There are so many reasons why sheep benefit from willow but I’ll start with why us shepherds benefit from willow. Where I live in Texas, we’ve had two back to back very hot summers with no rain. As a result, my pasture went mostly dormant as you can see in the bottom right image above. Willow helped cut my feed bill and provided some fresh fodder when there was nothing else available. As a plus, my sheep all love eating willow.
For the sheep, willow has several benefits. The biggest for me is their help in parasite management. When I’m asked how I keep my sheep healthy naturally, I always include the feeding of willow as one of the many things we do. Willow is high in tannins which is the contributing factor in the parasite control. There have been several studies showing how consumption of willow decreases (but not eliminates) several parasites (including the dreaded barber pole worm) and reduces the viability of the parasite eggs laid 1/. It’s a one-two punch.
That alone is enough for willow to be a permanent part of my flock’s rations but it gets better. Willow can help ewe production rates. In a study conducted in Australia (the part that has similar hot, drought ridden summers as we do), feeding willow for 87 days preceding mating increase reproductive rates by 17% 2/. For anyone raising sheep, more lambs is more money.
Finally, I stumbled across a study showing that the feeding of willow decreases the methane output of sheep by about 20% 3/. This is not a huge concern of mine but it is for some folks and this is a good fact to have in your hip pocket should the methane “police” try to say you should not raise ruminants.
Willow is extremely easy to grow. And while it prefers a location near water, our hedge is nowhere near water. We do have a few volunteer willows down by the barn which is a low point and when it rains, water runs through there. This spring I took quite a few cuttings of willow branches of about pencil width, cut them down to about 12″ and stuck them in the ground during our wetter season. I did have them well mulched but otherwise did nothing else. All but one grew well and the hedge you see above is about 6 months old and has been cut to feed the sheep many times.
If you have willow growing on your property or even in your area, take some cuttings and plant your own willow hedge. You and your sheep will be glad you did.
1/ Studies on parasite reductive properties of willow:
2/ Willow can enhance ewe reproduction rates.
3/ Willow consumption can reduce methane output in sheep