Farm Report

[ranwin33]

Have been able to get up to the farm twice in the last three weeks.  Both weekends were beautiful weather, although nearly got blowed away this past Saturday. 
 
Got some trees hinged cut this last time up, trying to open up New Plot to some more sun light.  It became quite the place to hunt last year; pretty good for a first year plot.  Just needs a little more work to make it near perfect.  Looks like clover prices are up about $1 a pound.
 
Also got the mineral licks running again, plus did some disking on our fire break around the NWSG.  Hope to burn them the first part of May, if weather starts to warm up.
 
This winter have found three dead deer on our property - all appear to be does.  Neighbors to the south claim to have found 7 dead deer.  Photo of one was the 13 point buck we had on camera.  They think it's poachers, but I'm more inclined to believe its either predation or disease, maybe some of both.
 
Despite dead deer we're finding, the deer numbers in area don't appear to be hurt by winter or last hunting season.  Couple of farmers planted wheat this past fall to make up for failed bean and corn crops.  Driving by the wheatfields in the evenings I have counted over 60 deer.  They come out like clockwork around 7 p.m.  Haven't seen anything like it in the 7 years we've been there.  With numbers like these I'm already looking forward to next year.

[Robert Rowland]

Too bad about the dead deer, I hope that doesn't migrate my direction.
I have not been out looking for deer but have noticed more sightings lately, and a spike in road kills. I have say the herd around here is in good shape too.
Went antler hunting last weekend. Found no antlers or dead deer but did find lots of sign and spooked a few deer out of narrow fingers of brush in corn fields.

[ranwin33]

Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on with all the dead deer.  This is the first year we've had so many, or I guess the first year we've found any at all.  I'm still leaning toward predation, we've go a bobcat running our property and the deer I arrowed at the end of gun season had her rear end torn up, not after the shot but before I shot her.  Attaching a picture of her.

Last trip up also had a doe on the property next door with an injured front leg, this is the second doe we've come across like that.  Could be a hoof sloughing off which might mean some form of EHD.

Did find one shed this season, or I guess half a shed.  Four points, look like it popped off when the buck jumped a fence as I found it right beside one.

Hope to be off this coming weekend to go do a little burning and maybe get some forage sorghum planted in our firebreak.  Were hoping to burn our NWSG but we're looking at waiting until first week of May given temps have been pretty cool still this year.

Have seen lots of road kill as well.

I've heard rumor they're going to allow bow hunting in Shawnee Mission park.  Not sure it could be called hunting given how tame the deer seem to be, but they sure need to do something there.

[Robert Rowland]

WOW! That's pretty good damage for a deer that got away from whatever did it.
I don't travel Renner past the park much, and I never go into the park, so I didn't realize they had a deer problem.
Last week I noticed a road killed deer on I-435 just South of where Midland Drive crosses over. I used to see deer there pretty often, but it mostly ended when they built all the houses on both sides. I used to see lots of deer on Renner Road South of 95th also, but with all the development, there are less deer in the area. Still see some in the area over the caves now and then though.
 
Three years ago a young buck made his way inside the fence at Sysco. He ran to each end passing the open gates without exiting several times until he callapsed. Some guys loaded him into a pickup and hauled him off. He probably died from the stress and exhaustion. I guess he came from the area North of College, got into the developing area South of 119th and just got spooked. That was the last deer I have seen South of College Blvd and inside city limits.

[ranwin33]

Coming back from St. Joe this evening, there was a dead deer about that same area, this one would have been south of Midland on 435.  Maybe closer to 63rd St.
 
There are three deer that seem to live in the woody area at the intersection of 435 and Quivera, I see them maybe once a month or so as I drive to/from JCCC.  I have a couple of times seen a deer in the grassy area of the college at the corner of Quivera and College Blvd - in the area the geese seem to like to inhabit. 
 
Shawnee Mission park is a nice drive on Summer evenings.  A person can easily see 20-30 deer grazing in open areas. 
 
Not sure what did that to the doe I shot, all I know is it didn't happen after the shot as I only gave it about 30 minutes before I went to get her and the wound while new was dried over.  Funny thing was, she was in the lead of the group of does that was heading into the food plot and didn't act like a think was wrong with her. 

[ranwin33]

Another good weekend on the farm.  Didn't spend much time, just Friday and Saturday.
 
Got a small milo plot burned.  Couldn't get to the beanfield plot burned, a little too windy for my brother's tastes.  Probably for the best.  The NWSG aren't quite ready to burn either.
 
Still not much green-up.  Most grasses and fields, but trees have yet to pop.
 
Did get forage sorghum planted in the firebreak surrounding our NWSG field - sorghum was provided by the state of Missouri free of charge. 
 
Also got fertilizer spread on hilltop and new plots.
 
Didn't see a lot of deer - but did see a lot of deer sign.  Noticed in woods many shrubs were really browsed down, this is first year I've seen that, so have to think carrying capacity of land may be getting reached.
 
Got some rain on Saturday, may .25 inches.  Just enough to soak planted seeds.
 
All-in-all, another good trip.

[ranwin33]

Another good visit up on the farm.
 
Put on a second application of Poast herbicide on our alfalfa plot.  The stuff does work, but had such a major grass problem we've decided on a second application.  New plot was going gang busters - Durana clover nearly a foot tall.  Scared a hen turkey off her nest just off the plot - didn't see her until she flew up about three feet from me.  Hilltop plot is looking a little ragged, but should come back fine by mid-summer, it always does.
 
Was glad to see many of the trees we planted in tubes last year are coming back - including all but one of the persimmons which we thought were dead.  Apple an cherry trees my brother planted two weeks ago are also doing great.  Also some redbuds we planted along the fence line are coming back - should look pretty nice in 3-4 years when our 900 foot of fenceline by the road is lined with redbuds in the Spring.
 
NWSG look fair after being burned.  Just not enough of them for my taste and this is third year so should be doing better I think.  Will have PLC come out and take a look and see what he says.  Maybe apply another application of Plateau next year to inhibit grass/weed growth.  It's not that the 8 acres is bad, just not as thick with NWSG as I was hoping.
 
Saw a couple of deer, one a buck with about 6 inches of antler growing.  Other than that a pretty quiet weekend.
 
 

[buckhunter21]

Does poast seem to kill all grasses in a clover plot, and what's the cost?  I've been meaning to spray our plots but seems a lot of the spray that I've seen is pretty spendy.  I haven't ran across poast yet, but have heard that it works well!

[ranwin33]

Poast ran us $149 plus $18 shipping for 2.5 gallons.  Use about 2.5 pints per acre with a crop oil additive.

It's suppose to kill all the grasses - and looks to be doing a pretty good job.  We put on our first application in late April.  Just mowed the plot a couple of weeks ago and I put on the second application this past weekend.  It rained about four hours after the first application but it's suppose to be rainfast after 1 hour - we were still a little concerned, but seems to have done an OK job.  We did have a BAD grass problem in parts of the plot, but I'm fairly certian this second application will finish them off.  Had enough dead grass in the plot I was itching to do a burn but was by myself so passed.

Of course now that the grasses aren't competing so much, the weeds are really coming in.

I'll report on it again in a few weeks once we give the application a chance to work.

[ranwin33]

Another good farm visit.

Didn't get much accomplished, but sometimes it's a good thing just to play around and not worry too much about work.

Weather was pretty cool for this time of year, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were all overcast.  Finally got a little rain on Friday evening.

Got things mowed a bit on Thursday, just the "yard" around our barn and fence line, and Hilltop plot.  Hilltop plot is looking pretty rough, I'm hoping the mowing helps.  It always comes back strong come Fall and is the last spot feeding deer once the snow hits.  ATV keeps overheating, need to get it in and have the water pump checked. 

Can't say as I'm thrilled with how well the Poast is working.  But will continue to give it time.  I'm thinking with all the rain we've been having, it's probably struggling to keep up.  Or maybe the grasses we're seeing weren't even sprouted when the Poast was applied.

Friday my brother arrived.  All we got accomplished was an afternoon of fishing.  We've got permission to fish the neighbor's ponds across the road from us.  Fishing is always good there.  Caught 10 bass and a bluegill in one pond, and 20+ catfish in the other.  Moved 7 bass and 12 catfish to our ponds, hope they survive as we don't have many if any fish in them.  Not sure if it's because the ponds were used by cattle for so many years or they're just too small.  Been working at keeping out the snapping turtles so we're trying to restock again.  Would like to take advantage of some of these fish programs, but can't figure out a way to get the fish to our ponds safely from 45 minutes away.

The woodchuck that was living under our barn has torn up his last ATV seat, killed his last cat, and got into his last bag of seed.  He has gone to the great woodchuck haven in the sky.

Saturday we again got nothing accomplished.  Got a game camera set up, checked on some trees in tubes, and just generally did nothing but listen to another neighbor try to mow his overgrown lot for about five hours.  Just for fun I dropped a line in one of our ponds, and did catch a catfish, most likely one released the day before.

As always, a good trip.  Will be meeting with PLC next trip up on 6/25.  Looking into the possiblity of converting our remaining two pastures to NWSG or NWSG and cool season grasses or clover.  Will see what the state of Missouri would like to help us with.