Hoping for some food plot guidance

S

siouxcitysmitty

Member
To all,

I recently purchased 100 acres of ground in western Nebraska, primarily as a waterfowling spot. There's been no ag on the ground, just former cattle grazing, which is now primarily overgrown in kochia, and is holding a few pheasants.

I'd love to increase the number or resident pheasants and would like to explore putting in some food plots.

Any rule of thumb on how much/acre it costs to put in milo, or something similar?

Any recommendations are appreciated!
 
Whats wrong guys? No responses 2 days:mad: Not for sure on cost of milo. Can't find my book that has milo seed cost and rates:( Wheres Prarie drifter at he knows a bunch:)
 
My honest opinion is that feed is probably not the pheasants limiting factor on your land. Take a look around, maybe there is another piece of the puzzle missing that your time and effort maybe better spent on. Shoot a rooster out there, I bet he has a crop FULL of weed seeds and isn't one bit hungry.:cheers:
 
Food

I would skip the food plot and look into big,and little bluestem, some clover and switch grass a couple of big cover areas will suit you better in the long run, plant it once and your done for a while, burn it every other year after the 3rd year and watch it grow, I've done a dog training area, at the farm and it has spread on it's own, then you could run some food plot strips at a later date, good food plots take up alot of time and money. Just my 2 cents.good luck( got my grass seed from star seed company)
 
I don't have enough information to tell you what you need to do. What the cover types on your ground are and what's across the fenceline are needed to know how to attract or produce more birds. If you're surrounded by crop fields, there is no reason to add to that. If you are surrounded by grass, same answer. Often, the brood-rearing habitat is limited and the legume or annual weed type cover will provide that niche. You need to paint us a picture of what is there and what is missing.
 
CaptCoot, thanks for bumping my post!

And, thanks to everyone else for their input, which is greatly appreciated!

It is indeed adjacent to a pivot (currently in corn), with 3 more pivots nearby.

I guess I was thinking a few strips of milo, only because the cover seems really good to me. Very thick. I'm pretty sure it's kochia...we always called it fireweed when I was growing up. Basically looks like tumbleweeds when it's dried out in the fall.

I'll try and take a couple pics, and, post a satellite pic that will give a better feel for the lay of the land
 
You mentioned it had been grazed, does that mean that is basic prairie under the kochia? With that many pivots in the area, there is little reason to worry about fall/winter food. If those pivots are disked before fall, you might have cause to provide standing food. I would predict that producing birds in that scenario will be more important than feeding what isn't being produced. The pics should help. A closeup of what's under the kochia would also help.
 
Sounds like You have the raw materials there for some bird production.
Do you have stuff like brushy coulees. Old farmsteads with shelter? Cattail bottoms.
You mentioned ducks, what type of ponds, got some bull rush or cattails.

Corn residue under the pivots is very good while it lasts. If they happen to leave it all winter or better yet winter cattle on it your in great shape. Most just turn it black after the combine.

I like the idea of having about a 10 acre patch of thickly planted weedy corn left standing over winter. I would add some fertilizer, run through with a cultivator one time early when the corn is about a foot tall.
You'll have a bunch of birds Wintering there, for sure. :thumbsup:
 
10% is a good rule of thumb. So 10 acres of your 100 would be a start.

Kochia makes great pheasant cover and food.

You can find free milo seed and fert and herb would run you about 60-70 buck and acre.

3, 5 acre milo plots would boost you over winter bird health for sure provided the milo stand is like production grade yield.


Remember....the key concept is not food plot but Food COVER Plot. Done right, milo can provide excellent over winter food and cover for birds.
 
smitty

Hey Smitty this Fall, while driving to the Black Hills I saw a really nice set up on the west river side, six or so rows of cedar trees, then a swath of native tall grass, then it looked like eight rows of corn followed by four rows of tall thick sorgum then the eight rows of corn and the pattern continued. The cedars where only 6-8 feet tall. Which I assume kept the hawks from perching way up high and dive bombing the birds. I bet the hunters walk the row between the corn and sorgum and allowed the dogs to work the cover. Really nice set up. oh and the property look like it had a slough on one side and CRP on the other two sides. Interstate on the fourth side. viking
 
Mustang brand Long tall Sorgum in sandy soil, heads turned out to be 4-5 inches, Pheasants have pretty much consumed all of the seeds, they walk on top of the snow drifts and eat away...
 
cover thickness

The other advantage of planting this stuff other than the winter seed is it can come in super thick so the Hawks can not dive bomb the pheasants. I saw this happen twice last year. The Hawks dived down and poof hit the food plot and couldn't penetrate down to get the birds. Really made me smile. Plus the pheasants sat pretty tight when we walked the foot plot last year which made for good shooting for the younger hunters.
 
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