Fall Foodplots and Sunflowers

I planted some fall foodplots this week.  The way that I chose to do it was to put some strips inside existing summer plots.  The fall plots are oats, brassica and clover. My intention is to give the wildlife a buffet where they can find everything that they like.

This is the soybean field at the driveway.  Every plant in this field has been grazed down to a uniform height. 

Here's a closeup of a plant - you can see the chopped off stems.

This is the soybean field by the orchard.  I disked up some strips in the soybeans.  In the outboard strip I planted oats.  In the inboard strip I planted brassica.  These should be a smorgasborg for the deer thru Christmas.

The clover plot below the pond has some strips in it too with oats and brassica.

The clover in the main field was losing a battle with weeds but it has come back pretty well since Dave mowed it for me.

I planted black oil sunflowers this year.  The deer love to eat the leaves of this variety so I had to protect it with plotsaver tape.  Now that the sunflowers have bloomed, I'm going to take the tape down and this field will be used by the deer and the doves.  The sunflowers always face southeast to catch the most sunshine.

Joan and I watched a coyote cross the field outside our dining area on Sunday morning.  It's surprising that we haven't seen a coyote or a fox on camera in a couple of months.  Here's a few other random critters though.