Emergency Haying 2022
- Thread starter Corndawg
- Start date
OKhunter88
Member
Can you link the source?
I had seen that as well, but unsure exactly what it means for much of the pheasant range. Clearly the SE part of the state is in a drought, but does that mean other parts of the state (not in drought) will be hayed to compensate?
This is the only data I found and it is not that clear. Not sure if 'previously approved' counties means that they hayed this year, or were approved when the drought was still present early spring and no longer approved to hay... I have more questions than answers.
This is the only data I found and it is not that clear. Not sure if 'previously approved' counties means that they hayed this year, or were approved when the drought was still present early spring and no longer approved to hay... I have more questions than answers.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Leave it to our federal gov't to make things clear as mud. A confusing map created only a few days ago, giving info for what's been going on since Oct. 1, 2021?? Then in bold print, "Don't go by this map. Call your FSA office." And the Excel spreadsheet they offer lists 55 of 66 counties in SD as being D2 or greater as of Sept. 8, 2022, which clearly hasn't been the case for a long, long time. Makes no sense at all. Based on the Drought Monitor, it seems to me that as of right now, only about 10 counties ought to be eligible for CRP haying/grazing. We just got another really nice inch of rain the other day here in SF, & things look pretty good here. 26 days to the resident opener.
The map previously suggested by Woollybob and the following report. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USD...unties_Approved_Emergency_Haying_Grazing.xlsx.
waterdog09
Active member
Was out a couple weeks ago in the SE part of the state and there was a lot of haying that took place the first part of August. From what we found on the USDA site the county needs to be in D2 or worse to be able to be hayed. With that being said I am not holding my breath that the rest of the state is any better than what we saw in the SE part of the state.
Swamp Collie
Member
Came up through central SD (Hwy 281) on Sunday heading for other western states. Heavily hayed throughout most of this area. SD has been an annual hunt for me for years, but I am at the point of not spending the money to hunt there. Between the commercialization of the hunting and driving long distances to only find public ground mowed flat and hayed I will spend my money in other states that are doing a better job of managing the natural resources.
I'm not directly involved, so take this for what it's worth. This is how I understand it.
- CRP operates on a 10/1-9/30 calendar.
- Emergency haying and grazing can only be done in the summer, after primary nesting season.
- If a county reaches D2 at ANY TIME during a CRP year (10/1-9/30), it becomes eligible for emergency haying or grazing in the summer. (Thus the notation on the map about counties that were D2 before, but maybe aren't right now)
- Just because your county is eligible, you still have to get approval from the local NRCS office. (Thus the notation to contact the local NRCS office)
What a frustrating deal. Coming from a farming family I get you need to feed your livestock, but it is super frustrating that the public land gets mowed down as well. If its private CRP great but mowing down public land for feeding livestock is crazy to me. They profit off of it and wildlife suffers. Also, the way they decide what is considered in D2 seems really flawed. There are counties on that list that haven't been D2 since the spring. This is why it scares the heck out of me when the government takes over anything. They just can't get out of their own way.
Wildlife doesn't suffer- they live in the shelterbelts and sloughs in the tough times. CRP is just where you find them during the day when you are out walking your dog. You can't see much of any public ground from 281 but you can see a lot of prime hay and alfalfa ground so it's not what I would take as a good road survey of the haying conditions. I talked last night to a seed and feed dealer (whose shop is on 281) who covers most of the James River and he says it has been dry in that area but they did get spring rains and a couple through the summer so they are doing OK, better than the border to the south. Despite the all the crops still being in they are seeing birds standing around all over the place in the middle of the day. Many late hatches with some just sparrow size right now. He also guides all fall so he knows exactly what he is seeing. With that many birds around they will be thick in the spots holding water and in fence lines where the grass has been mowed around it. I predict this is going to be a banner year with easy pickings.
Care to cite the source of this conclusion, since it is completely opposite to the consensus view of wildlife science and the clear correlation between CRP acres and pheasant numbers/harvest?
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
I think he's right, IF......haying/grazing takes place after chicks have grown large enough to move with adult birds & avoid predators. I don't know if that's 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks? I suspect it's at least 6 weeks (although I know I've shot roosters early season that were no more than 8-9 weeks old). If peak hatch is June 15, they're not 6 weeks old until about August 1. Ditches in eastern SD can be mowed starting July 10. I suspect (but don't know) that CRP can be hayed at least that early if it qualifies. Based on my rough guesses, it seems like anything hayed before Aug. 1 is too early & will affect pheasant numbers.
That holds true for the birds born prior to haying in that year. So yes - in the case of birds already born, they do not drop dead once you mow down the CRP. The bigger problem is that there is much less nesting cover the following spring. It was noted in one of the recent reports that birds primarily rely on old growth for nesting, especially for the first attempt. What was stated above - seeing chicks small as sparrows - supports that. They should not be that small in a 'normal' year, especially one that did not see flooding or hail to prevent earlier nesting success. Seeing generally small chicks for the time of year is an indication the new growth from mowed areas was not sufficient for the first (maybe multiple) nesting attempts and that nesting conditions have been overall less favorable. Last year most of the counties were not authorized for emergency haying until September. Little rain came after to re-grow, and it was not a particularly wet spring.
So the main impact to late haying is not only destruction of good huntable cover in that season, but it also reduces the ability for the population to bounce back when there is a major drop. There was a mild winter and favorable summer this year, but the destroyed nesting cover will impact bird increases this year. If you go back to the roadside survey numbers of the 'good old days'
of the 2000s, what is notable is that it was not without drops, but that it was able to recover quickly and that has been attributed to habitat. Less habitat means bigger drops and smaller bounces. The research showing CRP acres correlating to high bird numbers only holds true if that CRP is sufficient for nesting and not just ankle-high in June. Otherwise they would include hay fields in the totals.Drove from Chamberlain to Sioux Falls taking backroads the whole way home. As far south as 44 and as far north as 34 and I can say with my own eyes there's a lot of public use fields that are shorter than my front yard. Did get the dog out in a couple of spots that had cover and let her run for a bit in each. Birds numbers we got up were about normal for the areas we stopped at. Where there was cover there was birds walking around on the roads as well. I took it as a good sign for bird numbers and a bad sign for public land usage.
Seems to suggest that Emergency Haying and Grazing has to wait until August 1. July 15 in my state, Kansas.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
If the info we're throwing together is pretty much right, then it all depends how high grass & weeds can grow by, say, May 1 or May 15. If it can grow tall enough by then to conceal a hen on a nest, maybe mowing the previous year doesn't affect next spring's nesting. I wonder if it actually could be the reason for late broods. Birds wait around (or don't nest successfully) until the grass grows high enough. ???
Nope, not CRP. It's brooding cover, predator removal and winter cover as far as bird number are concerned.
Low grasses with lots of forbs is the consensus- First or second year growth of ten year CRP lease might qualify as good breeding habitat. A lot of the walk-ins are 10 acres or less are not highly functional breeding sites either but at least haying old CRP brings it back to useful breeding condition the next spring.
Wildlife consensus view on breeding habitat-
www.pheasantsforever.org
Specifically South Dakota pheasant survey data graph tracks the amount of CRP and pheasant population estimate and there is no consistent, direct correlation between CRP acres and pheasant numbers.
Just one decade of Soil Bank years is available with data to track and from the little we see, that era wasn't closely dependent on fallow ground going to grass either. In my reading of historical farming, weather and hunting accounts or the era, I found the just as WW2 was starting there was massive statewide flooding in SD leaving much of the state looking like the pothole region. So many men left for the war that these widespread small sloughs and surrounding fields were not worked for the next 4-6 years. This resulted in widespread cattails stands in most fields often surrounded by new growth grasses. This optimal breeding and winter habitat produced the largest number of SD pheasants ever seen in the late 40s despite Soil Bank/CRP not existing until the 50s.
Low grasses with lots of forbs is the consensus- First or second year growth of ten year CRP lease might qualify as good breeding habitat. A lot of the walk-ins are 10 acres or less are not highly functional breeding sites either but at least haying old CRP brings it back to useful breeding condition the next spring.
Wildlife consensus view on breeding habitat-
Create the Ultimate Back 40 for Pheasants
Use these 4 habitat building blocks to maximize the potential of your small acreage, then reap the wildlife and hunting rewards.
www.pheasantsforever.org
Specifically South Dakota pheasant survey data graph tracks the amount of CRP and pheasant population estimate and there is no consistent, direct correlation between CRP acres and pheasant numbers.
Just one decade of Soil Bank years is available with data to track and from the little we see, that era wasn't closely dependent on fallow ground going to grass either. In my reading of historical farming, weather and hunting accounts or the era, I found the just as WW2 was starting there was massive statewide flooding in SD leaving much of the state looking like the pothole region. So many men left for the war that these widespread small sloughs and surrounding fields were not worked for the next 4-6 years. This resulted in widespread cattails stands in most fields often surrounded by new growth grasses. This optimal breeding and winter habitat produced the largest number of SD pheasants ever seen in the late 40s despite Soil Bank/CRP not existing until the 50s.
One of the recent yearly reports states just that - late nesting due to needing sufficient cover growth. It was cited as a reason why the increase observed this year (vs last year's drought year) was fairly minimal.
I have never seen a WIA of 10 acres - smallest one I have hunted in SD was 80 acres.
HS Strut
Active member
The birds will be fine. It'll just be tough for out of state hunters who drive a long way only to find most of their map spots mowed and basically unhuntable like last season... But anywhere the cover is there the birds will be there.
I don't wanna get into arguing....but I'm getting to the point that when I hear about emergency haying? I'm going some where else...another state or at least another area... Last season we drove our butts off finding entire fields mowed like a golf course and if it wasn't for a couple cattail sloughs (that only had birds because everything was mowed) a group of 6 hunters and 5 dogs would've come home to Indiana with about 4 birds on a 4 day hunt. Even the ditches were mowed! I LOVE SD. Love the people. I love the challenge of getting a limit on public land...knowing it wont be easy. Last year was tough because so much CREP was mowed, we were all hunting the same places....which were the only places that weren't mowed. Most hunting pressure I've ever seen in SD. Then I came out later in the season and hunted places that have always been good and it was like they were barren? Dogs didn't even get birdy. Was like hunting in Indiana! haha... I feel that was because they land that didn't get mowed got pounded over and over till the birds left.
I don't wanna get into arguing....but I'm getting to the point that when I hear about emergency haying? I'm going some where else...another state or at least another area... Last season we drove our butts off finding entire fields mowed like a golf course and if it wasn't for a couple cattail sloughs (that only had birds because everything was mowed) a group of 6 hunters and 5 dogs would've come home to Indiana with about 4 birds on a 4 day hunt. Even the ditches were mowed! I LOVE SD. Love the people. I love the challenge of getting a limit on public land...knowing it wont be easy. Last year was tough because so much CREP was mowed, we were all hunting the same places....which were the only places that weren't mowed. Most hunting pressure I've ever seen in SD. Then I came out later in the season and hunted places that have always been good and it was like they were barren? Dogs didn't even get birdy. Was like hunting in Indiana! haha... I feel that was because they land that didn't get mowed got pounded over and over till the birds left.