A year in the life of a farm

[jkelbe]

Looks great, you have a nice set up, and lots of help. My dad has been raising Pilgrims Pride chickens, but it's just 4 or 5 chickens here and there, nothing to the scale of 50. They taste SO much better than the store bought.

[woodsman]

Way cool. This is definitely post worthy, as I am realizing your deer farm is truly a way of life for you and your family, and raising broilers is just another fascinating part of it.

Really enjoying your thread. I think most if not all of us have enjoyed every picture and activity, whether it directly relates to deer or not.

[elgato]

Thanks

[elgato]

Made a mistake and let my wife go with me to the feed store yesterday. Now we have a flock of guineas in the brooder. While I begrudgingly supported that I put my foot down when she started looking at the peacocks!

Enough about birds. Planting season is around the corner and I promise to get back to food plots , feeders, deer and stuff like that.

[unclefish]

Interesting stuff! Do you also hunt ducks at your place?

[elgato]

Been a curious summer this year. We have been spared many of the mega hot humid days. It has rained much more than recent years and in fact our ditches have standing water in August. Untypical.

Our clover and vetch/Alyce fields have been remarkable with solid growth all summer. Interestingly by far and away most of our deer sightings have been in the clover or vetch/Alyce. While the bean and pea fields did Ok there has been very little pressure on them. Granted the pea/bean fields are head high with the sunflowers, pearl millet and sorghum. But still, few deer run out. That is much different from past years when they live in the big bean fields. Learn something new every year.

Even with all the growing things we had extremely heavy pellet use every month until recently. It was hard to keep pellets in the feeders in July requiring them to be filled weekly. Only in the last week or so has it started slowing down. yet we filled one 300 lb feeder Wednesday and by Saturday it was empty.

There is no doubt in my mind that our pellet program adds several extra inches of antler growth to our deer even with unlimited year round agriculture. I can't explain that scientifically but believe it true.

[ladytxn86]

Those are awesome guard birds for the house, but my mother's started herding us at one point too. Lol

[elgato]

Interesting stuff! Do you also hunt ducks at your place?

Love to duck hunt. the best duck hunting is on my neighbors land. He has a beautiful bayou running thru his place that is about 3 miles long and 50- 75 yds wide. Oak trees line the entirety of the bank and the wood ducks pour in.

plus he has one of those govt. programs where they came in and built a couple hundred acres of shallow water impoundments. Terrific waterfowl environment. Also fun in summer to watch the plethora of shorebirds....roseatta spoon bills, cranes, storks, etc. Of course all manner of ducks arrive during the winter.

[AJMag]

Been loving this thead and learning a lot. Wouldnt mind putting some of this to use in a corner of our small place. See if it helps draw some deer around or if the cows take it over. Some of this I see helpful for the cattle anyways. New to it and plan on doing some clover for them for the winter. Thanks for sharing. Great read!

[deer farmer]

Always enjoy reading your new post, we raised guineas in Okla where I was raised and we always knew when a copperhead was near as they would all gather up and give the snake H E double L. I saw a recent post where u again recommended the American jointvetch/Alyce clover wildlife food plot. And I tried the jointvetch (2 bags) last yr in a bottom land food plot but it burnt up in the summer heat and I had a little jointvetch seed (8lbs +-) left over and planted it in another spot this yr where I added it to the A. clover, the deer wiped out those at about 4 to 5" tall. So I know the deer love it on my place, and when I first read about the jointvetch, I think it said it could be invasive so I thought it would be great for reseeding and reducing my seed bills. I am not that far from you as the crow fly's but mine burnt up last yr and got ate up this yr, but I guess I will have to give it another go, The reports u give about the deer being in it more than the soybeans has perked my interest again. Thanks for the reports on the farm.

[rjjjr]

Wealth of info, great bucks btw thanks for sharing.

[Shallowater]

Your bees are going to love your clover and many of the other plantings you have. I wish I had the space and equipment to plant some clover fields on my place. I hear it makes dynamite honey.

I have 6 hives this year and plan on adding 4 more next year. It is a great hobby and a great way to improve your yield in the garden/orchards.

[Mex. Bowhunter]

Been a curious summer this year. We have been spared many of the mega hot humid days. It has rained much more than recent years and in fact our ditches have standing water in August. Untypical.

Our clover and vetch/Alyce fields have been remarkable with solid growth all summer. Interestingly by far and away most of our deer sightings have been in the clover or vetch/Alyce. While the bean and pea fields did Ok there has been very little pressure on them. Granted the pea/bean fields are head high with the sunflowers, pearl millet and sorghum. But still, few deer run out. That is much different from past years when they live in the big bean fields. Learn something new every year.

Even with all the growing things we had extremely heavy pellet use every month until recently. It was hard to keep pellets in the feeders in July requiring them to be filled weekly. Only in the last week or so has it started slowing down. yet we filled one 300 lb feeder Wednesday and by Saturday it was empty.

There is no doubt in my mind that our pellet program adds several extra inches of antler growth to our deer even with unlimited year round agriculture. I can't explain that scientifically but believe it true.

With your plots it had to believe that you could not cut the feed off during good growing Periods. Do you have any bigger deer that you have never seen at a Protein Feeder?

[Throwin Darts]

Great thread.

[elgato]

With your plots it had to believe that you could not cut the feed off during good growing Periods. Do you have any bigger deer that you have never seen at a Protein Feeder?

I'm certain we could eliminate feeding protein and deer would still be very healthy. I've had some of the best biologist in the country tell me I don't need to feed pellets.But as mentioned there is no doubt in my mind that our pellets add a few extra inches that we wouldn't get otherwise. I can't prove that of course but believe it true.

I also believe every deer on our farms eats regularly if not daily at the feeders. ALL !!! the biggest bucks can be seen daily at a feeder. Fun to watch a bachelor groups of 8-10 bucks come to the feeders. It takes a while but ultimately they all get a turn. Then drift to the fields.

We use our own blend of feed, nothing commercial. I got the formula from the Fleece's in Wi. who grow some of the biggest deer in the world. Plus we add extra digestives, herbs , and probiotics...all natural . Ridiculously expensive which is why we only feed January -August.