davidoswalt054
New Member
Leaves
My deer food plot always builds up alot of leaves that are there in the spring. I removed them to plant brassicas last year, but this year I am trying sugar beets in this field. Do I need to remove the leaves since i will be planting at about 1/2-3/4 of an inch?? If the plant can emerge thru the leaves will the leaves then inhibit the weeds?? I haven't seen the field yet---will on Friday---so I may even have some brassicas growing already. I plant in Norther Michigan about the same latitude as Green Bay Wis, or Minneapolis Min. Also, if I spray roundup can I plant at the same time or just before i spray?? I hit the field with roundup twice last year with roundup before I planted the turnips. Could not find any roundup-ready seed to buy around here so I have some regular comming from Walther Seed.
Thanks,
DNO
My deer food plot always builds up alot of leaves that are there in the spring. I removed them to plant brassicas last year, but this year I am trying sugar beets in this field. Do I need to remove the leaves since i will be planting at about 1/2-3/4 of an inch?? If the plant can emerge thru the leaves will the leaves then inhibit the weeds?? I haven't seen the field yet---will on Friday---so I may even have some brassicas growing already. I plant in Norther Michigan about the same latitude as Green Bay Wis, or Minneapolis Min. Also, if I spray roundup can I plant at the same time or just before i spray?? I hit the field with roundup twice last year with roundup before I planted the turnips. Could not find any roundup-ready seed to buy around here so I have some regular comming from Walther Seed.
Thanks,
DNO
Last edited:
dbltree
Super Moderator
May 1st, 2011
On another forum a poster lamented the fact that while he wanted to plant corn every year, the cost of nitrogen made doing so, expensive. He then planted the field to alfalfa to fix some nitrogen naturally and the deer went to a neighboring cornfield...what to do???
I wonder...is there some unwritten law that says we MUST plant the whole field to ONE crop?? Of course not, it's just a brain block thing we are all guilty of from time to time. So why not split the field and plant 1/2 to corn and 1/2 to alfalfa or clover? Better yet why not split it 3 ways and have a corn, soybean, clover rotation? If that would work then why not a clover, brassica, cereal grain rotation...all in the same field! Wellll...that might work in a big field but my plots are small you say...
You mean like this?
I've shared countless pictures of deer feeding in this little strip plot that consists of a strip of white clover, a strip of brassicas and a strip of winter rye/oats/peas/red clover...so even a small plot can be very very productive yet I never have to plant the same crop in the same spot two years in a row. I also am able to till under a legume before each crop and still have ALL the crops in one spot!!
The brassicas of course are dead and that strip is no longer productive and is feeding neither deer nor the soil, yet the plot itself is still attracting and feeding deer...year around! It's crazy to leave soil bare and unproductive however so spring is the perfect time to get those dead brassicas tilled under and a temporary cover crop planted in it's place.
I let it dry a day but in this view you can clearly see the white clover on the left, the tilled under brassicas and the winter rye and red clover on the right.
I tilled it again the following afternoon and then broadcast oats and chickling vetch and then lightly tilled that in about an inch deep while pulling the cultipacker behind. The oats were just common feed grade oats and the chickling vetch from Welter Seed.
Guess I coulda washed the graphite off my hands first...
Remember this is just for a cover crop to feed the deer along with adding biomass and nitrogen to the soil when I till it under in late August to plant the cereal rye combo. so I just broadcast seed from experience. You can however look up rates on Welter seeds web site Welter seed
Roughly 60#'s of oats and 20#'s of vetch in this case
Because I had pulled the packer behind to firm the soil behind the tiller it was then ready for me to broadcast berseem clover. Berseem and crimson are both great annual clovers to add 100-200#'s of N when killed for the next crop. I broadcast about 15#'s per acre when I sow Berseem.
I followed with the packer only to just lightly press the tiny clover seeds into the top 1/8' of soil
Now...for a time at least the entire strip will be growing legumes of some variety or specie so if deer prefer one more then another it matters not since they are still adapted to coming there to that same spot where there is always, always always...food.
This is a larger field of strip plots that includes the same crops shown in the small strip above
Here however were going to no-till plant RR soybeans into the spent brassicas
That right now are nothing more then a waste land
Part of them will be fenced and the rest may very well be eaten to the ground in which case it will go back to rye/peas/red clover this fall.
The rotation possibles are endless so start thinking about what combination's of crops planted separately in each field can do a better job of keeping deer coming to your plots year around AND lower your fertilizer bill at the same time! Did I mention that rye and radishes pull up potassium and scavenge nitrogen also...
On another forum a poster lamented the fact that while he wanted to plant corn every year, the cost of nitrogen made doing so, expensive. He then planted the field to alfalfa to fix some nitrogen naturally and the deer went to a neighboring cornfield...what to do???
I wonder...is there some unwritten law that says we MUST plant the whole field to ONE crop?? Of course not, it's just a brain block thing we are all guilty of from time to time. So why not split the field and plant 1/2 to corn and 1/2 to alfalfa or clover? Better yet why not split it 3 ways and have a corn, soybean, clover rotation? If that would work then why not a clover, brassica, cereal grain rotation...all in the same field! Wellll...that might work in a big field but my plots are small you say...
You mean like this?
I've shared countless pictures of deer feeding in this little strip plot that consists of a strip of white clover, a strip of brassicas and a strip of winter rye/oats/peas/red clover...so even a small plot can be very very productive yet I never have to plant the same crop in the same spot two years in a row. I also am able to till under a legume before each crop and still have ALL the crops in one spot!!
The brassicas of course are dead and that strip is no longer productive and is feeding neither deer nor the soil, yet the plot itself is still attracting and feeding deer...year around! It's crazy to leave soil bare and unproductive however so spring is the perfect time to get those dead brassicas tilled under and a temporary cover crop planted in it's place.
I let it dry a day but in this view you can clearly see the white clover on the left, the tilled under brassicas and the winter rye and red clover on the right.
I tilled it again the following afternoon and then broadcast oats and chickling vetch and then lightly tilled that in about an inch deep while pulling the cultipacker behind. The oats were just common feed grade oats and the chickling vetch from Welter Seed.
Guess I coulda washed the graphite off my hands first...
Remember this is just for a cover crop to feed the deer along with adding biomass and nitrogen to the soil when I till it under in late August to plant the cereal rye combo. so I just broadcast seed from experience. You can however look up rates on Welter seeds web site Welter seed
Roughly 60#'s of oats and 20#'s of vetch in this case
Because I had pulled the packer behind to firm the soil behind the tiller it was then ready for me to broadcast berseem clover. Berseem and crimson are both great annual clovers to add 100-200#'s of N when killed for the next crop. I broadcast about 15#'s per acre when I sow Berseem.
I followed with the packer only to just lightly press the tiny clover seeds into the top 1/8' of soil
Now...for a time at least the entire strip will be growing legumes of some variety or specie so if deer prefer one more then another it matters not since they are still adapted to coming there to that same spot where there is always, always always...food.
This is a larger field of strip plots that includes the same crops shown in the small strip above
Here however were going to no-till plant RR soybeans into the spent brassicas
That right now are nothing more then a waste land
Part of them will be fenced and the rest may very well be eaten to the ground in which case it will go back to rye/peas/red clover this fall.
The rotation possibles are endless so start thinking about what combination's of crops planted separately in each field can do a better job of keeping deer coming to your plots year around AND lower your fertilizer bill at the same time! Did I mention that rye and radishes pull up potassium and scavenge nitrogen also...
davidoswalt054
New Member
Strip planting, rotation
I really like that idea because it will provide something year round plus add some of the soil nutrients. I did plant the field which is only about 1/6 of an acre so far, in sugar beets but the area was very wet, some water holes yet and a few things begging to grow in it that i hit with roundup. Looks like the leaves had blown off most of it but the planting was very hard since i have never tilled the soil and only planted brassicas in it. But the size of the plot is growing-----each time I get up there I work on new areas. I plan on planting the brassicas on the new area I am clearing---about 1/10th of an acre. My current cleared strip is about 180ft x 40 ft wide. A farmer planted a field down the road about three miles from us that kept the deer feeding there all winter. It looked like a bladed grass of some type but the deer were digging thru 30 inches of snow to eat it. He put it in in late August last year---I need to find out what that was.
Thanks for all the ideas, keepem comming.
DNO---I too plan on getting there some day so don't worry about me when i'm gone.
I really like that idea because it will provide something year round plus add some of the soil nutrients. I did plant the field which is only about 1/6 of an acre so far, in sugar beets but the area was very wet, some water holes yet and a few things begging to grow in it that i hit with roundup. Looks like the leaves had blown off most of it but the planting was very hard since i have never tilled the soil and only planted brassicas in it. But the size of the plot is growing-----each time I get up there I work on new areas. I plan on planting the brassicas on the new area I am clearing---about 1/10th of an acre. My current cleared strip is about 180ft x 40 ft wide. A farmer planted a field down the road about three miles from us that kept the deer feeding there all winter. It looked like a bladed grass of some type but the deer were digging thru 30 inches of snow to eat it. He put it in in late August last year---I need to find out what that was.
Thanks for all the ideas, keepem comming.
DNO---I too plan on getting there some day so don't worry about me when i'm gone.
dbltree
Super Moderator
May 25th, 2011
I sowed common "feed oats", berseem and chickling vetch into the spent brassica strips and they are coming up nicely now. The white clover strip is on the left and the rye/clover on the right...always something to eat in the strip plots!
Oats provide some lush attractive late spring feed and act as a great cover crop to both protect soil and the legumes seeded with them.
You have to look twice to notice the chickling vetch among the oats...notice the lack of weeds, thanks to a rotation of winter rye one year and brassicas the next, both having allelopathic chemicals that inhibit small weed seeds from germinating.
The little berseem clover seedlings are coming up but I have a feeling that once again the constant, heavy rainfall and saturated soils may be drowning some of the clover seedlings.
Rather then leave dead rotting brassica leaves and roots that are worthless to deer and promote disease ad pests, turning it under and growing a cover crop for the summer is a "win - win" for your deer, the soil and the crop to follow.
We got 3" last night on ground still soaked from an 1 1/2 a few days ago...and so it goes, the wet weather pattern continues for a 4th year in a row here in Iowa....
I'll see you there...
I sowed common "feed oats", berseem and chickling vetch into the spent brassica strips and they are coming up nicely now. The white clover strip is on the left and the rye/clover on the right...always something to eat in the strip plots!
Oats provide some lush attractive late spring feed and act as a great cover crop to both protect soil and the legumes seeded with them.
You have to look twice to notice the chickling vetch among the oats...notice the lack of weeds, thanks to a rotation of winter rye one year and brassicas the next, both having allelopathic chemicals that inhibit small weed seeds from germinating.
The little berseem clover seedlings are coming up but I have a feeling that once again the constant, heavy rainfall and saturated soils may be drowning some of the clover seedlings.
Rather then leave dead rotting brassica leaves and roots that are worthless to deer and promote disease ad pests, turning it under and growing a cover crop for the summer is a "win - win" for your deer, the soil and the crop to follow.
We got 3" last night on ground still soaked from an 1 1/2 a few days ago...and so it goes, the wet weather pattern continues for a 4th year in a row here in Iowa....
I'll see you there...
davidoswalt054
New Member
Strip Planting
The strip idea is great!! Can't wait to get it going. Thanks for the ideas. I'm also passing it on to a friend that hunts in Atlanta, Michigan who is retired and has the time to put into this------something I don't know if I will ever get to--retiring.........but we sill sure have fun trying to get there.
DNO
The strip idea is great!! Can't wait to get it going. Thanks for the ideas. I'm also passing it on to a friend that hunts in Atlanta, Michigan who is retired and has the time to put into this------something I don't know if I will ever get to--retiring.........but we sill sure have fun trying to get there.
DNO
davidoswalt054
New Member
Also-----------we've had so much water here I don't know when I get back up north to look at my plot in two weeks if even the soil will have washed away.
DNO
DNO
dbltree
Super Moderator
Late last summer I overseeded winter rye and Groundhog forage radish into my standing milo/soybean plot. The field was so think and shaded I didn't expect much although at least some of it did germinate. This spring I disced it all under for corn and recently I was surprised to see the areas where I had overseed radish last fall...were covered with it!
Even though some of the seed no doubt did not germinate and thus laid on the soil, you would think that running a heavy disc over it multiple times would have buried it beyond a point at which it could have germinated??
At any rate both rye and radish popped up in those areas
Even more surprising is that I sprayed the full rate of Dual II Magnum on this field which obviously had no effect on the radish seeds.
No radish plants have come up in any plots where I actually "planted" them so clearly this seed remained viable and when turned under this spring finally was able to germinate. This is a RR corn plot so eventually they will get nuked and even in conventional corn the plants would not cause any harm.
Always something new and interesting to learn....
Even though some of the seed no doubt did not germinate and thus laid on the soil, you would think that running a heavy disc over it multiple times would have buried it beyond a point at which it could have germinated??
At any rate both rye and radish popped up in those areas
Even more surprising is that I sprayed the full rate of Dual II Magnum on this field which obviously had no effect on the radish seeds.
No radish plants have come up in any plots where I actually "planted" them so clearly this seed remained viable and when turned under this spring finally was able to germinate. This is a RR corn plot so eventually they will get nuked and even in conventional corn the plants would not cause any harm.
Always something new and interesting to learn....
bearcatbaseball10
Member
Dbltree-
I've pretty much read this entire thread through my summer class so far (great college education right?) haha. Anyway, with brassica planting coming up soon, I think that we have decided to do about 3-5 acres of brassicas.
The deer on our farm have had brassicas before (the shot plot mixture, 5 years ago) but I'm looking to do test plots side by side. I picked up bags of shot plot last year after season from walmart for half price, but I don't necessairly trust their germination so I want something else there with it. With my Welters order, I'm looking at doing something like this:
2 lbs of Dwarf Essex
1.5 Lbs of PT Turnips
1.5 lbs of GHR
I'm going to try to feed with 100 lbs of 12-12-12 right away, but on a college budget its not going to be something that I can drop a lot of money into. I'm looking to draw from Archery season, to late rifle season.
I WILL HAVE OTHER FOOD though. Although we havent got them in yet (hopefully this week) we will have about 4 acres of RR beans in this area, then I was going to come along the sides and plow and disc 15-30 ft wide strips along our plots (depending on our location) and putting the brassicas in there. The closest food to these areas is the neighbors small plots and 100 acres of corn about a mile down the road, so I'm hoping these plots will be able to sustain our population.
With that plan, does it sound fairly solid, or should I be doing something else that maybe you caught through my talk through?
I've pretty much read this entire thread through my summer class so far (great college education right?) haha. Anyway, with brassica planting coming up soon, I think that we have decided to do about 3-5 acres of brassicas.
The deer on our farm have had brassicas before (the shot plot mixture, 5 years ago) but I'm looking to do test plots side by side. I picked up bags of shot plot last year after season from walmart for half price, but I don't necessairly trust their germination so I want something else there with it. With my Welters order, I'm looking at doing something like this:
2 lbs of Dwarf Essex
1.5 Lbs of PT Turnips
1.5 lbs of GHR
I'm going to try to feed with 100 lbs of 12-12-12 right away, but on a college budget its not going to be something that I can drop a lot of money into. I'm looking to draw from Archery season, to late rifle season.
I WILL HAVE OTHER FOOD though. Although we havent got them in yet (hopefully this week) we will have about 4 acres of RR beans in this area, then I was going to come along the sides and plow and disc 15-30 ft wide strips along our plots (depending on our location) and putting the brassicas in there. The closest food to these areas is the neighbors small plots and 100 acres of corn about a mile down the road, so I'm hoping these plots will be able to sustain our population.
With that plan, does it sound fairly solid, or should I be doing something else that maybe you caught through my talk through?
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Daver
PMA Member
Sorry to butt in...but I don't think you want to plant brassicas this early yet(May/June), more like early to mid August.
bearcatbaseball10
Member
No I understand this, more like the 3rd-4th week of July (around July 25th)...but with being on a college budget, its time for me to set money aside for these plots now to allow for the funding. With being on a fairly strict budget, its always nice to plan ahead. Being grown up SUCKS
Daver
PMA Member
No I understand this, more like the 3rd-4th week of July (around July 25th)...but with being on a college budget, its time for me to set money aside for these plots now to allow for the funding. With being on a fairly strict budget, its always nice to plan ahead. Being grown up SUCKS
OK, it sounds like you are on it, good luck with the plots!
dbltree
Super Moderator
Eventually I would get some small areas of white clover established and I emphasize "small" but they are very important in helping you adapt deer to those feeding areas year around rather then just in November.
Change your thought train from hunting season to all year long, eventually you will train those deer to come to that area and ignore any surrounding food sources.
That being said the winter rye combination is also helpful to have adjacent to the brassicas and requires little fertilizer.
You need a lot more then triple 12 to successfully grow brassicas unless the ground is exceptionally fertile. 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea is usually required which runs around $65 an acre.
Change your thought train from hunting season to all year long, eventually you will train those deer to come to that area and ignore any surrounding food sources.
That being said the winter rye combination is also helpful to have adjacent to the brassicas and requires little fertilizer.
You need a lot more then triple 12 to successfully grow brassicas unless the ground is exceptionally fertile. 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea is usually required which runs around $65 an acre.
bearcatbaseball10
Member
That being said the winter rye combination is also helpful to have adjacent to the brassicas and requires little fertilizer.
You need a lot more then triple 12 to successfully grow brassicas unless the ground is exceptionally fertile. 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea is usually required which runs around $65 an acre.
Do you have a mixture that you have found for the winter rye yet? I thought about rye too, but with the rye I've found your looking at $120-$150 for 50 lb bag. Which is good per pound, butttt I dont need all that, and secondly, rye has never grown well in our clay so I was hoping the GHR would help break up the clay for us to help out. Same problem with the clover.
As for the 46-0-0. I could afford that, but we farm with a 52' ford 8n with a LIGHT disk. Usually we plow then come through with the disk to help smooth it out, would you spread the 46-0-0 after plowing, and then come through with the disk to make sure its used? I just wondered if that would put it too deep to cause leaching....
bearcatbaseball10
Member
Scratch that, I found the cheaper on Welters, I didn't see the Annual Rye grass at the top :thrwrck:
All other questions still apply
All other questions still apply
dbltree
Super Moderator
Scratch that, I found the cheaper on Welters, I didn't see the Annual Rye grass at the top :thrwrck:
All other questions still apply
You don't want that either...look under "Other Grains"...it's Winter Rye your looking for
davidoswalt054
New Member
This looks great, hope mine will get in the ground and going soon. Should be able to see the plot of sugar beets I planted in about one week &
check on the grass/weed competition and see how the seed germinated-----------so much water I wonder if some got washed away. Should be able to hit my newly cleared area a second time this season with roundup, then I will start planting in about 3 weeks in strips like you are doing. ..........
Wonder if there's a hunting planet up there when we get there
DNO
check on the grass/weed competition and see how the seed germinated-----------so much water I wonder if some got washed away. Should be able to hit my newly cleared area a second time this season with roundup, then I will start planting in about 3 weeks in strips like you are doing. ..........
Wonder if there's a hunting planet up there when we get there
DNO
dbltree
Super Moderator
June 11th, 2011
It's pretty awesome when you can build soils and feed deer at the same time! Planting your spent brassica plots to a cover crop does that every thing and helps adapt deer to always always feeding in that plot. Earlier I tilled under the spend brassica strips that lay between the rye/clover and the perennial white clover strips and plant them to oats, chickling vetch and berseem clover.
They have been grazing the tender oats heavily!
Just common oats, not even seed oats but just oats bagged up for feed
Yet deer love the inexpensive cover crop
and clearly they have copious amounts of feed with lush white clover on one side and white and red in the standing rye
The berseem clover is taking off
Safely shielded by the growing oats
and starting to fix nitrogen for the next crop
the chickling vetch loves to attach itself to the oat stems
to get a leg up on life! The vetch also is able to fix well over 100#'s of N per acre
The Oats and legumes will add a tremendous amount of biomass when tilled under for the winter rye combination planting in late August and as the legumes decompose they will release a large portion of the N required by the rye, oats and forage radish.
Don't let you spent/dead brassica plot set empty and barren all summer, doing so promotes disease and encourages your whitetails to go elsewhere for feed rather then becoming adapted to always finding food sources in that same exact spot, day after day, year after year.... :way:
It's pretty awesome when you can build soils and feed deer at the same time! Planting your spent brassica plots to a cover crop does that every thing and helps adapt deer to always always feeding in that plot. Earlier I tilled under the spend brassica strips that lay between the rye/clover and the perennial white clover strips and plant them to oats, chickling vetch and berseem clover.
They have been grazing the tender oats heavily!
Just common oats, not even seed oats but just oats bagged up for feed
Yet deer love the inexpensive cover crop
and clearly they have copious amounts of feed with lush white clover on one side and white and red in the standing rye
The berseem clover is taking off
Safely shielded by the growing oats
and starting to fix nitrogen for the next crop
the chickling vetch loves to attach itself to the oat stems
to get a leg up on life! The vetch also is able to fix well over 100#'s of N per acre
The Oats and legumes will add a tremendous amount of biomass when tilled under for the winter rye combination planting in late August and as the legumes decompose they will release a large portion of the N required by the rye, oats and forage radish.
Don't let you spent/dead brassica plot set empty and barren all summer, doing so promotes disease and encourages your whitetails to go elsewhere for feed rather then becoming adapted to always finding food sources in that same exact spot, day after day, year after year.... :way:
davidoswalt054
New Member
Bridge building
I took apart a platform that was left by one of the cell tower people that was 14' long and 4ft wide two years ago. We are going up in two weeks to build a bridge across the stream using the cell tower platform that was constructed with galvanized I beams and steel grid work. Using that platform plus another 8 in. x 14 ft I beam off a fire scene, with 2ft x 14 ft galvanized catwalk decking from the cell tower site, we should have a bridge 6'x14' of galvanized steel to drive the tractor across the steam and begin using a tiller, plow, disc, etc... back where we hunt. So far everythings been done by hand and a honda 500 4x4. Here goes nothing-----------the steel has been back on the site for a year now.
dno
Im' going up there for sure
I took apart a platform that was left by one of the cell tower people that was 14' long and 4ft wide two years ago. We are going up in two weeks to build a bridge across the stream using the cell tower platform that was constructed with galvanized I beams and steel grid work. Using that platform plus another 8 in. x 14 ft I beam off a fire scene, with 2ft x 14 ft galvanized catwalk decking from the cell tower site, we should have a bridge 6'x14' of galvanized steel to drive the tractor across the steam and begin using a tiller, plow, disc, etc... back where we hunt. So far everythings been done by hand and a honda 500 4x4. Here goes nothing-----------the steel has been back on the site for a year now.
dno
Im' going up there for sure
dbltree
Super Moderator
June 22nd, 2011
The great thing about planting oats and annual clovers in your spent brassica plot is that it provides a source of lush, very attractive feed that continues to keep deer coming to your plot. If one leaves the brassica plot idle...there is nothing but weeds for the summer. Not good for your soil nor your whitetail management program!
It's amazing how big oats can get and still be attractive, despite knee deep clover right beside it!
The keep grazing it which helps in keeping them adapted to coming there as well as taking pressure off from soybeans and corn growing adjacent to the oats.
The berseem clover is just quietly working behind the scenes fixing nitrogen
as is the chickling vetch...a source of nitrogen and biomass when I till it under in August for the rye combination
A bonus is that the oats will eventually mature and head out so I will mow them to shatter the oat seed, then till it under to plant rye/peas/radish and red clover...and have my oats re-seeded for free!
Where possible, staggering the oat plantings will keep deer focused on the plot even after the original oats have matured.
Once again relentless torrential rainfall has kept SE Iowa soils waterlogged and berseem does not like wet feet! Very apparent in this photo where water is drowning the berseem in the low areas.
You can of course use exclusion cages or close observation to determine usage but I use a trail cam that shows how even this little strip of oats between rye/red clover and white clover strips gets plenty of visits!
Oats are cheap and easy to plant and it's not to late to convert idle plots to a lush source of food to keep deer focused on your plot and not the neighbors! Adding an annual clover and/or vetch will further build your soil organic matter, become a source of additional nitrogen and feed deer when the oats mature.
Oats and annual clovers...plant them for a summer cover crop and....everybody wins.... :way:
The great thing about planting oats and annual clovers in your spent brassica plot is that it provides a source of lush, very attractive feed that continues to keep deer coming to your plot. If one leaves the brassica plot idle...there is nothing but weeds for the summer. Not good for your soil nor your whitetail management program!
It's amazing how big oats can get and still be attractive, despite knee deep clover right beside it!
The keep grazing it which helps in keeping them adapted to coming there as well as taking pressure off from soybeans and corn growing adjacent to the oats.
The berseem clover is just quietly working behind the scenes fixing nitrogen
as is the chickling vetch...a source of nitrogen and biomass when I till it under in August for the rye combination
A bonus is that the oats will eventually mature and head out so I will mow them to shatter the oat seed, then till it under to plant rye/peas/radish and red clover...and have my oats re-seeded for free!
Where possible, staggering the oat plantings will keep deer focused on the plot even after the original oats have matured.
Once again relentless torrential rainfall has kept SE Iowa soils waterlogged and berseem does not like wet feet! Very apparent in this photo where water is drowning the berseem in the low areas.
You can of course use exclusion cages or close observation to determine usage but I use a trail cam that shows how even this little strip of oats between rye/red clover and white clover strips gets plenty of visits!
Oats are cheap and easy to plant and it's not to late to convert idle plots to a lush source of food to keep deer focused on your plot and not the neighbors! Adding an annual clover and/or vetch will further build your soil organic matter, become a source of additional nitrogen and feed deer when the oats mature.
Oats and annual clovers...plant them for a summer cover crop and....everybody wins.... :way: