preferred crops for deer
 

I'm not sure who said it in another post but this genetically engineered corn is getting to have no food value whatsoever. It makes me wonder, since the deer in my area feed mostly on the farmers fields most of the year, if the food value of the deer is getting worse?
Does anyone know of any studies done on this?
The deer in my area seem to eat corn mostly, but also beans. I know that it also depends upon what variety of corn is planted in your area. Much of the new varieties of corn are bred for volume and nothing else. Bigger stalks, bigger and multiple ears with bigger kernels are the new game in farming. These varieties are grown for ethanol production and for straight burning for fuel. They are not engineered for food value at all and should not be fed to livestock. I myself utilize a corn furnace to heat my home. It burns whole kernel corn, or wood pellets. I preffer corn for it's BTU's. I can simply heat better for less money.
I guess if you live in an area where there is plenty of grain being grown for livestock you are probably ok, or if you plant huge food plots. But people who live in areas where the farmers grow corn for ethanol production only, would need food plots for sure to keep deer healthy. Someone I know recently bought the cheapest corn he could get at MFA to mix with chicken feed and noticed that the chickens would not even pick up the corn from the ground.
It stands to reason that if the corn has no nutritional value that the deer would avoid eating it, just like the chickens, or would have to eat much more to get the needed nutrition. I have noticed the fields around here being hit very hard by the deer and wonder if that is why? They may be destroying more corn because they have to to get the needed nutrition.
One thing is sure they will clean up all the acorns when they fall and leave the corn until they have to go back to it.
Also although I have never tried it, you could presumably write down the numbers from those little sign posts in the corn fields and find out the nutrition information for that variety of corn? This might be a handy tool to find out what your deer are being fed.

deer dude
would try techomate seed they have dont all the work, find the onee with jeff foxworthy and look for the regions they specify map, i emailed them they responded aand my seed was crakin in 3 days..let ya kno how it turns out

"Genetically Engineered" means that is packaged to sucker hunters into believing that they are getting something that will grow nothing less than B&C antlers and pull in every monster buck within the state.

If you believe it.......Buy it.

i just plot cause its cheaper than corn and is good fer 3-5 years or more and if ya make it lil bigger every one in awhile jus to have sumthin to call work at ur spot

Try Mike's Wildlife Fall Mix its cheaper than techomate, biologic, and the others that are out on the market. I have had great success with it and have been using it for the past 5 years. Check it out at mikeswildlifefeedersandsupplies.com

And on what evidence do you base the evidence that it has NO nutritional value?

Ethanol production - carbohydrate content. Period. Simple chemistry and biology. The corn used for ethanol is the same corn used for food. Think I'm wrong? Provide any credible evidence that there is a difference.

Don't buy into the urban legends. My family has fields full of "genetically engineered corn" in an area with lots of deer where anything within 50 yards of a tree is eaten to the ground.

If they made a corn that deer didn't like, I'd like to know about it cause I'd be rich selling it to farmers w deer problems. Trust me, the corn being planted in the fields by farmers is more than adequate for deer. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you different.

Yes thank you, I understand that easily digestable starch is generally good. I also read that starch content is the name of the game for making grain more fermentable. As a home brewer, trust me I know this. For my still this corn is great! Only my product is not denatured, which is a horrible thing to do to alcohol.
I also read where companies like pioneer are all about engineering the highest starch content possible to make your grain better for ethanol production. Also where harvesting and storing the grain is as important as growing it to protect that starch content from mold.
Starch is simply stuck together glucose molecules, but it is very difficult to digest unless it is processed. We cook it and that helps break it down to where we can digest it. As far as I know animals have few if any recipes for cooking their corn before they eat it and so I wonder if they can't digest it what nutrition can they get from undigested food? Maybe deer digest starches differently from us and differently from say horses which do not handle high starches well at all according to what reading I've done on the subject. I'm just asking for input here and not stating any facts to disagree with. Specifically, early in my post I asked if anyone knew of any studies on this?
The corn eaten to the ground statement is something I've noticed lately too in my area. There is no doubt they will eat it and possibly they have to eat more of it, to gain the same nutrition, as possibly it is less digestable to them. They may have to destroy (eat) more corn to get the nutrition they need. It may be the most nutritious food on the planet, but if it passes through your system without being fully digested what good is it? You might eat nonstop until you starve to death.
My point is ethanol production has taken over as the number one reason to grow corn and we all may suffer in one way or another. Often long term effects are not known until, well, the end of a long term.
Genetically engineered crops have been around longer than most of us and are not necessarily all bad or all good either, but they are generally safe. The thing is science has tried to balance higher yields with pest and disease resistence, with digestibility so that the animals it's fed to get the most out of it, until now. If it was never meant for animal feed, it probably is not the best animal feed. I simply suggest that maybe a huge change suddenly in the corn crops being introduced (up to 7% more starch if I remember my reading correctly)may not be so good for deer. Not that they won't like it or won't eat it, they may seem to love it and destroy the crops at three times the usual rate. I eat plenty of things I know aren't good for me and love em. You should see how fast I destroy a box of twinkies!

Corn grain is not a nutritionally balanced complete food for deer (or cows). Never was, never will be. It is a high energy food, like us eating mashed potatoes. Deer are free ranging, so they can eat a variety of foods (when available) for proper nutrition. That said, here is a link to U pf Wisconsin silage trials from 2008 with nutrition test values for various corn hybrids, with different genotypes.

http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/HT/2008/2008Text.aspx

A dang chicken just ain't that smart. They will eat/peck rocks, peck sand, peck in cow crap, peck hog crap, peck their own crap and any dang thing they can get their peckers into. Don't give a dang dumb chicken a chemical engineering/nutrition degree.