How many years in a row can I plant buck forage oats?

[Bowhunter2004]

This is the 2nd year we planted BFO and winter Rye combo in a 3 acre plot, the deer are in it from September to April, we left it stand all summer then mow in August, disc and replant ... want to do this again this coming August, will that be ok?

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Do it until you run out of money!

BFO at $35 a bag is a waste of money in opinion.

 

[BobinCt]

I would have more variety in a 3acre plot , but if that's all you want, it's fine. Brassicas you don't want to plant back to back in the same field, but the two you mentioned are not brassicas. As Buckchaser mentioned or referred to above, you are over paying for you Oats. Your paying for the picture of the nice buck in the bag. You can get them a lot cheaper and they both will die off at about the same time. In my opinion, buy the cheaper oats and add another seed or two in your mix.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Yep, I sell the certified oats for $10/bag and BFO for almost $40 a bag. And the deer hunters still buy the picture 40% of the time! LOL

 

[yoderjac]

This is the 2nd year we planted BFO and winter Rye combo in a 3 acre plot, the deer are in it from September to April, we left it stand all summer then mow in August, disc and replant ... want to do this again this coming August, will that be ok?

Where are you located?

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Bahahahahahahahaha!

 

[Bowhunter2004]

Where are you located?

West central illinois.

 

[yoderjac]

West central illinois.

Cereal grains don't tend to have the kind of disease issues like brassica does when planted in the same field repeatedly. However, when you plant the same crop in a field year after year, it tends to deplete the soil of specific nutrients. By mixing complementary crops and or rotating you can reduce the inputs that would otherwise be required.

I would add a clover to your mix of WR and Oats. The clover will fix N into the soil that will be used by the cereal grain reducing the amount of N fertilization required. This will let you continue what has been working for you longer. An annual clover like crimson clover would probably be a good fit for this application (why I asked about location). Eventually, you will want to rotate into something else. Let the field tell you. As long as you are getting good production without having to increase your fertilizer requirements, you'll be fine. You likely have pretty rich soil in central Ill so you can probably get way with planting the same crop longer than folks on more marginal soil.

With some crops, variety does matter, but I have to agree with Mo on this, I have not found that to be true for cereal grains. If you are talking about a small field where seed cost is not an issue, using BFO or other Buck-on-Bag seeds are really no big deal. If they make you happy, use them. Once you get into planting significant acreage, seed cost adds up.

Best of Luck,

Jack

 

[Bowhunter2004]

Thank you guys, cost on the three acres is not that big of a factor.. we planted 4 bags of BFO and 1bag of WR along with 9 bags of 13-13-13 fertilizer to this plot both years and have had great looking plots.
I might add two small bags of whitetail clover to the mix this year, (8lbs) I've had great results with that brand vs Ladino clover. Does this sound ok? I know it gets quite technical, but do you think we'll be alright keeping the fertilizer amount the same again?

 

[yoderjac]

Thank you guys, cost on the three acres is not that big of a factor.. we planted 4 bags of BFO and 1bag of WR along with 9 bags of 13-13-13 fertilizer to this plot both years and have had great looking plots.
I might add two small bags of whitetail clover to the mix this year, (8lbs) I've had great results with that brand vs Ladino clover. Does this sound ok? I know it gets quite technical, but do you think we'll be alright keeping the fertilizer amount the same again?

WI is extremely expensive for what you get especially for this application. They have some very nice improved clover varieties with good characteristics in the mix, but most of the mix is an inexpensive annual clover berseem. Their pitch is that the berseem acts as a nurse crop for the improved varieties. This is done to establish a perennial clover plot. My guess is that you only think you are getting better results with than with Ladino. We can address that later if you want.

You said your method is to plant your cereal grain crop each fall. Ladino (and the improved clovers in WI) are perennial clover. They are best planted in the fall with a cereal grain cover crop. Typically you will get little growth out of a fall planted clover. The cereal grain is the attractant in the fall. The perennial clover typically takes off in the spring. It spends most of that spring putting down a root system. Once established, it can grow from 5 to 10 years depending on the specific perennial clover variety. That is why perennial clover seed is generally more expensive than annual clover seed. Clover fixes N from the atmosphere but that N generally isn't released from a clover plant to become available to other plants until it dies.

If you are replanting each fall, you won't get much N fixed from a perennial clover compared to an annual. For your application, you will be better off with an annual clover. Crimson Clover will work and so would Berseem. Both are inexpensive by comparison.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[BobinCt]

I would take a soil sample for $13. You may even have a low PH that you were not aware of because of the two crops you had, Rye and Oats, do grow in acidic soils. In addition, as Jack mentioned, I would go with an annual clover versus a perennial clover if your going to disk the field each year. Again, take a soil sample as it is cheap and can save you $$ and aggravation. You might have already, but if not, try to get your PH in 6.5 range. Soil sample also tells you how much fertilizer you need. Without the soil sample, the 13-13-13 sounded fine. I'm really picky with my plots and PH's, but others may not be. If you like great plots, get PH at a good range. Good luck.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I stopped reading magazines( Gamekeepers,Quality whitetails,etc,etc) after finding this forum

Go with Bob oats( or whatever at coop) at ~11bucks /50 lbs

Use the collective experience here and avoid all the commercial bull

bill

 

[Buckly]

I would also say to get a soil test especially if you want to add some clover. A good PH will help you there. What you're planting is a good standard food plot mix but, with a soil test you'll more than likely find out you didn't need all or any of that fertilizer.

 

[tooln]

Listen to MO, he sells seed and tells it like it is.

 

[Diesel5610]

Not much to say that hasn't been said. If you are asking about rotating crops you obviously care about the soil. With three acres I would split the plot and do half in LC's cereal grain mix and the other half in his brassica mix and rotate the two. It is a proven combination both for the deer and your soil.

 

[scott44]

I have one area of my plots that is next to the woods that I've had a cereal grain mix in it for the last 5 yrs and I haven't seen any effects of anything.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I have farmers that are going on 25 years of corn on corn in their farm fields. Corn is a grass, should be no problem planting oats on oats, or WR on WR!

Edit: Although i do remember a farmer that tried Spring wheat after spring wheat and that was a disaster. So let us know how it keeps working year after year!

 

[MoBuckChaser]

My FIL has planted corn (now his renters do it) on his half section of ground in southern MN for over 30 years.

I have dairy farmer customers that will only plant corn the rest of there life. They don't even rotate to hay anymore. They buy that to get the protein they want. We also have guys in the sand planting beans for 25 years straight, and with rain have gotten some great crops lately.

 

[shawnv]

Question for those that say BFO is a waste of money, how long do the oats you like stay green? I mean I've tried winter oats from Deer creek and a couple other "winter" mixes and so far the only oat I've tried that says green into Dec are the BFO. In fact my BFO from this year still out and that's after a week of sub zero temps.

I'm not opposed to changing but would like some more intel first.

 

[yoderjac]

Yep, high intensity, high input, farming has been the norm in the past and some still cling to it. The higher crop prices on highly fertile land with reasonable input cost allowed farmers to extract resources from the soil for many years. But there is a big different between what is possible and what is a best practice sustainable approach. I would point folks to Ray the Soil Guy from NRCS: https://vimeo.com/channels/raythesoilguy/23850878 as a great guide to the principles of soil health and the many Crimson and Camo threads on here for techniques to adapt these principles to the small food plotter.