2 Nut trees TIMING: summer (leaves), autumn (nuts)

Nuts make excellent stock (and human!) food, and cows, sheep and pigs will all learn to eat them. They are also very long-lived trees and provide good shelter.

Walnuts inhibit grass growth underneath which can be muddy in winter, but they also help to deter flies, lice and mites from their zone in summer.

Pecans like stream edges and live for centuries but you need several near to each other for pollination.

Hazelnuts are smaller, you need several to pollinate each other, and make a great hedgerow shelter. The leaves are also good fodder in summer and the wood has numerous uses.

Chestnuts have a very prickly burr, but I have see seen sheep learn to stamp them open to get the nu nuts out. The leaves, bark, chestnut pellicle and ski skin are all anthelmintic, and research in NZ is proving its benefits and attractiveness to alpacas. On the downside, rats can be attracted to the nuts.