Vet Judy

            When it comes to your basic cool-season legume for deer forage, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) can’t be beat.  It is a perennial, but it can also be used as an annual in deer food plots, especially in more southern regions. 

            Alfalfa does not do well on clay soils; keep that in mind if your plot is located in such an area.  At about 19% protein and 1.35% calcium, alfalfa is especially good to supplement whitetailed diets in the spring and early summer.

            Alfalfa is a common forage crop used to make hay for cattle and sheep.  If there are alfalfa fields located at or near your hunting ground, be sure to factor that into your food plot design.  Deer that are used to grazing alfalfa elsewhere may not be as tempted to try it in a new planting.

            There are other legumes that are often recommended for deer food plots.  A number of these are warm-season annuals: hairy indigo, partridge pea, cowpea and deer vetch (also known as Aeschonomyne).  Of these warm-season annuals, cowpea can have good early-season forage potential for deer in some regions.  A cool-season annual, Austrian winter pea, has also performed well in more southern regions.

            For a fall forage legume in my part of the world, though, you almost have to go with a cool-season annual like vetch (Vicia) or birdsfoot trefoil.  These can be important legume forage sources that can complement the grasses and grains in your food plot’s design.  Don’t forget to properly inoculate the seed before planting.

            And never plant a legume without taking a look at soybeans, which I’ll deal with in the next blog.

            When it comes to forage crops that can grow in the late summer and the fall, you have to talk brassicas.  Unlike cool-season grasses, the growth of brassicas isn’t as affected by the cooler fall weather and shorter periods of daylight.  At my ranch, I’ve found that brassica crops are some of the best performers for deer food plots.

            Remember the importance of protein in the deer diet in Deer Management?  Well, brassicas are typically 16-18 percent “crude protein”—that’s nearly the same level as a premium, warmer season forage legume such as alfalfa.  Brassicas tend to be a very productive crop, and are very digestible for deer.  They are seeded in the summer and then provide forage into the fall and winter.

            As I’ve noted in my book, Deer Food Plots Made Easy, the neatest thing about brassicas is that they naturally repel the deer early in the season, before frost.  Leaves are bitter before they’re hit by frost; after frost, they naturally sweeten as starches in the leaves are converted to sugar.

            Turnips are a popular brassica crop, and are examined in more detail in a separate blog posting.  Turnip is also a good example of a multi-use brassica, for deer can forage for the edible roots long after the turnip tops, or “greens,” have been eaten.

            So if brassicas are such a wonder crop when it comes to deer forage, why doesn’t the deer food plot manager just plant an acre of brassicas and watch the racks roll in?  One word: fiber.  That’s right—for all their positive protein content, brassicas are notoriously low in fiber.  This is a big problem in ruminant nutrition, because ruminants need proper fiber levels to keep the bacteria living in their rumens happy and productive.  Sheep and cattle managers have discovered that brassicas shouldn’t make up more than about 75% of a ruminant’s diet.

            So while brassicas are absolutely essential for the deer food plot, they’re not the magical “silver bullet” crop that will guarantee food plot success.  That success will only come with proper deer habitat management, good crop seed mixtures, and well-thought location for your deer food plot plantings.