I'm a bit puzzled by Iron Clay Cowpeas?

Mennoniteman

Mennoniteman

Well-Known Member
My ag seed supplier didn't have forage soybeans but they said Iron Clay Cowpeas are just as good, so I spring planted some for the first time, four plus acres worth, as part of a mix with radishes, sorghum, sunflowers, clover and t-raptor brassica. It became an eight foot high jungle, and the deer were in there eating stuff all summer and actually living in there as well, but I could never find any evidence that they took one bite of Iron Clay Cowpeas? They mowed my ag beans like candy. So I've got these beautiful Iron Clay Cowpeas for what?
What is your guys experience with Iron Clay Cowpeas? Is it an acquired taste? Do they only eat at certain times? Or are they just not a top ten deer plot planting?
 
Although I don't plant summer plots I have several friends who plant IC peas with lablab and their plots stay mowed down! Could it be a regional thing? Maybe yankee deer don't like black eyed peas?
 
Mennoniteman said:
My ag seed supplier didn't have forage soybeans but they said Iron Clay Cowpeas are just as good, so I spring planted some for the first time, four plus acres worth, as part of a mix with radishes, sorghum, sunflowers, clover and t-raptor brassica. It became an eight foot high jungle, and the deer were in there eating stuff all summer and actually living in there as well, but I could never find any evidence that they took one bite of Iron Clay Cowpeas? They mowed my ag beans like candy. So I've got these beautiful Iron Clay Cowpeas for what?
What is your guys experience with Iron Clay Cowpeas? Is it an acquired taste? Do they only eat at certain times? Or are they just not a top ten deer plot planting?
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What seed store are you getting your iron clay cowpeas from? I have asked at the bedford farm bureau but they don't carry them, I got a bunch of evolved harvest mean bean crush on clearance a few years ago and the deer seemed to like the cowpeas in the mix.
 
I plant them side by side. For me, the deer will go after the soybeans first and take a bite here and there of the cow peas. When the beans are cleaned up they hammer what left of the cow peas and eat the pods also.
 
Mahindra3016 said:
What seed store are you getting your iron clay cowpeas from? I have asked at the bedford farm bureau but they don't carry them, I got a bunch of evolved harvest mean bean crush on clearance a few years ago and the deer seemed to like the cowpeas in the mix.
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They had ebony peas in that mix.
 
Some of the guys at my hunt club planted cow peas. The deer strip the stems bare. I came back to the farm and planted them. They weren't touched for two years. The third year they got grazed to the ground.
 
Last year, in July, I planted about 1.75 acres of IC peas where no food plot ever existed and with a little rain they lasted until mid September. This year, same spot, same crop, better rain and better soil test, the deer ate them to the ground in five weeks or so. This is pine plantation with poor natural browse. Deer density is fairly high there.
On my place, I get away with it because I have abundant natural browse and a low to decent deer density. I planted about three acres in three different plots on my 217 acre place in late May. I just completed a throw and mow on those plots and the peas were still viable, blooming actually, but probably would have been gone in another couple to three weeks. The deer had lots of groceries for the summer though !
 
Brian said:
Although I don't plant summer plots I have several friends who plant IC peas with lablab and their plots stay mowed down! Could it be a regional thing? Maybe yankee deer don't like black eyed peas?
Click to expand...
Dumb Yankee deer. I'll trade you a few for some southern deer with big racks that are smart enough to eat cowpeas. I'll throw in some shoofly pie and Philly cheesesteaks to make it worth your while.
 
They're Ironclay cowpeas from Kings AgriSeeds. These things get pods on them? They're definitely cowpeas, some of them must be close to three feet high in the sorghum, but I didn't see any pods... I'm going to do a closer inspection and post some pictures. Maybe the deer are too lazy to dig them out of the sorghum mix?
 
Soybeans, then sunflowers, then cowpeas are my deer's preference. When the soybeans and sunflowers are nibbled off, they are then all over the cowpeas. If you have any of those 2 left, maybe they are still working them over? The beauty of cowpeas, is that they can be nibbled to the ground and just keep growing.

The first year I planted them, the deer didn't hit them till they flowered, then I could never grow them again. This one had 24 leaves nibbled off and just kept trying to grow!

2014-07-13_12-23-12_225.jpg
 
Mennoniteman said:
What is your guys experience with Iron Clay Cowpeas? Is it an acquired taste? Do they only eat at certain times? Or are they just not a top ten deer plot planting?
Click to expand...

First, you may have enough at four acres that they can keep up with browsing. Second, could be it takes a little bit for them to figure it out. Many guys see that with brassicas. Some can't get them to produce a bulb before they're wiped out, others can't even find a nibbled leaf.

If you got them to grow, I'd try them again. This time, I'd add about 300lbs of gypsum per acre anytime after fall and before spring planting. I've added gypsum to my clover for the first time, and I think the sulfate sulfur in there really upped the attraction to the deer. Where I left a check spot with no gypsum, the clover wasn't touched.
 
I jumped on Mark's gypsum band wagon and added it to a spot in one of my plots that I replanted. Waiting for it to rain to get some germination.
 
MarkDarvin said:
First, you may have enough at four acres that they can keep up with browsing. Second, could be it takes a little bit for them to figure it out. Many guys see that with brassicas. Some can't get them to produce a bulb before they're wiped out, others can't even find a nibbled leaf.

If you got them to grow, I'd try them again. This time, I'd add about 300lbs of gypsum per acre anytime after fall and before spring planting. I've added gypsum to my clover for the first time, and I think the sulfate sulfur in there really upped the attraction to the deer. Where I left a check spot with no gypsum, the clover wasn't touched.
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How does the Gypsum help out?
 
Rempump870 said:
How does the Gypsum help out?
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I'm guessing their soils are probably low in sulfur. Gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) provides calcium and sulfur to deficient soil, helps raise ph in highly acidic soil, improves soil structure, reduces water runoff, and helps retain phosphorus. Modern farming practices that don't apply dry fertilizer anymore can create a sulfur deficiency. Dry fertilizer applications often include enough sulfur to meet the crop needs. Crops grown in deficient soil won't be as palatable to animals.
 
I know my deer are pretty damn picky. They get used to eating the normal farm crops and beyond that they tend to need some time to take to new things. I still get very little use of brassica here, but it seems to get a little better every year.....but obviously if there are other more desirable food available to the deer within reason they will exhaust those first. I have had cow peas in different BOB seed mixes and the deer really didn't pay them much attention, but food availability isn't an issue here.
 
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