Food Plots and Cattle?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: wildwilderness
31-May-22
Is there a way to maintain food plots with a Summer cattle lease (May-June-July)? This would be in NE Kansas.
From: RIT
31-May-22
I don’t recall off hand if it was Dave Brandt or Gabe Brown but one of them used a “mob” grazing technique for soil improvement. It was used in a diverse planting of cover crops but I would think you could apply the same principles to a food plot. They basically pastured X number of cows and moved them daily through the use of paddocks. It’s probably worth a look.
From: Pat Lefemine
01-Jun-22
Good luck with that. Fencing is probably the best option.
From: PushCoArcher
01-Jun-22
Fencing is the only real solution.
From: LINK
01-Jun-22
Plant wheat in early September. You could plant alfalfa in August and maybe be a fall draw too. It would be hard to have anything actively growing that cattle wouldn’t savage. Fence it or plant after the cattle are off the property.
From: wildwilderness
01-Jun-22
So if the cattle are off in August, is there time for a fall planting? Will there be much left to worry about in May-June-July?
How important is a spring planting?
(I would still run feeders/protein in a fenced pen)
From: JohnMC
01-Jun-22
Is it your land or someone else? If it yours I'd fence a few acres off.
From: wildwilderness
01-Jun-22
Its mine- 187 acres about 10-12acres in food plots. There is a rancher who wants to do a summer grazing lease, and I am wondering if it works with food plots. The big upside is he may be willing to trade hunting rights on his property- 640 acres- for the summer grazing on my 187. That's a lot of land to gain access too......
So I was wondering if the trade off of cattle would be workable? e-fence the plots? what really is needed to plant in the spring? KS does allow feeding deer so can I make it up that way?
From: KB
01-Jun-22
Since it’s your land just fence off the plots with at least a three strand barbwire setup. No sense in doing the work and having cattle and deer knock down your hot wire all the time. Especially if you’re not around to keep an eye on it.
Sounds like a good setup with the cowboy.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
01-Jun-22
So 10-12 in plots, how much besides that would be graze-able for the cattle? Would not including that turn him away from this deal?
From: wildwilderness
01-Jun-22
Lots of trees and brush on the property, so much of the good land is in the plots by the creek
From: LINK
02-Jun-22
Keeping a cow out is fine like keeping a deer out. If a cow figures out what’s on the other side of the fence and wants it the barb wire almost isn’t there. A cow will wallow through a 5 wire fence and not bat an eye if they want to. That said with green grass they might not be as tempted. If it were me I’d just plant crops after the cows were off. Plant some wheat in September or alfalfa as soon as the cows are off and call it good. Especially if you are going to be hunting the ranchers property. Deer in northeast Kansas are going to have plenty to eat anyways and with many cows on your property they’ll be on the neighbor anyways.
From: gflight
02-Jun-22
Lots of folks are doing rotational grazing with portable electric but that's work moving fence every few days.
Especially not worth it if not your cattle.
If cows "learned" the electric ribbon you could circle the plots with it but still costs for that many acres.
Seeing if there is anyway to cross fence off the plots is probably the best bet.