Sheep leaves

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheep foliage , also known as sheep waves , fodder leaves or deciduous hay , is an old term from forestry and agriculture and denotes bundled and dried deciduous tree branches whose foliage was used for animal feeding.

Manufacturing

To make sheep leaves, thin branches (so-called sticks ) were cut from deciduous trees at the end of summer . The tree species used were for example oak , hornbeam or elm . The fresh branches were bundled and immediately hung out in the sun to dry. The dry bundles were then stored in a dry place until they were used in winter.

application

The dried Reiser bundles were in the winter to feed deer , fallow deer and red deer in the wild, but also used in parks. The foliage was considered to be the optimal grazing for the game, as it was described on the one hand as very nutritious and "in no way detrimental to health", and on the other hand because the effort for this type of wild fodder is felling, bundling and storage of the branches restricted.

The term sheep leaves refers to its use as winter feed for domestic sheep . Sheep foliage was often used by poorer farmers who could not afford any other feed. In contrast to the feeding of wild animals, sheep leaves were considered to be “extremely bad and poor food” for domestic sheep, which can even have a negative effect on the health of the animals. In other depictions, however, its nutritional values ​​are described as "meadow hay of medium to good quality" and thus as a valuable source of feed.

After the game or the sheep had eaten the leaves off the branches, the remaining wood was used as burning sticks and either sold on or used for personal use.

Others

The alternative name sheep waves comes from the old name wave for a bundle of burning sticks . In addition, the wave unit was a measure of volume for wood.

In many regions, farmers planted trees on meadows in order to get sheep leaves for the winter. This is still widespread today, especially in the Alpine region, and is known as the so-called Schneitelwirtschaft .

literature

  • Stephan Behlen (Hrsg.): Real and verbal lexicon of forest and hunting with their auxiliary sciences . 5th volume. Verlag Johann David Sauerländer, Frankfurt am Main 1843 ( Google Books ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Georg Krünitz : Economic Encyclopedia . Verlag J. Pauli , Berlin 1794, p. 614 ( Google Books ).
  2. ↑ a b Michael Machatschek: Foliage stories - practical knowledge of an old tree economy, fodder foliage and food foliage culture . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2002.
  3. ↑ a b c Behlen, p. 463.
  4. ↑ Educational forest trail and Weißehöll nature reserve . Retrieved September 17, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Ursula Kircher: From Hessian sheep farming and the wool trade to the 18th century . ( PDF file (221 KB) )
  6. ↑ JLA cellar: Instructions for improving meadow and fodder cultivation . Verlag der Hermannschen Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1821, p. 2 ff . ( Google Books ).
  7. ↑ Brockmann-Jerosch: Fodder deciduous trees and edible deciduous trees . tape 46 (1936) . Reports of the Swiss Botanical Society, Zurich 1936.
  8. ^ Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse, Johann Christian Heyse: Concise Dictionary of the German Language, Volume 2, Part 2 . W. Heinrichshofen, 1849, p. 1873 f . ( Google Books ).