Hey everybody. There is 100 acres of hardwood in a flat, low lying area next to a creek that will flood in heavy rains. I think it flooded only once this year. It has been clear cut. Approx. 1/2 has been stumped and windrowed. Burning piles now. The other half still has to be stumped. But looking at the 1/2 that is stumped, there is still a lot of small debris left. Mostly small stuff. I was wondering what could be done with the land for revenue. It's in Lowndes County AL, black belt region. We are disking it now. 1-Slight possibility (SLIGHT)- COWS? How many on 100 acres? What should be planted? Fence it in halves or all 100 acres? How much labor to work cows, investment, profit, or any info? 2-Make it a hay field and let somebody come in and cut on percentage. But, how in the world do we eliminate the small debris left behind? What should be planted? If we disk, apply the first fertilizer, and plant, what percentage should we expect if somebody does the rest? What percentage if we just have it cleaned and disked and somebody does the rest? 3- OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS! Please Advice b/c this needs to be done now. Thanks in advance!!!!!
How and what kind of hay will you plant? If you are going to sprig you'll need root pickers to clean it all up.
Corn for ethanol....
I don't know what quality of forage you can raise there (protein and mineral content in the grass). Here, we can usally count on 1 AUM (animal unit month - cow/calf pair) per acre on irrigated pasture, sometimes up to 1.5 AUM's if it is really good. We are in the high dessert, so non-irrigated pasture or rangeland can be 50 acres per AUM or more. With the humidity and rainfall that you get I assume that you would be closer to 2-3 acres per AUM. Your local cattleman would be your best bet for that info.
im from up in tallapoosa county and soybeans are starting to show a comeback. there are a few farmers here leasing land for crops. hay fields are always a plus but its gonna take a few years to get a substanial growth. what exactly is the small stuff.
There are still sticks or small stumps that made its way through the root rake and not to the pile. I may talk to a local farmer to see if he is interested in leasing it.
Motocross track, problem solved.
Cutting soybeans off freshly cleared ground sucks and is hard on combines. Lease it out as crop ground or if you're feeling adventurous, have it custom farmed. If that creek goes down pretty quick after flooding the worst it's gonna do is make sure cutting soybeans is interesting making sure you always have logs to pick up. I wouldn't suggest putting in hay. With brome there isn't much money left after paying for fert and you don't get much without fert. The people i used to cut hay for weren't making money, but it was cheaper than paying me to brushog their fields.
Before you can do any corn or soybean farming on it you will have to completely clean all woody debris off of it. If it is lowland and wet, you will also have to drain it before you will ever have a chance of getting a crop from it. The drainage is just as important as getting it clean to run farm equipment over it and for the plant to survive. Corn is a dry weather crop and needs rain in doses as it matures. Soybeans are somewhat more tolerable and will wait for longer periods for moisture. Can you put an electric fence around it as it is and run a batch of stock cows on it? They will clean alot of things up as high as they can reach and then as time permits begin the cleanup process.
The 100 acres is inside a high fence surrounding 1000 acres. It's not bottom, marshy land, but it is the lowest on the property. The creek does drain quickly after it floods, but the soil hold the moisture for a while. Cows seem like a lot of work and leasing it for cows means a farmer will be in daily. The 1000 acres is hunting property, so we don't want that. It will be disked and leveled before long, weather permitting. What if we plant grass and bushhog it for a couple years. The timber was cut 5+ years ago, so the debris has been down for a while. With running the disk over it and bushhogging for a couple years I would imagine most of it would be completely rotted. Would it be possible to then make it a hay field? If so, what grass should be planted now?
If the land is surrounded by huntable areas why not plant deer clover or another feed stock for whatever if available to hunt? Rick
There is no shortage of food plots already.
If you opt for the grass and the woody debris are rotted and can get a disc over it, go to the local extension office and get a grass type reccomendation for the soil type that it is. Some grasses are best mixed with other types of legumes so that they compliment each other in production. For example legumes put natural N (nitrogen) back in the soil as they are grown thus lowering the need for commercial fertilizers. There are many choices but be sure to find that correct seed mix for your particular land and climate. Here in central Missouri I have brome, orchard grass and alfalfa that we cut forage off of and run cattle year round on. We also have endophite free fescue that is used for permanent pasture - it is very durable and tough and can be heavily stocked with cattle, wheras the brome / alfalfa fields have to be managed differently and not abused or overgrazed. Good luck
It is called manual labor you go out there and pick up every chunk and haul it out of the field then you get a bush and bob disc and disc the crap out of it and then you pick the chunks up all over again. Then repeat for the next 2 years then you have a farm field.
What about planting more trees? It's more of a retirement type investment, but once they start growing, it's low overhead. Depending on what you plant, you could still rent the land out as pasture once the trees are too big to get eaten. If there's need for biomass fuel in your area, you could plant willow- that's a 3 year crop IIRC.
Hi there, why not put a couple shallow ponds for the ducks, have fun. sam
Sam, You think like me--lol.
Farmers like to use the new ground for watermelons and that would give a year for the small stuff to rot. I am to clearing some woods and using a chisel plow with the front tines off to drag the stuff that got through the rake to piles.