Food Plots Converting timber to ag

[Gobble4me757]

I am considering converting 15-20 acres of the new property to ag. It's 20 year natural regeneration pines and oaks though mostly pines. There is a 20 ac ag field directly across the road. Anyone done this? Looking at this from a tax help as well as would be beneficial to the property hunting wise. Cost of conversion generally? Tips? Thanks

 

[BSK]

Cist will be heavily influenced by how much mechanical effort is involved in removing the timber and stumps, plus leveling and clearing the ground. Other costs/effort will be getting the soil into shape. Depending on where you are, the soil will probably be fairly acidic, meaning it will take several rounds of lime applications to get the soil into agricultural shape.

 

[Gobble4me757]

I forgot to add that the coop is 4 min away and easy to get lime trucks in. The soil in the field directly across the street is the exact same as mine

 

[kevin mays]

It's expensive. Not sure the cost . But pine restorers one of the worst decisions farmers made. I know some badass bean ground that was converted when it was worth 2000 per acre in 90's.

Beans have quadrupled
Bean ground has tripled
Pines went to nothing
Now they are left w a mess and a huge bill to recover

I would estimate 4000 per acre depending on g on tree size

 

[redblood]

I forgot to add that the coop is 4 min away and easy to get lime trucks in. The soil in the field directly across the street is the exact same as mine

Unfortunately thats not the case. While you are in close proximity, the field across the rd was probably in agricultural for a reason. And even if the soil is good, as mentioned earlier, the pH is gonna be off most likely. Roots will be your biggest challenge. Id consider it a 3 yr process, and i wouldnt invest much in seed in yr 1 or 2

 

[Antler Daddy]

Watch a few growing deer videos on youtube....it is amazing how they turn timber ground into thick food plots in just a matter of a few years.

 

[BSK]

Watch a few growing deer videos on youtube....it is amazing how they turn timber ground into thick food plots in just a matter of a few years.

Took two years to go from first pic to last, but well worth it!

We had the timber cut in a winter cut February of 2021. Tilled the ground for the first time spring of 2021. Planted summer and fall crops ever since. The last picture is the crop planted in the Fall of 2023 but photographed in Spring of 2024.

And this was ATROCIOUSLY bad soil. Ph 4.8 to start, and full of rocks and roots.

 

[BSK]

And by the way, our first spring planting was just a plant that would produce the maximum biomass that was turned back into the soil. We used Sunn Hemp. It will grow in terrible soil.

 

[Mattt]

Doing exactly that for the second time now. This time 100 ac. The pine ground is actually easier (less expensive) than hardwood ground

 

[Gobble4me757]

Doing exactly that for the second time now. This time 100 ac. The pine ground is actually easier (less expensive) than hardwood ground

If you don't mind me asking what's it around per acre for ya?

 

[Gobble4me757]

I will add… I didn't buy this property for a timber investment. I'm buying it due to recreational with it 14 min from my house as well as to help diversify the portfolio/help some with taxes. I feel like converting some to ag would help with both and be a built in dove field. It would add diversity to the land as well

 

[deerhunter10]

I will add… I didn't buy this property for a timber investment. I'm buying it due to recreational with it 14 min from my house as well as to help diversify the portfolio/help some with taxes. I feel like converting some to ag would help with both and be a built in dove field. It would add diversity to the land as well

As far as the taxes go look into forestry if you can't get in greenbelt yet.

 

[Popcorn]

I have participated in clearing over 300 acres of pine ground for agricultural purposes over the last several years. The owners did it for a combination of reasons including recreation, conservation and ag business. Yes it was expensive but also deductible. We used excavators to pull stumps, dozers to level and grade. Piled and burned , buried what wouldn't burn disked down and Two years of soil building crops 3X a year followed by 3 more years of spreading grower house clean out and growing soybeans with cereal rye, turnips and radishes as winter cover crops. The land is now productive and qualifying for some conservation grants all the while feeding game and producing crops and all that edge is great habitat. Today the property is worth 3 to 4 times what it was before with recent inflation and all. So yes it's worth it if you can carry the cost a few years.

 

[Gobble4me757]

Took two years to go from first pic to last, but well worth it!

We had the timber cut in a winter cut February of 2021. Tilled the ground for the first time spring of 2021. Planted summer and fall crops ever since. The last picture is the crop planted in the Fall of 2023 but photographed in Spring of 2024.

And this was ATROCIOUSLY bad soil. Ph 4.8 to start, and full of rocks and roots.

This is super impressive. Love the pics!

 

[Boll Weevil]

I've converted a bunch of ground from timber to tillable and a fair amount of it was either low value junk timber, beaver and moccassin infested, or both. But if you've got 20ac of 20yr old pines there should be some offsetting revenue there. Haul costs are thru the roof of course, but if you can find a reputable crew and diesel comes back down to earth, might be an opportunity for you.

 

[hbg1]

I have participated in clearing over 300 acres of pine ground for agricultural purposes over the last several years. The owners did it for a combination of reasons including recreation, conservation and ag business. Yes it was expensive but also deductible. We used excavators to pull stumps, dozers to level and grade. Piled and burned , buried what wouldn't burn disked down and Two years of soil building crops 3X a year followed by 3 more years of spreading grower house clean out and growing soybeans with cereal rye, turnips and radishes as winter cover crops. The land is now productive and qualifying for some conservation grants all the while feeding game and producing crops and all that edge is great habitat. Today the property is worth 3 to 4 times what it was before with recent inflation and all. So yes it's worth it if you can carry the cost a few years.

Why did you excavate the pine stumps?

 

[MickThompson]

Why did you excavate the pine stumps?

How do you plant, spray, or harvest with stumps in the field? And when they eventually rot, you'll have an 18" wide and 3'deep hole where each stump used to be. Fun to find in the dark.

 

[Popcorn]

Why did you excavate the pine stumps?

Exactly what @MickThompson said.
The uneven stumps make finishing ground impossible then eventually rot out and make traversing the ground impossible

 

[double browtine]

Lots of great advice above. Burning what trees that you can will also help the ground. I cleared a few acres and burned a bunch of sweet gum trees. Clover has been growing great now for 3 years.

 

[hbg1]

How do you plant, spray, or harvest with stumps in the field? And when they eventually rot, you'll have an 18" wide and 3'deep hole where each stump used to be. Fun to find in the dark.

We don't, we shear them with a dozer.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

We converted about 15 acres from hardwood to field a few years ago. Clear cut the timber, then got a dozer guy there to de-stump and clear and level. These were all ridge tops and they are great now. Took some more leveling over the course of a few years. But now we have soybean, corn and sorghum planted for summer crops. Fall crops are easy - wheat, oats, and crimson. Some of these areas are now perennial clover plots. Some are in sections of perennial clover and around fruit and nut trees we planted. Takes time but you can get it there

 

[hbg1]

We converted about 15 acres from hardwood to field a few years ago. Clear cut the timber, then got a dozer guy there to de-stump and clear and level. These were all ridge tops and they are great now. Took some more leveling over the course of a few years. But now we have soybean, corn and sorghum planted for summer crops. Fall crops are easy - wheat, oats, and crimson. Some of these areas are now perennial clover plots. Some are in sections of perennial clover and around fruit and nut trees we planted. Takes time but you can get it there

Destump means shear, right? Blade on the front?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Destump means shear, right? Blade on the front?

Yea blade on the front. It was, I believe, a D4. It did mighty fine

 

[jmf]

Yea blade on the front. It was, I believe, a D4. It did mighty fine

Were the stumps removed right after clear cutting or some time later.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Were the stumps removed right after clear cutting or some time later.

Within the month. I'll see if I can find some pics and videos later and post them

 

[Popcorn]

In my world "destump" means to remove stumps, "shear" means to cut them off just below the surface. I have owned and operated a variety of dozers over the years and cannot imagine a D-4 shearing much more than 4 to 5 inch. Possibly you had a d-6 or bigger. Even with a D8 shearing you still contend with rotting remains leaving leg breaker holes everywhere. 18 to 20 inch and up pine stumps you will plow or pull, hardwood stumps must be dug up.

 

[Mattt]

In my world "destump" means to remove stumps, "shear" means to cut them off just below the surface. I have owned and operated a variety of dozers over the years and cannot imagine a D-4 shearing much more than 4 to 5 inch. Possibly you had a d-6 or bigger. Even with a D8 shearing you still contend with rotting remains leaving leg breaker holes everywhere. 18 to 20 inch and up pine stumps you will plow or pull, hardwood stumps must be dug up.

Yea I agree with this. If you can pull it behind a 1 ton pickup it's not big enough for stumping. I'd say minimum d6 and not an lgp. For straight clearing I wouldn't want a 6 way blade either. The pines are easier to get out than hardwoods degrade a lot faster also and the softwood stobs - are alot easier on tractor tires. I've learned to do it the same way as popcorn with an excavator first then the dozer. And go pretty good size too. I use an older 315 quite a bit. If I didn't have access to it I'd probably go 320 cat then a d5 since I'd have them out of the ground. Build BIG fires lol

 

[Boll Weevil]

Not the greatest pic but this is a shear…takes some grunt but definitely gets it done.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

In my world "destump" means to remove stumps, "shear" means to cut them off just below the surface. I have owned and operated a variety of dozers over the years and cannot imagine a D-4 shearing much more than 4 to 5 inch. Possibly you had a d-6 or bigger. Even with a D8 shearing you still contend with rotting remains leaving leg breaker holes everywhere. 18 to 20 inch and up pine stumps you will plow or pull, hardwood stumps must be dug up.

Yea we dug them up and pushed them off. Every one of them. Some were the size of an f-150. Tried to keep as much dirt as we could so he rolled them and got as much off he could. While the edges of the fields are a good soft edge for deer entrance with all the junk and high growth of weeds, I want to burn all the perimeters of those new fields now that everything is rotten and will burn down to nothing. It's been about 5 years or so now. First order of business before those burns is to clear around all the white and red oaks so they aren't harmed. And it will also give us about 10% more field to work with and plant - with 15 new acres, that's an extra 1.5 acres of field to utilize

 

[hbg1]

Yea blade on the front. It was, I believe, a D4. It did mighty fin

In my world "destump" means to remove stumps, "shear" means to cut them off just below the surface. I have owned and operated a variety of dozers over the years and cannot imagine a D-4 shearing much more than 4 to 5 inch. Possibly you had a d-6 or bigger. Even with a D8 shearing you still contend with rotting remains leaving leg breaker holes everywhere. 18 to 20 inch and up pine stumps you will plow or pull, hardwood stumps must be dug up.

After excavating the stumps and leveling the land you are still going to contend with uneven ground, no way to avoid it. I've never had a 3ft deep hole in any land I've had sheared. Not to mention destumping also means losing top soil.