Jeff,

I receive emails weekly from folks thrilled with their Eagle Seed Beans.  I learned a hard lesson by mowing some of my Eagle Seed beans last August and planting wheat.  The tonnage of soybean pods I destroyed by mowing was more tonnage than the wheat produced.  So, from now on if it appears the beans will produce 30+ bushels per acre of seed, I plan to leave them standing.  If it is a small plot and deer have browsed the forage heavily and bean yield will be minimal, I’ll drill or broadcast a fall crop over the existing forage.

This is a great technique as deer continue to consume the soybean forage while the cool season crop is germinating and growing.  Deer never need to change their feeding pattern as quality forage is always available in the same field!

I have attempted to broadcast seed into a good crop of Eagle Seed Beans that haven’t been over browsed and had limited success.  This is because Eagle Seed forage beans have been bred to mature extremely late (usually they remain green until a heavy frost).  By the time the Eagle Seed forage beans drop their leaves and allow enough sunlight to stimulate germination of the cool season crop, it is too late in the growing season.  The actual dates and success rates will vary based on the latitude.

My bottom line, if the soybean crop is doing very well, I leave it standing and allow the deer to consume the high quality pods all winter!  If the crop was planted in a small field relative to the local deer herd density and the soybeans have been heavily browsed, I over seed with ample fertilizer and a cool season crop.

Growing Deer together,

Grant