I was out looking at some property yesterday and the topic of corn came up. Whether you have high deer densities and not enough feed for your deer or are on lower deer density lands with limited land bases, why not maximize your potential?
The goal of every crop farmer is to maximize yield per acre and reduce input costs. So, many food plotters could see up to 25% increase in yield and another 10-20% increase in nutrition per acre by doing these simple steps.
1) Plant the right genetics for your soil type and location.
2) Fertilize according to soil test.
3) Use an effective herbicide program, which includes use of herbicides that give residual control.
4) Use micro nutrients via dry or a liquid program.
5) Plant at the right depth and population.
6) Plant corn in a rotation after soybeans or clovers and not corn on corn.
7) If using roundup ready corn, find older genetics without all the traits in it.
8) Plant leafy genetics with a soft kernel.Not the type that dries down extremely fast.
9) Plant in narrower rows if possible
10) Plant genetics with a more fixed ear verses flex ear if possible for deer corn.
My March 15th newsletter will cover the nutrition aspects on why you want to look at these 10 things. I also talk about the right types of corn, whenever i conduct a deer seminar.
By addressing these 10 steps, you could see an addition of 2 ton per acre of corn that will be utilizable and available to the deer. That is a value of over $200 per acre