Cedar Valley Farms

Why plant a food plot?

Improve overall health of wildlife
Improve the quality of food in the area
Valuable part of hunting strategy
Attract more deer to a concentrated area
Improve chances of seeing deer with large racks

When to plant?

Ideally, you will be able to plant a variety of foods that deer prefer at different times of the year so that there is always something attractive on their plate. In a perfect world, each spring will provide a leftover bounty of high-carbohydrate grain and an early green-up of winter wheat or rye. As spring advances the deer will quickly shift to your high protein clover plots. During the heat of summer they will be hammering your soybeans and alfalfa. In early fall sorghum seed heads will be the tastiest thing around, as deer shift out of the beans and into the grains. Then in late fall and winter they'll flock to the high carbohydrate content of your corn plots to fuel their furnaces.

What to plant?

Alfalfa: Alfalfa is a great source of protein. Deer will eat it all summer and for as long as the plant remains nutritious into the fall. They will start on it as early as possible in the spring. A properly maintained alfalfa plot will last for several years and is fairly drought tolerant.
Alfalfa is primarily a summer food source. It doesn't green-up as quickly in the spring, and it turns brown quickly after the first hard frost. It will be utilzed less by deer thereafter.
Clover: Clover is easy to establish in most regions of the country and most soil types.
Winter Wheat/Rye/Triticale: Green fields are typically some combination of winter grains with a little clover thrown in. They stay green well into the winter and are very resistant to frost. In the spring they are the first plant to green up, so they are an important early food for deer looking to repair after a hard winter. At mid-spring, songbirds and turkeys love the seed heads but deer are much less interested.
Brassicas
Turnips are a good choice to complement you food plot. The deer will hit them hard after the first hard freeze. Deer love purple top turnips and will eat both the forage and the tubers.
Another type of brassica is dwarf Essex rape. The deer will also feed heavily on this plant after the first hard freeze and into the winter.
A third choice is Tyfon, or Holland greens. The is a hybrid between Chinese Cabbage and stubble turnip. Tyfon is rapid growing and vigorous...extremely cold-hardy and also slow to bolt. Tyfon is mild in flavor, and has a high protein content.
Soybeans
Milo
Corn

Wildlife Food Plots: