planting for bees and wildlife ??

[sellis]

ok here is a big question we have 140 acers of planted wheat crop we just bought , after the wheat harvest we are planing on replanting with seed that is good for the bees to gather both honey and pollen but also good for the wildlife . we also have horses and a few cows that i would like to turn out occasionally into this pasture, is there a good in between for both bees, cows horses and deer that i dont have to worrie about bloating on my horses or cows or am i just dreaming and have to watch my animals with a little closer eye when they are turned into this pasture ...any and all sugestions will be considered...thanks ...scott ellis

[BULLSEYE BILL]

You could get a stand of buckwheat between the wheat harvest and time to replant wheat again.


http://www.beesource.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000500;p=1

[BjornBee]

Is sunflower something good for bees. Last year I knew a farmer that just wanted something different in a couple of acres in front of the house. He went to the store and just bought a few bags of sunflower seed. He had a a couple acres growing. Not sure what he did with them. Said the seed was cheap.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

The giant gray stripe is good for nectar as well as pollen. The normal black oil seed type is only good for pollen.

[sagittarius]

Having a non-bloating pasture for cows and horses will not be as attractive to bees and deer as a pure stand of white clovers.

You may consider dividing the field up into 7 or 8 smaller fields. Two for pasture. Put the rest into a common 1)Corn, 2)Beans, 3)Wheat rotation but also add 4)grey strip sunflower(or buckwheat, or both), 5)white clover 6)white clover Each field a different crop in the rotation. After two years plow a clover field under and start the rotation again with corn. You could lease the fields to a neighbor for planting the corn/beans/wheat?

[FordGuy]

agree with sagittarius - 140 acres is an immense amount of land for one man to manage, unless you have 12 strapping teenage boys and a complete set of large AG equipment to put to work.

I struggle to manage 60 acres, and not all of it is used.

What I'd say is break it up into fields say 5 acres each. if it were me I'd do 5 acres a week plowing after work each day, then drilling in the clover and running over it with a cultipacker.

(if you don't know what a drill is or a cultipacker is, then re think your plans!)

I think you can't go wrong with a perennial clover. sew it thick enough to discourage weeds. you will still have weeds but try to limit them with a thick stand. Stick to white dutch clover. yellow sweet and white sweet are like tall weeds and are not at all like the clover you are thinking of.

woops, just re-read your post - I assume you will mix fescue withthe clover for pasture?

[Ian]

Sound if you dont have alot of equipment? If not looking towards a perrenial forrage crop might give you the best return and some honey flow for the least time and money invested.
You can rent the hay land out for, well its 90$ or so Canadian up here two cuts, what ever hay land is renting for there. Less risk to you, small investment, and two honey flows as long as you dont rent to a darry farmer.

Cant pasture with legumes, unless you use an anti-bloat agent in thier water. And if you do, there are pasture grazing alfalfa varieties out there, perhaps mixed with treefoil and clover. If you under graze that mixture, there will be months of honeyflow for your bees, and you will have fat happy animals smile.gif

[TwT]

FordGuy, get with me, I would like to get some Buckwheat seed also when you do, and you could show me how you had it come up so good for this area.

[FordGuy]

sounds good Ted, and I think you will be surprised just how easy it is!

You know what you can be doing right now? you can start plowing. First bush hog, then either chisel plow (if new ground) or harrow (if a regularly used field free of stumps, logs, bushes, etc.).

By plowing now you will be mixing the top biomass (clippings essentially) with the top few inches of soil and giving it a few months to dacay. This creates something called "tilth." I'm sure there is a scientific definition but tilth to me is a combination of looseness so roots can spread, and decaying matter.

If you just want to keep it simple, you can harrow the land, sew with a pull behind yard seeder, then harrow again to loosely cover the seeds. You will have pretty good germination with just that simple method.

[TwT]

already disc it up, have crimson clover plannted now and it will bloom for about 3 weeks , then I was going to harrow the pasture again and plant buckwheat, clover stops blooming around mid april.

[FordGuy]

how has the crimson clover been for your bees? the often repeated notion is that the smaller bees can't get their tongues down the flower.

[SilverFox]

white clover or alfalfa. Both are good crops. or even Timothy.

[TwT]

bee's work crimson clover fine, red clover bee's cant work (its kinda purple color), I got alot of honey last year from crimson clover.

[TwT]

crimson clover picture
http://www.oregonclover.org/crimsonclover.html

red clover
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/trfpr.htm

when I started with bee's, I thought red clover was any clover that was red color, but I know better now.

[Aspera]

Ian,

I'm pretty sure that you can safely pasture with an clover/orchard grass mixture. Sheep might have occasional problems, but this is rare if you put the first cutting up for hay.

Hal

[Jerry C]

I made 1 acre plantings of Alsike, White, Yellow, and White Dutch clover all at the same time in central Iowa. Yellow and white didn’t bloom till year 2 but alsike bloomed the first year. In this part of the world I never saw a bee on white Dutch clover, some on yellow and white when it bloomed, but they went crazy on the alsike. You could stand outside and smell the sweetness in the air. Made a very good honey crop on it.

[Michael Bush]

Seems like they like the dutch white when other things stop blooming. And the dutch seems to bloom from spring until fall.

[TwT]

ladino is the same way MB

[uncletom]

Buckwheat makes an excellant wildlife plot. Way back when I used to put a little in every year, less than one acre, I would find it full of wildlife. Racoons, deer, pheasant, rabbits, fox, pigions,turkeys, squirrl. Just about anything found here could be found in it. If planned right, you can get three crops from a plot in a year. Not good for harvesting but good for bees and wildlife.

tom

[BerkeyDavid]

Hi all,
Sellis if you are in Cheyenne Wyoming your 140 acres might be a lot different than what 140 acres is in Northwest Ohio. I have no idea how to manage pasture land in that dry area.

BUt if you are irrigated or are in a different locale, then I agree with the advice to break it into more maneagebale strips or sections, so you can rotate and come up with a plan / situation that works for your area.

I have had good luck with the sweet clovers, but you do have to be careful with grazing them, and they do not bloom until the second year. But if you can put 5 acres into sweet clover and not graze it you will really be happy with the result.

Also I like the white Dutch clovers for a constant flow during the summer. You can mow it down and it will come back.

A few acres of buckwheat can really come in handy too.

Of course even though the grasses may provide some grazing they are monocots and therefore worthless to bees. I personally have tried to eliminate the various grasses as much as is possible and focus on the nectar plants.

[FordGuy]

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/030201/03020100frame.html

check this out. Has more to do with gardening than grass farming, but pretty educational and a fun read.