After putting in 10 acres of deer food plots for this fall, it's time to start some much needed work on the rest of our recently-purchased 118-acre farm. Aside from a neighboor cutting hay off 20 acres of the farm for the past several years, this piece of ground hasn't been a working farm for for 40 years. The previous owner cut timber on the place and the timber crew did a wonderful job of rutting up a lot of good ground. Add to the ruts is an abundance of rocks from the size of baseballs to a Volkswagen. At some point in its past life, this farm was also a junk yard. All of the olds cars are gone, and thankfully the farmer next door cleaned up more than a thousand scrap tires in exchange for cutting hay. What's left are nasty little surprises smashed down into the soil in the form of old auto parts and other scrap. I learned today that the support frame wires from a burried car seat are just what it takes to trip a Ford 101 2-bottom plow.
This is the second small farm I've started "reclaiming" from decades of abuse and poor farming practices. The Horsebranch Farm, my first farm, is a 202-acre jewel with 75-acres of hilly row crop land. The first thing I did there six years ago was put 40 acres in CRP CP-33 Native Warm Season Grasses around the field borders. That part of the "fescue rescue" started, I put the interior 35 acres back into row crop three seasons ago. Soil fertility is climbing each year, and the soybean crop is responding nicely to several tons of chicken manure and ample rain this summer. After five years of very selective deer hunting, this farm is loaded with mature bucks. This promises to be an exciting fall.
This is the second small farm I've started "reclaiming" from decades of abuse and poor farming practices. The Horsebranch Farm, my first farm, is a 202-acre jewel with 75-acres of hilly row crop land. The first thing I did there six years ago was put 40 acres in CRP CP-33 Native Warm Season Grasses around the field borders. That part of the "fescue rescue" started, I put the interior 35 acres back into row crop three seasons ago. Soil fertility is climbing each year, and the soybean crop is responding nicely to several tons of chicken manure and ample rain this summer. After five years of very selective deer hunting, this farm is loaded with mature bucks. This promises to be an exciting fall.
