A year in the life of a farm

[deer farmer]

Thanks for Sharing Can u tell me about your Buckwheat experiences? I have not planted it, but will attempt to plant a couple of acres this spring. How do the deer respond to the buckwheat ? It was suggested as a honey maker for our growing bee colony's , but I read where deer reacted to it different in different places. And thanks again

[unclefish]

Great summary..thanks for posting!

Curious about how the deer eat the buckwheat at your place too.....I know its a heluva soil builder.

[Tshelly]

A while back, probably a year or more you talked about how your deer reached peak "inches" wise at different ages in Mexico vs La... You brought up a point on the deer and when they reach their peak performance antler wise. That while in Mexico the deer continually got bigger 6, 7, 8+, while your La deer seemingly peaked their gross scores @ 5-6.

I was just wondering what you have you seen with two more years of data?

Last question: when will you begin prepping for spring plots? I'll be glued in.. I'm Putting in multiple spring plots

[elgato]

Back and forth to the ranch a lot this time of year. I appreciate everyones questions and apologize for slow responses..

I've only planted buckwheat a few times primarily to experiment with it as a soil builder. The deer definitely ate it though I still wouldn't call it a preferred crop. We planted it early one summer and it went to seed three times before I terminated it for fall clover. Thats pretty cool. I think it can have several values as a soil builder and also an emergency crop in case of failure of a preferred crop. Stuff grows fast and thick. I intend to use it sparingly this summer in mixes just to add diversity.

Regarding peak antler growth I still believe our La. deer { probably very similar to East Tx. deer } peak more around 6. We are starting to get some older bucks here on the farm and I'm not yet seeing any notable late life jump at 7 or plus. I still believe the statistical sample is too small to be solid on that yet though.

Without question our Mexico deer can look awesome from 7 to 10 frequently being at their peak then. He who can predict any specific bucks peak antler year is far smarter than me but I am still leaning to 7 or 8 as the 'best' years. However the best buck I have ever taken from the ranch was 10. I sometimes wonder if we choose 7 or 8 simply because we shoot them then??? Still that said I have a bunch of uber old bucks on the ranch [ one is 14 this yr ] and I like maybe 8 as the perfect yr.

Having said that I have watched an extraordinary buck grow from his first set of antlers to now a 6 yr old and if he gets any bigger next yr I believe his peak yr. will be 7 cause thats when I'm going to shoot him. Been a long wait.

[elgato]

I know lots of you like pics of nice bucks. Here is a special 5 yr old from the ranch that made a 40"+ jump this year. Fun to watch them grow.

[BIG BONE]

Great looking buck

[BolilloLoco]

Incredible what that buck did in a year. Almost looks photoshopped in that pic.

[elgato]

Incredible what that buck did in a year. Almost looks photoshopped in that pic.

I took the pic from video off the TV

[BolilloLoco]

I thought something looked different. That mass is crazy.

[elgato]

Here is another value of winter food plots. I picked 5 polaris loads of radishes and turnips along with 9 buckets of chicken litter scraped from where the truck unloaded it. All this to super charge the compost pile I started last fall. Should be ready for the spring garden

[elgato]

Feb 1st and it is actually dry enough to mow one of our fields. This is an 11 acre Durana clover field I over seeded with 50lbs/acre Elbon Rye. Last year I did the same thing with the rye and let it go to seed. It appears I have a lot of volunteer rye with what I also planted this year and it is quite thick. My concern is that it might choke out some of the clover.

So I got a chance to mow it low today to release the clover. Looks great.

[GarGuy]

Looks great! My clover is really busting loose.

[jshouse]

I know lots of you like pics of nice bucks. Here is a special 5 yr old from the ranch that made a 40"+ jump this year. Fun to watch them grow.

beautiful deer.

[elgato]

It's a great time of the year on the farm. Time to plant fruit trees. We are planting 10 apples, 5 pears, 2 pecans [ my grandson will be happy about that ] and a river birch.

I've been planting a few fruit trees every year for a long time now and they add a lot of enjoyment and beauty. We pick a few to eat and make into preserves and the rest go to the critters.

We are starting up the feeding program today. The first batch will include wormer. 2 bags to each feeder for a total of 50 bags. Having used wormer for a few years now I'm more convinced than ever it has benefit . The deer look so healthy with big bodies and shiny coats. Also curiously we find very few ticks on the deer. Not sure the wormer impacts this but I like it.

[elgato]

WE are also starting to find a few sheds. Found the rt side of the buck with split G2 to the right of the feeder. What is interesting about this buck is that is the only picture we got of him last yr. even though we run cameras from ~ June till Thanksgiving. No one ever remembers seeing him from a blind either.

Says a lot