Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A new approach for hogs on the deer lease

That is the situation at our place. Not only do they eat up the deer feed, it is what they tear up. Sometimes they will pick out a sizable patch of pasture and just plow it up.

Go ahead, I don't eat scavengers. Moses was right about swine.

Dairy farmers correct me if I'm wrong but ruminants (cows, deer, goats, etc.) can not process whole corn. It needs to be cracked open to allow their digestive system to process the starches inside the kernel.

Is that correct?

I don’t fall under Jewish law, Jesus since said we can eat whatever that “only whats in our hearts that screw us up”.

Guess you ain’t the normal Loseranna resident. I like crawdads and shrimp too.

Yes mostly right but deer will nibble corn, hogs will go after cracked corn more-so than than whole kernal corn.

I dug a 2' deep hole filled it with corn, poured cooking oil from a fish-fry over it, bears and hogs went crazy for it. Bears destroyed feeders/lights/blinds anything man-made on my spot was destroyed. Looked like someone dug the place up w/a mini-excavator, actually did it in different holes >never did that again.

I'm ok with what others eat.

Keep it up you'll end up in Hades

Good piggies

I don’t bother with hog panels or thinning hogs. I have devised a way to keep deer coming to my browsing spots that hogs can’t use (they might get a crumb once in a while) and I keep a corn feeder on the complete opposite end of my property with 6 settings to keep the hogs busy instead of running off deer critters. When I really want to keep them busy I fill up the pig pipes.

And I don’t use corn for the deer.

My experiences tell this as well.

Damn, I haven’t seen one hog on the ranch since I busted a big ol’ sow back end of December. Was hoping the neighbor shot the big azz black boar that was visiting. Hadn’t seen him either.

With the exception of a lone boar, no hogs the past two years here either.

Gone.

I used to kill several per month. Not now.

I have come to the mind set as long as I am not feeding them they are just targets of opportunity now . As for as the coons and the squirrels go I am working on a strategy to limit there impact. This past year a friend with a trapping lic. caught several along a slough near my stand(400yds) (nearest water ). This year I suspect we will hit them hard as soon as the trapping season opens and be gone in a couple days with the traps.

[quote=rlott]Dairy farmers correct me if I'm wrong but ruminants (cows, deer, goats, etc.) can not process whole corn. It needs to be cracked open to allow their digestive system to process the starches inside the kernel.

Is that correct?[/quote

Cows do good on processing corn.

Every year, inquiries are made by beef producers addressing the need to process corn. This is an important question to ask because most producers do not have the luxury of on-farm processing.

In many feeding situations, corn must be purchased and processing adds cost and increases shrink. Research has been done to identify the value of processing corn but results have been a mixed bag. This article addresses the effects of diets with whole corn on cattle performance.

One of the biggest factors that limits the use of whole corn in beef cattle diets is the visual presence of whole corn kernels in the manure pats. There is a general feeling in the industry that if it can be seen, it was not used and therefore wasted. Producers may be surprised to discover that most research indicates there is little difference in the performance of cattle fed whole or rolled corn.

One such study from Ohio State University conducted a series of experiments to quantify passage of whole corn kernels in the manure. Based on historical data, the researchers predicted that whole kernel digestion could be affected by the age of animal and amount of forage in the diet.

This trial utilized high forage diets containing 18.2 percent corn silage or low forage diets containing 5.2 percent corn silage. Forage was then formulated in diets with either 80 percent whole or rolled corn. Four different weight classes were utilized to determine the effect of corn processing, forage level, and cattle age on performance.

Visually, forage level did not affect the digestibility of corn kernels present in the manure. In the trial, cattle ate about 39,000 whole kernels of corn per day but only excreted about 500 kernels per day, equating to only about 2 percent of kernels escaping digestion. Cattle performance of this trial revealed that heavier calves gained slightly more on rolled corn but efficiency (feed/gain) was no different among weight classes. On the other hand, feed efficiency was superior for lighter, longer fed cattle consuming whole corn.

High inclusion of forage in the rolled corn diets improved daily gain, likely offsetting some digestive upsets that can occur when processed corn is fed.

This research highlights the benefits of forgoing processing costs by feeding whole corn. The study indicated slight improvements in performance of yearlings fed rolled corn, but producers should weigh these options to determine if this will justify processing costs.

Starter rations, limit feeding, cow supplements, or diets low in forage are situations where whole corn would be an excellent energy source.

In general, performance of cattle fed whole or rolled corn is a wash. Feeding rolled corn increases digestibility by 5 to 10 percent and equates to faster growth in cattle due to the higher energy concentration of the diet. However, higher digestibility of starch can lead to digestive upsets such as acidosis which can reduce performance slightly.

Starch fermentation is slower in whole corn diets and less digestive upsets are observed. Producers who do not have access to rolled corn or find processing costs too high should rest easy knowing that cattle performance will differ very little when feeding whole or rolled corn.

What's a hunting lease?

Deer love corn, it's like candy, but it has little or no real value as a food source, you can feed 16% protein for about the same price, and it will help your Does produce healthy fawns and your Bucks will improve also, forget the corn. Rio7

Good pigs here also. Rio7