Food plot

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Food plot in Germany Wildacker in Ganderkesee.jpg
Food plot in Germany

A food plot is a planted area set aside to act as a supplementary food source for wildlife. The term was coined by the U.S. hunting and outdoor industries and food plots are most commonly planted for game species.

Food plot crops generally consist of but are not limited to legumes (clovers, alfalfa, beans, etc.), grains, or certain wildflowers. The plants may be annual or perennial and specific recommendations for local varieties that perform best in your area for specific wildlife species are often available. [1] In agricultural areas, food plots may be planted in fields after the crop has been harvested, and left standing through the fall, winter, and early spring for the use of wildlife. [2]

In some cases farmers and landowners may be reimbursed by the government for providing food plots that meet government specifications. [3] Among other considerations, a food plot should be located close to a source of cover for the animals, and it should be only one part of a comprehensive habitat management program. [4] Ideally a food plot should be small (2 to 4 acres), irregularly shaped, and located away from roads. [5] A variety of cool-season grasses and forbs can be used to attract and enhance nutrition of multiple game species simultaneously when mixed according to recommendations. [1] [4]

Food plots differ from revegetation, which is intended to stabilize and rebuild the soil of disturbed land using naturally growing grasses, legumes, shrubs, and trees. Food plots are intended to feed wildlife rather than rebuild the soil, and generally use agricultural forages rather than native or naturally occurring plants. The oldest company to start developing products for food plots is the Whitetail Institute of North America in 1988. [6]

Food plots can greatly increase the wildlife carrying capacity of a particular ecosystem, enhancing opportunities for hunting or wildlife viewing. Target animals include Whitetail deer, Bear, Moose, Rabbit, Woodchuck, Deer, Wild turkey, Grouse, and songbirds. [2]

In 2001 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced that 8.7 million people across the country maintained some sort of planting for the sole benefit of wildlife. This group of people spent $699 million on these plantings.


Related Research Articles

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to agriculture:

<i>Onobrychis viciifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Onobrychis viciifolia, also known as O. sativa or common sainfoin has been an important forage legume in temperate regions until the 1950s. During the Green Revolution it was replaced by high yielding alfalfa and clover species. Due to its anthelmintic properties, common sainfoin is a natural alternative to drugs to control nematode parasitism in the guts of small ruminants. This is the main reason why O. viciifolia returned to the scientific agenda in recent years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal husbandry</span> Management of farm animals

Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the first crops. By the time of early civilisations such as ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legume</span> Plant in the family Fabaceae

Legumes are plants in the family Fabaceae, or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption; for livestock forage and silage; and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyculture</span> Growing multiple crops together in agriculture

In agriculture, polyculture is the practice of growing more than one crop species together in the same place at the same time, in contrast to monoculture, which had become the dominant approach in developed countries by 1950. Traditional examples include the intercropping of the Three Sisters, namely maize, beans, and squashes, by indigenous peoples of Central and North America, the rice-fish systems of Asia, and the complex mixed cropping systems of Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-tailed deer</span> Species of hooved mammal

The white-tailed deer, also known commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia, where it predominately inhabits high mountain terrains of the Andes. It has also been introduced to New Zealand, all the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, and some countries in Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Serbia. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed wild ungulate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fodder</span> Agricultural foodstuff used to feed domesticated animals

Fodder, also called provender, is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals, rather than that which they forage for themselves. Fodder includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and sprouted grains and legumes. Most animal feed is from plants, but some manufacturers add ingredients to processed feeds that are of animal origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mule deer</span> Deer indigenous to western North America

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.

<i>Panicum virgatum</i> Species of plant

Panicum virgatum, commonly known as switchgrass, is a perennial warm season bunchgrass native to North America, where it occurs naturally from 55°N latitude in Canada southwards into the United States and Mexico. Switchgrass is one of the dominant species of the central North American tallgrass prairie and can be found in remnant prairies, in native grass pastures, and naturalized along roadsides. It is used primarily for soil conservation, forage production, game cover, as an ornamental grass, in phytoremediation projects, fiber, electricity, heat production, for biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and more recently as a biomass crop for ethanol and butanol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge</span>

William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge is a natural area in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, United States. It was created to provide wintering habitat for dusky Canada geese. Unlike other Canada geese, dusky Canada geese have limited summer and winter ranges. They nest on Alaska's Copper River Delta and winter almost exclusively in the Willamette Valley. Habitat loss, predation, and hunting have caused a decrease in population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge</span>

Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge is located in the fertile Willamette Valley of northwestern Oregon, 12 miles (19 km) south of Salem. The valley was once a rich mix of wildlife habitats. Valley wetlands were once extensive, with meandering stream channels and vast seasonal marshes. Today, the valley is a mix of farmland and growing cities, with few areas remaining for wildlife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deer hunting</span> Practice/activity of hunting deer

Deer hunting is hunting deer for meat and sport, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food source of animal protein that can be obtained through deer hunting. There are many different types of deer around the world that are hunted for their meat. For sport, often hunters try to kill deer with the largest and most antlers to score them using inches. There are two different categories of antlers. They are typical and nontypical. They measure tine length, beam length, and beam mass by each tine. They will add all these measurements up to get a score. This score is the score without deductions. Deductions occur when the opposite tine is not the same length as it is opposite. That score is the deducted score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffer strip</span>

A buffer strip is an area of land maintained in permanent vegetation that helps to control air quality, soil quality, and water quality, along with other environmental problems, dealing primarily on land that is used in agriculture. Buffer strips trap sediment, and enhance filtration of nutrients and pesticides by slowing down surface runoff that could enter the local surface waters. The root systems of the planted vegetation in these buffers hold soil particles together which alleviate the soil of wind erosion and stabilize stream banks providing protection against substantial erosion and landslides. Farmers can also use buffer strips to square up existing crop fields to provide safety for equipment while also farming more efficiently.

<i>Macroptilium atropurpureum</i> Species of legume

Macroptilium atropurpureum, commonly referred to as purple bush-bean, or siratro is a perennial legume recognized by its climbing, dense, green vines and deep purple flowers. The plant is indigenous to the tropical and subtropical regions of North, Central, and South America, as far north as Texas in the USA and as far south as Peru and Brazil. It has been introduced for use as a food for stock to many tropical regions around the world. It has become an invasive pest plant in a number of areas, including the north-eastern coast of Australia. Rich in protein, M. atropurpureum is commonly used for cattle pastures intercropped with grass, used in hay, or as a ground cover to prevent soil erosion and to improve soil quality.

Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migration, leading to an overabundant species and other animals in the ecosystem competing for food, space, and resources. The animals in an overpopulated area may then be forced to migrate to areas not typically inhabited, or die off without access to necessary resources.

<i>Chloris gayana</i> Species of grass

Chloris gayana is a species of grass known by the common name Rhodes grass. It is native to Africa but it can be found throughout the tropical and subtropical world as a naturalized species.

<i>Tripsacum dactyloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Tripsacum dactyloides, commonly called eastern gamagrass, or Fakahatchee grass, is a warm-season, sod-forming bunch grass. It is widespread in the Western Hemisphere, native from the eastern United States to northern South America. Its natural habitat is in sunny moist areas, such as along watercourses and in wet prairies. In some areas, it has adapted well to disturbed conditions.

Pine Creek Wildlife Management Area is a scientifically managed preserve of natural and native wildlife flora and fauna. It is located in Pushmataha County and McCurtain County, Oklahoma, adjacent to Pine Creek Lake, seven miles north of Valliant, Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge</span> Nature reserve in northwestern Grayson County, Texas, United States

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (HNWR), a haven for migratory birds and other wildlife, lies in northwestern Grayson County, Texas, on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, on the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas. This National Wildlife Refuge is made up of water, marsh, and upland habitat. Visitors can hike, observe wildlife, hunt, and fish throughout the year.

<i>Centrosema pubescens</i> Species of legume

Centrosema pubescens, common name centro or butterfly pea, is a legume in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, and tribe Phaseolae. It is native to Central and South America and cultivated in other tropical areas as a forage for livestock.

References

  1. 1 2 Wallau, M.; Blount, A. R.; Campos Krauer, J. M.; Lashley, M. A.; Rios, E.; Vendramini, J. M. B.; Dubeux, J. C. B.; Babar, Md. A.; Mackowiak, C. L.; Quesenberry, K. H. (2021-10-18). "A Walk on the Wild Side: 2021 Cool-Season Forage Recommendations for Wildlife Food Plots in North Florida". EDIS. 2021 (5). doi: 10.32473/edis-ag139-2021 . ISSN   2576-0009. S2CID   239258913.
  2. 1 2 "Wildlife Food Plot Program Job Sheet - Indiana, June 2012". United States Department of Agriculture.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. "Wildlife Food Plot Program". North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 Harper, Craig A. (2008). A Guide to Successful Wildlife Foot Plots (PDF). University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
  5. "Wildlife Food Plots in Northern Minnesota" (PDF). Division of Fish and Wildlife. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  6. "Website". Whitetail Institute of North America. Retrieved 25 August 2015.