jsasker007
5 year old buck +
What do the big guys look like this season? Love seeing those monsters you have there.
Farm and Ranch life
- Thread starter Baker
- Start date
Been hard to find the bucks this year after Hurricane Laura blew so many trees down last year. Nonetheless have found a few nice ones. I'm in Venice La. chasing redfish and speckled trout...and the smorgasbord of other fishes that fill the shallows. Home Sunday and I'll dig up a few pics to post.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Some awesome deer there! You sir are living the dream. Thanks
Bassattackr
5 year old buck +
What a freak show. That's awesome man.
While a balanced B/D ratio with great age structure is always a good thing to strive for, it also creates herd dynamics not always seen in unbalanced herds. We lose bucks every year to fighting. In this case a very nice 4 yr old locked up with a mediocre older 130" 8 pt. The 4 yr old killed the 8 pt. and drug him around for a few days before coyotes ate the 4 yr old from the rear forward.Nothing Walt Disney about that.
IkemanTx
5 year old buck +
I am constantly amazed…
Im living vicariously through my friends and social media this year, because i tore a bunch of stuff in my ankle/foot just before my fall vacation. So, no hunting for me this year as i am currently only hunting public. Updates from your place are GOLD!
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Im living vicariously through my friends and social media this year, because i tore a bunch of stuff in my ankle/foot just before my fall vacation. So, no hunting for me this year as i am currently only hunting public. Updates from your place are GOLD!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
THE GOATS WILL SAVE THE FARM:
Bet you never expected to see a header like that!
What I am seeing is that the goats will save the farm. I'm up to 320 now and am using them as a brush clearing tool. We mob graze them on small paddocks moving them every 3 days. Thats the key. Keeps them from overgrazing plus breaks the parasite cycle.
Over much of the farm the briars have become so thick that they choke out everything underneath much like canopied woods. Therefore the more valuable weeds, Forbes, and shrubs and grasses cant grow. The goats are opening that up allowing sunlight to hit the ground . Yet by moving them quickly there is still abundant vegetation left for deer and all else.
Another challenge/opportunity is goats seem to love tallow and are eating the young sprouts to the ground. A concern I've had is with so much open territory in the woods, tallow, privet, and gum trees would take over. Appears goats will help correct that.
I only have 15 cows now but we are in the process of buying 60 more soon. The plan is to follow the goats with the cows further opening up the brush working towards a savanah outcome...with lush herbaceous understory. WE are investigating corriente( SP? ) cows which apparently readily browse and are well adapted to woodland foraging in the Deep South.
More to come
Bet you never expected to see a header like that!
What I am seeing is that the goats will save the farm. I'm up to 320 now and am using them as a brush clearing tool. We mob graze them on small paddocks moving them every 3 days. Thats the key. Keeps them from overgrazing plus breaks the parasite cycle.
Over much of the farm the briars have become so thick that they choke out everything underneath much like canopied woods. Therefore the more valuable weeds, Forbes, and shrubs and grasses cant grow. The goats are opening that up allowing sunlight to hit the ground . Yet by moving them quickly there is still abundant vegetation left for deer and all else.
Another challenge/opportunity is goats seem to love tallow and are eating the young sprouts to the ground. A concern I've had is with so much open territory in the woods, tallow, privet, and gum trees would take over. Appears goats will help correct that.
I only have 15 cows now but we are in the process of buying 60 more soon. The plan is to follow the goats with the cows further opening up the brush working towards a savanah outcome...with lush herbaceous understory. WE are investigating corriente( SP? ) cows which apparently readily browse and are well adapted to woodland foraging in the Deep South.
More to come
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
That's impressive. I know the scourge of tallow trees. I'd rank them much worse than sweet gum. And, that's saying a lot.
Is there a point where you'll scale back the goats for regeneration of more beneficial plants?
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Keep it coming! I believe mob grazing and burning is the way to the best habitat.
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Yes, we are thinking it will take 3-5 years for the goats to have the impact we are after. I am planning to grow herd to somewhere around 1000 animals. Concurrently we will begin building cattle herd up to an anticipated 200.At some point in time there may be a shift more to cattle than goats. Initially we will look for cattle that are good browsers but over time as ecology evolves we will breed for animals wit higher quality meat, the goal being to sell organic grass fed beef. This is current 5 yr plan.
Observation will be the key. As ecology transitions we will make decisions on which animals have best impact. We will be looking at the micro biology of the soil, shifts in brix readings on forages, forage species and diversity etc. Interestingly, initial research suggests goats are more profitable than cattle.That will fit into the decision tree though not dictate. Overall goals are ecological , economic, social and of course...to grow giant native homegrown whitetails.
