plants flower at different times, have varying disease resistance and drought tolerances. There is strength in diversity. 
 
We have begun to get a lot of help from nature on the farm. The care we gave the saplings in the early years, weeding, watering etc is being reciprocated. The biodiversity of plants attracts many species like predatory wasps that feed on tobacco horn worms that plagued our tomatoes in the early years.
 
With the addition of a small pond a few years ago, evenings are transformed with chorus of new species of frogs joining with the tree frogs as fire flies sparkle the closing day.  Dragonflies flitter about and Barn Swallows skim the surface for a drink. A turtle now calls the pond home, surfacing carefully at a distance when the geese are taking a swim.

The transformation will evolve with time. Birds will bring new species of plants, and once established, our Pineywoods Cattle will graze beneath the canopy to help keep the Poison Ivy and Johnson Grass in check and the new variety of native plants will increase the biodiversity of native plants that the Pineywoods can graze on.

What Do We Not Want To Lose On Our Farm For The Next 7 Generations?

The Pineywoods Cattle at Ozark Akerz Graze amongst Milkweed plants during sunset

Linwood posing the question about what we "DO NOT" want to lose for the next seven generations  has helped us spell out some of the things we have done for years and begun to take for granted, like not spraying any pesticides, herbicides or insecticides since we moved here in 2014

I cannot answer Linwood's question fully at this time. I need to let the question rest in my heart for clear answers to arise. Like all things in nature, answers take time to grow.

Having said that, Sue and I are not unused to thinking this way. We talk about what we want to preserve often. Linwood repositioning the question to be about what we "DO NOT" want to lose for the next seven generations has helped us spell out some of the things we have done for years. Things that we just do and have begun to take for granted, like NOT spraying any pesticides, herbicides or insecticides since we moved here in 2014. We've begun to take for granted that people know regenerative farms don't use chemicals. That's a dangerous assumption. 

We do not want to lose:

• Pineywoods instincts
• Increasing biodiversity 
• Reverence for the sacred indigenous sites
• Forests
• Connections to community
• Farmland to developers - unpopulated; limited human dwellings; leave limited footprints take only memories; mostly us disturbed by humans 
• The resilience of plants and animals
• Food & medicine that heals
• The regenerative principles we farm by 
• All the land uncontaminated by chemicals 

It is our hope that this land will continue to be home to Pineywoods, chickens, geese, guneas and wildlife long after we’re gone. Our spirit of care will linger here, as will Linwoods. Through his gentle advice, some of the native plants that have fed and medicated his Haliwa-Saponi tribe for generations now grow in the Food & Medicine Forest.

*A Note from Linwood: The above observations are mine solely. Successes are my tribe’s, failures are mine. AI was not used for these reflections which were cultivated in the soil of reality.

I asked Linwood's permission to use his quote regarding not using AI, I like it: AI was not used for these reflections which were cultivated in the soil of reality.

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