Next years plantings

[b116757]

Our farm has maybe 12 Pin oaks on 640 acres. one huge old pear tree and large persimmon grove on the east 160 but I can literally see the entire 160 from my shooting benches so there is very little in the way of cover where those mast trees are growing. I do have a resident doe and her fawns every year that lives on that 160.
The other 480 has the few Pin oak trees but very little else in the way of mast producing trees plenty of cover however I’ve got about 10 acres red cedar thicket and 1 miles worth of creek bottom that runs thru it. I’m trying to remedy the lack of mast trees with about an 11 acre deer orchard tree planting on a pretty centralized area of the 480 along the creek. I’ve also got another 16 or so acres on the east 160 that I’m going to make improvements plantings on. But nothing as intensive as the 11 acre orchard. It will probably involve a lot of sawtooth oak acorns I’ve been collecting and trading for. Along with some pond improvements the deer hunting on that 160 is scetchy but the duck hunting is the bomb diggity. I’ve got six ponds on that 1/4 section and ducks don’t mind cohabitation with cattle. There is another 5 ponds on the other 480. There where six but I buried one this last summer and repaired the dams on two others. If I retired tomorrow I’d stay busy just fooling with the farm. Saturday we pulled 1/4 mile of barbed wire Sunday we pulled all the posts next weekend I’ll push all the trees out of that 1/4 mile so the row crop farmer can run 1/2 mile rows instead of 1/4 mile. There is always something to do out there. I have at least 1/2 mile of fence to build by spring. I’ve already done all the bulldozer work for that 1/2 mile. I did buy a Miller Bobcat 250 the other day just for building fence.

 

[buckdeer1]

Always hate to see fence rows torn out but farmers always want bigger fields.My SIL farms mine and he always teases me that when I die he will be sitting on a bull dozer to push out all the trees I have planted.I'm south of Wichita along Arkansas river.I did some testing for USDA back before they cost shared on tree tubes so they did some surveys on mine and finally started.We planted over 3000 trees and shrubs first spring and tons more since.Shrubs are some of the best wildlife cover and food there is.I have quite a few fruit trees also and deer eat them but alot goes to coyotes and coons.Sure looks like you stay busy.Keep in touch

 

[b116757]

Always hate to see fence rows torn out but farmers always want bigger fields.My SIL farms mine and he always teases me that when I die he will be sitting on a bull dozer to push out all the trees I have planted.I'm south of Wichita along Arkansas river.I did some testing for USDA back before they cost shared on tree tubes so they did some surveys on mine and finally started.We planted over 3000 trees and shrubs first spring and tons more since.Shrubs are some of the best wildlife cover and food there is.I have quite a few fruit trees also and deer eat them but alot goes to coyotes and coons.Sure looks like you stay busy.Keep in touch

I bought a Cat 951C Crawler loader last fall just for all the work on the farm. I’ve already got my money’s worth out of it. I kill and doze a lot of crap trees but I also plant a lot of beneficial ones for wildlife. My arch nemesis is honey locust have to chemically kill them before any dozer work or where I had one nasty tree now I have 20 angry nasty thorny trees. My only regret is not planting at least some of the mast trees about 10 years ago but we where still full tilt cattle farming until this year when our farm manager passed away. I’ve decided we are done with cattle switching to a combination of leasing ground for row crop, native grass hay and pasture rent. This also opens up a lot of opportunity for wildlife improvements that where near impossible with cattle on almost every square inch of useable farm ground. Deer are rough on small trees cattle are murder on them. With any luck a good number of the trees I’m planting now will be producing about the time I retire. My wife’s mother and the old farm manager ran it as an cattle operation but for my wife and I it’s little more than a hobby farm. The cash rent more than pays for the taxes and insurance on the place and my wife and I aren’t working full time jobs and screwing with cattle every waking moment that we are not at work. I may need to explore some shrub offerings particularly for the east 160 that’s nearly all open ground is has a dry creek bed running thru part of it and I’ve got about 7 acre patch between two of the row crop fields that’s too rough to plow and will be getting some plantings this spring I was considering some of the giant miscanthas grass for cover I may need to rethink that and consider some shrubs.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Always hate to see fence rows torn out but farmers always want bigger fields.My SIL farms mine and he always teases me that when I die he will be sitting on a bull dozer to push out all the trees I have planted.I'm south of Wichita along Arkansas river.I did some testing for USDA back before they cost shared on tree tubes so they did some surveys on mine and finally started.We planted over 3000 trees and shrubs first spring and tons more since.Shrubs are some of the best wildlife cover and food there is.I have quite a few fruit trees also and deer eat them but alot goes to coyotes and coons.Sure looks like you stay busy.Keep in touch

Old fence rows make great funnels from one timber tract to another......... Leave 'em!!

bill

 

[TreeDaddy]

I bought a Cat 951C Crawler loader last fall just for all the work on the farm. I’ve already got my money’s worth out of it. I kill and doze a lot of crap trees but I also plant a lot of beneficial ones for wildlife. My arch nemesis is honey locust have to chemically kill them before any dozer work or where I had one nasty tree now I have 20 angry nasty thorny trees. My only regret is not planting at least some of the mast trees about 10 years ago but we where still full tilt cattle farming until this year when our farm manager passed away. I’ve decided we are done with cattle switching to a combination of leasing ground for row crop, native grass hay and pasture rent. This also opens up a lot of opportunity for wildlife improvements that where near impossible with cattle on almost every square inch of useable farm ground. Deer are rough on small trees cattle are murder on them. With any luck a good number of the trees I’m planting now will be producing about the time I retire. My wife’s mother and the old farm manager ran it as an cattle operation but for my wife and I it’s little more than a hobby farm. The cash rent more than pays for the taxes and insurance on the place and my wife and I aren’t working full time jobs and screwing with cattle every waking moment that we are not at work. I may need to explore some shrub offerings particularly for the east 160 that’s nearly all open ground is has a dry creek bed running thru part of it and I’ve got about 7 acre patch between two of the row crop fields that’s too rough to plow and will be getting some plantings this spring I was considering some of the giant miscanthas grass for cover I may need to rethink that and consider some shrubs.

Tell us more about a Cat 951C Crawler

Im not familiar with this

bill

 

[b116757]

It’s like therapy running that thing work out all your aggravation pushing out trees or moving dirt. Old man I bought it from got it from county road department I gave $15,000 low hour machine under carriage is in pretty good shape it’s 100hp no turbo 28,000lbs about a 1975 model. About the only things I’ve done to it are replace the track adjustment seals on one side $12 parts about a days labor had to split the track for that and replaced a $100 hydraulic line that a rock got stuck behind and worn a hole thru it again about a days labor. I really like it for clearing trees push them over back up hook the root ball push and lift them right out and stack them in brush piles for burning. It’s also nice for pond repair bing able yo carry dirt. It’s not the best machine for final grading but it can be done if your patient. I like it quite a bit great farm machine. Like all heavy equipment however you always think wow what could I do with a Cat 963 it’s a 45,000lb machine just think of the therapy oh I mean work I could do with that.

 

[b116757]

Old fence rows make great funnels from one timber tract to another......... Leave 'em!!

bill

This old fence row has no trees just a few old stumps to push out and there are no trees in the area. I spend a lot of $$$$ a year spraying fence rows to keep them brush and tree free. It’s way easier to maintain them when not overgrown. That 1/4 section is bordered on all sides with more open ground of at least 1/4 mile or more. Few trees along that dry creek bed and a few in NW corner where my wife had a trailer house pulled in when I met her. This photo is little dated there are less trees and brush in the NW corner since I buried an old open pit silo and a couple barn foundations and cleaned up around a huge old pear tree and some pie cherry trees to give them enough light to produce fruit and that they have absolutely loaded this summer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

It’s like therapy running that thing work out all your aggravation pushing out trees or moving dirt. Old man I bought it from got it from county road department I gave $15,000 low hour machine under carriage is in pretty good shape it’s 100hp no turbo 28,000lbs about a 1975 model. About the only things I’ve done to it are replace the track adjustment seals on one side $12 parts about a days labor had to split the track for that and replaced a $100 hydraulic line that a rock got stuck behind and worn a hole thru it again about a days labor. I really like it for clearing trees push them over back up hook the root ball push and lift them right out and stack them in brush piles for burning. It’s also nice for pond repair bing able yo carry dirt. It’s not the best machine for final grading but it can be done if your patient. I like it quite a bit great farm machine. Like all heavy equipment however you always think wow what could I do with a Cat 963 it’s a 45,000lb machine just think of the therapy oh I mean work I could do with that.

We could use ya for a day or 2 - and your machine. Logging debris needs moved. I have visions of what that machine could do at our place.

 

[b116757]

If you get the bug to buy one make sure the undercarriage is in serviceable condition. You can spend a ton of $$$ rebuilding an undercarriage.

 

[buckdeer1]

Sounds really nice, I would look into other options for cover than giant miscanthas grass, alot of people use for screen and maybe it would be ok for cover also just seems people shy away from it for cover.There isn't much better than sand hill plums planted in rows 10 ft apart with NWSG in between along with scattered cedars

 

[TreeDaddy]

View attachment 38626
It’s like therapy running that thing work out all your aggravation pushing out trees or moving dirt. Old man I bought it from got it from county road department I gave $15,000 low hour machine under carriage is in pretty good shape it’s 100hp no turbo 28,000lbs about a 1975 model. About the only things I’ve done to it are replace the track adjustment seals on one side $12 parts about a days labor had to split the track for that and replaced a $100 hydraulic line that a rock got stuck behind and worn a hole thru it again about a days labor. I really like it for clearing trees push them over back up hook the root ball push and lift them right out and stack them in brush piles for burning. It’s also nice for pond repair bing able yo carry dirt. It’s not the best machine for final grading but it can be done if your patient. I like it quite a bit great farm machine. Like all heavy equipment however you always think wow what could I do with a Cat 963 it’s a 45,000lb machine just think of the therapy oh I mean work I could do with that.

^^^^^^^^^^^Bad ASS!!!!!!!!

bill

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I ordered a bunch of seedlings to plant next spring in a newly-logged area at camp.
White oak
Red oak
Black cherry
Sugar maple
Norway spruce
White spruce
Balsam fir
Chinese chestnut
Washington hawthorn
Choke cherry
Witch hazel
We'll also get free acorns, maple "helicopters", hickory nuts, and many other seeds from native trees dropping on exposed soil. Birds and other critters will also contribute their droppings. The seedlings will just get us a head start on successional growth - in cages!!!

 

[b116757]

Nice that’s a pretty good mix

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Going for more diversity.

 

[b116757]

Laid out flags where one of the new plantings are going today took 450 flags. Next I’ll spray glysophate around each flag in the next week or two then I guess I’m in a holding pattern until the trees start showing up next spring. I’ll still have another smaller area to lay out but it’s smaller 150 trees planting well 150 sawtooth oak planting I’m probably going to plant an additional 100-150 Eastern Red Cedar as a heavy cover boarder on two sides of that planting. I have a love hate relationship with ERC they are great cover but spread like crazy if left unchecked for any amount of time in a given area. I wish the nursery’s would come up with male only cedar trees I’d gladly pay a bit more for that option.