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Food plot services

miggy09

New Member
How many of you guys do your own food plot work or find that you don't have much time for it but have the desire to have something? I'm soon to graduate Iowa state in ag business and agronomy and I've always wondered how I could use that to benefit my love for hunting and the outdoors.

I've been toying with the thought of having a little part time gig where I do everything from tillage, fertilization, planting, spraying, etc for people who don't have the time but want some nice food plots. Not looking to get into this immediately, just looking down the road a bit. Let me know your thoughts on if you think this could be something your interested in, or if it's a terrible idea.
 
Others do it and keep very busy. I for one would not enjoy it full time but love it for my personal needs and use it as a stress escape. Doubletree would be a good resource for you to talk to as he does this more than full time.
 
I have a guy do mine that does it part time. While I enjoy doing thisn type of work I can't justify buying the equipment for what he charges to put in 4-6 acres for me.
 
I have a guy do mine that does it part time. While I enjoy doing thisn type of work I can't justify buying the equipment for what he charges to put in 4-6 acres for me.

Whats the going rate for an acre of food plot if you don't mind me asking?
 
It's a great idea, and I would even think a little deeper into it and possibly get contracts with NRLOs, athletes, anyone who has strictly recreational land in Iowa. You will need a good brand and if you could advertise through one of the outdoor media groups or land companies and gain the reputation I think you could do well. It would be alot of travel and hauling equipment would be a pain, but I bet you could do well.

Put together a portfolio of some of your plots and even appraoch a seed company about possible sponsorships. Get your name out at some of the outdoor shows (possibly a booth). It really could be a good venture depending on how far you want to take it.

Good Luck
 
FP

It's a great idea, and I would even think a little deeper into it and possibly get contracts with NRLOs, athletes, anyone who has strictly recreational land in Iowa. You will need a good brand and if you could advertise through one of the outdoor media groups or land companies and gain the reputation I think you could do well. It would be alot of travel and hauling equipment would be a pain, but I bet you could do well.

Put together a portfolio of some of your plots and even appraoch a seed company about possible sponsorships. Get your name out at some of the outdoor shows (possibly a booth). It really could be a good venture depending on how far you want to take it.

Good Luck

I agree it is a good idea,,,if you are good at it, and willing to work at times when everyone else is out enjoying themselves.

Good luck!
 
Non Resident Land Owners. ALot of people in Iowa are absentee owners that have purchased land just for hunting and recreation purposes. There are many of them that don't have the time to get here and manage their ground or do things like TSI, foodplots, etc.

If you could build contracts with a few of these people you would have a good start. Like I said, reputation is everything! Not alot of people are going to let you on their land without some sort of guaranteed contract. You would probably have to set up a LLC or a C corp so that you are legit. A lawyer would be able to help you with that.

It would also be beneficial to you as well from a purchasing and write off aspect (equipment, gas, cell phone, etc.)

I'm sure there are others on here that will have better input than me.
 
It sounds like a good gig on paper but you better get a setup where you can do a one pass sort of planting like a no till drill. Because in reality you probably wont have a big enough trailer to haul around all your implements plus your tractor. I mean to really do them right you need a disk, sprayer, spreader, harrow, cultipack, planter. Unless you decide to buy a smaller no till planter or drill, which is big money not to mention a bigger tractor to pull a no till. That would mean you gotta drive the tractor pulling the planter everywhere cause you cant trailer it. Not trying to burst your bubble but my hunting partner and I put our own plots in and they are a lot of work just getting the equipment to the location especially if you are going to be planting small seed. (clovers, alfalfa, brassicas)
 
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It sounds like a good gig on paper but you better get a setup where you can do a one pass sort of planting like a no till drill. Because in reality you probably wont have a big enough trailer to haul around all your implements plus your tractor. I mean to really do them right you need a disk, sprayer, spreader, harrow, cultipack, planter. Unless you decide to buy a smaller no till planter or drill, which is big money not to mention a bigger tractor to pull a no till. That would mean you gotta drive the tractor pulling the planter everywhere cause you cant trailer it. Not trying to burst your bubble but my hunting partner and I put our own plots in and they are a lot of work just getting the equipment to the location especially if you are going to be planting small seed. (clovers, alfalfa, brassicas)

Well said. I don't know what people charge but it couldn't be enough. It is a big pain in the neck doing food plots correctly, and like said if you can't no-till you have to make too many trips back and forth to do it properly. I bought tractors and implements etc to do myself. Tens of thousands of dollars. Broke down right next to my land owner who was drilling beans in his crp. I asked how much to do 1 1/2 acres right next to him. He said $16 an acre. I threw him a 50 and said keep the change. You cant drive across the county for 16$
 
Some year's I wish we could pay to have all the plot work hired out, but in all honesty we love saving as much money as we can, and even tho we cuss alot while fighting the element's Mother Natures throw's at us to get the plot work done and by no means do we have fancy or Modern equipment, but we have been blessed to purchase a disk, sprayer, spreader, harrow, cultipack, fairly cheap over the year's. That we love doing our own plot work- That and we can always get a no till drill free of charge from our local DNR that an some seed as well -or pay a small fee to use one from our local USDA office,
By all means we have a ton of guys in the area that will plant food plots but for what they charge, per acea we have never called any of them, Or ever will.
If you own your own ground by all means go to some farm auctions, hell you will be amazed at how cheap you can pick up equipment ,
 
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If you do it, likely geography will be a big part of your success... You likely are only going to want to cover a few counties. Is there NRLO's in pretty high #'s there, lots of hunter owned land, etc. A lot to think about and do, that's a for sure. I take care of my farms & do some stuff for a couple buddies and it's incredible the amount of work, travel, detail, implement requirements, costs, etc. Lot to think about but of course do-able.
 
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