Help Transitioning our Farm
My wife and I bought a few hundred acres a few years ago, to retire on someday. Our place is between Woodville and Colmesneil in East Texas. It's about 50% wooded and 50% pasture. The woods are a mixture of pine timber and hardwood drainages and ridges, thick underbrush and dense cover. The pastures are very well maintained as hay producing pastures. We run no stock on it. We have spent a lot of money, blood, sweat and tears to get it to where it is....Now I want to change it.
I don't want to be in the hay business anymore. The income doesn't really move my needle. As a contractor I'm always praying for no rain, but that doesn't work well as a hay producer.
When I don't get rain, I don't have enough hay to sell. When we have plenty of rain, I have more hay than I can sell. Neither way is going to make me rich on a place our size. So I'm going to get out of the hay business.
When I bought the place, most of the pastures had been untended to for years and thick with weeds and briars and such. But we had a lot of deer and some true trophy deer on camera. After making it park-like pretty, I've seen the deer numbers go way down. For some reason, the coyote population boomed (I've solved that and now have them in check). We're in an area with some good genetics and there have been some good deer killed on our place and close by, but the deer aren't using my place the way that I would like for them to. We have a lot of edges, long meandering tree lines and pastures separated by dense woods. But the pastures are very poor deer habitat and I want to change that. If you see a good deer in the pasture, he's locked on a doe or running at top speed. They just don't get comfortable. There is nothing for them to eat there. No place to hide babies there. Just not good deer habitat. We do have an abundance of year round water in several locations around the place.
I have the equipment and resources to do this right. What I don't have is the knowledge. I've read elgato's thread on his place in Louisiana and I'm a little intimidated. That gentleman has been doing it right for so long, but I don't know where to start. I need some direction. Should I hire a biologist, get with my ag extension agency, just start spraying and planting. I did plant about 12ac of fall food plots this year and the deer loved it, but I want to do so much more. I want to see quick results in habitat. I'm willing to do a lot to get this accomplished.
Give me some advice. Where to start? I have reached out the man himself (elgato), but I wanted to hear your thoughts as well.
Thanks,
Curt
I don't want to be in the hay business anymore. The income doesn't really move my needle. As a contractor I'm always praying for no rain, but that doesn't work well as a hay producer.
When I don't get rain, I don't have enough hay to sell. When we have plenty of rain, I have more hay than I can sell. Neither way is going to make me rich on a place our size. So I'm going to get out of the hay business.When I bought the place, most of the pastures had been untended to for years and thick with weeds and briars and such. But we had a lot of deer and some true trophy deer on camera. After making it park-like pretty, I've seen the deer numbers go way down. For some reason, the coyote population boomed (I've solved that and now have them in check). We're in an area with some good genetics and there have been some good deer killed on our place and close by, but the deer aren't using my place the way that I would like for them to. We have a lot of edges, long meandering tree lines and pastures separated by dense woods. But the pastures are very poor deer habitat and I want to change that. If you see a good deer in the pasture, he's locked on a doe or running at top speed. They just don't get comfortable. There is nothing for them to eat there. No place to hide babies there. Just not good deer habitat. We do have an abundance of year round water in several locations around the place.
I have the equipment and resources to do this right. What I don't have is the knowledge. I've read elgato's thread on his place in Louisiana and I'm a little intimidated. That gentleman has been doing it right for so long, but I don't know where to start. I need some direction. Should I hire a biologist, get with my ag extension agency, just start spraying and planting. I did plant about 12ac of fall food plots this year and the deer loved it, but I want to do so much more. I want to see quick results in habitat. I'm willing to do a lot to get this accomplished.
Give me some advice. Where to start? I have reached out the man himself (elgato), but I wanted to hear your thoughts as well.
Thanks,
Curt
Just like you (per the biologist) there are MANY good deer taken in my area.....170" and up. I will check out El Gato posts on the subject. 
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