A year in the life of a farm

[AgHntr10]

I can't believe this fell to the 2nd page bump!

[jamecsen]

Great thread. I will be following

[Gumbo Man]

Come on Rusty. We need our fix!!

[elgato]

Been running at light speed lately but here is a quicky report. While there are lots of benefits to a balanced b/d ratio with good age structure there are also some challenges that are hard to get around. Every year we lose bucks to fighting. Here's the latest example. A 130" 7 or 8 yr old 8 pt got locked up with this 4 yr old. The 4 yr old killed the other buck then drug him around several days till coyotes ate the younger buck from the rear end forward . Nature is rarely as Walt Disney portrays .

[BolilloLoco]

Dang
That’s always tough to swallow

[Gumbo Man]

Hard to swallow plus that was a helluva 4 yr old.

[ElfEyes]

Dang that sucks. Rusty can I ask why y'all let this deer get to that age class. I've seen some of y'all's "management" deer if you will and they seem to be quite a bit bigger than him at the same age. Did he just slip through the cracks and never got shot or just keeping him around hoping for aesthetic reasons.

[GarGuy]

Nature is brutal. Circle of life though. Every living thing is terminal. Nothing leaves here alive.

Did you score the big ten?

[GarGuy]

Doubie post

[elgato]

Dang that sucks. Rusty can I ask why y'all let this deer get to that age class. I've seen some of y'all's "management" deer if you will and they seem to be quite a bit bigger than him at the same age. Did he just slip through the cracks and never got shot or just keeping him around hoping for aesthetic reasons.

I assume you are talking about the buck that killed the 4 yr old? He definitely slipped thru the cracks as if given the chance we would have shot a buck like that at 4{ possibly 3 } But after hurricane Laura blasted the farm last year the farm was so wrecked we didn't shoot a single buck last year. While we try to remove the lower rung of bucks once getting to 3 or older we have never been successful at getting them all. I might see a deer I want to get someone on, pass him up but then that deer doesn't get seen the rest of the season. Stuff like that happens all the time.

I think this year, I am going to be more aggressive at shooting every lower quality buck I see even if its out the window of the truck. I'm on the farm almost every day and experience has taught that if you want to remove a certain buck, better do it the first time you see him.

[elgato]

Here's a pic I bet no-one ever expected to see on this thread. Goats. Over 200 of them . Here they are being trained to electric fencing. I'm looking to buy several hundred more. I'm running the goats thru the destroyed woods moving them from paddock to paddock every 3 days to get control of the world class briar patches I have. Sure a little thicket can be good for deer. But what the hurricane left me with , while good for a year or two, have severely diminishing returns.

As I get control with the goats I am going to introduce cattle to the woods. Same thing. Intensively grazing for short durations then rotating them after a few days. Will strive to create a savannah outcome while at the same time improving the micro biology of the soil. This plus releasing native Forbes that have been dormant in the seed bank for a long long time.I'll be posting more on this as well as videoing the process. we will be keeping extensive data on the project.

[Puncher51]

I’ll be just as excited to see the new grazing practices you are implementing as the trail cam pics… for the most part. Intensive rotational grazing and all the benefits that come with it will do the farm wonders!!

[Killer]

Goats who would have guessed you would use them to help!

[Gumbo Man]

Here's a pic I bet no-one ever expected to see on this thread. Goats. Over 200 of them . Here they are being trained to electric fencing. I'm looking to buy several hundred more. I'm running the goats thru the destroyed woods moving them from paddock to paddock every 3 days to get control of the world class briar patches I have. Sure a little thicket can be good for deer. But what the hurricane left me with , while good for a year or two, have severely diminishing returns.

As I get control with the goats I am going to introduce cattle to the woods. Same thing. Intensively grazing for short durations then rotating them after a few days. Will strive to create a savannah outcome while at the same time improving the micro biology of the soil. This plus releasing native Forbes that have been dormant in the seed bank for a long long time.I'll be posting more on this as well as videoing the process. we will be keeping extensive data on the project.

Are you expecting any short term negative impact from introducing the livestock as far as the deers willingness to coexist? My brother in law introduced cattle back on his place after 25 years and it took about 2 years for the deer population to come back to what it was. And now it’s fine again.

[Mountaineer]

A year in the life of a farm

Here's a pic I bet no-one ever expected to see on this thread. Goats. Over 200 of them.

Never would have guessed that but it makes perfect sense. trying to picture what a thick mess your timber must have turned into. Sounds like a lot of hot wire to install and move.


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