Marty,

I’m not sure I received the first portion of your email.  I’ve experienced many times when the Eagle Seed forage beans remained green and productive until a frost, they simply remained too green to allow any seed broadcasted into the stand enough sunlight to germinate and grow before a frost.  I’ve learned that may be a great trait!  If the soybeans were planted early enough to have good pod development, they likely produced more yield in the form of pods (soybean seeds) than most cool season crops will produce.  For example, last year I mowed some maturing Eagle Seed forage beans during early August to kill them and plant wheat.  I mowed, left town for a week and returned to find the beans had resprouted!  This was amazing!  Of course the new sprouts were tender and succulent and the deer concentrated on that portion of the field.

I fertilized with Antler Dirt Tea and drilled wheat into the mown forage soybeans.  As the winter progressed, I realized that the seed pod yield on the adjoining beans was significantly more than the tonnage of wheat produced.  I went through the expense of mowing, fertilizing, purchasing seed, and planting to produce less and lower quality forage than the crop I mowed.  I learned my lesson and in fields where the forage soybeans produce a good yield of seed I’ll leave them standing.  Deer find the pods very palatable and extremely nutritious – full of energy and protein.  Eagle Seed forage soybeans that make a good seed yield are truly a two season crop!

I used a Gallagher Food Plot Protection System to protect some Eagle Seed Forage soybeans in two smaller plots and a corner of one larger plot this year.  I’m protecting the smaller plots so there will be ample forage/seeds to attract deer during the hunting season for my family.  I’m protecting a corner of the larger plot as I know deer prefer eating in this location during both the summer and winter.  I have plenty of forage nearby for the summer, so I wished to save the beans in my preferred hunting locations.  Based on the regrowth I observed after mowing the Eagle Seed beans last year, I’d be confident about seeing a positive result if the beans were protected by early July depending on available soil moisture and other factors that affect crop production.

Growing Deer together,

Grant