Clover, Brassicas and Mowing

[MarkDarvin]

All you guys are right about the rye grass. Grass is in your plot for a reason. It's filling a niche. Problem is, you didn't get to pick what grass you got. This is why I'm a big proponent of putting a grass in your plot, but one that is very easy to control. Choice #1 is winter rye. If you didn't put it in last fall, you can still rescue it in the spring with...

...anybody?

Barley.

It can be broadcast, it starts when soil is cold, and will fill that grass niche in your plot before grass you can't easily control takes hold.

 

[FarmerD]

There is a difference between the standard annual ryegrass we all hate and find in the cheap throw and grow packages for quick and easy deer food plots, and High Sugar Ryegrass that was developed to improve cattle feed. I still don't want either in my food plots and I certainly don't want a mono culture of anything.

I think Paul Knox (aka Doubletree) concluded that the deer did eat it about equally as well as clover. It complicated his herbicide program and he was fearful it would become a weed. Based on this Clemson Study, it really didn't put any additional weight on cattle, than other options. Hence, it's something we don't hear too much about anymore, as far as use in deer food plots. Several years ago, it was a "big thing", but faded off into the sunset.

https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2754&context=all_dissertations