Fingers Crossed

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
We're finally under contract for a sizable piece of land in Stokes. Not real big, but more than enough for a small farm and land to hunt. Lord willing, we'll close in less than a month. We're beyond excited for the potential to set our roots and give our boys somewhere to grow and come back to years down the road. That being said, there's over 20 acres of overgrown field and a good bit in timber to boot. The fields have everything from grass to briers, saplings to other weeds, and more weeds to more weeds I don't know.

My question is, what's the best way to clear the 20+ and get it back to healthy lush fields? Half will more than likely be for our animals and the other half for deer. Not like 10 on this side and 10 on the other, but 3 here, 2 there and 5 over yonder.

We're considering 3 options throw our goats out and add 3 cows to the mix, bush hog and turn, or spray then turn.

I need some advice gentlemen. Thanks in advance!
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
Congrats on the new place.

Bushog it wait a couple of days then spray it. Wait 2 weeks spray it again then turn it.

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MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
Someone else with farming experience could probably tell you a specific brand to buy.
I only plant small plots so price isn't as big of a deal since I don't have to use near as much as someone doing several acres.

I would assume you could find some type at a co-op thats a generic form of roundup thats cheaper.
The higher % of Glyphosate the better.

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Ashy Larry

Ten Pointer
I would leave strips of brairs/crp in the middle and on the edges. Softens the edge and they eat the crap out of that stuff too. Also makes em feel more comfortable than a wide open field. Plant plots closer to your house/entry route so they have to walk past you to get to them. My 2/100 of a dollar.
 

letstalk

Four Pointer
Congrats! It sounds like you have a wonderful opportunity! My experience is you should start with a plan! it doesn't have to be a formal plan but you should have a plan! You should contact your local District Biologist with WRC to get some ideas, they are free! Also, get in touch with your local Agriculture office (Extension, NRCS or whatever) and probably NC Forest Service as well if you think there might be some forestry work. There are a lot of things you can do when you are starting from scratch AND there are a number of things you shouldn't do!

I think a lot of it depends on what you want the outcome to be but personally I wouldn't focus on getting rid of all of those "briers and weeds"! that sounds like great habitat to me! Of course you said that you will be using some of it for your animals so I am assuming you will want some pasture, etc. but I wouldn't necessarily write off some of that other, you just might need to figure out how to get control of it so that it stays in good habitat. Just some thoughts, again congrats, I hope the farm is all you ever hoped it would be.
 

smith-n-stokes

Old Mossy Horns
Congrats! What part of Stokes are y'all at? We are between Walnut Cove and Danbury.


Sent from wherever I was at the time...
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I would leave strips of brairs/crp in the middle and on the edges. Softens the edge and they eat the crap out of that stuff too. Also makes em feel more comfortable than a wide open field. Plant plots closer to your house/entry route so they have to walk past you to get to them. My 2/100 of a dollar.

Thanks Ashy. That makes sense. The thorned ones we most definitely want to keep are the black berries. I've never seen so many in one location.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Congrats to you and your family. I hunt in stokes as well, some nice bucks around the area.

Thanks Twisted, we're hoping to finally "grow our own" lol. We're both from Stokes, but neither of us have ever had the opportunity to call [as much] land, our own.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Congrats! It sounds like you have a wonderful opportunity! My experience is you should start with a plan! it doesn't have to be a formal plan but you should have a plan! You should contact your local District Biologist with WRC to get some ideas, they are free! Also, get in touch with your local Agriculture office (Extension, NRCS or whatever) and probably NC Forest Service as well if you think there might be some forestry work. There are a lot of things you can do when you are starting from scratch AND there are a number of things you shouldn't do!

I think a lot of it depends on what you want the outcome to be but personally I wouldn't focus on getting rid of all of those "briers and weeds"! that sounds like great habitat to me! Of course you said that you will be using some of it for your animals so I am assuming you will want some pasture, etc. but I wouldn't necessarily write off some of that other, you just might need to figure out how to get control of it so that it stays in good habitat. Just some thoughts, again congrats, I hope the farm is all you ever hoped it would be.

Thanks for the detailed response Letstalk! We've been so caught up in searching, offers, counter-offers, perc tests, sight plans, and all that other jazz for me to even think about getting with the Ag Extention.

The search for land seemed like it was moving at a snails pace, but we knew the Lord had plans for us, and once we found this, we went in to close mode.

We have a basic plan for the farm, but haven't given thought to introducing professionals.

We want an even balance between nature and what we put in place. Thanks again!
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Congrats! What part of Stokes are y'all at? We are between Walnut Cove and Danbury.


Sent from wherever I was at the time...

Thanks Smith! Given it percs, we'll be in the north eastern side of Danbury. We've probably passed your place a thousand times in the past three years searching for land.
Lol
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Don't get too far ahead of yourself with "spraying and turning". There could be good stuff already growing there that just needs some attention to save you time and money down the road. For example, if you have grasses already growing in an area that you want for pasture, but the are covered with briars and saplings look at a broadleaf killer like triclopyr. I have seen little bluestem, big bluestem and indiangrasses growing in abandoned fields in Stokes County. Mow, selective spray and burn could get you a warm season pasture without a lot of money. Same way with areas that you want to maintain in habitat cover like blackberry. Imazapic (Arsenal Ac) can control sweetgum and other tree species, but still leave beneficial cover.

Get a good air photo and identify how you want the area divided into livestock and wildlife areas. Identify what is there or get some help identifying what is there. One good book to look at is Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses, but much can be found online. Don't overlook the benefit of fallow vegetation such as ragweed and poke-berry as high protein foods as well as fawning and brooding cover.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Thanks para. We noticed, on Saturday, that there is a good bit of grass amongst some of the other vegetation that we don't want hanging around. That broadleaf cover idea will help quite a bit once we start. One thing I like about this property is, the more closely we look, blackberries are everywhere. There are briars, but not as many [just] briars as we thought.

Side note: when I originally posted I said timber and meant woods. There isn't much marketable timber yet, but should be years down the road. I had been talking with my wife earlier that evening about a place being timbered and that word just stuck in my head for some reason.
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I would only clean up a few areas. Bushhog the rest early in the summer and let it grow back up. Bushog spray and spray again and plant the clover. Clover is KING in Stokes and Rockingham county. Clean up some plots. Leave the rest for natural forage. Mowing once a year stimulates natural legume growth.The deer and turkeys and rabbits will thank you.
 
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beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Thanks jug. We're headed up today to clear an area for our perc test and to mark out homesite. If we have the time after, I plan to clear a couple areas for food plots too. So after I spray and wait a couple weeks, do I just go in and rotary till, or do I have to do something else to clear the dead vegetation first? These will be my first major food plots. The only ones I've planted before consisted of going out into the woods with an iron tooth rake and bags of throw and grow.
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Mow and spray once then turn soil over and plant clover. Plant early in September cause the growing season will end up there by Mid October. Plant winter rye or ryegrass with clover or you will lose most of your clover this winter. The deer will eat it to the red dirt. Next spring spray out the rye grass or rye with vantage herbicide in April. You can mow it then too. I recommend winter rye. Mow the rye in April so that it does not shade out the clover plus you won't have to spray anything.
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You can just mow and spray twice and use a heavy duty lawn aerator/plugger to get the soil ready for clover and rye. I have done it many times when we use to hunt a tract on the Stokes/Forsyth county line. I have done it on my own farm in Rockingham county. I am 4 miles from the Stokes county line and less than 2 miles from Virginia .
 
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beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Thanks for all the advice jug! I surely appreciate it. Today we got a good swath cleared for the driveway and for the homesite. Then we decided to ride the fence line, I've never seen so many blackberries in my life. An honest guesstimate in one spot is... acres.... We were pushing through them with the fel because there was no way around them. Amongst the berries were little patches of grass that were clearly bedding areas. We headed over to the other side to ride down an old road bed and jumped up a couple young deer. That side was covered in berries too, not as many, but the weeds were chest high in places. On the same side, theres a few acres of woods with thick overgrown entrances; deer haven. There is a pretty thick wall of thorns and brush that create this, kind of, fortress-like barrier around the wooded section. I know we'll turn part of that side into a couple plots. There's so much potential on this property. It's a pretty awesome feeling and we can't wait to continue to work this land and turn it into home.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
In early September bushhog those blackberries and fertilize with a cheap triple digit fertilizer and you will have an awesome foodplot with the new browse that will last almost the whole season. Next year the blackberry patch will be even better.
I have deer that browse the edges of my plots rather than eat the planted greenery in them, they much prefer the natural browse.
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
In early September bushhog those blackberries and fertilize with a cheap triple digit fertilizer and you will have an awesome foodplot with the new browse that will last almost the whole season. Next year the blackberry patch will be even better.
I have deer that browse the edges of my plots rather than eat the planted greenery in them, they much prefer the natural browse.
Eric is right as rain. Mowing and fertilizing natural browse works good up there.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
In early September bushhog those blackberries and fertilize with a cheap triple digit fertilizer and you will have an awesome foodplot with the new browse that will last almost the whole season. Next year the blackberry patch will be even better.
I have deer that browse the edges of my plots rather than eat the planted greenery in them, they much prefer the natural browse.

Thanks Eric. I may have to do that to the ones we plan on eating off of too! My youngest loves blackberries and blackberry jam on his biscuits.
 
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