Native Browse in Ag Areas
Filed under: Ask Grant
I am in the process of adding back highly preferred native browse to my farm since it seems the deer have literally browsed that to death. I have heard that even in agricultural areas, the native browse makes up 60% of the forage for deer. Is this correct? Philip
Philip,
It sounds like you have a neat project. However, I doubt 60% of a deer’s diet in areas with commercial agriculture (standard soybean/corn rotation) is composed of native browse. In most areas with commercial agriculture, there is very limited native browse production and relatively high deer populations. There simply isn’t enough native browse produced in the area to support the deer herd. Most areas with native vegetation in commercial agricultural areas are composed of trees or CPP which is usually primarily composed of native warm season grasses. Neither forest with closed canopies or stands of primarily native warm season grasses will produce enough forage to support a very high deer population. I’m confident that native vegetation in most areas of commercial agricultural production composes a very small percent of the local deer herd’s forage intake.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
