Food Plots With A 1955 Ford 640 Tractor

[KFhunter]

looks fantastic

[baldopepper]

Wow, Dan-You've got the place looking great.  For the price you can't beat those older tractors.  Like you and me, don't push em to hard and they  get the job done!!

[Rainier10]

That looks great.  Congratulations on a successful project.

[Wacenturion]

That looks great.  Congratulations on a successful project.

Thanks....if it all comes up it will be, successful, that is....   If not, a learning process.

[Rainier10]

That looks great.  Congratulations on a successful project.

Thanks....if it all comes up it will be, successful, that is....   If not, a learning process.

Well the access roads look pretty good so I am thinking that the rest should turn out similar if not better.

Sidenote I got that game cam in the mail. I need to get with you and get it set up.  After that I may be picking your brain about that food plot.

[bearpaw]

Your clover looks good, I really like planting clover, the critters love it. 

Bearpaw, those photos were taken late November of last year, about two months after planting.  I have already started spraying the grass that's competing.  Clover is pretty amazing when you get a couple really warm days.  It literally comes out of it somewhat dormant state and doubles or triples in size in a day or two of hot weather.  Even in it's early stages, both whitetails and turkeys are starting to use it.

I've been growing clover 3 or 4 years now, great stuff. We tried all kinds of other plantings before the clover, but I've had the best luck with clover and oats, both are very easy to grow. We planted several new types of clover this year to analyze which we like the best and we are experimenting with some other grains. I'm going to plant a few other things again this year to compare against the clover and a few things for late fall attraction. It seems that the attraction to clover and alfalfa lessens after the nights start frosting hard. Weeds are the biggest challenge I've had, I finally had to invest in several herbicides and that really helps. It has all been an interesting learning process. 

[Wacenturion]

Bearpaw.....being this is essentailly the first year outside the clover plantings on the trails for food plot usage, things are pretty much experimental.  Actually the clover was a reseed of grass plantings on those trails.  When a fire last July came right up to my property the initail grass seedings were pretty much destroyed by trucks, tenders and crews using those trails to get to the ridgeline to stop it.  Good thing that I decided to put the trails in as they were a real property saver, not just for me but neighbors to the west. Pictures show some of what went on with the fire.  The last two shows the before and after of the grass plantings

When I had to reseed I thought, wait a minute, I have a mile of these trails and I can mow and drive on clover just as well as turf....so the first ranch food plot came about because of that event. 

This year's planting like I said are experimental as I really don't have a good feel yet for what will work and what won't.  The long strips that are in the photos where you see the Ford tractor I used a mixture of clover, chickory and some dryland alfalfa that has proven somewhat successful in rangeland applications.  The upper 1/4 acre wide spot at the top of those strips is planted with a mixture that includes some chickory and a different clover, as well as burnett and some wheat.  Pretty much perennial plantings that hopefully will last a few years.

The long 650' strip on my western fenceline is an annual planting and has a mixture of WGF sorgum, sunflower and sun hemp for height.  In addition there is WGF soybeans, cowpeas, and lab lab which are vines that grow....hopefully up the taller components.  There is also some jap and proso millet in the mix as well.  This is in the first 400' plus or minus.

Of the the remaining 250 feet in front of the portable blind 200' is the chufa patch....again an experiment primarily for turkeys.  The remaining 50' is split in half and has straight sunflowers to the rear and and sweet corn up front.  Figured I might as well try to have something to eat myself. 

So we'll wait and see.  Mowed, sprayed, put down lime and resprayed where needed.  Then seeded according to what was planted.  Only wish I had a cultipacker to go with the other implements.  On my wish list.  Only thing I might add as you well know, is when you're trying to take advantage of Mother Nature's generosity for providing irrigation, you sometimes have to take risks and perhaps hurry the process, less you get no rain help.

[nwwanderer]

Great call on the clover, it will be very busy.  You might look at Great Basin Wild Rye for height and cover.  Magnar is one good variety.  I am going to try forage Kochia, just writing kochia spooks me but the reports look promising.

[bearpaw]

Working Soil
I have a two bottom plow but rarely use it now, I prefer to disc or use a spring tooth whenever possible.

Cultipacker or Roller Compactor
I wanted a cultipacker but the weight and cost were prohibitive. I bought a roller from North 40 (Big R), it works great, if I'm planting seed that needs to be deeper than clover or oats, I use a piece of harrow behind the ATV before I roll and pack the ground. Home depot sells a similar roller.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Agri-Fab-18-in-x-48-in-Poly-Tow-Lawn-Roller-45-0269/202638981?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cTHD%7cG%7c0%7cG-BASE-PLA-D28I-LawnMowers%7c&gclid=CjwKEAjw6e_IBRDvorfv2Ku79jMSJAAuiv9Y9xa4QgisHzFuqO69SmNKj-jr0nQsz-_rSpQRAeS2FxoCc1bw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Some of my planting adventures, still learning more every year!

 - Oats work great, they always grow, don't need irrigation, wildlife likes the young stems in the spring, turkeys eat the seed in the fall
 - Winter wheat or rye, good late fall and early spring greenery when other plantings aren't growing or attractive
 - Purple top turnips grew well and attracted deer, I'm going to plant some again with some radishes to compare them
 - Alfalfa we tried didn't do well with heavy grazing, I'm going to try a grazing variety, maybe this year
 - Still learning which clover varieties are best, each has specific requirements and longevity, want clover that doesn't need irrigation
 - Chufa didn't grow, going to try again someday, love to hear if you have success and if it grows the following year
 - Planted sanfoin in a dry area and a partially shaded area with irrigation, neither did well, I think it needs lime, will plant again with lime
 - Buckwheat grew well, got 6 inches tall and deer mowed it smooth to the ground, they loved it, didn't have a large enough patch, will plant more
 - Austrian Winter Peas didn't do well in my plots

As I mentioned before, clover, oats and grains have worked the best for me in my area, but your soil and climate are different, you have to find what works best in your area. I just bought some cow peas, chickory, and forage radishes to try this year if it quits raining long enough for me to work the soil up here. I have found that it sure is a lot of fun messing around with these food plots. 

[LeviD1]

Wow I'm super jealous of your tractor and how many acres you have. I would love if you guys could tell me where you purchase your seed from? Also recommendation on planting in hot, non irrigated dry area North of spokane. I tried a chicory, alfalfa, clover mix I bought off a site but everything besides the clover burned out. Clover is dry late July/ August. My plot is about an acre

[Wacenturion]

Wow I'm super jealous of your tractor and how many acres you have. I would love if you guys could tell me where you purchase your seed from? Also recommendation on planting in hot, non irrigated dry area North of spokane. I tried a chicory, alfalfa, clover mix I bought off a site but everything besides the clover burned out. Clover is dry late July/ August. My plot is about an acre

As I mentioned above, pretty much experimental on my place at the moment.  I can tell you however, probably the most important step is a soil test to determine your plot soil's ph.  Second most important after mowing, spraying and tearing up the plot is to add the appropriate amount of lime suggested per 1000 square feet or by the acre to get your soil's ph at the level that the plants you are using thrive in.  Adding fertilizer also comes into play at this point or shortly after depending on plant species.

Planting depth is paramount.  With clovers, chickory, and alfalfa, if you don't have a cultipacker or something similar like a roller, do not do anymore than broadcast the seed as it only needs firm contact with the soil.  Anything over 1/8 inch deep and it probably won't work.  Other things obviously have different planting depths.

After that it's Mother Nature, and maintainance....spraying competing grasses and mowing to keep the perennials healthy.  You may want to pick Bearpaw's brain as to areas up your way plant wise, although what I mentioned above applies anywhere.

I'm somewhat fortunate as my property is north facing and has Palouse silt loam, 8 to 25 percent slopes on the lower end and Palouse silt loam, 25 to 40 percent slopes above.  On the extreme upper portion I have Gwin extremely rocky silt loam, 30 to 65 percent slopes.  I also get lots of sun during the day.  I have yet to hit or turn a rock on any plot so far.  But again.....I'm in the trial and error mode at this point.

Seed sources are all over the place.  After doing a lot of reseach I have pretty much gone with Whitetail institute products.  They have a lot of good information on their site and videos to give you a good visual other than a picture of what you are planting looks like and it's attraction to wildlife.  I have also used Hancock Seed in Florida for one mix and sunflowers.  I also purchased a Tecomate product as well.  In a nutshell everyone out there is selling similar type food plot stuff.  You just have to read throught the lines.  You might want to try Whitetail Institutes Extreme which is designed to alleviate shortcomings in ph, soil types and annual precrip.  I put that out in one plot to see what it will do, as I have some areas up high where the soils are not like those in the tillable areas.  If it does well in lesser conditions, it should go gangbusters where I put it.  We'll see.......

An interesting informative article on Extreme.......

http://whitetailinstitute.blogspot.com/2014/06/imperial-whitetail-extremegoing-where.html

[bearpaw]

Wow I'm super jealous of your tractor and how many acres you have. I would love if you guys could tell me where you purchase your seed from? Also recommendation on planting in hot, non irrigated dry area North of spokane. I tried a chicory, alfalfa, clover mix I bought off a site but everything besides the clover burned out. Clover is dry late July/ August. My plot is about an acre

Try a dryland alfalfa or grain, there's alfalfa and grain growing all over NE WA, something should work. You will need to get it in the ground very soon though. If you can't get spring plantings through the summer you might try planting winter grains in late August, they will sprout with the first fall rain.

Farm supply stores have seed, in Colville I go to the Country Store, they have numerous other locations in WA. You could contact Rainier Seed in Davenport, their seed is locally adapted.
http://www.countrystore.net/our-locations/
http://rainierseeds.com/product-category/parent

There are a lot of seeds that are easier to find online and have shipped to you, I've used these sources:
http://welterseed.com/
http://www.deercreekseed.com/wildlife-food-plot-seed/
http://www.seedland.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=Seedland&Category_Code=Wildlife
http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse.cmd?N=1104128
http://sainfoinseed.com/

Oats have grown everywhere I've put them, including in the bed of my truck where I spilled them, there was no soil at all! 

[LeviD1]

Thank you very much for your replies. At this point I don't think I'll have time to redo my plot for the year as I was not prepared at all to do so. I have some radishes I bought 2 years ago and kept forgetting to plant so I want going to overseed those in fall and hope any germinate being old and all. Next spring I'll prepare for dry land alfalfa I just never knew where all the farmers get their seed.

[Whitpirate]

Great work.  Farming isn't easy but at the end of the day it is always gratifying to see the fruit of your labor.  All the best this season!

[Wacenturion]

First sighting of "fruit of my labor", planted May 5th.  Picture was taken May 22nd,  two weeks and 3 days later.  Appears to be either soybeans or cowpeas in the mix emerging.  Not sure yet.  Have not seen it since then.  Hoping for possible chance of rain this week in the area on Wednesday or Thursday.

Amazed at the rate of growth from thistle seed in the ground...