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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

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Friday - December 04, 2015

From: Selah, WA
Region: Northwest
Topic: Poisonous Plants, Trees
Title: Non-toxic trees for cattle, horses and swine in Washington state.
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

What non-toxic trees can be planted in cattle pastures in Central Washington? We also have horses and swine on the property.

ANSWER:

First of all, I suggest that you go to our list of Washington Recommended plants and use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option and choose "Tree" from the General Appearance slot. This will give you a list of 37 trees in Washington that should be commerically available.  Many of those, however, are toxic to livestock. Using the following databases for plants toxic to livestock I selected several from the Washington Recommend list that are NOT toxic to livestock that you could use in your pastures.

The trees on the list that you could consider for your pasture are:

Betula occidentalis (Mountain birch)

Betula papyrifera (Paper birch)

Chrysolepis chrysophylla var. chrysophylla (Giant chinkapin)  Here are photos and more information from Hansen's Northwest Plants Database.

Fraxinus latifolia (Oregon ash)  Here are photos and more information from Washington Native Plant Society.

Larix occidentalis (Western larch)  Here are photos and more information from Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa (Black cottonwood)  Here are photos and more information from Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Populus tremuloides (Quaking aspen)

Umbellularia californica (California laurel)

 

From the Image Gallery


Water birch
Betula occidentalis

Paper birch
Betula papyrifera

Quaking aspen
Populus tremuloides

California laurel
Umbellularia californica

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