Wow oh wow oh wow!!!!

J

JO BO

Member
Boy did I ever find a honey hole. Went for a drive yesterday and found an area with 4-5 foot tall sweetclover. several acres of this.
Pheasants were coming out of this to edges where it had been cut and along roads that were clean and the numbers were just amazing.:eek:
In this part of North Dakota sweetclover grew better than I have ever seen it, even Butte tops were in full yellow bloom. This brood rearing habitat did wonders for the birds. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those 500 bird flushes from this area of clover.
Looked like a good number of hens so with a mild winter and everything else falling in place next year could be record setting for this area. (Modern era of course).
 
A good patch of Sweet Clover will do wonders for the birds. :cheers:

SC should be included in EVERY CRP or habitat planting. ALWAYS!!!:)
 
mnmthunting said:
A good patch of Sweet Clover will do wonders for the birds. :cheers:

SC should be included in EVERY CRP or habitat planting. ALWAYS!!!:)
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A very invasive weed in some locations, but I agree, the birds like it. The seed is substantial and the cover is thick but yet they can run in it.

When we were in high school and did a lot of road hunting after school we always stopped at a patch of sweet clover in the ditch, more times than not there would be a bird in it.

An annual alfalfa might be better for a CRP planting or a nesting/ food plot.
 
I have always loved the sweet clover. Some of my land has a good mix of both sweet clover and alfalfa of which I think they compliment each other well.
I just need less brome grass and better cool grasses then some warm grass/legume/forbs area and I will be good to go. Need better cooperation from CRP people though as they are tying my hands.
 
McFarmer said:
A very invasive weed in some locations, but I agree, the birds like it. The seed is substantial and the cover is thick but yet they can run in it.

When we were in high school and did a lot of road hunting after school we always stopped at a patch of sweet clover in the ditch, more times than not there would be a bird in it.

An annual alfalfa might be better for a CRP planting or a nesting/ food plot.
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Mc, The only thing better then Sweet Clover would be Heirloom type alfalfa.
Which of course is perennial, NOT annual, where as Sweet Clover is Bi annual. The Sweet Clover you see now is dead, gone to seed. Where you have Sweet Clover this year, next year, it wont be there.

Sweet Clover an invasive weed? yes. :)
But this is, A pheasant hunting and habitat forum. :cheers:
 
McFarmer said:
There are annual alfalfas, which are not prone to going wild like sweet clover is.
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Anyway, why would anybody plant an "annual alfalfa" when they could plant a perennial heirloom type? :confused::eek:

Sweet Clover going wild, :):) SWEET!! I'm talking pheasant habitat and the future of our wild ringnecks.

You don't like the Sweet Clover, think, Glyphosate. :confused:

Besides, Sweetclover is VERY, VERY! non game critter friendly. :cheers:
 
I found another area about 5 miles North of this one also..a lot smaller in size but birds were there also. Another small patch between the two also had some birds. Almost everyplace I have found birds this year has been in sweet clover.
I did find one rooster in a mixed small grains food plot.

I suppose as the season progresses this will change, but for now they are loving the stuff.
:)
 
mnmthunting said:
Anyway, why would anybody plant an "annual alfalfa" when they could plant a perennial heirloom type? :confused::eek:

Sweet Clover going wild, :):) SWEET!! I'm talking pheasant habitat and the future of our wild ringnecks.

You don't like the Sweet Clover, think, Glyphosate. :confused:

Besides, Sweetclover is VERY, VERY! non game critter friendly. :cheers:
Click to expand...

I have no idea what a heirloom alfalfa variety would be. Is there such a thing ? Vernal maybe, but that is hardly heirloom. An annual alfalfa would reseed itself for the following year, but it isn't competive enough to "go wild".

Around here sweet clover has gone wild, if we treasure nature and all it represents I think there are better alternatives to sweet clover.

Now, I have grown a lot of sweet clover, but never to the point of allowing it to reseed. It does have it's place.

'Course the NRCS still sells Eastern Red Cedar, so I guess anything goes.
 
McFarmer said:
A very invasive weed in some locations, but I agree, the birds like it. The seed is substantial and the cover is thick but yet they can run in it.
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Yes. They seem to utilize sweet clover for brood rearing, then as a "hangout" in the winter months. I've seen pheasants make areas of sweet clover look like a stock yard in the winter months.

As you mentioned though, it is very invasive and can take over quickly if not managed. I've seen it take over a nice multicultural pheasant habitat and turn it into a monoculture habitat. The bee's really liked that though. lol
 
The reason Sweet Clover is so well established is because of the Bee Keepers.
The "Sweet" part, it makes wonderful honey. Years with lots of Sweet Clover is "money in the bank"
Anyway, I think areas with a moister climate will get Sweet Clover germinating every year to a point. In the West with the drier climate it's probably 0ne in five years that the stuff is wide spread. Although you may find a patch here and there just about every year.
It will shade and suppress the native grass, during the years when SC is thick and heavy. I see no sign of it killing the grass out. But the added nutrients from the decomposing Sweet Clover the following year does cause a nice heavy green up and thick tall native grasses.
On the years of Sweet Clover, look for the deer and elk to have wide heavy racks. So the old timers say. :cheers:
 
It was a beekeepers dream come true this year. They were trucking semi load after semi load of hives into the area to take advantage of the abundant moisture we got this year. The sweet Clover and alfalfa did very well and it's not hard to find several colonies of bees about every section.
The hives are stacked tall with supers. I'm sure this is one of their most productive years for honey production in quite some time.
Since it is a biennial plant we won't see so much next year. Where I am seeing the huge growths are in last year's disturbed areas that were not planted this year . The honey hole had been planted to corn last year and wasn't planted this year. The same holds true for the Northern Plot (only it was simply summer fallow).
because we normally don't get a lot of precipitation here sweet clover doesn't take over any field, it just adds a nice compliment to what is already there on those wet years.
We get both yellow and white sweet clover. The white comes along after the yellow has faded quite a bit and there isn't as much of that.
I am hoping this years abundance of it will help produce a larger than normal pheasant population for the years down the road.
 
JO BO with the price of commodities down maybe we will see some more of the weed patches next year. :)

The ranchers I know in MT run a lot of cows on lots of land. They figure another 50 pounds per calf at 7 month weaning during the Sweet Clover years. 1,000 pairs, calves at $250 per pound.
Don't tell them Sweet Clover is harmful to their rangland. :cheers:
 
mnmthunting said:
JO BO with the price of commodities down maybe we will see some more of the weed patches next year. :)

The ranchers I know in MT run a lot of cows on lots of land. They figure another 50 pounds per calf at 7 month weaning during the Sweet Clover years. 1,000 pairs, calves at $250 per pound.
Don't tell them Sweet Clover is harmful to their rangland. :cheers:
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I shoulda charged more for my calves.
 
I talked with a gal yesterday who runs cows on about 25,000 acres and she enjoys the added forage of the sweet clover but said you have to be careful with it.
Just like a lot of forage species good management is a must to prevent any problems from overgrazing amounts etc.
while monoculture fields of native/introduced grasses etc all seem to have low wildlife value compared to good mixtures, I certainly see adding sweet clover to any planting I do in the future. Just need the management tools to go along with it.

I
 
mnmthunting said:
Mc, The only thing better then Sweet Clover would be Heirloom type alfalfa.
Which of course is perennial, NOT annual, where as Sweet Clover is Bi annual. The Sweet Clover you see now is dead, gone to seed. Where you have Sweet Clover this year, next year, it wont be there.

Sweet Clover an invasive weed? yes. :)
But this is, A pheasant hunting and habitat forum. :cheers:
Click to expand...
Correct re bi annual. I would say it was thick from ND to Nebraska. It really loves those June rains. The pheasants also like it as late season cover as it provides overheard cover from hawks, but not too thick on the bottom Sunflowers also, If cold and windy they will move to heavier cover, sloughs , tree belts CRP.
 
mnmthunting said:
JO BO with the price of commodities down maybe we will see some more of the weed patches next year. :)

The ranchers I know in MT run a lot of cows on lots of land. They figure another 50 pounds per calf at 7 month weaning during the Sweet Clover years. 1,000 pairs, calves at $250 per pound.
Don't tell them Sweet Clover is harmful to their rangland. :cheers:
Click to expand...

How do cattle like the stems/base on that stuff? Do they eat that portion too?

I'm asking because I've broken tri-blades cutting large sections of Sweet Clover. If it gets big enough it almost has a wood-like-stem to it. Do cattle eat that portion too or just the "bushy" portions w/leaves?

Just wondering. Thanks:):cheers:
 
1pheas4 said:
How do cattle like the stems/base on that stuff? Do they eat that portion too?

I'm asking because I've broken tri-blades cutting large sections of Sweet Clover. If it gets big enough it almost has a wood-like-stem to it. Do cattle eat that portion too or just the "bushy" portions w/leaves?

Just wondering. Thanks:):cheers:
Click to expand...

The first year sweet clover is nearly indistinguishable from alfalfa, they eat that very well.

The second year they will eat it until it gets too stemy, which doesn't occur if they have access to it all summer long.

If harvested sweet clover get moldy it has a coumarin content, which is a problem. Stroke victims will be able to relate.
 
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