Mike, nice job with the disk. I look at food plots as my way of giving back to nature for all that it has given to me. It benefits the herd and increases the quality of the meat, that I feed my family with.
Love deer hunting, although in all the years hunting I have only harvested one deer. I hunt with my wife’s grandfather and he likes to tell stories of fishing and hunting times of old. Since he is hard of hearing he talks loudly so if we see a deer it’s usually running away. With that being said, I wouldn’t trade my times in the woods with him for a world record buck.
Jeeze Louise, that’s a huge food plot! Mine are in little clearings...some just 10’x10’. You’re running a danged deer buffet and smorgasbord there! I hope you have some monster bucks!
Nice video mike, I have 18 acres on my homestead in beautiful NH and I want to do a food plot one day! Clear a small section and limb up the surrounding trees to get the sunlight in there! God Bless. We have so many Deer and wildlife up here, daily they stroll right through the yard!
Great video Mike! Love the food plot! It's been so cold and wet here in Western Kentucky I hadn't put out my feed plots yet! Your video really made me focused! I'm planning to do it this weekend. I will probably use a tiller too! Great stuff. Thanks
That just gave me a better understanding of what 40(-ish) pounds per pan looks like in action, and why some consider 40lbs/pan to be a minimum for effective disc harrows. Not intended to criticize the equipment as it did the job, but seeing this was helpful as a data point since I was much more familiar with how my late grandfather's pull behind disc worked in the fields/garden (I'd guess that thing had 70lbs to 100lbs per pan -- if not more). So thanks for that as it helps give me a perspective for my own future purchases.
Love planting wildlife plots.....Been doing it for 25 years on my 80..amd now have anpther 32 acres ..I have about 8 to 10 acres in plots..I made the farm fields smaller with tree plantations about 20 years ago ..great cover ...Nice video ...I found a 50 hp diesel and a disc and a quack digger will do acreage far quicker then any tiller...tillers may be great for smaller plots tho.
Fred Gruetzmacher I have heard benefits of smaller food plots is that the bucks will visit them. Breaking larger plots into smaller plots makes the bucks move around to check each one out looking for active does. We plant corn strips to break up out large clover and soybean plots.
James Morse Yes I agree... I can't plant Beans anymore as the deer mow them off as fast as they grow..I'd have to fence them..My plots are from 1/2 acre to 1.5 acres I made them all smaller with tree plantings to provide security like you are doing with corn...I c ant grow corn here either...small plots of corn get wiped out flattened by bears in the August...beans and corn are a waste of my time and money here..I have been planting fall crops of sugar beets and turnip patches with a clover mix to rotate plots into clovers in the following spring...i have 2 test plots i just seeded with Ruttabaga and Sugar Beets seeded separately in half of each test plot I have been reading up on sugar beets and how to grow them and am giving it a try as the deer should leave them alone till lat October and Nov...
Our food plots are in Southwest Wisconsin but mostly in Northwest Wisconsin and yes the bears hit a couple of them hard. Fred what state are you in? Sounds like we are on a similar path. (You might try buckwheat. The only problem is after the first frost the deer mow it off)
James Morse I am Wisconsin as well central just north of Wausau...I have used buckwheat before..I like Winter rye ..I also plant Hornybuckseed.com with great tonnage success.
Mike, I live in SW Virginia. We have so many deer here that I can legally bow hunt in my back yard in a residential neighbor hood. My neighbor provides the food plot, a bird feeder which brings the deer in. :-)
Wish you the best of luck my friend. According to the almanac i think we are in for a cool and damp June. We'll see, that'd be great for your seed to germinate if it holds true. Good luck
Man, that's great that you have the option to move up in horsepower for those jobs that need more muscle. Great music on this video too. I don't know about you but I really enjoy editing!
You officially qualify to participate in the Butler County Farm Show this year! Looking forward to the seedling and finishing follow-up videos. I got nervous when I saw the dust and no water truck nearby!
Interesting video. I couldn’t agree more I have been whitetail hunting for 55 years and like you the preparing food plots, viewing trail camera photography and watching deer far the most enjoyable part. We use old farm equipment a plow, disk, drag, cultipaker and a two row corn planter. We planted corn, soybeans, barley, clover and sunflowers. Also add turnips in a shaded area where corn does grow well. The deer will eat the corn and the bears will either eat it or roll in it to knock it down. Keep up the videos. Question, I have been using Moltree cameras but my most recent one is a Cuddyback. It seems the Cuddyback takes much better videos. What is your choice?
You hit the the nail on the the head when you were talking about the whole process of hunting. I would almost rather do all the stuff you’re doing right now than actually harvest the deer. I often times go get in a tree stand just to watch the deer(and other wildlife) with no intention of killing one. I just enjoy being out there. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I appreciate the work you put into your videos, I can tell it's a lot of work, music is great. You need to come to South Texas sometime to hunt. I wish RK sold Tractors in Texas, but their reach is not this far down South. Have a good one, and thanks again.
Texas is a large market as more people have weekend acreage or hunting leases outside of the larger cities into rural areas. Also, those of us, who in my case have used our father's and grandfather's Ford 9N's and 8N's and other brands that didn't have front in loaders, and fewer mechanics know how to work on them are moving towards sub-compact and compact tractors. For those of us who have grown up farming and ranching our entire lives we know what to look for in a tractor, having cup holders as standard equipment doesn't plow ground or move dirt. A tough, practical, diesel engine with minimal electronics, accessible engine bay, and a good service department with a good dealership make the difference.
Good evening Mike.Always a great video - thanks. Watching your channel is better than watching TV. LOL. (ok, maybe sometimes...) Hey, when you drag that implement, is your rear position control in float or do you have to set it at a specific height with your position control? Thanks and enjoy your long weekend in US of A this weekend!
Fun and good for the wildlife for sure as for here in Corn Country we leave enough out after harvest for the wildlife to live on nice and if any farmer says his combine gets it all that is an outright lie lol
now I understand..that was recently planted ground - I was wondering how you got it that nice and tilled up with just discs...I thought you had used the tiller....I am doing a food plot too - unplanted ground - hoping my reverse tine Land Pride tiller handles it.
Chris Schmauch it will do an amazing job! Walk your area looking for roots and rocks. A fist size rock can ruin your day with your tiller. Outside of those suggestions, just till a few times from different directions and you will till more depth than you want quickly! Enjoy!
I have know lots of guys to use old sections of chain link fence for drags for seed/soil contact. They attach 2x’s to keep it stretched and for weight. God luck.
just looking at this video i noticed that the disc in the ends of the 2nd row aint touching ground. Maybe u might consider adding some weight back their so they can actually do what their meant to do. just a suggestion. Enjoy ur videos. thank u
Hey Mike, love these kind of videos. Please forgive my ignorance. Hey what's the difference between a smooth disc versus a disc with teeth; and why not plow the ground instead, what's the difference?
Hi Darryl, The ones with the notches are a little more aggressive at busting up hard clumps of soil, I don't have a plow but a plow would have been faster at turning over the soil, however after plowing you would still need the disc to get it ready for seed. So I just made a few more passes with the disc and skipped the plow. Make sense?
Outdoors With The Morgans Depending upon the condition of the soil, you might be able to get by with a chisel plow and then a tiller. If using a bottom plow, you would need the disk. Of course if ground is a hard pack after winter, you probably need the bottom plow, disc and tiller to really loosen up the soil.
1000 pounds with 24 discs is only 41.67 pounds per disc. I'm not a tractor expert by any means but that seems a bit light to me. Could that be why you weren't getting deeper penetration?
Thanks, Mike. I'm in Georgia, and I put seeds out two weeks ago. It has been raining every day since. Have you picked out your plans for your deer blind, yet?
Could you explain why you chose the combination of notched and smooth blade types on the disc and what each are used for? Could be helpful to some viewers.
I know nothing about farming, so maybe this is a dumb question. I've seen people on other channels skip the disk and just use a tiller. Does that work well? Is it necessary to do both?
Looks like you need to lengthen the top link so that the rear of the disk gets more of a bite, on the video looks it looks as if the rear is barely touching the ground
When the disk is down, are the lift arms higher at the tractor or at the disk? I've had similar issues getting the back of disks to bite, and it often seems worse if the lift arms aren't higher at the tractor by a noticeable amount. My best guess is that the front pans, when they meet the resistance of the dirt, are acting as a fulcrum, lifting the back up slightly, or at least taking some of the weight off it. I'm not sure that's actually what's happening, or that I've described it very well*shrug* Anyway, the two things I've found that help in my particular case are more weight over the rear pans(in my case, an old railroad cross tie) and picking the disk up a little bit so the front doesn't bite quite as hard. Some people replace the two bars running from the toplink connection back along the body of the disk with chain, but I've never tried that myself.
Makes sense. You have me hooked on these videos, keep it up. You should do one on the various crops you are planting. A colleague that put together a suggested crop list, i can email that to you if you'd like.
I don't quite understand, we make pasture for cattle and/or sheep. You make food plots for an animal the government allows to hunt once per year? I better get over there and build that Blind Hunter Tower for you. Thanks for the music.
Mike, I used to disc but no longer do that. Releases too much nitrogen from the ground you will need it later. I would recommend the buffalo system. You or anyone can learn about it on this channel @ www.growingdeer.tv/ ...
Nice Work Looks Like Its About Ready To go!! 👊
Mike, nice job with the disk. I look at food plots as my way of giving back to nature for all that it has given to me. It benefits the herd and increases the quality of the meat, that I feed my family with.
This is going to be interesting to watch this plot come to life through the next couple of videos.
Thanks for showing us Mike.
Nice video Mike!
Good to see another tool being used 👍
Love deer hunting, although in all the years hunting I have only harvested one deer. I hunt with my wife’s grandfather and he likes to tell stories of fishing and hunting times of old. Since he is hard of hearing he talks loudly so if we see a deer it’s usually running away. With that being said, I wouldn’t trade my times in the woods with him for a world record buck.
Nice job Mike. That disc did a good job can wait to see it grow now.
Looks like that will help with the deer jerky and deer sausage supplies!
Fields working up nice looks ready to plant
Looking good makes it easy when you got the right tools
Jeeze Louise, that’s a huge food plot! Mine are in little clearings...some just 10’x10’. You’re running a danged deer buffet and smorgasbord there! I hope you have some monster bucks!
Nice video mike, I have 18 acres on my homestead in beautiful NH and I want to do a food plot one day! Clear a small section and limb up the surrounding trees to get the sunlight in there! God Bless. We have so many Deer and wildlife up here, daily they stroll right through the yard!
Great video Mike! Love the food plot! It's been so cold and wet here in Western Kentucky I hadn't put out my feed plots yet! Your video really made me focused! I'm planning to do it this weekend. I will probably use a tiller too! Great stuff. Thanks
My next tractor will definitely be a cab. Nice work on the food plot.
That just gave me a better understanding of what 40(-ish) pounds per pan looks like in action, and why some consider 40lbs/pan to be a minimum for effective disc harrows.
Not intended to criticize the equipment as it did the job, but seeing this was helpful as a data point since I was much more familiar with how my late grandfather's pull behind disc worked in the fields/garden (I'd guess that thing had 70lbs to 100lbs per pan -- if not more). So thanks for that as it helps give me a perspective for my own future purchases.
Nice Mike. Once you go cab you never go back! LOL
Kapper Outdoors, I didnt know what I was missing lol
Looks like a good spot for a food plot!
Love planting wildlife plots.....Been doing it for 25 years on my 80..amd now have anpther 32 acres ..I have about 8 to 10 acres in plots..I made the farm fields smaller with tree plantations about 20 years ago ..great cover ...Nice video ...I found a 50 hp diesel and a disc and a quack digger will do acreage far quicker then any tiller...tillers may be great for smaller plots tho.
Fred Gruetzmacher I have heard benefits of smaller food plots is that the bucks will visit them. Breaking larger plots into smaller plots makes the bucks move around to check each one out looking for active does. We plant corn strips to break up out large clover and soybean plots.
James Morse
Yes I agree... I can't plant Beans anymore as the deer mow them off as fast as they grow..I'd have to fence them..My plots are from 1/2 acre to 1.5 acres I made them all smaller with tree plantings to provide security like you are doing with corn...I c ant grow corn here either...small plots of corn get wiped out flattened by bears in the August...beans and corn are a waste of my time and money here..I have been planting fall crops of sugar beets and turnip patches with a clover mix to rotate plots into clovers in the following spring...i have 2 test plots i just seeded with Ruttabaga and Sugar Beets seeded separately in half of each test plot I have been reading up on sugar beets and how to grow them and am giving it a try as the deer should leave them alone till lat October and Nov...
Our food plots are in Southwest Wisconsin but mostly in Northwest Wisconsin and yes the bears hit a couple of them hard. Fred what state are you in? Sounds like we are on a similar path. (You might try buckwheat. The only problem is after the first frost the deer mow it off)
James Morse I am Wisconsin as well central just north of Wausau...I have used buckwheat before..I like Winter rye ..I also plant Hornybuckseed.com with great tonnage success.
Our northern plots at near Grandview about 20 miles from Ashland quite the hail when taking tractors and equipment from Mt Horeb.
Good stuff enjoyed that!!
Mike, I live in SW Virginia. We have so many deer here that I can legally bow hunt in my back yard in a residential neighbor hood. My neighbor provides the food plot, a bird feeder which brings the deer in. :-)
Wish you the best of luck my friend. According to the almanac i think we are in for a cool and damp June. We'll see, that'd be great for your seed to germinate if it holds true. Good luck
Man, that's great that you have the option to move up in horsepower for those jobs that need more muscle. Great music on this video too. I don't know about you but I really enjoy editing!
You officially qualify to participate in the Butler County Farm Show this year! Looking forward to the seedling and finishing follow-up videos. I got nervous when I saw the dust and no water truck nearby!
You are giving Kapper Outdoors some competition on the food plot 👍😀😎
Lest this guy you can stand to watch.. kapper 🙄🙄🙄🙄👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
You`re learning young feller cab all the way . Keeps the heat out also rain snow and dust. Its an amazing thing LOL!
“It’s just what we do” thumbs up
That's great for you guys, Mike the rest of us are are SOL the no game lands are barren, I have a better chance of seeing Bigfoot that a Whitetail.
Interesting video. I couldn’t agree more I have been whitetail hunting for 55 years and like you the preparing food plots, viewing trail camera photography and watching deer far the most enjoyable part.
We use old farm equipment a plow, disk, drag, cultipaker and a two row corn planter. We planted corn, soybeans, barley, clover and sunflowers. Also add turnips in a shaded area where corn does grow well. The deer will eat the corn and the bears will either eat it or roll in it to knock it down. Keep up the videos. Question, I have been using Moltree cameras but my most recent one is a Cuddyback. It seems the Cuddyback takes much better videos. What is your choice?
James Morse, I have been having good luck with the inexpensive wildgame ones
Great video
Wow almost missed the Food Plot Videos !
You hit the the nail on the the head when you were talking about the whole process of hunting. I would almost rather do all the stuff you’re doing right now than actually harvest the deer. I often times go get in a tree stand just to watch the deer(and other wildlife) with no intention of killing one. I just enjoy being out there. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
2 no likes? What's not to like? Great video, I'm putting in a food plot this year. Although nothing that big but still enjoyed the video.
loader arm cam! nice
I appreciate the work you put into your videos, I can tell it's a lot of work, music is great. You need to come to South Texas sometime to hunt. I wish RK sold Tractors in Texas, but their reach is not this far down South. Have a good one, and thanks again.
Do you have your eyes on Huntsville, AL area?
How about Missouri? Too far away?
RK Tractor Guy Great News! Can't wait to shop there.
Texas is a large market as more people have weekend acreage or hunting leases outside of the larger cities into rural areas. Also, those of us, who in my case have used our father's and grandfather's Ford 9N's and 8N's and other brands that didn't have front in loaders, and fewer mechanics know how to work on them are moving towards sub-compact and compact tractors. For those of us who have grown up farming and ranching our entire lives we know what to look for in a tractor, having cup holders as standard equipment doesn't plow ground or move dirt. A tough, practical, diesel engine with minimal electronics, accessible engine bay, and a good service department with a good dealership make the difference.
I predict 12 pointer’s 😏 that is a nice machine ! 👍
Good evening Mike.Always a great video - thanks. Watching your channel is better than watching TV. LOL. (ok, maybe sometimes...) Hey, when you drag that implement, is your rear position control in float or do you have to set it at a specific height with your position control? Thanks and enjoy your long weekend in US of A this weekend!
GP Outdoors, just drop her all the way down and go!
Yea it seemed that it could have been set a little too high as it wasn’t digging in much.
Fun and good for the wildlife for sure as for here in Corn Country we leave enough out after harvest for the wildlife to live on nice and if any farmer says his combine gets it all that is an outright lie lol
now I understand..that was recently planted ground - I was wondering how you got it that nice and tilled up with just discs...I thought you had used the tiller....I am doing a food plot too - unplanted ground - hoping my reverse tine Land Pride tiller handles it.
Chris Schmauch it will do an amazing job! Walk your area looking for roots and rocks. A fist size rock can ruin your day with your tiller. Outside of those suggestions, just till a few times from different directions and you will till more depth than you want quickly! Enjoy!
Mike, for those of us without a cultipacker, what would be an option for working the seed in after discing? A drag mat maybe?
Steve Watson, yes a drag will work as well, lots of guys use different types of drags to get good seed to soil contact
I have know lots of guys to use old sections of chain link fence for drags for seed/soil contact. They attach 2x’s to keep it stretched and for weight. God luck.
just looking at this video i noticed that the disc in the ends of the 2nd row aint touching ground. Maybe u might consider adding some weight back their so they can actually do what their meant to do. just a suggestion. Enjoy ur videos. thank u
Hey Mike, love these kind of videos.
Please forgive my ignorance. Hey what's the difference between a smooth disc versus a disc with teeth; and why not plow the ground instead, what's the difference?
Hi Darryl, The ones with the notches are a little more aggressive at busting up hard clumps of soil, I don't have a plow but a plow would have been faster at turning over the soil, however after plowing you would still need the disc to get it ready for seed. So I just made a few more passes with the disc and skipped the plow. Make sense?
So, discing brakes up the dirt cloggs better than a plow, much like a tiller?
Yes, but a tiller does a better job than disc, just much slower, Im thinking the best way would be, Plow, Disc, then Tiller in that order
Outdoors With The Morgans Depending upon the condition of the soil, you might be able to get by with a chisel plow and then a tiller. If using a bottom plow, you would need the disk. Of course if ground is a hard pack after winter, you probably need the bottom plow, disc and tiller to really loosen up the soil.
1000 pounds with 24 discs is only 41.67 pounds per disc. I'm not a tractor expert by any means but that seems a bit light to me. Could that be why you weren't getting deeper penetration?
Thanks, Mike. I'm in Georgia, and I put seeds out two weeks ago. It has been raining every day since.
Have you picked out your plans for your deer blind, yet?
yes I know exactly what Im going to build!
Jasper County! Just bought some property a year ago. Just 22 acres, but it's mine, and I love it! Some day I'll be able to get a tractor!
I tell my neighbors if they get a deer on my property they owe me bag of deer jerky.
Could you explain why you chose the combination of notched and smooth blade types on the disc and what each are used for? Could be helpful to some viewers.
I know nothing about farming, so maybe this is a dumb question. I've seen people on other channels skip the disk and just use a tiller. Does that work well? Is it necessary to do both?
Mike a sujestion your disc is not panetrating in back ajust 3 point .
I did, I tried several adjustments and experimented a little
I would also say run your rear disks out a bit to keep from creating furrows but that's just me.
Does the cab have a filter to keep the dust down? I noticed you didn't touch the right side of the field (from the camera point of view).
Yes, Filtered
only missed one so Im counting this as the 4th time in a row "First Comment"
Looks like you need to lengthen the top link so that the rear of the disk gets more of a bite, on the video looks it looks as if the rear is barely touching the ground
I did, I experimented with it several ways
When the disk is down, are the lift arms higher at the tractor or at the disk? I've had similar issues getting the back of disks to bite, and it often seems worse if the lift arms aren't higher at the tractor by a noticeable amount. My best guess is that the front pans, when they meet the resistance of the dirt, are acting as a fulcrum, lifting the back up slightly, or at least taking some of the weight off it. I'm not sure that's actually what's happening, or that I've described it very well*shrug*
Anyway, the two things I've found that help in my particular case are more weight over the rear pans(in my case, an old railroad cross tie) and picking the disk up a little bit so the front doesn't bite quite as hard. Some people replace the two bars running from the toplink connection back along the body of the disk with chain, but I've never tried that myself.
The back set of gangs on your disk were barely touching any soil. Did you do that on purpose?
Kable Thurlow, I adjusted it a couple times kind of experimenting with it. Some level, some front dipped a little, just feeling it out
Makes sense. You have me hooked on these videos, keep it up. You should do one on the various crops you are planting. A colleague that put together a suggested crop list, i can email that to you if you'd like.
I don't quite understand, we make pasture for cattle and/or sheep. You make food plots for an animal the government allows to hunt once per year? I better get over there and build that Blind Hunter Tower for you. Thanks for the music.
Mike, I used to disc but no longer do that. Releases too much nitrogen from the ground you will need it later. I would recommend the buffalo system. You or anyone can learn about it on this channel @ www.growingdeer.tv/ ...
Is that field around 2-3 acres?
Neighbor #2 in Ron
Could you have used the discs with the RK37 without issue?
Can't say for sure, I will have to try that
Darren Lehman At 1000lbs it may be too heavy for the rk37. Not sure what its lift capacity is on the 3ph
Does that tractor have down force?
one thumbs down? Putz
Now your harrow is an excavator and a skid steer. I say this due to now you are doing that little land clearing project and put in a food plot.