Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Quality Deer Management Hay vs row crops

From a wildlife standpoint, turkey and deer hunting- which would you prefer.. fields of good grass year around or rowcrop while its there, but pretty much bare fields after its harvest until its replant?

We are pulling approx 100 acres of our farm out of row crop rotation for a year or so. Depending on things, it may or may not even go back into rotation. I’ve thought about putting it into hay, either doing it myself or just going the rent route. We have no use for hay since we don’t have animals so it would be to sell and to keep the fields looking good. Way back, the property was in hay and my wife much preferred the property when we had “pretty” hay fields than when its in corn or beans.

I’ve had people tell me they think a property is better when row cropped, I’ve had others tell me they think a property is better when it has good grass year around. Ya’ll have an opinion?

From a dollar standpoint, I don’t even know what hay sells for or how worthwhile it is or isn’t doing it yourself vs renting.

I dont think grass that's sold for hay has any real benefit to wildlife.

If you’re trying to capitalize on or maximize wildlife/agricultural value then hay is not a good choice. It’s actually at the bottom of the list of possibilities. I’d do rotational row crops.

100 acres is a lot of open ground. If it was me I’d rotate on 1/3’s or 1/4’s and burn, let grow, plant crops and leave standing etc.

Neither harvested row crop or hay provides much benefit in the winter

That was my problem with row cropping, it’s great when crops are there, but after harvest, those fields are somewhat of a Barren wasteland for the most part with the exception of what naturally pops up, or the areas I plant. But once its sprayed in the spring before planting, its dead again. Maybe next year if we get back into row cropping it I’ll talk to the farmers about doing a winter crop.

You don’t think it acts like a year around food plot?

Not grasses like bahia and bermuda .......deer dont really utilize those and I dont believe their good for turkeys either.......If you wanted something that would be good for wildlife then maintain it a natural prairie of early successional plants......

I’m interested, but don’t know what you mean by maintain it a natural prairie of early successional plants.
Can you go a little deeper about that? Or do you mean just let Mother Nature do what Mother Nature does with it?

Let me back up a little bit......You actually could still do the hay thing and utilize crimson clover in the fields.......Look beneath this deer at what's growing in this hayfield. This was a place where the cattle farmer had all his hayfields sowed in clover as well......I dont know what grass he was growing it with.

Also, when I use the term hay, I may not even be using the correct term since I don’t know what most people plant as “hay”. Let’s say I planted the whole property in Triticale and Clover. And cut and bailed it as needed.

Yes basically let mother nature do what she does but help her along with how you go about managing it and setting back succession…….Try to improve the fertility and diversity over time…… There's lots of options for things you could do in this scenario

I can promise you a hay field will hold deer all winter long with enough fertilizer and Marshall rye. Established clover. Will be a plus.
We drill rye for our first 2 cuttings and fertilize heavy with litter. Never have a problem with seeing animals in it. Especially deer.

Hay guys won't pay the landowner nowhere near what row crop will. Why not stick with row crop and plant some "cover/plot crop" after the crops are gathered?

That’s what I wanted from our current farmers, but they wouldn’t do it for whatever reason. I’ve had many people ask why we didn’t cover with something like winter wheat, I have no answer as to why it felt like it shouldn’t be done. We are postponing any farming for this year because of some legality things dealing with us finalizing the buyout of the other family member.

If I can talk our farmers into going that route, it would be ideal. If not, I may shop it around a little.

What my uncle does here around the house since he is in the bay business is cut the last cut of bahayia off of the fields around the first of October to the end of October. Then he will plant rye grass or drill wheat or oats in them so the deer have big fields to eat on and he will start cutting hay off of it again around the first to middle of march. A lot of stuff he green bales for farmers around here as well. Its year round deal for him

You could plant some of it yourself after they got the crop out. Then let them spray or plow it up in Spring to plant the normal crops.

I think its gonna come down to a matter of cost versus benefit in the end……With it being 100 acres then cost will add up quick……..$100 per acre puts you at $10K……..So you gotta ask yourself……”Is what I’m doing giving me $10K worth of value in results over what I could have done for $1K in cost ????......For someone renting farm land I suppose that money for a cover crop only represents cost to them since they don’t own the land.

Likely you lowest cost per acre for producing good wildlife habitat is to maintain it in “weedy clover” using fire, mowing, and spreading a little clover seed here and there as your means of managing it. Really all you’re doing is adding cheap clover to the “native prairie” to give it a legume in the mix for some N help and something else the deer like to eat.

The NRCS will pay dollars per acre for cover cropping. Check with your county office. It would literally be a food plot. Some folks around me do it.

Up here I have a deal with the farmer that rents my farm land to leave some crops in the field. It is a magnet every year.

All those big deer we had in the black belt years ago was due to row crops and more importantly, well fertilized cow pastures that were loaded with all verities of clover. Deer will feed all year long in pastures, but row crop is only good a few months a year and that’s if the right crop is planted.