Cereal Grains and cover crops

[Reno]

I would like to say thanks to Paul for all this great advice! I got a new farm this spring and started with the clover, brassica and cereal rotation. I only had time to put in about 1/2 acre but I will say this really works! Any given night there will be 10-15 deer feeding in this small plot. With several mature bucks over the 150 mark frequenting on a regular basis. I was fortunate enough to take a 163" 10 point the other night while he was checking does. I will be adding another acre or so to this plot in the spring as they are keeping the plot mowed like a golf course! This has been the best AND least expensive plot I have ever put in.
And I might add, this was not the best year to put in a food plot!
Thanks again Paul!

 

[dbltree]

. I was fortunate enough to take a 163" 10 point the other night while he was checking does

Sweet! :way:

 

[MO-APE]

My first year with a successful cereal grain crop (2.5 acres) and I literally have a 200% increase in daylight deer sightings. I can't take a step in my plot without stepping on deer pellets or tracks.

The best advice I took from him was "cover before food", get that first part right and magical things will happen.

DblTrees prescriptive habitat advice is priceless...I can't thank you enough!

 

[goatman]

DblTrees prescriptive habitat advice is priceless...I can't thank you enough!

Me TOO!!!!!!!

 

[dbltree]

Thanks fellas, gotta love it a plan comes together:way:

 

[dbltree]

November 24th, 2012

Late November update on the strip crop feeding areas....plenty of very cold weather with temps down as low as 15 but the rye and brassica strips are still green and very attractive to whitetails

Deer density is relevant to the quality of adjacent cover and crop usage is relevant to proximity of the feeding area to quality cover...this pic is from a farm I use to own and still manage. Thick timber and large stands of NWSG surrounding the feeding area = large numbers of deer which in turn = heavy grazing. 6 acres worth being ravaged.... no sign of frozen oats because they are gone!

5 acres being heavily grazed, relatively high deer density but adjacent cover is out of our control which is somewhat limiting. Note volunteer oats from the spring seeding of oats and crimson clover created a thicker then usual stand but now they are freezing out...perfect to leave a great mulch for the young clovers while the winter rye continues to feed deer.

Perhaps middle of the road feeding areas....holding up well but seeing plenty of grazing nonetheless

Note that the oats provided plenty of early fall forage while the slower growing winter rye got going, now the oats are freezing out, the rye remains to feed deer thru the winter into spring yet the planting rate is not so high as to cause it to suffocate the red clover planted with it.

Close ups of the rye mix...this being the very first planted around the 22nd of August...

This in the same field planted last about mid September...to late for radish or peas and both rye and oats have been heavily grazed. Look closely and you can see the hairy vetch seedlings added here....another fantastic green manure and nitrogen fixing legume that can do well on both sand and clay and is excellent to add with rye for building soils

The radish plants have been grazed off and the remaining foliage has frozen as it is not as cold hardy as the turnip and rape plants

Where the oats were thicker and got taller, some radish plants escaped grazing and are still green

It did however do it's job, providing a very succulent and attractive source of forage in the mix

Average length of radish roots planted in late August...this being an optimal length for great soil benefits. Unseen (because I pulled it rather then dug it up) are the lateral roots and the tap root extending deep into the subsoil. In 30-45 days radish plants can do a great deal to reduce soil compaction and and bring up subsoil nutrients...all while feeding your deer!

The winter peas are the candy in the mix and in every feeding area one is hard pressed to find any

The peas are not dead but most are eaten to the dirt

the combination of radish and peas in this mix helps keep deer from visiting nearby corn and soybean fields during harvest

The clovers look outstanding...and unfortunately the clover component is the most over looked crop in this mix

The mammoth, medium red clovers (any red clover is fine buy the least expensive you can) will provide spring and summer long grazing to keep whitetails coming to your feeding area. They will fix up to a 130#'s of N for the rotation to brassicas as well as adding 2 1/2 tons of outstanding biomass to your soils...all for a few bucks worth of seed....

All of that isn't worth a hoot if deer don't eat it...but whitetails are opportunistic feeders and will take advantage of any food sources closest to their bedding area provided it is safe and secure. While grazing is obvious in the previous pics...cams on the fields provide plenty of evidence of what's really going on....

Constant harassment by bucks in November causes does to feed at night and separates groups for awhile as the searching gives way to breeding in mid November but they visit the plots nonetheless

and where the does are...

the bucks will be prowling in November...

It's not the rye, it's not the turnips or clover...it's the combination of heavy, thick bedding cover surrounding hidden secluded feeding areas that lie adjacent to the bedding

Provide ALL the pieces of the habitat pie and you will reap the rewards of your efforts

Bucks have to eat too...and while they may stop only for a bite in November...they'll spend a lot more time here in December and January

Remember that assuming whitetails have access to normal browse there is nothing we can feed them that will have any significant affect on antler growth. Each animal is an individual with the genetics to reach only a given size and that potential can only be reached with....age...

Building a complete habitat program gives us at least some chance of holding whitetails on our property...

and allowing them to mature

It is up to us to make a choice to let them walk

and it is also up to each of us to completely understand whitetail habitat, the limitations and realism's of both habitat and whitetails and not allow hype and myth's to cloud our judgement

Cereal grains will not grow giant deer, neither will turnips, corn, soybeans, clovers or a boat load of minerals so utilize ALL the habitat improvements and management tactics together to reach your goals. Perhaps you wish only to take your family hunting or it may to harvest a mature animal regardless of score, but your goals are within reach and the following crop mixes are just one small yet effective step towards a complete habitat program.....

Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[wv hunter]

july planting

when i grind my red clover and rye into the ground in july can i plant the brassicas seed immediatly? Or do i gotta wait a lil bit so that chemical that rye releases dont stop it from germinating? Also is it correct to throw out my urea and fertilizer first and grind that into to the ground with the rye and clover. then pack it and seed it and re pack it. By the the way West Virgina deer love the rye mix . thanks!!!!

 

[magnus]

i would mow or spray-dead the rye before July....or you'll have some very stiff straw to contend with. I've never experienced any alleopathic (I think its called) effects from rye on brassicas or other seeds in Paul's mixes. Yup, pretty much broadcast the fertilizers and pellitized lime, till it in, then seed/pack or drill it. Grows great, as long as you have some decent rain....which wasn't the case in the Midwest this past year.

 

[dbltree]

I've never experienced any allelopathic effects from rye on brassicas or other seeds in Paul's mixes.

Most of the allelopathy in rye comes while the plants are actively growing and even if left alone they will mature and stop growing before we plant brassicas. If the small seeds were planted in actively growing rye in May (for instance) there may be some negative effect but not in July.

As mentioned either spray (use 10-2 ounces clethodim and 6-8 ounces glyphosate in mid to late May) to kill rye and any other grasses without harming the clovers in the mix, or simply mow the rye off (before fawns are born so roughly before May 15th in the Midwest)

Spraying does have some advantages because if the rye is close to heading out, it will remain standing even though dead and create some great fawning cover. Then mow/shred before tilling it under in early July at which point fawns are older and will flee the area as machinery approaches. :way:

By the the way West Virgina deer love the rye mix . thanks!!!!

Cool...thanks for the feedback

 

[dbltree]

Using Cover Crops

to build soils, lower fertilizer and herbicide requirements and feed whitetails high quality forage....

My friend Bryan wisely chose to begin a serious soil building program on his northern Missouri farm ag fields so in late October I hauled a load of winter rye seed to his farm...

We had both hoped to get the rye on much earlier but delays in getting the crop of soybeans off meant it didn't get on until early November at which point Bryan simply broadcast the cereal rye seed into the bean stubble. Shortly thereafter he was blessed with significant rainfall and despite the late fall planting time, the rye began to germinate!

Winter rye is significantly and uniquely different then all of other cereal grains because it can germinate down to 36 degrees and then grow down to 34 degrees. It also germinates easily on top of the soil giving us even more options but faced with an ongoing drought...Bryan has a chance of much higher bean yields planting into winter rye. He may also be able to skip one spraying, which alone would pay for the seed and little by little he will be building soil organic matter and lowering top soil losses due to erosion.

I am fully aware that there will be people who have a one track mind to kill a big buck and everything else be danged but if you have an interest in being a good soil steward, lowering your input costs significantly AND killing a mature buck...take time to watch this webinar presentation...(thanks to a friend who sent me the link... )

Managing Cover Crops for Nutrient Management - A Farmer's Perspective

Many key points in the presentation that I has previously shared including the awesome benefits of winter rye, reasons not to plant wheat, reasons to keep rye planting rates low (40-50#'s per acre), that crops like soybeans are easily planted into fully mature rye (6' high), little or no herbicide is needed.

Hairy vetch provided 100% of nitrogen need for a corn crop of 170+ bushel acre and added a full 1/2" of organic matter PER YEAR, mixed radish and AWP (Austrian Winter Peas) added both nitrogen and up to 230 of potassium and the list goes on.

Many of the cover crops discussed are the corner stones of the mixes I use to successfully attract and hold whitetails across Iowa and Missouri and now others are doing the same across the nation. Combined with crops like white, red, crimson and berseem clovers they provide year around food sources that are irresistible to whitetails even when other common ag crops are nearby.

While cover crops such as the cereal rye that Bryan planted are meant to build organic matter, retain soils moisture, control weeds, stem erosion, scavenge nitrogen and pull up subsoil nutrients they also provide some extremely high quality, highly digestible forage for whitetails! Unlike corn and soybeans they stay green into late winter or in the case of rye...all winter and on top of that continue to grow while being grazed! Winter rye grows all winter and is higher in crude protein then any other cereal not to mention it will grow on a brick...much like this hard clay farm lane....

Once they pull the center out of a corn plant (in July) it's largely kaput and even a few deer can decimate young soybeans including forage beans in a matter of days but brassica crops like forage radish continue to grow even though grazed to the root top.

Planted in tandem in each feeding area they can be easily rotated, each complimenting the other as they year after year improve soil conditions and adapt deer to feeding in the same place, forming habits that make them easy to harvest! The red clover and peas planted with the rye will provide nitrogen for the following crop of brassicas and the brassicas will loosen compacted soils and pull up subsoil nutrients. Over time you can see why eventually...no synthetic fertilizers or herbicides may be needed as this perpetual crop rotation continues.

We are faced with the looming possibility of extreme drought in 2013 as the area already in a drought expands and the likelihood of sufficient rainfall appears small, yet we have high odds of success by planting brassicas into the previous crop of rye and red clover where despite the lack of rain...moisture will be plentiful.

It takes only a bit of moisture to get rye to germinate, far less then other crops so failure is extremely rare even in poor soils...all things to keep in mind when pondering what is best for you and your program. Add white clover (or comparable clover adapted to your area) and you will have a year around source of food that will keep your deer on your place year around, something extremely important if you hope to manage for mature bucks.

Cover crops for deer....can't beat em with a stick!

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[dbltree]

December 15th, 2012

The problem with winter rye is...it's just not sexy! It's like comparing a mule to a sleek stallion....it's just not impressive, until of course it comes to pulling a load. That ole mule works hard all day without so much as a whimper, he'll carry a heavy pack up a steep mountain trail or work all day in the hot summer sun pulling a plow...but we always ride the horse in the parade....

Winter rye is the "mule" in my feeding system, it quietly carries the load, does the heavy lifting and makes the "profit" while the other crops get all the attention...

Nothing I like to show off more then a giant turnip, chest high beans or towering corn...man that's way cool! Who want's to show off lowly rye....

It may not be much to look at but cereal rye is like the old Borax commercial with the 20 mule team...it's pulling way more then it's share of the weight!

It may not look like much but cereal rye can produce up to 10,000#'s of dry matter....incredible! It does that when all other crops are long gone...it's lush and green and keeping whitetails fat and happy!

The oats served a purpose, providing lush quick growth early in the season but...they are done now, still serving as a mulch for the young clovers but doing nothing to help either our soil nor deer the rest of the winter...

Paired with crops like brassicas and clover, they make a powerful team....

I always seem to stick the cams in the brassicas...but the deer in the background are feasting on rye...

No wonder since rye is a highly palatable, easily digestible food source with 14% CP, providing for a whitetails winter needs with ease...

The deer feeding on the rye are obvious but what we don't see is going on underground, away from the parade! Massive root systems burring thru compacted soils, scavenging 50-80#'s of nitrogen and hauling up a tremendous amount of sub soil nutrients.

Yeah...rye can't get no respect, no glory, no blue ribbon at the fair...but it's the cornerstone of my planted crop arsenal. It's the one I count on rain or shine, droughts, sandy soils, rock hard clay sub soils, bitter winter weather, heavy grazing....bring it on!

No question...rye ain't sexy but a field full of deer is way cool, so...I'll keep my old mule at work as long as there are fields to plant for hungry whitetails...

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[dbltree]

December 24th, 2012

First real snow storm of the season blasted thru Iowa recently, 50+ MPH winds and 6-8" of snow in my area, some got more then a foot and no doubt more to follow. Bitter cold temps into the single digits is no problem for winter rye...the most cold hardy of all cereal grains.

Every combination plot I plant has corn or corn and soybean stubble anywhere from feet to a hundred yards away but deer are content to feast on the green forage crops.

They are fat as butterball's!

Corn...a few feet away....

Whitetails forage thru the brassica and rye strips...shown here they are in rye no-tilled into clover

The owners of these farms would not be impressed if all the deer were in the neighbors corn field

They no longer worry about such things...

Nor do they worry about how winter snow will affect the usage of their feeding areas...all of which are 1/2 brassicas and 1/2 the rye combo with white clover around the perimeter and odd corners of the plot.

All of that said I would remind everyone that it's all about the cover/browse and once you have created an awesome thick bedding area full of natural browse, adjacent to the feeding area....they'll eat almost anything you plant for them. The following forage system works extremely well to hold hungry whitetails year around as well as building up your soils to boot.....

Merry Christmas friends.... :way:

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[slopoker]

December 24th, 2012




Merry Christmas friends.... :way:

Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!

 

[mshm99]

A blessed New Year to All.

I engaged in a conversation with a neighbor in which we were talking about the merits of banking moisture. He seemed to firmly believe that a shallow cultivation would capture and retain more moisture than a WR/GHR planted field. I contended the cover crop field might not capture as much , but would certainly retain the moisture longer, and in the long run be better off.

I'm pretty sure I'm right, but I'm not sure why.

Mike

A couple pics from a few days ago

 

[dbltree]

I engaged in a conversation with a neighbor in which we were talking about the merits of banking moisture. He seemed to firmly believe that a shallow cultivation would capture and retain more moisture than a WR/GHR planted field. I contended the cover crop field might not capture as much , but would certainly retain the moisture longer, and in the long run be better off.

Any cultivation will result in evaporation moisture loss and will do nothing to retain moisture. Organic matter is the positive element in soils that soaks up and retains moisture and crops like winter rye with nearly 400 miles of root systems per acre create tons of organic matter. This giant underground "sponge" holds water even in extreme droughts (clear, undeniable evidence in past posts in this and the brassica thread during the 2012 drought...worst in SE Iowa since 1956)

All cover crops of course are helpful, radish plants decompose quickly so do no add a tremendous mount of OM, they do however create deep channels that burrow into the subsoil which then allows water to travel into the sub soil rather then run off as with hardpan soils.

The deep, black prairie soils of Iowa and Illinois are high in OM due to thousands of years of prairiegrass living and dying on the soil but few of us have that kind of soil on which to grow feed for whitetails.

It can take years to add 1% OM to our soils but it can be washed away overnight as is often the case when planted to corn and beans. The crops I prefer to use help stop wind and water erosion, create high organic matter soils which in turn trap both water and nutrients.

You are correct...hopefully this will help you understand why.....

 

[dbltree]

January 7th, 2013

My friend Rich has some standing corn that is keeping his deer busy but...that's not keeping them out of the rye mix! He snapped a pic thru his spotting scope of deer feeding in the winter rye mix...

Sure they eat rye with no snow but...what about 16" of snow?? You gotta have grain then...right? My friend Mike says apparently not as hungry deer paw thru the snow for rye/radish/clover mix....

Scarcely an inch of snow is let untouched

as deer pour out of surrounding cover to feed on the only thing left....the rye mix

Deep snow is no problem and whitetails will eagerly dig down thru deep snow to feast on the rye and will continue to do so all winter long. Rye alone is not the answer but together with other crops it can help bridge the gaps and keep whitetails on your property year around and the following crop combination can produce tons more forage (even under severe drought conditions) then grain crops like corn or beans...

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[dbltree]

January 21, 2013

My friend Rich sent some pics of his combination plots and how deer are using them this mild winter.

He has strips of the rye combo, strip of brassicas and a strip of clover...perfect!

Because of the mild winter and standing corn the brassicas have not been heavily used this winter

On all of the farms I plant the brassicas have been eaten to the dirt but they have plenty here!

The deer have however eaten the rye mix to the ground even with plenty of corn and turnips!

If we had a foot of snow I suspect they may have chosen the turnips but because the weather is unpredictable it is important to cover all bases with a combination of crops that keep whitetails fed year around.

Increasingly I feel as though we are staring down the barrel of another serious drought which following last years extreme drought could mean grain crops like corn and beans may fail, crops like winter rye however are one of the most drought resistance crops we can plant. Rye also provides insurance for the following crop by adding significant organic matter and incredible water retention with it's sponge like root systems.

Given a choice...whitetails may choose one food source over another, but remove a choice and they will just focus on whatever remains, don't be drawn into the fallacy that planting this crop or that will draw deer from miles around because such is not the case. Plant dependable, drought resistant, soil building, high yielding forage crops that in combination feed whitetails year around....

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[goatman]

I'll show off my rye what is left of it. We have several plots and first year we have put them in. Everything is hammered. Brassicas are even with the ground with some pulled up. Very happy! Thanks.

 

[dbltree]

Everything is hammered.

Thanks for sharing the pic and update! :way:

January 28th, 2013

The rye combo is now down to only the rye and clover elements and deer are eating it to the dirt!

Winter rye is the one crop that provides a dependable source of high quality forage all winter long

Where I no-tilled rye into white clover, they are busy devouring both!

It's a no-brainer that a late winter food source will also be a great place to find sheds!

Providing year around food sources is essential if you hope to actually manage for mature deer and to accomplish that we need a combination of both planted crops and natural browse combined with outstanding cover. Put all of those elements together and you have the ingredients necessary to hold and harvest mature whitetails....

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 80-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre
Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28

 

[goatman]

dbltree will the clover be alright even if its eaten to the ground? I mean bare dirt. Here at home they have now got it to bare dirt.