Balancing Farm and Habitat

[greekfreak]

Hello all, I thought this would be a good topic to get my feet wet. My situation is 2500 acres of private farm in central Ohio. About %40 percent of that is wooded to some degree; the remainder being used for cash crops. On this thread, I thought it would be a cool idea to convey projects that myself, and others have done to balance the income farming with the itch and need to do habitat work. A guy once told me that you could either be a farmer or a die hard deer hunter but there was no in-between.

The extent to our land management has been nothing more than food plots up until about six months ago. We have not created any but have taken grass patches and made them into food plots. With about twelve different properties making up this acreage, there are only three food plots. These were all old grass fields secluded or they would have been put in cash crops lol. The other half of our management has been leaving crops as food plots in the field. Typically, this provides great results. However, some times I get the feeling the deer do not like or care to go to these plots. It has not happened but once or twice. Maybe bad location?

Most recently, in the last six months, I have cut numerous bedding areas and food plots into some of the properties. One of the things our area lacks the most is tall grass. There is absolutely none of that. Jee, only if we had the perfect spot for some nice native grass and shrub plantings! ;)

P.S. I tried to convince father to do some CRP. I get mean looks lol

That was some background for you, I hope to hear of ideas other people have had and utilized or maybe even ideas you think I should try out.

 

[Chainsaw]

Welcome to the forum Greekfreak. If you haven't already, read a lot of the property tour threads on the forum from beginning to end. You will get lots of ideas of what has worked and what has not from them. Judging from your Avatar picture it appears you are off to a running start.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Areal photos can be of great value when asking for help on habitat/food plot types of things.

 

[j-bird]

So, I am in the southern part of central IN and in heavy farm country as well (here land usage is about 70% corn/bean field). I have a much smaller parcel than the OP, but like the OP, there is a line that can be difficult to walk. That line comes to the tune of between $175 & $200/acre in cash rental value for the tillable land. Sure, I would love to let some areas become deer habitat, but with the bin and barn and the stuff, almost $20k a year in additional income isn't something you dismiss lightly...at least I don't/can't.

When we first moved here I didn't have the final say on how the farm was managed. So every inch possible was farmed. Very little was in successional growth and anything that was too wet or too steep was in fairly mature low grade timber. So when we got control I started looking at what I could do to make the habitat I did have better and how to expand that habitat and not loos my shirt in the process.

I did 2 things:

#1 - selective timber harvest. I will be honest...it was hard to get my head around how cutting down trees could make better habitat. But I did it...twice actually. The first time...I nearly threw-up. I thought I had destroyed my woods. A few short years later I was thrilled and as mentioned then had some walnut removed as well....and look forward to the next cutting as well. This improved my cover, released my mast producing trees, created browse and understory and better diversified my food and cover offerings for all wildlife.

#2 - I got the farming ABC boys involved. I reached out to my NRCS/FSA/USDA service center to see what I could do with some of the lower value tillable ground. To be honest I could have gone pretty wild, but my resources where pretty limited so I had to real it in some. The other thing I found is that these programs would only cover up to 120 feet from the field edge....they would not allow me to retire entire fields. So I got enrolled in some CRP programs which encourage native weeds and native grasses. These buffers are along my wooded edges and help create more food and cover yet again....AND....I get paid to offset the loss of the tillable ground. This also then increased my rental rate of the remaining ground because the farmer was only farming the more productive ground.

#3 - this is simply a by-product of #2. When I put in these buffers I had a few places of an acre or so that now where isolated and not worth the effort to farm. So....I turned them into plots and orchards to even further diversify my food offerings. And trust me....if my deer go hungry...it's their own fault!

I would LOVE to have the ratio flipped, but I am working with the hand I was given. The land is family through my wife's family and she ain't going anywhere so unless I hit the lotto, I'll be here....looking out over a sea of corn and soybeans.

 

[willy]

A guy once told me that you could either be a farmer or a die hard deer hunter but there was no in-between.

The Kisky's in Iowa seem to do a good job of farming and deer hunting. With as many acres as you have to work with I think it would certainly be doable. Good luck.

Put rough or uneven acreage into crp, Waterways can be enrolled now in certain programs and would allow one to square up an ag field making it easier to farm with the big equipment used today.

Jbirds ideas are some good one's as well.

 

[cavey]

J-Bird pretty much nailed it... a managed timber program on those wooded acres, work NRCS and FSA - the wetlands-woodlands-a programs: CRP, TSI, EQIP WHIP and pollinator programs pay premiums for marginal land so your food plots and cover plots pay you back. Weeds are some of the best browse foods. Fruit trees and water holes - did I mention Fruit trees. You can work the system to get a little of what you want and get paid for doing it. Its added work but if you love the wildlife its a bonus. You can integrate practices.

The amount of acreage you have is a pretty huge bonus (might be a nightmare for free time) but most of us only dream of sections of land. Aerials would help immensely. 40% wooded on 2500 acres is a hell of a lot of woods in my book. I'm so jealous just thinking about it.

The best food plots are ag land and always have been, even if its harvested ag land, cover crops like winter wheat add to that. A lot of the funky stuff that gets done in the name of big buck wildlife management is kind of a scam... properties evolve fast over time and some efforts can be more of a waste in the long run... they sound good and have made guys a ton of money consulting. You can bust your but and in three years your work disappears.

But keeping it simple and realistic is maybe a better approach. Your timber management on that kind of acreage should be apart of your farm plan - profit center, those trees should be thought of as a crop. You get enough good/best management practices going on and you can help build soils, reduce erosion, and keep some of the black gold on your farm And..... boost your wildlife. Especially if its a multi generational farm the legacy and value system for the land can be passed down as well. Managed properties take time to build sometimes generations but it all starts somewhere. Contoured wind breaks even lower shrub ones help break up what a deer sees, increases their comfort levels and reduces wind erosion so you can think of stuff in a two dimensional way - Farm & Habitat. But keep in mind your old man likely knows that if the farm doesnt cash flow the farm shrinks or disappears.

I think you can have your cake and eat it. If you can work some of the state and federal programs with their cost sharing and cost elimination programs with payments... maybe you can justify taking some of those odd ball areas out of production. Are you a birder/waterfowl or a deer guy or both... Is your land hilly or flat dry or wet, clay or sand. So many questions. Your going to have to prove to your dad that this all makes sense, it may be a profound reversal of what he learned from his father. Good luck.... wow 2500 acres. Thumbs up on that!

 

[greekfreak]

Welcome to the forum Greekfreak. If you haven't already, read a lot of the property tour threads on the forum from beginning to end. You will get lots of ideas of what has worked and what has not from them. Judging from your Avatar picture it appears you are off to a running start.

I plan on sifting through the forums quite a bit here during the weekend. I am sure I will find some really awesome stuff.

 

[greekfreak]

Areal photos can be of great value when asking for help on habitat/food plot types of things.

I can provide some of those. It will take some time though given that there are many different properties and our land is not continuous. I will dig up the aerials tonight!

 

[greekfreak]

So, I am in the southern part of central IN and in heavy farm country as well (here land usage is about 70% corn/bean field). I have a much smaller parcel than the OP, but like the OP, there is a line that can be difficult to walk. That line comes to the tune of between $175 & $200/acre in cash rental value for the tillable land. Sure, I would love to let some areas become deer habitat, but with the bin and barn and the stuff, almost $20k a year in additional income isn't something you dismiss lightly...at least I don't/can't.

When we first moved here I didn't have the final say on how the farm was managed. So every inch possible was farmed. Very little was in successional growth and anything that was too wet or too steep was in fairly mature low grade timber. So when we got control I started looking at what I could do to make the habitat I did have better and how to expand that habitat and not loos my shirt in the process.

I did 2 things:

#1 - selective timber harvest. I will be honest...it was hard to get my head around how cutting down trees could make better habitat. But I did it...twice actually. The first time...I nearly threw-up. I thought I had destroyed my woods. A few short years later I was thrilled and as mentioned then had some walnut removed as well....and look forward to the next cutting as well. This improved my cover, released my mast producing trees, created browse and understory and better diversified my food and cover offerings for all wildlife.

#2 - I got the farming ABC boys involved. I reached out to my NRCS/FSA/USDA service center to see what I could do with some of the lower value tillable ground. To be honest I could have gone pretty wild, but my resources where pretty limited so I had to real it in some. The other thing I found is that these programs would only cover up to 120 feet from the field edge....they would not allow me to retire entire fields. So I got enrolled in some CRP programs which encourage native weeds and native grasses. These buffers are along my wooded edges and help create more food and cover yet again....AND....I get paid to offset the loss of the tillable ground. This also then increased my rental rate of the remaining ground because the farmer was only farming the more productive ground.

#3 - this is simply a by-product of #2. When I put in these buffers I had a few places of an acre or so that now where isolated and not worth the effort to farm. So....I turned them into plots and orchards to even further diversify my food offerings. And trust me....if my deer go hungry...it's their own fault!

I would LOVE to have the ratio flipped, but I am working with the hand I was given. The land is family through my wife's family and she ain't going anywhere so unless I hit the lotto, I'll be here....looking out over a sea of corn and soybeans.

I feel this to every extent! I have and will continue to do TSI with select clear cuts where I can. We have two properties that we are having pretty heavily cut this year for timber harvest. Man am I excited about that. Habitat and it comes with work I do not have to do! I am expecting about 30-40 percent of the trees on these properties to be harvested. Everything else is pretty much junk so I will cut in there this winter. We farm all of our ground ourselves so the money is pretty much necessary for us as well.

I have been fighting the farm habitat fight for a few years now; it definitely makes it difficult but I know it is worth it. One thing I hope to accomplish is planting the field edges. I hope to chip away a little bit in some of our larger fields; 200+ acres. I was planning on forbs and native grasses. That is high on my priority list this year!

 

[greekfreak]

Also, I appreciate all of the feedback so far guys! I have always loved reading forums but most of the ones I find are pretty dated. This is the first one I have ever signed up and participated in. Admins run a pretty good gig here.

 

[j-bird]

I feel this to every extent! I have and will continue to do TSI with select clear cuts where I can. We have two properties that we are having pretty heavily cut this year for timber harvest. Man am I excited about that. Habitat and it comes with work I do not have to do! I am expecting about 30-40 percent of the trees on these properties to be harvested. Everything else is pretty much junk so I will cut in there this winter. We farm all of our ground ourselves so the money is pretty much necessary for us as well.

I have been fighting the farm habitat fight for a few years now; it definitely makes it difficult but I know it is worth it. One thing I hope to accomplish is planting the field edges. I hope to chip away a little bit in some of our larger fields; 200+ acres. I was planning on forbs and native grasses. That is high on my priority list this year!

If those "junk" trees are big enough for timber...have the loggers take them too. Don't let the loggers just take the high dollar stuff and leave you with a bunch of big junk. It may only be pallet wood, but it's money in your pocket, and it knocks that canopy back which is GROSSLY important for your understory development. I walked with the logger when we marked my trees...I had the final say in what went and what was left alone. We cut a bunch of sycamore, and elm, ash, hackberry, cottonwood and the like I didn't make much money on those trees, but they needed to go and I wasn't the one risking my neck doing it. Just leave the tops. Have the loggers push/drag those that fall into the field back into the woods. They will serve as cover and tree cages and break down over time. if it gets too thick....you can simply cut some trails and opening with a saw later. Also be prepared to plant trees if you want to change the species mix in that area. If you have a lot of beech and maple....your simply going to get more beech and maple.

 

[greekfreak]

J-Bird pretty much nailed it... a managed timber program on those wooded acres, work NRCS and FSA - the wetlands-woodlands-a programs: CRP, TSI, EQIP WHIP and pollinator programs pay premiums for marginal land so your food plots and cover plots pay you back. Weeds are some of the best browse foods. Fruit trees and water holes - did I mention Fruit trees. You can work the system to get a little of what you want and get paid for doing it. Its added work but if you love the wildlife its a bonus. You can integrate practices.

The amount of acreage you have is a pretty huge bonus (might be a nightmare for free time) but most of us only dream of sections of land. Aerials would help immensely. 40% wooded on 2500 acres is a hell of a lot of woods in my book. I'm so jealous just thinking about it.

The best food plots are ag land and always have been, even if its harvested ag land, cover crops like winter wheat add to that. A lot of the funky stuff that gets done in the name of big buck wildlife management is kind of a scam... properties evolve fast over time and some efforts can be more of a waste in the long run... they sound good and have made guys a ton of money consulting. You can bust your but and in three years your work disappears.

But keeping it simple and realistic is maybe a better approach. Your timber management on that kind of acreage should be apart of your farm plan - profit center, those trees should be thought of as a crop. You get enough good/best management practices going on and you can help build soils, reduce erosion, and keep some of the black gold on your farm And..... boost your wildlife. Especially if its a multi generational farm the legacy and value system for the land can be passed down as well. Managed properties take time to build sometimes generations but it all starts somewhere. Contoured wind breaks even lower shrub ones help break up what a deer sees, increases their comfort levels and reduces wind erosion so you can think of stuff in a two dimensional way - Farm & Habitat. But keep in mind your old man likely knows that if the farm doesnt cash flow the farm shrinks or disappears.

I think you can have your cake and eat it. If you can work some of the state and federal programs with their cost sharing and cost elimination programs with payments... maybe you can justify taking some of those odd ball areas out of production. Are you a birder/waterfowl or a deer guy or both... Is your land hilly or flat dry or wet, clay or sand. So many questions. Your going to have to prove to your dad that this all makes sense, it may be a profound reversal of what he learned from his father. Good luck.... wow 2500 acres. Thumbs up on that!

Awesome response Cavey,

We have a pretty tight nit timber plan that we need to revamp every 3 years or so for tax purposes. As for enrolling in programs it is something that I have thought about; cost share programs mainly for timber improvement. We have no wetland on any of our farms. However, I have been told that enrolling in programs that aid habitat specifically related to fields has been a challenge in Ohio. The state is short on funds and the pay off is rather poor. I will be looking into it more though for a definitive answer. Also, the fruit tree thing intrigues me the most.

It sure is a nightmare for free time. The weekends are never enough. Then when season is in for farming it makes for some incredibly long nights after work. It also provides the challenge of what and where to go and start projects. Then when do you finish them. I think I manage that well though.

I have been working the last 6 months on improving the timber quality through TSI mostly. Every farm has it's challenges though. Two farms in particular have very little to no harvestable timber and are consisted mostly of incredibly thick deadfall.

I am primarily a deer hunter but dabble in field goose hunting and love turkey season. Most of the land is relatively flat and dry. However, one parcel is 126 acres of mature wooded river bottom and flat top ridges. This particular property gives me the hardest time because there are not fields and the places for a food plot are few, far, and quite small. Anything that we can get in there that is sizeable would be one heck of a hike through the entire property to get there. Heavily land locked.

I think dad is starting to get it. He did order over 100 shrubs this year. He understands that there are more benefits to habitat than just deer hunting; how we might have the goal of making the habitat for deer hunting but everything else thrives as well. The man gets excited when he sees rabbits lol.

 

[greekfreak]

If those "junk" trees are big enough for timber...have the loggers take them too. Don't let the loggers just take the high dollar stuff and leave you with a bunch of big junk. It may only be pallet wood, but it's money in your pocket, and it knocks that canopy back which is GROSSLY important for your understory development. I walked with the logger when we marked my trees...I had the final say in what went and what was left alone. We cut a bunch of sycamore, and elm, ash, hackberry, cottonwood and the like I didn't make much money on those trees, but they needed to go and I wasn't the one risking my neck doing it. Just leave the tops. Have the loggers push/drag those that fall into the field back into the woods. They will serve as cover and tree cages and break down over time. if it gets too thick....you can simply cut some trails and opening with a saw later. Also be prepared to plant trees if you want to change the species mix in that area. If you have a lot of beech and maple....your simply going to get more beech and maple.

On that particular property I quoted most of the junk trees are too small to take out of there. They took everything that was big enough to take for timber. What I was referring to was overall species and size. I am also well prepared to plant trees to replace the ones we took out of there. We have a skid loader with an auger on it and an itch to plant some oaks.

As for it getting too thick, that has always been a worry of mine and a question I have asked many people before. Is too thick even a thing? Most guys I have asked said they have never seen it. We have a few properties that can use some thinning on them because there are walls of thicket; and I mean walls. These are some of the places I have high on the priority list because I think that it might come the easiest with the quickest benefits.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Awesome response Cavey,

We have a pretty tight nit timber plan that we need to revamp every 3 years or so for tax purposes. As for enrolling in programs it is something that I have thought about; cost share programs mainly for timber improvement. We have no wetland on any of our farms. However, I have been told that enrolling in programs that aid habitat specifically related to fields has been a challenge in Ohio. The state is short on funds and the pay off is rather poor. I will be looking into it more though for a definitive answer. Also, the fruit tree thing intrigues me the most.

It sure is a nightmare for free time. The weekends are never enough. Then when season is in for farming it makes for some incredibly long nights after work. It also provides the challenge of what and where to go and start projects. Then when do you finish them. I think I manage that well though.

I have been working the last 6 months on improving the timber quality through TSI mostly. Every farm has it's challenges though. Two farms in particular have very little to no harvestable timber and are consisted mostly of incredibly thick deadfall.

I am primarily a deer hunter but dabble in field goose hunting and love turkey season. Most of the land is relatively flat and dry. However, one parcel is 126 acres of mature wooded river bottom and flat top ridges. This particular property gives me the hardest time because there are not fields and the places for a food plot are few, far, and quite small. Anything that we can get in there that is sizeable would be one heck of a hike through the entire property to get there. Heavily land locked.

I think dad is starting to get it. He did order over 100 shrubs this year. He understands that there are more benefits to habitat than just deer hunting; how we might have the goal of making the habitat for deer hunting but everything else thrives as well. The man gets excited when he sees rabbits lol.

and rabbits are "the canary in the coal mine" and surrogate markers for improved habitat

Also be forewarned about fruit trees/hardmast,etc

An incurable addiction........that will lead to keeping bees.......

bill

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

and rabbits are "the canary in the coal mine" and surrogate markers for improved habitat

Also be forewarned about fruit trees/hardmast,etc

An incurable addiction........that will lead to keeping bees.......

bill

If rabbits are the canary in a coal mine our property is top notch. I have wondered if I would be better off trying to control the rabbits instead of the yotes. Get rid of the prey get rid of the predator.


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[greekfreak]

I apologize I was not able to get this done last night. It gets hectic with a fussy one month old. So here are most of (the ones I care to focus on first) properties that we have.

 

[greekfreak]

This property is mostly consisted of mature woods. The North Eastern most squre is an incredibly thick river bottom on one half and the other half is comprised mostly of shagbark hickory and a few small briar patches here and there. The briar patches do not look as if they ever provide any bedding. I gather this from lack of sheds and beds found as well as I just simply have never seen deer coming out of there. Three food plots here. The one at the north west most square. It is inside of the little dip on the northern line. You can not really see it but it is just a clover plot close to the road (Repurposed overgrown grass field) and I would say it is less than 1/4 acre in size. The second food plot is being cut about dead center of the main woods on the west side on a small and flat ridge top. The third food plot is in the field. No bedding. Lots of oaks on north west square. It is a topographical mess.

 

[greekfreak]

This is one of the newest farms we picked up. All open timber. The front is pretty thick and you can tell it gets the most deer use but I believe deer do not bed up in there. I would venture to say it is the only area with no turkeys that we farm. Not sure why. It is a clean slate. Have yet to do anything other than close edge feather the south corner in the west field and cut a bedding area behind that to create a pinch.

 

[greekfreak]

This will probably be the last one I share because these are the three properties I really want to focus in on. This is the most tricky property though. It is incredibly thick in most of the woods on the central east part. Dead pine from disease and overgrown briars make one heck of a wall. You can see the deer just walk right around it when you follow their trails. There's a clover plot about in the middle. You can see the little green square. Other plots are standing crops. The northern most woods are pretty open and the southern most has a small and thinner thicket in it that attracts a lot of deer. No mast trees at all on our property but the big woods in the middle is loaded with oaks. This is the property I am planning on planting natives in the waterways hoping for some tall vegetation all year round. This property also provides the most difficult farm and habitat balance.