Help, Starting a Protein Plan

[retrieverman]

I’ve got a friend that hunts around Childress and buys protein from Balkum(sp?)Feed.

[warrington]

Cotton seed $275 a ton
Protein $550 a ton


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[Throwin Darts]

One thing I will say about timed feeders is it will help more than some think. I have 4 + yrs doing it. Your better deer will get there's. They will be there when it opens in the AM. The deer will feed all day off & on if they need it or want it. I use the krivoman feeders & set them to close at 6 in the evening & open 7 in the AM.

This is my experience too. My more mature bucks get feeder time. We shot a buck last year and had one of his sheds from the previous year. He was 7 and added 20 inches on one side. I have three timed Krivoman’s open during daylight and fed 22,000 pounds on 640 acres. Buy in bulk and have the feed store fill the cameras. It ends up being cheaper than buying bags and filling yourself.


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[elgato]

If I understand correctly you are putting 5 feeders on 12,000 acres... a feeder per 2400 acres. You are exploring timed feeders cause you are worried about cost and at same time have sooo many deer; too many?

Everything about this tells me you are off to a bad start.Were it me I would forget protein and invest in bullets, seed I could plant year round and maybe go with cotton seed but even then to see realistic results you probably need about 60 stations and be prepared to wait 3-4 years to see results.

Not trying to be debbie downer but I think you are wasting your time and money on a protein program your describing that will yield essentially inconsequential results.

Now if you are allowed to grow crops that is a different story and for the same money would give you value

Just read what biologist said about cotton seed killing deer. Suggest you find a new biologist. We feed about 8-10 18 wheeler loads a year for the last umpteen years. Herd is doing fine. Also have a protein feeder per 100 acres. Feeding protein and worried about cost doesn't mix well especially on a 12,000 acre ranch

[brokeno]

do you have plenty of water available. They use to think cotton seed made bucks sterile but only if they are feed cottonseed and no natural browse. Maybe the biologist is concerned about the poor drought conditions with no browse to supplement the feeding of cottonseed. Anyways if cottonseed seed is effects deer in a bad way about 10 million deer are being effected right now. Feed cottonseed by bulk vs protein.

[BIG BONE]

We have 3 winter wheat feilds, approx 400 acres now. Owner only plants wheat for cattle. We will not turn cows on them until we are all done hunting.

What could he plant for me after the wheat? Problem is the drought out here, hate to risk the planting and no rain..

Is there anymore acreage you could plant besides the 400 acres? How many deer per acre do you have on the place?

[Spearchunker]

Is there anymore acreage you could plant besides the 400 acres? How many deer per acre do you have on the place?

No other areas to plant. The owner did agree today to lablab on about 200 acres of the wheat feilds. Seriously considering this route and year round corn feeders.

LabLab says you can broadcast. Pretty tough to get a drill to these fields. Rancher has a 2500# broadcaster with 40' reach I can use.

Any one have experience with LabLab?

Have no clue how many deer we have, but its a lot right now. We have doubled our numbers since wheat took. Owners says they migrate from all neighbors places. Not too many around us have wheat. He says they will leave once feilds are done. Plan is to keep them around.

I can't use bullets unfortunately.
No MLD and owner isn't fan of MLD and so far not interested..Can't shoot any mule does either per TX. We have tons of old muley bucks with heavy horns, but not 20". Have some challenges for sure with this place.

[elgato]

I've planted lab lab and think you will not have great success broadcasting it unless you get really lucky with rain. You might consider trying cow peas. They are cheaper than lab lab with many of the same characteristics so if you have a failure it won't cost as much.

[bphillips]

If I understand correctly you are putting 5 feeders on 12,000 acres... a feeder per 2400 acres. You are exploring timed feeders cause you are worried about cost and at same time have sooo many deer; too many?

Everything about this tells me you are off to a bad start.Were it me I would forget protein and invest in bullets, seed I could plant year round and maybe go with cotton seed but even then to see realistic results you probably need about 60 stations and be prepared to wait 3-4 years to see results.

Not trying to be debbie downer but I think you are wasting your time and money on a protein program your describing that will yield essentially inconsequential results.

Now if you are allowed to grow crops that is a different story and for the same money would give you value

Just read what biologist said about cotton seed killing deer. Suggest you find a new biologist. We feed about 8-10 18 wheeler loads a year for the last umpteen years. Herd is doing fine. Also have a protein feeder per 100 acres. Feeding protein and worried about cost doesn't mix well especially on a 12,000 acre ranch

This

Five 2k lb feeders is what we have on 2600ac and we could use a couple more

[bgleaton]

Agreed with what others are saying. I would try to lower the deer numbers first and foremost. if you are trying to make a big difference with protein or any type of supplemental feeding you will need to have a feeding station every 500 acres at the very least. We have one feeding station per 100 acres but our place is a lot smaller. There are some good studies on Caesar Kleberg that show the proper rate for feed stations need to be 1/200 acres in order to make a big difference and feed bucks, doe, and fawns. It’s all about how much $ you are willing to spend and what your goals are. 12,000 acres would be hard to manage for a couple of full time ranch hands.


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[Steel185]

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/deer-university/episode-034-want-to-start-a-supplemental-feeding-p/

Listen to this podcast. I think you will need to go all in or not at all. If you want bigger deer maybe money on high fence in the best 1k ac of the property and then a deer feeding program would be more the results you actually want.

[Grayson]

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/deer-...tal-feeding-p/

Listen to this podcast. I think you will need to go all in or not at all. If you want bigger deer maybe money on high fence in the best 1k ac of the property and then a deer feeding program would be more the results you actually want.

You gotta have waaaaaaayyyyyyy more money than sense to build a high fence on leased property.

[Steel185]

You gotta have waaaaaaayyyyyyy more money than sense to build a high fence on leased property.

I didn’t catch it was a lease.

But my point and the point of the Dr of wild life management is that’s it’s impossible to make a significant increase in deer size with food/protein in a low fence situation.

So if that is your goal, it’s not realistic, so you might as well build a high fence on a lease and then you’d be able to do it. One way would be expensive and not smart investment, but you could hit your goal in 3-4 years. The other would be a lot of protein spent on a lease and no increase in deer size. Not hitting goal.

[deerwatcher51]

You gotta have waaaaaaayyyyyyy more money than sense to build a high fence on leased property.

I know some guys who did just that for a long term lease and you are right they had way more money than sense.

[SHSU18]

We feed protein through the 2k timed all season feeders. The deer were sucking our feeders dry way to fast when it was free choice. We feed about 30-45 seconds in the morning and the same in the evening. We have 7 feeders on 1600 acres.