Deer business wars?
- Thread starter SD51555
- Start date
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
Exactly. I oftentimes wonder if a lot of these folks are attempting to grow stuff to shoot deer or if they simply want to preach about how bad tillage is.
john volkman
5 year old buck +
I think you can promote soil health AND grow stuff to kill deer. Arguably better and with less expense. I have nothing against the guys that dont care or want to, but when someone selling something that doesnt use those practices tells his audience it doesnt work i call BS.
People seem to miss the one big difference between food plotters and farmers when they make arguments to and for tillage or no tillage. Farmers are doing it for profit and plotters arent. Farmers are needing to REMOVE a crop from the land and plotters arent(other than a deer now and then). .
People seem to miss the one big difference between food plotters and farmers when they make arguments to and for tillage or no tillage. Farmers are doing it for profit and plotters arent. Farmers are needing to REMOVE a crop from the land and plotters arent(other than a deer now and then). .
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
Well after 7 decades with 7 million customers across 77 states, Sturgis is offering his own blends of seeds this year that will help build soil and help prevent weeds. Limited edition this year. Get 'em while they're hot.
Not joking, he really did put out "his own" offerings this year.
Not joking, he really did put out "his own" offerings this year.
Talk about magic beans. Only $70 to plant 1/3 acre!
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Wow. Had to look that one up. WHS "fall power greens", $70 for 25#. I wonder how different it is from the Northwoods whitetail "WHS Green forage blend" that is $45 for 50#. It's capitalism but any sales of that is based on hyping his customer into being a sucker. Neither of them even advertise what freaking seeds are included.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Exactly, I like all of the perspectives also. I am here to learn and have been around long enough to know there is no magic solution. Farmers do what they do because it works and produces results. I have not seen one farm around me, there are 100's of them here in Ag country, that adheres to cover crop approach.
My soil is a sandy loam so i need to increase my OM levels when i can. I appreciate the input you provide from a real farming perspective as while i want to improve soil conditions, i also want crops that produce lots of food. I have done a lot of research watching the soil science videos on YouTube and many farmers who have tried cover cropping without herbicides or fertilizers are not yet sold on the concept.
I think folks in warmer climates have no idea what we deal with in the northern climates. They have growing seasons of 6-7 months. If they fail on early season, they have enough time for a second planting. We in the north have about 3-4 months to get it right. The first time I tried cover cropping it failed because of a July draught.
On throw and mow, that s a real crap shoot. If you don't get seed to soil contact, you don't get germination. Seed depth is also important also. I bought my Firminator as it insures a much better planting method.
I still have my disc and jugs of Glysophate and will continue to use as necessary. Stick around as some us like to learn from your experience.
And $50 for 4 lbs of radish, rape, and turnip. 4 lbs of that at the coop is about $10-$15. Gotta pay for those fancy bags somehow. And there's not even a big buck on them. Don't get me wrong, I've planted and still plant BoB seed, but there's places to draw the line on price. Doesn't bother me to pay $20-$25 for a brassica plot. But $50 is getting into ridiculous territory.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
For many food plotters....if you pay MORE for a bag of seed....it's gotta be better. Grin. 'Merica. lol
I've gone to a mix of seeds from Green Cover Seeds this year. I could possibly save a little by blending my own.....but life is sure easier to buy the mixed bags....as long as the price is right. Lots of thought goes into the good mixes which makes them compatible. Cuts down on seeds carried over too. I have added some exces seeds (from my inventory) to my mixes this year.....just to use them up. I always a bag of red clover and some white clover and some radish try to keep some cereal rye "on hand" to fill in missed spots. But my needs to keep such a variety of seeds is diminished by using the great mixes now available and the use of my drill.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
I have to mix my own. There ain't a blend out there I'm happy with. The clover blends don't have enough chicory for my liking. I went 40% chicory on the perennial side last year, and I still don't think that's enough. I dropped my white clover to 20%, and I still think that's too much. Need more alfalfa, and more cow bell.
I kept ordering spring oats from a local place that is fairly well known this spring and when I'd go to pick them up they'd give me something different. Bag of spring oats wasn't too bad, $17 or so. 1st time I got winter oats ($36) and next time I got AWP ($45). Didn't realize it until I got home but now I've got most of my cereal grain mix of the LC rotation for fairly cheap. Probably won't work out like that most years. :)
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I've never noticed a ton of browsing of chicory at any of our places. Clover, on the other hand. I have one plot that had some chicory in the mix. I've mowed it but haven't sprayed it yet. Want to get a soil test this weekend to see if I need to do anything next year to it other than mow.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Mine will get taken in July and August. I get to see the flowers for a few weeks and then they get eaten. I don't have any topsoil on most of my plots, so I'm having to start fresh on 0.5% OM clays, and the chicory helps with punching through that smear. I'll get decent regrowth after an August mowing, and before the snow flies, they'll have taken most everything above ground.
It also seems to wane over time, and the white clover seems to just get thicker and thicker over time. That's why I tipped the scales as much as I did last year.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Chicory never makes it to flowering stage on my place anymore. They keep it pretty low.
Hope I'm not someone who has turned people off with my soil health and TnM stuff. I apologize if I've made people think other methods are tabu.
Hope I'm not someone who has turned people off with my soil health and TnM stuff. I apologize if I've made people think other methods are tabu.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
A little conflict is healthy. That’s how ideas used to get developed in the old days. We’d go to the bar, get liquored up, and debate.
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Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
No need to apologize. Different ways of doing things and discussing pros vs cons is good.
When there is only one way, that's a problem
Crimson n' Camo
5 year old buck +
I think people get hung up on individual methods.......The real goal for me is understanding the science of how soil functions so that I can better understand the impacts of the decisions I make
TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
Yep
We got it made in east texas
Fire ants,feral hogs, goat weed , and none of that damn rain
bill
I have a couple plots that are erosion prone - 5 acres out of the 40 I plant. I try to time plantings with a rain so I can spray and throw - no mowing - just prior to a rain. But, other than that one plot, I dang sure am not afraid of tillage. Planting 40 acres- I do it when I can - not when conditions are perfect. In my experience - some tillage is more likely to produce an acceptable planting than non tillage. I am not so concerned about soil health as I am the number of deer my food plots attract and hold. But, that said - it turns out the quickest, easiest way for me to plant with a good deal of success - planting winter wheat into existing durana clover - using a Woods Seeder with disk gang almost straight - very little ground disturbance