alfalfa for deer
 

my state has absolutely no acorns this year period its horrible. was wondering if anybody has tried the standlee alfalfa from tractor supply or any alfalfa and have had success? after season looking to help deer and try to find sheds. thanx for any info

The knowledge pool says don''t feed them Alfalfa. Especially when all of the water is frozen.
*Look around and see what they have available*. My lease is half agriculture and there is a lot of goodies out in the fields that isn't particularly good for Deer, but they are used to it. Young winter Alfalfa is supposed to be really bad for them, some sort of toxin.

Anymore I've taken to filling my one ton trailer up with young Birch Tree branches. Birch is a weed here in some areas, the Deer eat them up as high as they can reach when they are a available. I have a pole chain saw and fill up the trailer in half an hour.

Every few years we get a severe cold snap. I've supplemental fed with Oats and/or dried on the stem Oat Hay. Never seemed to cause any issues I've noticed. But like I said my Deer have a lot of grain crops available, even in winter, their digestive system is used to it. The ditches are usually full of Wheat, Oats or Rap that never got harvested and fields full of corn stalks and kernels..

deer will eat it, BUT IMO the problem comes down to how do you keep it from going bad
as all things like this once wet if not enough air flow is ALL around it, will get moldy and them your wasting your time and money and deer shouldn;t eat it, being MOLDY unless there VERY hungry and then it can make them sick
just the block or cubes LAYING on the ground will absorb moisture and that will turn to mold

yrs BACK I used to use BIG bales and used a chain saw to cut small sections off them and had a rack that held things off the ground and a small roof to keep rain off and it dry
deer sure ate SOME of it, but more went bad on me and went to waste, I mostly ONLY did this on extremely hard winters to MAYBE help and or maybe help me find sheds>
and it still didn;t get used much? or as much as I had hoped it might! and wasn't worth the costs or work to put out and get rid of moldy sections(would pull out and burn)

same experience as I had with using the blocks that are compressed together, yes some deer will eat it and come to it, but not a huge draw where I have tried them
honestly the best thing to do if possible is PLANT food that lasts into winter
standing corn is HARD to beat as it doesn';t go bad, offers cover and wind protection, cheap seed can be had thru discount programs, or some decent timbering that makes good natural browse or planting good browse
have to remember there is NO fast fix, good things take time and effort IMO
we don't all own land, but most can improve what and where they hunt some?