Cotton Seed

[allenshawn1]

I recently moved to AR and was able to purchase some land. I made cotton seed feeders because it rains so much here. I put corn around it and in it, NOTHING! Not a single deer!

I thought they would take to it, since they got use to eating from the similar timed corn feeder.

Any suggestions? Was told the deer around here are hard to get to come into a trough feeder too.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[az2tx]

I'm not sure they can eat it thru chicken wire

[ACCURACYINC]

Deer don't always take to it, and you may need to add something to get them kickstarted. Powdered rice bran works well. I also agree they may not be able to get it through the chicken wire, or at least not enough to keep them interested.

[az2tx]

It also looks like it is pretty green there, and natural food is abundant, wait til winter

[Farmdog]

I agree, looks green enough, congrats they dont want it yet

[AntlerCollector]

Try it without the feeder and see if they take to it. If they do then you can use a feeder once they figure out it’s food they like. You’re feeder probably needs 2x4 welded wire instead of chicken wire though. Rain doesn’t hurt the cottonseed. You can place it on a plywood covered pallet or a water tote cage to elevate it off the ground to keep it from sitting in water. Certain times of the year there’s plenty of natural forage for them and the deer just are not interested

[Johnson]

I have always used 2"x 4" wire not chicken wire.

[Smart]

cut some holes in your chicken wire and stuff corn in it to see if they will get their nose in there and try it .....while eating said corn.


That being said it is awful green there and they may have a preferred natural browse.

[allenshawn1]

Tried pouring it on a pallet. Mixed it with corn and nut grub. Ate the corn and left the rest! I'm done with cotton seed!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Big Lee]

Agree with the green comments, and wire size needs to be a tad larger. Open some holes up in the wire or replace with larger. I also would bet that when natural food is less abundant in the fall/winter you'll see more activity.

[Krivoman]

Yeah, my deer hate it.


Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[ACCURACYINC]

Maybe the deer are just plain smarter than the deer here and don't want a mouthful of cotton when it's 100 out....

Wildlife is pretty good at finding what is missing in their diet and eating it. Maybe what cottonseed supplements is being found in another native plant?

[SaltwaterSlick]

When we started feeding cottonseed 2 years ago, out deer wouldn't touch it either... probably took 'em a good 6 months to start to eat it regular. Now they are emptying a 400# cage in about 3-4 weeks... Pour some vanilla around on it. That kick started some of ours... Also, we have a rather large pasture that has widely varying terrain and vegetation. In some areas of the ranch they destroy the cottonseed while in other areas, they barely touch it... nothing separating them but terrain... and a LOT of south Texas brush ...

[kyle1974]

I had a hard time getting the deer started on cotton seed, and that's with neighbors that are feeding a few truckloads of it surrounding me.

if they won't eat corn, they're not going to eat cottonseed... not at this time of year anyway.

also, I think you're feeder is a little over done. Just throw it in an open basket with V mesh, or 2"x4" wire. the rain won't hurt it.

what saltwater slick says about certain areas getting hit hard, and others not is absolutely true.. we see the same thing on our place.