A year in the life of a farm

[armadillophil]

Those seed blends are per acre correct?

[armadillophil]

Also, have you ever tried berseem clover?

[elgato]

Yes, thats lbs. per acre. I've used these ratios before with good success. Note though I use seed drill. May need to be a bit higher if broadcast. The QDMA food plot book is an excellent resource for seeding rates and mixtures.

I like berseem and have used it quite a bit. My neighbor uses more and it seems to like his heavier soils better than some of my lighter soils.It comes up quick, has good growth thru the winter and last in to June around here.High nutrient value, high digestibility, and readily grazed.

[Sticks&Strings]

I just found this thread and it may be one of the best ever. You are a busy man and you haven't even mentioned equipment maintenance. I have read from the beginning to post 250. Too tired to finish tonight. But I have a couple questions.

1. What county in s tx is the other ranch aand what do you do there as far as mgmt?

2. Do you not have a hog problem?

3. I am headed to our place in Centerville this weekend to plant food plots. The current grass/weeds is really high and thick. I don't have access to a seeder, only a bat wing mower, and disk. We were planning on mowing, then disking, then seeding then lightly disking again. We were planning on planting elbon rye, oats, and maybe winter wheat all in different plots. Can you give better recommendations? Could we seed first, then mow and not disk at all or will that be bad with current "native" growth that exists?
Thanks for all the info

[elgato]

Equipment maintenance; I don't have enough time to post that work. As my farm mgr. says..." farming is easy, it's keeping all the equipment working thats a challenge'.

Challenging for me to offer much help on your food plots as I don't even know where Centerville is. One suggestion might be that after the initial discing wait for the first weed blush then spray with Round up or equivalent . Then plant and disc very lightly. Cultipacking better. Also soil samples can help a lot if nothing more than lime or whatever you need to amend PH. Thats more important than fertilizer many times. Small grains are great and inexpensive. To get more bang for the buck consider adding some clover that might grow well in your area.

No real hog problem here in La. though occasionally one shows up. The ranch has hogs and we have to fence our feeders to keep them out. Not sure why but they have never become the problem there like parts of Tx.

I definitely manage the ranch as much as I can. Doesn't rain much there so without irrigation food plots don't happen. I have been feeding for 18+ years and it is a very exciting place to hunt.

[Sticks&Strings]

Thanks for the info. Centerville is half way between Houston and Dallas up I45. We have 500 acres of which 90% is pasture. We have cows on most of it and a big hog problem. We lost all our plots to flood last year. But we border 1500 acres of WMA land and I am trying to draw deer out of there. Hopefully we can do it successfully this year. Time is our biggest limiting factor until my kids get a little bigger. Ill post updates when we are done. Thank you for this thread. very informative and interesting.

[louieagarcia]

Thanks for sharing your latest pics! WOW!!!! Your are setting yourself up for another great season!

[TildenHunter]

Awesome deer. I think they will be close to 210", 205" and 188". Any one of them would be a trophy of a lifetime for 99.99999999% of whitetail hunters. You guys have truly done some remarkable things. Really looking forward to seeing some LDPs of any or all of them.

[elgato]

This ones for you Bo. Check out the body on this geezer. Would guess 250+ now. A 10 pt with a little extra

[deer farmer]

HOLY MOLEY ELGATO

[Mex. Bowhunter]

This ones for you Bo. Check out the body on this geezer. Would guess 250+ now. A 10 pt with a little extra

Yeah I would say he is Packing a Little. Can't get over all the add on's your deer are carrying Rusty. You have any history of any of these deer we can see the Transformation? Would love to see any you have

[Sticks&Strings]

What caliber deer did you have Prior to all this mgmt. Also, with as fat as your deer are you need to consider a ranch name change to El gordo.

[BIG BONE]

Goodness gracious. That's a toad of all toads

[Mr Sid]

Elgato, I'm posting from Avoyelles Parish, known for some impressive Louisiana bucks also. Thank you for this thread. Hunting landowners and lease holders all should read and learn from your no BS, no hype, trial and error lessons you share here. This thread could save them $$$. I subscribed a while back and love it.
Mr Sid

[BillyloMexico]

Dang I like this guy too!