Cereal Grains for Whitetails

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Dbltree

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PDF files are available at the bottom of Dbltree's post showing the pictures he posted

b]September 17th, 2014[/b]

Jess sprayed the annual clovers and weeds (where we had brassicas last year) to prepare for the winter rye mix. He notill drilled the cereal grain mix the very end of August.





He didn't have time to mow but other then looks it really didn't matter. The drill knocked it down anyway.





Lacking a drill one could spray the clover (assuming the oats had been mowed earlier ), spread the large seeds, disc, cultipack, broadcast small seed and cultipack again. That would be minimum tillage which leaves more organic matter on top.





The more "trash" we leave on top, the better in term's of improving soil and increasing the percentage of organic matter.





Whitetails are not going to care one way or the other but they will care if there is nothing there because drought caused it to fail



The oats are faster growing then rye so provide a lush, highly palatable food source to help keep whitetails from decimating brassicas to soon.



Each plant in the various crop species is going to be effective at different time's and overlap each other. This insures that we always have year around food sources that keep whitetails adapted to coming to one place



Crops like corn or beans alone don't provide year around attraction although in some cases they can be used as part of a crop rotation. They are hard on soils and intolerant to high deer densities however.



Soon we will have cam pictures to share and we hope you will share yours as well.

Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

Many thanks to chickenlittle for rescuing Pauls pictures.

PDF of the page 5 with photobucket photos
 

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This makes me smile!! Can't wait to see some of your trail cam pics Paul! Hope Jessy gets some time to get out an hunt this yr!
 
It is now official! We have our first "authentic" post of the famous LC Mix direct from the source!:D
 
Can't wait for this thread to be hundreds of pages long.
 
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Lol! I hope God lets me stick around long enough to have a shot at it ;)
We'll all say a prayer for you. It's an honor to have you here and to read your post.
 
Amen Dbltree.
 
My cereal grain plots are coming along good



Clover on the right, cereal middle and brassicas on left
Looking east



Looking west



The cereal grains go up to the woods and turn left, this pic is looking south along woods

 
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Looking good! Thanks for posting Scott
 
September 23rd, 2014


Jesse notill drilled oats and annual clovers Berseem and Crimson clover into this plot this past spring. In late August he killed the clovers with 1 quart glyphosate and then drilled the Dbltree /LC cereal grain mix into the killed clovers.







The clovers can provide 70-100 # or more nitrogen per acre which is plenty to keep the winter rye, oats and forage radish growing. Note grazing of oats, winter peas still growing





Nitrogen keeps the plant's lush, green and very palatable which is important when competing with surrounding crops. Forage radish with baby red clover



Everything has been notill drilled leaving residue on top to slowly break down and increase organic matter. The drill places large seeds roughly an inch deep and small seed between 1/8 and 1/4" deep but with good moisture the larger seeds can be much shallower. With the exception of oats the rest can even be broadcast on the surface with plenty of rain. Rolling or mowing a cover crop after broadcasting seed will help increase germination.




This mix shown here creates an irresistible salad bar that will keep deer fed from mid September through early May. Each crop species contributes in a different way at different time's to both whitetails and soil building.
Hairy vetch evident here and some burnt crimson clover from spring planting



The cool thing about this is no tillage and the longer Jess can use this planting method the faster he can build soils. The down side is using herbicide but it may be possible to mow the clovers close, notill drill the seed and allow fall freezes to kill the annual clovers. I encourage each of you to experiment with your equipment and these crop rotations and see how you can minimize both use of tillage and herbicides.

Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year
 
No till is the ticket for soil building. Have you tried mowing close rather than spray?
 
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No till is the ticket for soil building. Have you tried mowing close rather than spray?
Yes I notill drilled into mowed white clover and it worked quite well. It should work even better with annual clovers
 
Sitting in the stand this weekend I took these pics, this is my Dbltree rotation. I have multiple strips due to trying different planting methods, I didn't want to get caught without so there are multiples.





I tried a couple different ways of planting the cereal grain mix, first I disced until everthing was in the soil and second I disced lightly.

This is the disced down,



And this is the lightly disced, more mature clover.





From what I see just get the seed in the ground and this mix will grow no matter how you do it. Thanks Paul!
 
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Thanks for sharing the different methods Scott, the rotations are suited perfectly for notill drill and minimum tillage and.
 
Andy sent me pictures from his farm in PA and another in Ohio, he is planting the "Dbltree rotation" both place's. The PA farm has been receiving plenty of rain and the crops look great.

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The Ohio farm however has received little if any this past summer and fall and the soil looks pretty sandy to make things worse.

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This is what we all will experience eventually but we would like to avoid, and those with very sandy soils will find plotting frustrating at best.

The Dbltree rotation is designed to not only grow on poor, dry soil but improve them as well. Most landowners do not give soils a second thought, until there plots look like Andy's. Even then they have no idea that over time they can improve soils simply by planting and rotating crops that whitetails love!

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These same crops a high degree of drought resistance naturally, brassicas and rye both send root's deep and thrive when other crops fail.

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The exception is clover which does not like dry sandy soils, over time we can improve soils enough to grow clover however.
God has blessed us with the tools, we just have to be aware and use them to manage our land and whitetails wisely.

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Paul Knox proud recipient 2014 QDMA Al Brothers Game Manager of the Year award



Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year
 
That is very similar to what we dealt with on my dad's old place. I believe vetch would have been a better choice as a legume in circumstances like those in the photos. We never got a chance to try it before he sold the place, but as far north as we were, we never had success with crimson clover on our sand either. By the way Paul, congrats on your Game Manager of the Year Award! Well deserved!
 
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Thanks :) I agree we have added hairy vetch to our fall seed mix
 
I think you finally talked me into it. I've got a 2.5 acre bean feild that has had beans followed by rye broadcast into them for several years.

It's time to try something different.
 
Hey Paul,

here are some pics of my LC rotation strip plot.

I modified you cereal grain mix a little because I had some extra seed. I planted rye, oats, medium red clover, crimson clover, a sprinkle of DER, and some alfalfa. here is a close up. Planted on 9/7/14.


We had a wet cool summer...and I under fertilized so the brassicas are looking a little worse for the wear now. tuber production was pretty good though. I planted on the early side of things...July 6th. I wanted to experiment with an early planting date....I usually plant the brassica mix between July 15th and July 20th.

You can see a portion of the strips. Solid block of brassica in the background is an new addition to the plot. I like to plant brassicas to establish new areas...next year the strips will extend into the that area as well.








 
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Looks great Phil! Are any of brassicas going to seed? Rape is rarely a problem but forage radish and some turnips have short growing season's so if planted to early they can flower, go to seed and become unpaltable. Lots of variables of course so early planting may be no problem at all, just something to be aware of when experimenting ;)
 
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