Here in Oklahoma my lease at some point or another has cattle on it almost always depending on the farmer. So essentially we can’t plant food plots unless we fence them off and we can’t take too much because then we’re taking away from the farmer. So I fence off 16x16 areas and throw a gravity feeder and/or a covered trough just to help hold deer. Luckily the farmer always has wheat planted on the property. I obviously keep corn in the feeders and I’ll put ride bran in the trough which they absolutely love. But I was thinking about trying alfalfa hay. I’ve seen them use it in Canada on TV but I’ve never seen it done around here. It’s not too terribly expensive it’s just most people won’t sell single bales they make you buy a good bit. 25+ Anyone have any experience with it here in the states before I dive off and try it?
You have to ask the farmer or feed store the right thing to get what you want. For deer I would either buy a bail of alfalfa or a bail of clover, when you say hay that usually means there are grasses mixed in and deer don't really eat hay so straight clover or alfalfa.
Have you thought about one big bale of alfalfa or clover hay. Probably be hard to come up with something straight as there is always some kind of grass mixed in with it. If nothing else foxtail. Just drop it inside your fenced area so the cattle leave it alone.
I get what you’re saying but the guy I talked to was a “horse hay” producer. He sells it to race horse people. He has 100% alfalfa and Bermuda and even some clover alfalfa blend. But these horse people are pretty critical about their hay so it’s good stuff. I just don’t know how the deer would respond to it.
Yea but the problem is I’d have to ask the farmer I lease from to come put it in and even then I really can’t get much in besides a Ranger. I can handle the square bales and since so many people have horses around here they’re readily available and like I said it’s pretty good stuff he sells it to thoroughbred breeders/other horse lunatics. I used to work on a hay operation in college and horse people are nuckin futs
If there's not much of that around your farm otherwise, I'd be careful about just dumping it in there from the get-go. Your deer's digestive systems won't be primed to deal with it and you could kill your herd. If I was going to try that I'd start off dumping it on the property late summer/early fall and don't ever let it run out for more than two weeks at a time. As a renter I kind of hate to say it but if it's your land then the tenant is kind of at your mercy, if you want a food plot then he should only get so much consideration. If he's renting it for cattle pasture then it should be possible to find a solution that serves both purposes. Birdsfoot trefoil and sanfoin are bloat free forages that should be safe for his cattle and for the deer but the catch is your cattleman would have to only flash graze your food plot rather than allow it to be continuous grazed. Shouldn't be a big deal.
Well I’m not the landowner. But I asked to have a few portions fenced off for deer plots (3 acre areas) and the landowner said it was up to the farmer. And I just would hate to ask the man who’s trying to make his living to set aside 10 acres he’s already paying $40 an acre for to not be touched by his cattle. He’s basically providing me with two 80 acre free food plots with wheat he will sometimes graze cattle on it along with the native grasses or sometimes he just harvests the grain. My only reason for wanting to try the alfalfa hay is that I’ve come to the realization deer (much like us) would rather not eat the same thing every day and it would add another higher protein food. There is an alfalfa field under a center pivot just to the west of my lease so I’m sure they’ve seen it. I’m just wondering if anyone else has tested it out. They sure love it in the panhandle of Oklahoma in the field. Just never seen anyone use the hay except of course on tv in Canada. My deer are well fed as it is (Corn, rice bran, protein in the spring, plus the wheat) but I guess I may as well throw a bale in my covered trough and sprinkle corn on top and see how it goes. My theory is it would just be a food plot in a bale of sorts.
Alfalfa works great for bringing deer in but I only use it when we get super cold temps and have snow on the ground. This is usually after most of the corn piles are out of the woods too. They will go to corn over alfalfa every single time. I buy small square bales for about $10 per bale. Depending on the deer population and local game laws you might be able to get one bale to last you around 5-7 days if you are putting out a little each day. Putting a full bale out probably gets you about the same amount of time. S0metimes I feel like putting more out in one shot makes them stay around longer eating and its gone faster.
I don't know where your located DVO but $10 a bale for small squares is an outrageous price in my opinion. I buy small squares at hay auctions at the sale barns for our goats and most I ever paid was $5 for 3rd cutting, 65lb bales and no rain on it. Why not buy a big bale for around $80 or $90 and pay a farmer another $10 or $15 to deliver it. Takes about 25 - 28 small square to = one large round. If the farmer will drop it on end right off the edge of his field in the timber you could fence it, and unwrap & feed it as your want. $250 v $100 makes sense to me.
