Grandpa Ray Outdoors will be shooting video talking about each of the products that we offer. In the mean time let me explain the rhyme and reason between how I formulate my food plot mixes. As someone who belives in sound agronomic practices that will result in better plant health and forage quality, I always think beyond the current seed year.
What I want out of a food plot program is the following features:
Forages that are able to tolerate a variety of soil conditions.
Forages that are able to be grazed multiple times.
Forages that have a great disease package, as healthy forages are more palatable and more nutritious.
A variety of forages that will fixate nitrogen, loosen the soil, suppress weeds and reduce erosion.
I want forages that will help build up your soil organic matter levels.
I want forages that provide as much protein, effective fiber, digestible energy and mineral content as possible.
All my blends have elements of managed intensive grazing. A dense sward will lead to less weed pressure as well as provide maximum forage nutrition for the amount of available acreage thar one has to plant. I don't want to see a nice looking ground cover that may not be a great nutrition blend nor do I want to see forages that are unpalatable to the deer and wildlife on your lands.
What I hope to contribute to the wildlife industry through my education plots is forage dry matter yields and nutritional data that will show people how over 40 species of forages test and yield at the late vegetative growth stage of around day 55 after planting.
Grandpa Ray Outdoors hopes to spend a lot of time and resources on educating the public and we value any feedback on how you think we can help both the new food plotter as well as the experienced.
