2019 Food Plot Plan – What do you think?

Here are maps of my 2018 plots and my 2019 food plot plan. Reviews and advice, please.

The Xs indicate stand or blind locations. Standard map directions apply, N is up.

The main problem I’m trying to solve in 2019 is to produce more late season crops. The deer mow the clover down to the nub by the end of October. The soybeans are great until the frost kills them, so I feel I need even more rye and brassicas.

– New AlfalfaMAX plot in S1 to replace old clover. Alfalfa should be a real hit.
– New rye strips S4 and N4. Will plant even bigger N4 plot if I have time to work the fallow land to the north.
– Brassicas moved to north plot and hopefully more fertile ground that was soybeans in 2018 so some N fixation should improve the soil.

Questions I have:

– I’m actually planting fewer brassicas by about 1 acre. I’m hoping for better quality over quantity, but should I skip the N3 Eagle Forage Soybean plot and plant N3 in Brassicas?

– I’m going to try a LOT of mid-season interseeding to see if I can coax extra production out of the soybean plots. I plan to interseed radishes into S3 in late June. What are other options to interseed late-season varieties into existing early-season crops? Radish into the rye?

Anyone else see late-season production opportunities I’m missing?

Many thanks. Can’t wait for 2019.

Grouse

Are you getting your seed through my seed guy?
DT

Soybeans for forage are allright but if you want forage in the fall regular beans will give you pods after the freeze that deer will forage on until they are gone. A one acre soybean plot will not last long if there are any number of deer feeding on it.

mike

mike mulhern wrote:

Soybeans for forage are allright but if you want forage in the fall regular beans will give you pods after the freeze that deer will forage on until they are gone. A one acre soybean plot will not last long if there are any number of deer feeding on it.

The first picture is my 2018 plot map. The second is my 2019 plan.

In 2019 I’m going for about 2.5 acres of soybeans.

Eagle Forage Soybeans (I plant the Wildlife Manager’s Mix North) are actually a blend of both forage and crop soybeans, so they do produce pods. What I achieve with EFS is their aggressive growth produces tons more leaf and stem mass and that mass is higher protein than a crop soybean, so while I get less in terms of bean pods, the deer get more in terms of overall food mass. Ag soybeans would be a total loss in my area because there would be nothing left of them but soybean stumps by August, so they would never produce a bean unless you had 80 acres of them.

I had great results from the Plot Saver fence system, so I plan to use that again to minimize browsing pressure until September. It’s not 100%, but it certainly cuts browsing pressure down.

deertracker wrote:

Are you getting your seed through my seed guy?
DT

Yes, all the serious guys who want top-producing plots are buying from Midwest Monster Whitetail Products now. In my case it makes even more sense because they’re very close to where I live.

Grouse

I have a suggestion, you likely wont take it but Ill give it to you anyways Grouse. haha

What is the reason for the big dedication of your plots to summer forage? Are you worried that the deer wont stay around based on natural browse? I would think with as much timber and shrubs around there would be already ample summer browse naturally. You could install a feeder for the spring and summer and fill it up with 300 lbs of corn every month until end of July if you are worried about summer nutrition?
I just see every year you run out of food by the time hunting starts. I would plant Corn and Ag soybeans in 90% of your plots. Deer usually stay off young corn if you have more than a small section of it. Plant as much Ag beans as you can and as early as you can (sprinkle in some Eagle beans if you must),and if they mow it down to nothing come in with you brassicas Late July or early August. I also have good luck planting Ag beans 2 different times …early and then late. That shifts the focus off one section to another.
Then at the very least if you are “supplementing the feed” to reduce the pressure on your plots, using the hot zone fence, you should have some corn that doesnt get browsed very hard by deer, and Ag beans with pods during hunting season and brassicas.

Edit- Also I have better luck broadcasting soybeans rather than planting with the planter. They handle the browse better. Puts way more seeds in the ground and Id say now I can take twice or 3 times as much summer browsing pressure as I could when I planted with a JD planter.

I appreciate the reply.

There are a couple of reasons for the clover and alfalfa plots. First, the deer really love this stuff and I think having it has been a major reason why I have more deer and bigger bucks compared to when I bought the property. They eat clover in the spring, summer, fall, and even winter if there was any left and if they can get to it. I’m not in rich ag country, so the deer do not have access to corn except for a brief window before the silage corn is harvested. Crop soybeans are unheard of. Just looking at it in terms of tonnage per acre, clover is my best producer because the deer are eating in these plots form April to when they finally mow down the last stalk in early October.

The perennials are also a workload reducers. Planting 100% of my plots each year would be more than I can do on my own.

I can’t supplemental feed in the warm weather months for one reason: bears. Many have tried, but bears will find a way to tear down any feeder that throws corn, they are relentless. Bears have attacked my empty feeders, I have to remove the feeders from the property after winter to keep them safe. The only way I can feed at all is to only do so when the bears have hibernated for the winter and I have to stop and hide all the feeders in spring before they wake up.

Going all in on corn and ag soybeans, I just don’t think would work. Ag soybean plants are so small and spindly, after seeing what the deer did to my huge forage soybean plants that are 5-7 times the mass of ag beans last, there’s just no way in my mind that ag soybeans would survive past July even when protected by the Plot Saver fence as I do with forage beans. I just don’t have any ag crop fields nearby to take the pressure off.

I agree with you in terms of in Big Ag country, the all in on corn/soybeans would stand a better chance, but in hungry country, the deeer just won’t leave soybeans alone.

What I think would happen to corn would kind of similar. It would work in terms of getting to the cob stage, but then the raccoons and deer would wipe it out in a couple of weeks once the cobs filled up, likely before event the bow season.

I might try some corn when I get that fallow area of the north field all worked up and in production. That area was badly rutted by the dozer that cleared the fields originally, so it will take me most of next year to get that ground worked up and ready.

I totally agree, broadcasting works well for the food plotter planting soybeans. Also, it’s just crazy the prices of the old ground driven planters like the Deere 290, I routinely see them sell for over $1500 and $2k or more for rebuilt or very good original condition. If only I’d known… The shelterbelts used to be full of those old planters 25 years ago.

Grouse

So you have about 12 acres of tillable ground?
So just for fun………
do you think if you would plant all 12 acres in Ag soybeans via broadcasting at 80-100 lbs per acre. They would eat it all to the ground before sept?
Since soybeans is the preferred plot that you are trying to get to live… you said it would have to be 80 acres to grow a bean. which im sure is just an exaggerated number you threw out there… but unless you live on a 1000 animal high fenced deer farm.. 12 acres of broadcasted beans would be an insane amount of food.

Have you ever done a deer survey ? How many deer do you guess live on piece of ground? I bet the actual number is far less than one would think.

I just think that if you deer density is SOOOO ridiculously high..
#1 you should be killing every doe in sight
#2 planting food plots of- a little of this and a little of that, with the majority of them being under 1 acre in size; IN MY OPINION is the wrong approach.

I just cant imagine 12 acres of broadcasted beans not being enough food. I bet I have at least 20-30 plants per square foot in my broadcasted beans. Loaded with pods.
PS- dont get offended by FARMING country viewpoint. I do not know your ground. You do.I enjoy talking-debating about plotting with you, DT, STICKER, and the the others.

if it was me I would plant corn on half of it and interseed soybeans with it. this could be where your forage beans would go. I would then plant field beans on the rest. I would work up your fallow newly bulldozed land and plant clover on that in late July. In my expirience deer will locate the best food source for that time of the year. The question then needs to be asked do you want to look at deer all summer long with some chance of them hanging around for the fall season. I want the most desirable food in my area in sept oct and Nov.

That late planted clover will charge up the sept. period.

Mike

Ag beans and brassicas if you want food for deer hunting season. My land is in North Central Wisconsin. Limited ag around me and it is all harvested by early October. I plant 3 acres of ag beans and 3 acres of brassicas, there still is some there for late bow season. I have a fairly high deer population. The 1st time that my son and I bow hunted in late October we saw a total of 58 deer.

My suggestion (once you have the fallow ground workable) would be to have half of one plot in clover/alfalfa and brassicas and For the other plot I would do half in soybeans and the other half In either corn or brassicas.

I would prefer corn but coons and bear can wreck it in a hurry. ( I trapped 1 coon and 5 skunks out of my corn field this year)

I plant 2.5-3 acres of corn and it lasts till about the middle of December.

I am torn here Grouse. As much as I love row croppin, I have to say the last few years I have turned some of my corn/bean plots into clover. It’s just a lot easier to maintain and the deer use it 8 months out of the year at least. That being said there is nothing like standing beans or corn for the deer season in November.

Unfortunately you have bears and trying to grown corn plots around bears can be challenging to say the least. I would like to see you try an acre or two of corn sometime though.

Ag Beans are tough too unless you can get enough of them in, but I would think 3 acres would be sufficient with your deer density. That’s where the Eagle forage beans come in. They are way better at keeping up with heavy browse pressure. Maybe a mix of ag beans with Eagles in the same plot would be beneficial. Eagle beans to take the browse pressure, then ag beans for the late season pods.

I like your plan for 2019, but maybe a bit heavier on the beans.

You thought you had browse pressure last year, well the word is out you got good eats at your place. All those deer from last year will be back, plus all the buddies they told about it. Soon you will be forced to start thinning the does

Just another thought.
I’ve been planting a product which is a mix of winter hardy oats, winter wheat, rye grain and Austrian winter peas. Then I add turnips, rape and radish to it.
I don’t plant until the 1st of August.
The stuff grows like mad and keeps growing until it gets hit by a couple HARD frosts. I think the stuff grows under snow and stays green under the snow.
The deer hit it hard from the time it pokes out of the ground well into January pawing off the snow. It’s still green and lots of it. They don’t hit much of the added stuff until December after it freezes and gets sweet.
If you haven’t tried it, you should. I’ve been planting more of it every year and for the most part corn/forage beans early and this stuff later.

I’ve been thinking about this all winter and I decided I need to simplify a little. Original 2019 plan above has too many small strips that won’t survive browsing pressure.

So here’s 2019 Rev B.

North plot – I’ve eliminated the original plan for soybeans and expanded the Brassicas Bender plot by almost 2x. Brassicas are my best late-season performer WHEN it actually gets good growing weather. So it’s worth doubling down on that, I feel.

If time and weather allow it, I’d love to scratch up the fallow area to the far north of the north plot and plant some kind of rye. Per Haleys comment, probably mixed with peas because I have 3 bags of Lynx peas to use up. Lynx peas are awesome, btw, my only “complaint” is in high deer density areas they worked way, way, way too well.

South plot – To Sticker’s point, I’m going to try a strip of pure ag beans AND I’m going to blend some more pod-producing ag beans in with the Eagle beans.

We’ll see if more ag beans is better AND most importantly can I get them to survive the browsing pressure.

Now to the question of corn. I know the ag-country guys are big fans, but in EC Minnesota, it’s strictly cattle country, but also as mentioned I have bears.

Bears are hell on corn. They particularly love it in the milky sweet corn stage and they just tear the sh!t out of the whole field to get at it.

On top of that, the only farmers growing corn are growing it for silage and that gets cut in August or early Sept at latest. That timing IMO is key because when they vac up all those acres of silage, the deer don’t walk, they RUN to the next standing corn. Which would by my paltry little couple of acres. So how long is that going to last? I don’t have any confidence that anything short of 10-15 acres would survive with 25% or more of the corn still intact by the bow opener. In my mind, there’s no chance of even a single cob being left in a 3 acre field for the rifle season. If I had 10 acres, corn would absolutely be in the mix.

I’m also going to try really really hard to interseed rye or radish into the Eagle beans here in the south plot in August to get a “second crop” so to speak going in with the beans.

Now expectations have to be limited here because I tried interseeding last year and it didn’t work for sh!t. I laid down over 100 pounds of rye in the soybeans last year and never saw a single plant? Why? My best guess is that the 20 turkeys on the property had something to do with it, but when I asked them, they deny ever having seen any rye. Turkeys are such a bunch of liars.

What do you guys think of Rev B?

Grouse

I like it! You will be surprised at how the deer will walk right thru the beans to get to the alfalfa. Once that takes hold it will take a lot of mid summer browse pressure off your beans. I never thought so, but have experienced it for 4 years now at the farm. They still browse the beans on the way thru, but don’t stop. Their mission is the alfalfa. Hopefully that takes off really good for you.

Question, do you have other farmers in the area growing alfalfa?

sticker wrote:

Question, do you have other farmers in the area growing alfalfa?

Very little. Mainly a lot of grass hay. There was an alfalfa field about a quarter mile away, but that hasn’t been re-seeded in years and there’s very little alfalfa left in it.

Hopefully, I’m the best game in town. Our new AlfalfaMAX blend is alfalfa, white Dutch clover, medium red clover, and chicory, so basically, everything a deer loves in an all-perennial mix.

As I get more plots in production, I need to use perennials to cut back on workload. Planting annuals is great, but I wouldn’t have time and equipment to go to all annuals. I know a lot of guys get local farmers to plant their corn and soybeans, but I don’t have that option so annuals are labor intensive.

Also, I’m a freak for starting with a clean seed bed, so I have to factor in time for a pre-planting spray because I just think this cuts weed problems down by about half.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>sticker wrote:</div>
Question, do you have other farmers in the area growing alfalfa?

Very little. Mainly a lot of grass hay. There was an alfalfa field about a quarter mile away, but that hasn’t been re-seeded in years and there’s very little alfalfa left in it.

Hopefully, I’m the best game in town. Our new AlfalfaMAX blend is alfalfa, white Dutch clover, medium red clover, and chicory, so basically, everything a deer loves in an all-perennial mix.

As I get more plots in production, I need to use perennials to cut back on workload. Planting annuals is great, but I wouldn’t have time and equipment to go to all annuals. I know a lot of guys get local farmers to plant their corn and soybeans, but I don’t have that option so annuals are labor intensive.

Also, I’m a freak for starting with a clean seed bed, so I have to factor in time for a pre-planting spray because I just think this cuts weed problems down by about half.

Grouse

If we can get your wet behind the ears back side up to 30% annual I will consider that a victory(50% would be ideal)

Remember corn is king and beans are queen!!!

Wish I had the land to do that planting. One thing I would do if you haven’t already is get some of the old apple trees planted and put fence around them. I use the 5′ concrete mesh wire around mine. Mine are for eating and making sauce but for deer I would get the old type tree that grows tall and plant a couple by each possible tree stand area. It won’t be fast but in 5 years you will have some apples to eat and after the trees are big enough you can take down the fence late in each year and let the deer have them. I don’t put posts up for the fence just one loop around the tree and wire shut. Looks like you have a great setup.

leinieman wrote:

One thing I would do if you haven’t already is get some of the old apple trees planted and put fence around them. I use the 5′ concrete mesh wire around mine.

Good point. I have 5 apple trees planted on the eastern edge of the South Plot. They were planted in 2017, but 2 of them had to be replaced in summer 2018 because they did not survive the winter. I have one old-school crab apple and 4 regualar apples of various varieties, all trees are “standard” not dwarf.

They are protected by a 6-foot high circle of fence around each tree. I would gladly plant more trees, but the need and expense of protecting each tree slow down the process. I would estimate that each tree of the size I’m buying will have to be in the ground 5 years before it is tall enough to survive the browsing. So it’ll be several years before we can move the cages to a new area and do 5 more trees.

When these trees are mature, I’ll have a nice apple crop each year, but as the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago…

Grouse

I just bought my dwarf trees from Fleet Farm I believe. They were only 30 bucks or so. Not sure if they have any of the standard ones or not an the wire concrete mesh is pretty cheap. If you see any of the flowering crab for cheap they are good to plant also. You will need wire mesh around them also for the deer but the grouse love the little fruit and come every night. After they are large enough you can remove the mesh from them also.