implementing a plan, who helps you?

[csi-tech]

I have a 300 acre former cattle farm that I am beginning my own management plan on, mostly deep hardwoods with a thick canopy. My plan for the hardwoods is to open up some areas to allow sunlight in and hinge cutting existing trees in those areas to get browse and cover where it's needed. I have everything lined up and hope to put in two or three, one acre sized food plots. I will be having the soil tested and I am getting the needed implements refurbished and serviced. Part of the problem is that the old fields are completely grown over with briars and small sumac. The deer don't even seem to be using it for anything. I am going to bush hog the places I can and allow native vegetation to grow but keep it under control. The question is, are there people willing to come in and clear the property and plant hay or corn if I just give them a key and let them keep everything they grow? I'm only interested in making it better habitat and less crap. Do any of you have people come in and plant/harvest hay leaving you with lush green fields in otherwise unused areas of your property? I could dedicate somewhere around 50 acres for this.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Regarding hay, while there are certainly arrangements like this made, haying season often directly coincides with fawning and/or nesting season and your fawn/poult recruitment rate might suffer. My guess is that simply asking a few folks in the area about who might be interested in your open ground would generate leads fairly quickly. From there, you could discuss terms and come to some agreeable solution.

 

[csi-tech]

I have seen mangled fawns on the lease from a bush hog. Good point.

 

[Hunter 257W]

Most people who would cut your hay would want to cut whatever was already growing in the field. I don't know how many, if any at all, would be willing to spray, disk and re-seed a field for hay. I'd think anybody planning to do that would want at least a 3 year signed lease to guarantee they recoup their investment. Also most crops that make good hay aren't very good deer feed. Alfalfa is one exception. The problem with alfalfa though is that the leaves contain most of the food value and they shatter and fall off easily once bailed. Alfalfa hay is also very sensitive to getting wet. You really need to put it in square bales and keep it in a barn and not many farmers still have square balers. If you bale it with a round baler and let it sit out in the weather you pretty much ruin the hay. Even if you put the bales under a shed, there is no good way to feed round bales without exposing them to the rain. One alternative planting that might be worth looking at would be a grass with lots of Whitetail Institute clover mixed in. That way you have most of your hay volume as grass but enough clover growing in the field for deer to graze.

If you had the machinery to plant the hay yourself it might work out better for you because that would put you more in a position to get paid for part of the hay yield. A common payoff would be that you get maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of the hay profit.

What about row crops? Are there any row crop farms joining or close to your farm where the farmer who is doing that land might be interested in renting yours? That could yield you some income as well as providing deer feed.

 

[smalljawbasser]

Farmers vary from region to region, but around here they would jump at free hay ground. You could likely get one to spray and do a little bit of upkeep if you were willing to pay for some of the chemicals. If it's tillable, you can guarantee somebody would want it for silage.

 

[MickThompson]

I would be very hesitant to cut hay when you are managing for wildlife. I can't think of 2 less compatible objectives. The grasses that are cut for hay provide no wildlife value, and you will be destroying cover, nests. young, and adults every time the cutter runs. The weeds they are spraying for are what your deer want to eat. The structure of hay fields is pretty desolate for wildlife, except in lat winter, when the risk of exposing themselves in open fields is worth the little bit of poor forage they are getting.

FWIW, I have noticed deer feeding very heavily on sumac heads the last few weeks, probably because of a nonexistent mast crop and browse already being picked over. Brambles are very good summer browse and is the most used soft mast by turkey broods.

What is limiting your efforts- time or money? There are USDA programs that can help get you up and running on a wildlife habitat program. What equipment do you have?

 

[csi-tech]

I still work full time Night Shift with rotating off days. I put a 26' camper up there so I can spend entire days without having to leave. I have a plow, a 4 gang disc harrow, three bush hogs, a box blade with the tines and I'm borrowing my folks Kubota with loader as needed until I can get our 53 Jubilee running ( has sat outdoors since the 70's). I don't see anyone with row crops anywhere. Lots of giant food plots on the adjoining hunting club properties (part of my problem). I'm not afraid to work and I am prepared to just bush hog large areas leaving the sumac and briars for cover. I noticed that where I bush hogged our other farm up the road it's still lush and green. I am anxious to put in my own food plots but I may have 2 acres total. The recommended 5 percent is still 14 freaking acres.

 

[MickThompson]

Forget the 5% food plots business. Do as much or as little as you want. With limited time, I would focus on timber management instead, using hack and squirt to kill undesirable trees, get light into the stands, and release mast producers form competition. You will get a decade of benefits from a one-time management activity, and you will provide food and cover throughout the year. A hatchet, squirt bottle, and some glyphosate is all you need.

 

[csi-tech]

Good points Mick. I will be going tomorrow and finding areas on the property that are stands of gum, maple, hackberry, hickory and poplar. These areas will be targeted for selected thinning. I will hinge cut, rake, seed and thin these areas.

 

[MickThompson]

What are you planning to seed?

 

[csi-tech]

Probably clover or just fescue. Maybe just let the natural browse fill in?

 

[Boll Weevil]

Csi,

Clover is a great choice. Not sure what all your goals are but fescue offers very little value for wildlife and once established is super competitive and can be an absolute bear to get rid of. It'll likely take over your clover if planted together. Take a look here, might find a better option.

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcont ... k_agexfish

 

[MickThompson]

Fescue is a 4 letter word- it's a weed. Deer don't eat it unless they are starving. I kill it every chance I get. Read Dr. Craig Harper's food plot manual through so you understand why, when, where,what, and how of food plots. I wouldn't r plant anything under canopy, either. Stick with decent sized (>1/2 acre) openings. Smaller than that, and your plot may get browsed out.

 

[smalljawbasser]

Fescue and white clover get along just fine, both of them are very dominant plants in our area. Yes, technically there are better forages for deer, but anybody that hasn't seen a herd of deer feeding in a freshly cut hayfield ain't been riding the back roads around here very often. every evening in the summer, as soon as the sun sets, deer pile in our fields, and continue all the way up to acorns fall or the rut. As soon as hunting pressure subsides, they're right back in them. There's obviously something they like, regardless of the lack of nutritional value.

Yes, fallow fields certainly offer good nesting, fawning, and feeding habitat. But to say that mowed fescue and clover pastures are worthless to deer (or turkeys) is a stretch IMO.

Mow some of it 3 times/year, let some go fallow, and call it a day.

 

[MickThompson]

They are eating the weeds and clover in the fields, not the fescue. Go look at what they are actually taking bites out of- fescue is a food of last resort. Perennial grasses are hard for deer to digest, but are fine for cattle (quality vs. quantity). Fescue will dominate because the deer choose not to eat it, and will eat clover off at the nub. No one has said that turkeys don't like fields either, just that fescue doesn't have a place in deer or turkey management, and mowing has a very limited application.