I work for Bamert Seed Co. and was asked by a customer back in the summer for some help getting his food plots established. This ranch is located in the Edwards Plateau Region and that being said, it is a pretty unique project.
The landowner has approximately 400 acres of cultivated farm land, 100 acres of which are under a center-pivot sprinkler. The irrigation enabled us to plant some species that I might not recommend for that region under strictly dryland practices.
For the past couple of years, the landowner has been planting hard red winter wheat seed, purchased from the feed store, and has not been pleased with the stands that he has had. The main problem has been that he has so many animals (whitetail, axis, blackbuck), that they have bitten the wheat off at the ground as soon as it would come up (a problem that we would all like to have, but a problem nonetheless).
In July, he asked me to meet him at the ranch to come up with a plan to get him a better stand so that he could have food plots that the deer can benefit from throughout the winter. We drove around the place , assessed the situation, and came up with a plan to plant triticale instead of wheat on all of the non-irrigated acreage to gain the advantage of faster growth and added winter hardiness. Additionally, we decided to plant it earlier than he was accustomed to in that part of the world, to try and take advantage of the native vegetation still being green and hopefully taking some of the grazing pressure off of the young triticale. We also decided to plant a fall food plot blend under the pivot in with the idea of being able to get highly palatable forage established, with relative certainty, that would also take grazing pressure off of the young triticale in the event of an extended dry spell.
We shipped him the seed the last week of August and he started planting on labor day weekend. He had done a great job of getting the weeds under control and prepping the fields.
A few days after he finished planting, he got some good rain and he is really excited at how good the plots are looking.
attachmentid=875959&stc=1&d=1507217204
I really enjoy helping customers come up with solutions to problems and I'm excited to see how these plots continue to do throughout the winter and into the spring!
The landowner has approximately 400 acres of cultivated farm land, 100 acres of which are under a center-pivot sprinkler. The irrigation enabled us to plant some species that I might not recommend for that region under strictly dryland practices.
For the past couple of years, the landowner has been planting hard red winter wheat seed, purchased from the feed store, and has not been pleased with the stands that he has had. The main problem has been that he has so many animals (whitetail, axis, blackbuck), that they have bitten the wheat off at the ground as soon as it would come up (a problem that we would all like to have, but a problem nonetheless).
In July, he asked me to meet him at the ranch to come up with a plan to get him a better stand so that he could have food plots that the deer can benefit from throughout the winter. We drove around the place , assessed the situation, and came up with a plan to plant triticale instead of wheat on all of the non-irrigated acreage to gain the advantage of faster growth and added winter hardiness. Additionally, we decided to plant it earlier than he was accustomed to in that part of the world, to try and take advantage of the native vegetation still being green and hopefully taking some of the grazing pressure off of the young triticale. We also decided to plant a fall food plot blend under the pivot in with the idea of being able to get highly palatable forage established, with relative certainty, that would also take grazing pressure off of the young triticale in the event of an extended dry spell.
We shipped him the seed the last week of August and he started planting on labor day weekend. He had done a great job of getting the weeds under control and prepping the fields.
A few days after he finished planting, he got some good rain and he is really excited at how good the plots are looking.
attachmentid=875959&stc=1&d=1507217204
I really enjoy helping customers come up with solutions to problems and I'm excited to see how these plots continue to do throughout the winter and into the spring!
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