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I have been in the food plot, seed and deer nutrition business for about 24 years and in the last year I started an online business called grandpa ray outdoors. I dedicated it in my Grandpa's honor and 10% of the profits go to youth hunting and education, which I feel is truly a worthy cause.

Again, I hope you all are finding as much value with this site, as I have.

wibowhunter, you only need about 4 hours before a rain to get enough uptake of the plant foods for them to be effective. I also came out with a dry version of product to go with the liquids and my hard core food plot dealers are raving about it. There is always multiple solutions to every problem or scenario.

To some, i have been very vague at times with my answers and now you can see why. I also have worked for 2 distributors and there is some very unethical companies in the food plot and deer nutrition business. I couldn't sell some products in my past because of what i was aware of. This is why i frequently have posted answers the way i have without bashing anyone. Just know what should be expected on a tag and what should be the norm for products people purchase.

Quality products come with ethics, freshness and expertise....in my opinion.

Best of luck with your 2015!!

Scott Alberda

Fellas, this man is a fantastic resource, and he is willing to take time to help those that are thirsty to tap into that resource. I also have seen the benefits of not just his knowledge, but some great products that have been born from it as well. Keep on keepin on, john, and again, glad to see you as a sponsor.

Best of luck in this next chapter of your life. I sent you a PM about your thoughts on what seed I should go with for my plot. Let me know what you think.

PS - I added your site to my home screen !

Mark

So, when my hands are untied, i can give people honest answers based on my experiences. I have a large network of people with integrity and experience who I tap into and I aim to share with you all my failures and winners.

The industry is full of product sellers and people with less than honorable intentions. It's why i post at times about tag reading and knowing what to look for when buying products.

One very popular forage has been pulled off the shelves by a number of businesses i know. I wasn't surprised, because i actually put it in the ground as part of a trial i conducted and there wasn't quality in the bag, just a fancy name and bag. This is also why i decided on putting seed in a clear bag, so people can see the quality of what is in there. When you open a bag of seed, you shouldn't have weed seeds or trash thats visibly evident. You also should have exactly what you paid for. Knowing what seeds for each forage looks like and what quality seeds are, is something I truly preach.

Maybe I didn't explain it best, but this year, I created two sites, 600 yards apart. One - nothing but mineral pits, just powder. I doubt it matched your blends, but probably close as I saw similar ingredients. The other, - just a trophy rock, and other similar products... (3 blocks in total)...

All I am getting on the trophy rocks, et al - is mainly some doe, and a few very young bucks (first antler growth). All I am getting on the other site (true powdered minerals) are the older year class bucks, and they seem to be hitting it more regularly than in the past...

I may be placing an order soon - you nailed it.

I have had years where i have put down 1400 lbs of deer mineral in 200 acre core area. Yes we have a high deer concentration.

To give some more insight Jack.....the deer attractant and flavor base in my products is the same as i use in other horse, goat, sheep and cattle formulations. There is 4 organic flavors, and 2 other enhancers that help. The flavors "stay on the ground" verses go airborne like many. I have had reports where just putting down 1/2 a lb of the deer attractant to draw in front of webcams causes deer to dig holes into the ground as they crave the flavor.

People would laugh if they knew all the ingredients..

What i have released for the 2016 season is what i believe is the most unique wildlife program out there.

I started Grandpa Ray Outdoors as a tribute to my Grandpa and to raise money for youth hunters education and disabled youth hunts. In 2016 every seed mix and wildlife nutrition and agronomy product i sell has $1 going direct to those causes. I also have other people in the industry helping the cause and looking at matching funding.

I sell no seed with coatings on it. It is all pure live seed that is fresh and with high germination counts. If someone wants to buy clover. If you buy 4 1/2 lbs of clover, your getting 4 1/2 lbs clover and not 2 1/2 to 3 lbs of actual seed per bag.

All seeds have natural growth promoters on them. Yep, a unique growth promoter that is exclusive to select chain of agronomy experts in the industry.

Lastly, i post on twitter, facebook and other social media outlets, pics and projects i am working on. Videos are being shot for everything i sell and people will be able to see words, pictures and videos, walking people through everything i sell for this worthy cause.

Lastly, i do an online monthly newsletter and membership that gives people access to pictures, research and more in depth nutritional discussion points. I will share many things i have worked on in the past in ruminant nutrition and agronomy, that might help people take the next step in their individual deer program.

I also have a team of people from deer property managers to qdm specialists, to hunting show producers to turf and agronomy experts. They each are unique and enthusiastic to help others.

Side note. My main career is as a consultant and formulator for other nutritionists and feed industry businesses and i have a seed distribution company. Grandpa Ray Outdoors is my "worthy cause" to pay it forward. To help our youth and those less fortunate.

Like other have posted, I always garner useful info from your posts.

I look forward to utilizing your services in the future!

Also, any prospects of any dealers here in Iowa in the near future? And do you offer soil sample analysis services?

Thanks....Troy

yes i offer soil sample analysis. People can send me their samples and I send them into my preferred lab. It only costs $15 per sample. With soil testing, i do need to know what was previously planted (if there is nitrogen credits) and the intended crops to plant in the next 4 years/up to the next 4 years. This is where planning ahead is great for your plot rotation. You can maximize your plots and reduce fertilizer costs if you set up yourself for the future.

I also twitter. I also will allow program members access to my library of dropbox photos.

Members are also able to purchase experimentals or year off from release mixes. There are some overlooked forages in the industry.

My other plot is clover, small burnet and I had smart weed issues. I may be talking to you about that one for next year.

Anyhow, sponsors who are regulars are really appreciated here!

Congrats, Bill

Many seed companies have seed that sits on the shelf. Some just put stickers over old dating to making it legal. Others take older seed and mix with new seed. The old company i used to work for even took return seed and mixed it with other seed and repackaged. When i saw that it sent me through the roof.

I only sell new seed and fresh seed. Any end of the year seed i use myself or offer to friends or team members. I want success and i don't want to take any chances. Plus i buy from reputable growers and companies that move volumes , so their seed is the freshest.

The major players in the food plot seed industry are some of the least fresh. One popular company is known as the 50-50 company by industry people. I couldn't sell that seed when i worked for a distributor a few years ago. I hate to put out fires and that company has fancy bags but does many things that won't lead to success.

Mark

[email protected] www.grandparayoutdoors.com

How did Grandpa Ray Outdoors come about?

My mom's dad was my Grandpa Ray. He owned the farm and the land where my parents build their house. He was a hard working farmer who in his free time liked to hunt. He always was very into planting things. He had an orchard, gardens, berries and things of that nature. He was a man of the soil. The farm was where I was influenced on everything from the feeding of animals to working the soil. I also had exposure to many types of soils growing up. The Farm has peat marsh soils, blue clay soils, red clay soils as well as semi rich loams. Seeing how each soil type affected how the ground was worked and how forages grew on these soils was especially helpful.

The next door neighbors also had a large scale sod and vegetable farm. Perhaps all those exposures helped me in my soil judging days. I made it to nationals and came close to winning it all. I still am not sure why I didn't go to college for crops and soils. Hmmm, maybe it was because I wanted to be the next Dick Vitale.

So, as i've mentioned above, my background is in managed intensive grazing. I was fortunate enough to work with some of the first farmers who were involved with the early 90's movement toward this farming practice. One particular client was a frequent speaker at the Midwest Grazing Conference. He also eventually became the first Discovery farm in Wisconsin. What that entailed was research on everything from water quality and run off to forage , a case study. I was a part of sampling forages every week to determine how their growth effected quality.

During that time many local farmers had pasture walks. Pasture walks were get togethers and little hands on informational sharing events. People got to see what these new innovators were planting and how they were managing their intensive grazing enterprises. It was during one of these pasture walks where I witnessed a farmer grazing turnips. Instantly, a light bulb went off and I stopped at the local farm supply store to see if they had any turnip seed available. They did and within a few days, i was planting turnips on the farm for deer. My uncles and grandpa, i'm sure thought I was crazy but in a few weeks, many of the neighbors deer soon found their ways onto that field. It worked!!

The next year found me planting a couple forages that my rotational grazing clients were testing out, puna chicory and kura clover. Many of you have heard of chicory but kura clover even today is a foreign word to most food plot companies and food plotters. None the less, that plot worked well and got me more into food plots.

Over the years, there was very little my clients and I hadn't tried. Frost seeding, direct seeding and overseeding were all practices i became fluent in. I was and am a consultant first. What works for one producer might not work for another. Soil types, planting dates, equipment and fertility all effect results and asking the right questions all leads to what to recommend to clients. It was the exposure to buying seed from many different outlets and selling all these wonderful new seeds which helped form me into what i preach and offer today.

A couple years ago i became frustrated by what i was seeing and reading about in the food plot and deer nutrition industry. I was aware of how few companies were selling quality seed. I was aware of how many deer nutrition products were about having a fancy bag with a deer on it. What was in that product was inferior nutritionally. I began to think about how I could help educate people and to let people know what is sound science. This is when I has this vision of starting another business. I wanted the business to be for a worthy cause. I wanted it to be an educational tool and also a means to raise money for our youth. But now what should I call it? Yep, Grandpa Rays...

So the past couple years has been about introducing products that I have formulated and used for many years. It has been about formulating new products, using new technologies. It has been a process where I have come to meet some wonderful people who have helped me to this stage and it is great to be typing to you all and selling what i believe in, and what I know works.

So, there's perhaps too much information on me but there it is....

And i am a proud sponsor on here and hope i give everyone a little to ponder.