Native 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.
- Plants That Are Poisonous to Horses and Livestock from the Spokane County, Washington.
- Plants Poisonous to Horses and Livestock from Grant and Lincoln Counties, Washington.
- Plants Poisonous to Livestock in the Western States from the USDA Agricultural Research Service
- Livestock Poisoning Plants of California from University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Selected Poisonous Plants of the Pacific Northwest from Washington State University Extension
- Cornell University—Plants Poisonous to Livestock
- Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List – Horses from
- Top 5 Trees Poisonous to Large Animals from DVM360. They are Acer rubrum (Red maple)—occurs naturally in Oregon and the eastern 2/3 of the US according to the USDA Plants Database distribution map, Quercus (oak) species, Acer negundo (Box elder), Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry) and Juglans nigra (Black walnut)—occurs naturally in the eastern 2/3 of the US according to the USDA Plants Database distribution map.
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
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