Cracked corn and cotton seed?

[BenA]

How are you planning on feeding the meal/bran? I fed for one season a couple of seasons back in Kentucky. I did a lot of it for years in Louisiana. The best way I found was with 55 gallon drums with a funnel system in the bottom that directed it to cutouts the bran could flow through by gravity. It worked well.

 

[Baker]

We feed cotton seed from February thru August in Mexico. It's very high in protein and fat. Doesn't have the vitamin mineral content of a quality protein pellet but is very good for rut recovery . We build a ring of net wire and fill with the cotton seed and place it in same pen as protein feeder creating two feeders in same pen. This assures all deer entering the pen gets a meal regardless of the station in the pecking order. One knock against it is it contains gossypol[sp] which has been known to cause sterility. However it flushes out of the system within a few days and we have never had any problem. Here is a phot showing a cotton seed ring

 

[Telemark]

How are you planning on feeding the meal/bran? I fed for one season a couple of seasons back in Kentucky. I did a lot of it for years in Louisiana. The best way I found was with 55 gallon drums with a funnel system in the bottom that directed it to cutouts the bran could flow through by gravity. It worked well.

View attachment 72723

Not sure yet. I was thinking about buying or making a gravity feeder that I can strap to a tree. Then I can put something below it to try and keep the raccoons away. I could do something like you are showing and put it up on slick greasy legs.

 

[Telemark]

We feed cotton seed from February thru August in Mexico. It's very high in protein ... very good for rut recovery

This is pretty much what I was thinking. I want the bucks to be able to maximize their muscle recovery and antler growth, and for the does to produce big fawns and rich milk. I probably wouldn't feed past July, unless they were really eating the stuff.

The rest of the equation is calcium and phosphorus, but if I have plenty of that in the soil, then they plants in the food plot ought to be a good source. I suppose I could add some to their salt licks if that works better.

 

[BenA]

Not sure yet. I was thinking about buying or making a gravity feeder that I can strap to a tree. Then I can put something below it to try and keep the raccoons away. I could do something like you are showing and put it up on slick greasy legs.

I didn't have coon usage of this, but it's rice bran.

 

[Telemark]

Telemark- I have a few questions for you since I am in seOH with my feeding efforts

if you don't mind sharing the resource I would love to try some. I hate to admit it, but i am supplemental feeding kernel corn only. Think a mix may be the ticket? Does this stuff mold?

The closest place to Dayton I found is:

Soybean Meal 50Lb

SOYBEAN MEAL For the further manufacture of feed Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein (Min)………………………….46.0% Crude Fat (Min.)….…………………………...0.5% Crude Fiber (Max.)………………………...….3.5% Ingredients Soybean Meal Feeding Instructions Feed as source of protein Manufactured By Brubaker Grain 307 W. Center...

brubakergrain.com

Scoular and Cargill have some facilities not far from Dayton, but I have not contacted them to see if I can get defatted soybean meal. I am not sure where you are located, but there is a place not too far from Columbus you could call:

Central Ohio Soy - CONTACT

Central Ohio Soy is proud to offer all-natural soy products for many species. We currently provide nutrition for Dairy, Swine and Poultry. Please contact us to find out more and talk with our nutritionists about how these products can benefit your livestock and your bottom line!

www.centralohiosoy.com

I will mix the soy meal with corn in Ohio and with Alfalfa hay in Ontario.

Everything molds eventually. Acorn rage tends not to mold quickly because it contains calcium carbonate. I assume cracked corn and soy meal are more prone to mold if they get a lot of rain. If the deer don't eat it and it gets rained on, i will simply stop feeding it for a while.

 

[Telemark]

Do you have much Ag in your area? Oaks? Soft mast?

Ever try a Buck Muffin (Shade River Ag, and others, sell them) https://www.deernecessity.com/ ? I am thinking theyre some kind of meal as well. Know multiple guys running them....and they get pounded. I grabbed one and put it out this Fall.....no action at all. In 3-4months I could count on one hand the number of critters that touched it. Point in being, I wonder if the "meal" stuff is a time of year or nutritionally dependent draw.

Have you tried any peanut or nut based feed?

Sorry for all the questions.... new to feeding-baiting-etc and want to have max draw but also provide some value with this stuff.

Both places I hunt, there is some hard and soft mast. In Ontario there is no ag. In Ohio, there is a lot, mostly corn, and some soybeans.

I have not tried that exact protein block, but I have tried a few, with very limited success. I think the deer ate less than, and the squirrels and raccoons ate the rest, and it took a while for the deer to get even slightly interested, and that was after dumping corn on them every few days. I consider them a waste of time and money for my purposes, unfortunately. I also think they are full of inferior ingredients and not a good value. However, if the deer near me devoured them, I would probably consider them excellent value. Time of year could matter, but I don't really want to mess with it anymore. The only reason I tried it was because the deer kept mopping up the good stuff, and I didn't want them to come by and have nothing to eat at my camera.

I haven't tried anything with nuts. It's too expensive, and it doesn't really suit my needs. Nuts are really fatty. I am focusing more on protein and minerals.

 

[Telemark]

I didn't have coon usage of this, but it's rice bran.

I tried a rice bran product last year, and the deer didn't touch it. That may be a bit of a southern thing as well.

 

[Baker]

The closest place to Dayton I found is:

Soybean Meal 50Lb

SOYBEAN MEAL For the further manufacture of feed Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein (Min)………………………….46.0% Crude Fat (Min.)….…………………………...0.5% Crude Fiber (Max.)………………………...….3.5% Ingredients Soybean Meal Feeding Instructions Feed as source of protein Manufactured By Brubaker Grain 307 W. Center...

brubakergrain.com

Scoular and Cargill have some facilities not far from Dayton, but I have not contacted them to see if I can get defatted soybean meal. I am not sure where you are located, but there is a place not too far from Columbus you could call:

Central Ohio Soy - CONTACT

Central Ohio Soy is proud to offer all-natural soy products for many species. We currently provide nutrition for Dairy, Swine and Poultry. Please contact us to find out more and talk with our nutritionists about how these products can benefit your livestock and your bottom line!

www.centralohiosoy.com

I will mix the soy meal with corn in Ohio and with Alfalfa hay in Ontario.

Everything molds eventually. Acorn rage tends not to mold quickly because it contains calcium carbonate. I assume cracked corn and soy meal are more prone to mold if they get a lot of rain. If the deer don't eat it and it gets rained on, i will simply stop feeding it for a while.

I personally do not like the idea of mixing soybean meal with corn. To me the protein fat fiber ratios are way off.Soybean meal in a well formulated 16-20% protein pellet works fine but the fat fiber ratio is equally important ,Rice bran has essentially zero nutritional value but is good as an attractant. Corn is a little better nutritionally and obviously a great attractant and some value as an energy source in very cold weather but its nutritional value is negligible to deer. For reference here in La. I just stated mixing 50% corn with 50% protein pellets which II will continue till weather warms then go straight pellets.

 

[BenA]

I tried a rice bran product last year, and the deer didn't touch it. That may be a bit of a southern thing as well.

They may have to get used to it like many things. Once they do, they devour it like nothing I've seen. I haven’t tried it north of Kentucky.

 

[SD51555]

Well I went ahead and bought a bag of cottonseed. Turns out cotton seed has a little bit of cotton on it, so I put a couple pounds in a bucket and sprayed it with water, then added Acorn Rage and stirred it around. The Acorn Rage powder stuck to the cotton seeds, and the mi was set out in a pile with some cracked corn on top. The deer ate most of it, but they did leave some cotton seed lying on the ground. It's clear that they will eat it in Ohio, even if they were slightly duped into doing so.

In the mean time, I found a place in Ohio that sells soybean meal for about 15$ for a 50lb bag. Since Acorn Rage is mostly soybean meal, and the deer love it, I will be using soybean meal from now on instead of cotton seed for the deer. I will simply have to trap the raccoons that come and eat it. I'll leave the cotton seed to the southern guys.

The deer devoured the cracked corn. I can't say for sure that they preferred it to the whole kernel corn, and I didn't have time to test that before I left. I'll set up a camera next fall and test the cracked corn preference. Safe to say they eat both in Ohio.

I recently came across a product called defatted soybean meal. I haven't confirmed prices or a location to purchase it yet, but it seems promising as a supplemental spring/summer feed for deer.

Find out the origin of those soybeans before you feed that to your deer. If it's the remains of heated and pressed soybeans from an oil plant, the remains could be bad for deer.

A good alternative would be sunflower seed. It's a nutritional powerhouse, and there's not oxidative or carcinogenic stresses from soybean processes that involve high heat and hexane extraction methods. Probably gonna be a little more expensive. Sunflower seed around here is $20/50 lb bag. But you also get a good balance of vitamins, minerals, fat, fiber, and protein. You could probably cut it 50/50 with cracked corn. The fiber in the sunflower should help push the corn through.

Depending on how much you're gonna feed, I'd consider swapping out cracked corn for a mixed bird seed blends that contain corn, sunflower, and sorghum and millet. Then, a final blend I'd use would be around 50/50 sunflower seed and mixed bird seed. Carbs in the mixed seed blend are surely cheaper, but by adding additional sunflower to it, you could drop the carbs, and up the fat, fiber, protein, and mineral content.

 

[Catscratch]

Is anyone worried about aflatoxins in corn? I think it can be hard on quail and turkeys?

 

[SD51555]

The closest place to Dayton I found is:

Soybean Meal 50Lb

SOYBEAN MEAL For the further manufacture of feed Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein (Min)………………………….46.0% Crude Fat (Min.)….…………………………...0.5% Crude Fiber (Max.)………………………...….3.5% Ingredients Soybean Meal Feeding Instructions Feed as source of protein Manufactured By Brubaker Grain 307 W. Center...

brubakergrain.com

Scoular and Cargill have some facilities not far from Dayton, but I have not contacted them to see if I can get defatted soybean meal. I am not sure where you are located, but there is a place not too far from Columbus you could call:

Central Ohio Soy - CONTACT

Central Ohio Soy is proud to offer all-natural soy products for many species. We currently provide nutrition for Dairy, Swine and Poultry. Please contact us to find out more and talk with our nutritionists about how these products can benefit your livestock and your bottom line!

www.centralohiosoy.com

I will mix the soy meal with corn in Ohio and with Alfalfa hay in Ontario.

Everything molds eventually. Acorn rage tends not to mold quickly because it contains calcium carbonate. I assume cracked corn and soy meal are more prone to mold if they get a lot of rain. If the deer don't eat it and it gets rained on, i will simply stop feeding it for a while.

That is the high heat / hexane extraction remnants. That what's left behind after they squeeze out all the deep fryer oil. I personally would not feed that. There is some opinion here, but most animals that eat that stuff are not destined to live more than a few months and then they are slaughtered (pigs and chickens). Those feeds cause inflammatory distress in the animals and that is passed on to those that consume them. Therein lies the difference between natural feeds and concrete feeds and why the fatty acid composition of grazed animals is so different from feedlot animals.

It's this little overlooked step that takes something could otherwise be a decent supplement and turns it into something bad. Our foods are better whole. It's when we start ripping them apart that they can become very unhealthy and downright toxic.

 

[BenA]

Is anyone worried about aflatoxins in corn? I think it can be hard on quail and turkeys?

Yes. And, I find myself going back and forth between feeding and not feeding. It's pretty selfish on my part. Rice bran, corn, soybean meal, all of it can promote aflatoxin.

 

[Telemark]

I personally do not like the idea of mixing soybean meal with corn. To me the protein fat fiber ratios are way off.Soybean meal in a well formulated 16-20% protein pellet works fine but the fat fiber ratio is equally important ,Rice bran has essentially zero nutritional value but is good as an attractant. Corn is a little better nutritionally and obviously a great attractant and some value as an energy source in very cold weather but its nutritional value is negligible to deer. For reference here in La. I just stated mixing 50% corn with 50% protein pellets which II will continue till weather warms then go straight pellets.

I don't mind using pellets if I can find them for a decent price. But they would have to be very high in protein. I'm only doing this as a supplement to their natural browse diet. That's why I didn't worry too much about fiber. The deer in Ontario shouldn't get any corn, so I would need a high protein pellet I could portion and mix according to location. Is there a specific pellet you recommend for my application?

 

[Telemark]

That is the high heat / hexane extraction remnants. That what's left behind after they squeeze out all the deep fryer oil. I personally would not feed that. There is some opinion here, but most animals that eat that stuff are not destined to live more than a few months and then they are slaughtered (pigs and chickens). Those feeds cause inflammatory distress in the animals and that is passed on to those that consume them. Therein lies the difference between natural feeds and concrete feeds and why the fatty acid composition of grazed animals is so different from feedlot animals.

It's this little overlooked step that takes something could otherwise be a decent supplement and turns it into something bad. Our foods are better whole. It's when we start ripping them apart that they can become very unhealthy and downright toxic.

View attachment 72728

Well I'm not married to it. I just found that a few days ago. I haven't had time to contact the other sources of soybean meal.

All I really want to do is supplement protein In the deer I'm hunting in two locations. One is a sparse population of deer in rural Ontario. The other is a small population in a suburban metropark.

I would also like it to cost as little as possible.

 

[Baker]

I don't mind using pellets if I can find them for a decent price. But they would have to be very high in protein. I'm only doing this as a supplement to their natural browse diet. That's why I didn't worry too much about fiber. The deer in Ontario shouldn't get any corn, so I would need a high protein pellet I could portion and mix according to location. Is there a specific pellet you recommend for my application?

Be careful with the " very high in protein" Under no circumstances would I go over 20%. You're just creating expensive urine and when content gets too high medical problems. Candidly this time of year 16% perfectly adequate. Once antlers start growing and does going thru the pregnancy/lactating cycle I shift to 20%. Energy is more important now. Lots of good pellet products around. Purina Antler Max is probably available everywhere. Down here there are lots of different options just be sure you get a formula for deer not cows horses goats etc. Also don't discount the value of fiber irrespective of natural foods .Yiu give the deer something better than native browse in dead of winter to feed on and they will eat a lot of it. Watch for scours and issues with their droppings.

 

[BenA]

Is anyone worried about aflatoxins in corn? I think it can be hard on quail and turkeys?

There was a study a while back that sampled acorns in various areas. These samples had high enough levels of aflatoxins to be considered harmful to wildlife.

 

[Catscratch]

There was a study a while back that sampled acorns in various areas. These samples had high enough levels of aflatoxins to be considered harmful to wildlife.

I did not know that! Would imagine any time a sugar is in contact with the ground, moist, and warm that it could be present.

 

[Telemark]

Be careful with the " very high in protein" Under no circumstances would I go over 20%. You're just creating expensive urine and when content gets too high medical problems. Candidly this time of year 16% perfectly adequate. Once antlers start growing and does going thru the pregnancy/lactating cycle I shift to 20%. Energy is more important now. Lots of good pellet products around. Purina Antler Max is probably available everywhere. Down here there are lots of different options just be sure you get a formula for deer not cows horses goats etc. Also don't discount the value of fiber irrespective of natural foods .Yiu give the deer something better than native browse in dead of winter to feed on and they will eat a lot of it. Watch for scours and issues with their droppings.

I'm in Norway right now. I won't be back in North America until May. The deer are probably still cleaning up the last of the cotton seed and corn I dumped before I left.

I'm looking for something to start feeding them next year, and then hopefully I can make some kind of yearly plan going forward. I was just experimenting this season when I was home for the holidays.

I'll try to find a good pelleted feed and get that ordered for May. It's possible I could get my niece to start feeding the deer even earlier in Spring.

Why should deer not eat pellets meant for cattle or goats?