2021 Food Plots

[Shorty]

They do suck up a fair amount of nutrient, they're particularly big users of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur.

I've never really thought of them as an acidifier though. If it's a long term pasture that will self sow I would periodically be applying nutrients to keep it going well. The cheapest option is urea and superphosphate. You may want to apply some traces every now and then but that would depend on the fertility of your soil.

On the note of acidity, pure legumes can do this. If you have a straight clover or lucerne/alfalfa plot for example, the excess nitrogen they fix can lead to acidification. You can address this by either liming or planting a grass to take up the excess. Bear in mind liming requires incorporation, top dressing has little impact because lime is so immobile.

Could the grasses be wheat or oats, or you talking a hay mixture?

 

[Bushfire]

Could the grasses be wheat or oats, or you talking a hay mixture?

You can get away with most things really, a lot is dependent on rainfall, fertility and climate.
The only issue with a cereal is they can shade out say a sub clover if they're not getting enough grazing. Don't get me wrong I saw a great stand the last week of a grazing oat/clover mix.

A good ryegrass/clover pasture is hard to beat if its suited to your area, at least from a livestock perspective.

From personal experience Lucerne/alfalfa is a deer's number one choice. A lucerne/grass mix is a good option, but competition will reduce the life of your Lucerne stand.

 

[TiggerLueb]

I late Sunday afternoon my guest finally departed, my wife took a well deserved nap and I got my fertilizer spread. These plots were not large enough to use the tractor and spreader, so I grabbed my little bag seeder and took off. I had numerous mechanical challenges but I persevered and got the fertilizer on both plots. I checked the weather this morning before going out on my motorcycle. We now have rain forecasted for this evening, Oh Happy Day!