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A year in the life of a farm

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    #76
    What is the nutritional value of clover? Just out of curiosity.

    What do you do for predator control or is there not much of a problem with coyotes in LA?

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      #77
      that clover looks great, beautiful place. really hope i can gather some more land in the future and get on a path like this.

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        #78
        Originally posted by STXBowhunter View Post
        What is the nutritional value of clover? Just out of curiosity.

        What do you do for predator control or is there not much of a problem with coyotes in LA?
        As with many things the nutritional content of clover 'depends'...Stage of growth, type of clover, soil nutrition etc. But all in all a very high quality feed with some clovers rivaling alfalfa for quality. Frequently protein content is in excess of 20% with very high digestibility.

        I do no predator control. Never have. If I shared my full belief system on predators, habitat ecology, and natures symbiotic relationships I would probably be run off the green screen. And yes we have all predators native to our part of the country.

        A very short version is that I also have a ranch deep in the heart of the Rio Grande brush country. We have as many predators as the country can support including lions, and a very healthy population of coyotes. Our habitat is very healthy and I see almost no predation problems. The exception to that is occasionally I have to address lions...never coyotes. I can elaborate in great detail if interested but know that we hardly ever loose bucks once they get old enough to be identified.

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          #79
          Continuing planting today. 15 acre field with mix of 25lbs/acre soybeans, 25 lbs/acre cow peas, 3 lbs acre sunflowers, 3 lbs/acre pearl millet. I mixed the soybeans and peas at 50/50 to add diversity in this larger field and also because the beans were significantly less expensive. THis will be the mix in several of the largest fields.

          I love this time of the year. Cant help getting excited about the plantings and the effect it will have on all wildlife including deer. What fun to watch velvet bucks in the summer legumes and it doesnt hurt that they have started getting huge over the years. Who doesnt like watching giant bucks?

          I have left standing small grains scattered around the farm which feeds millions of birds including the buntings which are one of our favorites. Also the deer love the wheat heads once matured.

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            #80
            wait hold up, you got lions on your Texas ranch. And you hunt whitetail out there too. How big is your lion herd, and how many acres would they take?

            You are just on a whole other level, it nice to read all about it and to learn from it.

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              #81
              okay, just realized you might be talking about mountain lions, but still with respect to the massive operations you run, I wouldn't be surprised if you had african lions. Also, I still think it's cool if you did. Just think, you would have no problem with poachers. haha

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                #82
                ^^^^^^^ Thats funny!!! Obviously need to improve my written communication skills. Yes, mountain lions. See a few every year. In fact my buddy had one walk up and peek into the window of his pop up this past season. He got a few photos and a short video clip but no time for shot. Was toooo close.

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                  #83
                  Originally posted by elgato View Post
                  ^^^^^^^ Thats funny!!! Obviously need to improve my written communication skills. Yes, mountain lions. See a few every year. In fact my buddy had one walk up and peek into the window of his pop up this past season. He got a few photos and a short video clip but no time for shot. Was toooo close.
                  Now that's a video I want to see!!! Rusty you're my hero!

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                    #84
                    Great thread Rusty. Thanks for taking the time to share a peace of it with us. Its blowing my mind what you are doing at home. Just a dream for most of us.

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                      #85
                      So do you not have a problem with predators, mainly coyotes, and your fawn population?

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                        #86
                        Awesome following

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                          #87
                          We have no predator problems with our fawn crop or herd in general. Probably several reasons why. First we have a balanced herd with possibly more bucks than does. This makes for a very intense rut and concentrates the timing of fawn drop which is happening about now.

                          Secondly I leave uncut fields of small grains and clovers such as Arrow leaf and Red Ace scattered around the farm. This is very tall now and makes great fawning cover. Also all the right of ways and other openings are starting to grow up...same thing; great cover.

                          Thirdly we do timber stand improvement every couple of years. This creates thickets and brush piles all in the woods making for great cover. Couple of years ago I clear cut 48 acres of mature pine and replanted in long leaf pine...[ cool trees]. Hard to catch a fawn in that cover. Plan to clear cut another ~ 10 acres this year damaged from a tornado and do same thing.

                          All of the above creates great habitat for mice, rats, snakes, birds all of which are easier meals for predators. And once the fawns are a couple of weeks old they generally are safe and can take care of themselves.

                          THe bigger problem we have is population control. I do not want a whole lot of deer. I want a lot of bucks. Everything is geared to matching the population to the food supply. Question becomes...how many deer do you want to feed? Our plan is to remove ~60 females this year and ~ 15-20 males. I would use the term culling but that requires explanations saved for another post. Culling is about population control nothing more.

                          All of these concepts work in the brush country as well. Drought makes it harder to execute. Because of supplemental feeding and water our population always tends to be growing there even with a very robust predator population.

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                            #88
                            [QUOTE=elgato;8545837]
                            THe bigger problem we have is population control.


                            This is the hardest part of management to Me. At least in Mexico it is my only Set Back.....

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                              #89
                              You definitely got it figured out! Really awesome stuff!

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                                #90
                                Great stuff! The problem with predators at a leasr I hunted in the past was lack of cover yo help protect the fawns. Between the drought and over grazing the coyotes could do some serious damage.

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