levelgrape

I was interested in trying to plant in some food plots and such for the deer and turkey on my land and had some questions about doing such within the same pastures as my livestock. I have goats, sheep and cattle that are basically free grazing the 960 acres. I have been watching two areas in particular for the deer and turkey both are very high traffic areas with miniumal livestock activity. But my question is once the livestock notices the plots then it may become high traffice for them and not the deer and turkey. How can I handle this?

IL Rancher

You are going to have to fence the livestock away from your plots and with goats and sheep that can be a difficult prospect. We have much the same problem here if we want to put plots in and decided that it would be easier to go outside the fenced in areas and clear out some of the thorny brush that we have and replace that with food plots.. At least that is the plan for this spring.. Going to have to start working that area over pretty soon.

mlo3135127

Knowing livestock, as soon as you have a good plot (even before it's good) they will destrot it. As IL Rancher said, you will have to fence them out.

levelgrape

What if I were to pasture the goats and sheep out but ner the cattle...I don't think they would be to smart as to find it (the plot) it is off in the far pasture and well away from there water trail (game trail to barn area)

IL Rancher

The cows will find it omre likely than not.. At last mine would, lol. Look, you are going to be doing a LOT of work in setting these plots up. Why take even a 1% risk that the cows are going to find them? At least put up a small electric fence around the perimeter. Just make it low enough that the deer will jump it and the cows will respect it. Tape/ rope would be your best bet as than at least the deer will see it and know to jump it.

If the cows do get into a food plot, depending on how many cows you have, it will be destroyed in the matter of minutes..

North Texan

Food plots aren't bad, but they are no substitute for good range management. Since you own the land, I would suggest gearing your efforts more toward range management than simply foodplots. You can get some valuable advice for free at your local NRCS office, and you might also qualify for some cost sharing through EQIP and possibly WHIP.

I've been using EQIP to help control brush on some acreage, and then have done some fencing, a little mechanical clearing, spot spraying, and range reseeding on my own as time and finances permit. Now I'm starting to see some good returns from increases both in the hunting value and the livestock value. And I am a big believer in going native when reseeding, with a few exceptions.

Land DR

What state and county is your land located in?

I would offer to see if there are some programs available to enroll into that would allow the development of some habitat (while also getting an income from the enrolled area) and then having some food plots within or adjacent to these areas. That would solve the problem of the livestock getting at it as well as generating some additional enhancement.

Send me some info to [email protected] and we can explore this if you would like.

Land DR

Criggster

Land DR, his avatar states he is from Lubbock, TX. You should definitely fence the livestock out. It may be difficult to keep the goats and sheep out. It may take three or four strands of electric to keep them out. Also, get with someone from the above mentioned offices. If you own a large piece of land and don't at least do rotational grazing you may be missing the boat.

North Texan

If you own much land at all and don't do rotational grazing, you are missing the boat.

levelgrape

The land is shared between my grandfather and myself. It is 886 to 986 acres located in the nortwest corner of Concho, County, approx 15miles N.N.W of Eden, TX. He has it divided into four main pastures with a few smaller "trap runs" in each pasture but the amount of stock he runs does not permit CRP land, but I do know I would like to look at the other programs you all have mentioned on this note...

-Erick Owens