Best Rotation Crop for Duck Field?

[Aging Baby Boomer]

Granted, corn after corn is the deal in duck fields. But eventually a crop rotation is desirable. What's the board's opinion on the best rotation crop?

[Sportin' Woodies]

i would let your field lay fallow for a year, and rotate one of these (after filling with corn) into your management plan.

[Aging Baby Boomer]

Could that be considered "moist soil management?"

[turfgrass]

beans=nitrogen
corn loves nitrogen
you do the math

[trailertrash]

Legume

[Aging Baby Boomer]

Soybeans are good - the classic rotation crop. In my case deer damage (especially in the early stages) could be substantial. But assuming I could get past the deer depredation, how do soybeans work when flooded for ducks? Do they deteriorate quickly when flooded? Do they attract ducks?

I don't want to give up hunting the pond for a year. Especially at my age! There may not be that many left for me. After all, I am an ABB.

[timberheat]

Soybeans

[Blakeley]

ABB,

I have rotated from rice to corn and back a few times. I have also moist soiled for a year. I don't rotate much acreage or that often b/c I need as much acreage planted in a late season food as I can get.

Between the two, the fallow, moist soil management has worked the best. But I have a tremendous amount of natural foods like smartweeds, panic grasses, vol. Jap.,etc. Do you know what type of naturals you have out there?

I am in the same boat with soybeans vs deer. I still wouldn't do it if Pioneer gave me the seed. B/c I wouldn't have anything for the ducks come Oct. Nor would the remaining amount carry me thru the season.

[Birdfinder]

Thats my same problem with the soybeans. I would like to rotate something. We are trying alot more chufa but I like my corn

[duckman88]

MOIST SOIL!!! Heck, I bet if you manage your fields right you might never go back to using corn. Any wildlife is going to forage on any natural foods they can before they touch food plots and other row crops.

[quackaddict]

chufa...heres a little info on it

http://www.state.tn.us/twra/pdfs/chufa.pdf

[JABIII]

ABB, what are you trying to accomplish by rotation? If you are trying to increase or maintain yield, you can get to the same end by other means without having to rotate from corn to another crop. Corn after corn after corn isn't the bogey that it is made out to be by many. From a farming standpoint it doesn't make financial sense because you CAN rotate. From an impoundment standpoint, you can add the nutrients after proper soil testing to get your soil where it needs to be to yield you a super crop, assuming you get the water.

Row crops are superior to moist soil management in terms of energy available to ducks for nutrition, energy available to hold ducks for hunting, and protection from avian predation. All very important to the future success of your duck hole.

That being said, any waterfowl manager in South Carolina worth his salt is providing a wide range of food choices. Corn simply isn't appealing when the weather lows are above 50 degrees and we all know that we see plenty of that here. Those long warm spells are where MSM pay off. Of course, the hunting won't be much good but if killing a lot of ducks is your goal, there are far cheaper and labor intensive alternatives to kill ducks than managing a duck pond in this state...

[Aging Baby Boomer]

Minimize billbug problems. Sure, we can spray the little buggers. But if there is a reasonable rotation crop, perhaps we could reduce the total application of pesticides.

I'm leery of soybeans, because the literature suggests they deteriorate rapidly when flooded.

Just looking for options.

[duckman88]

JAB, Are you sure about that? I know you have your company and all so maybe your right but I have heard and been taught that 1) Animals will always try and eat all of the natural foods that they can before they eat row crops or food plots. 2) a well managed moist soil unit can produce more duck energy days per acre than any row crop except corn. Out here in Arkansas we have fields that are producing over a thousand pounds of seeds per acre, not to mention the invertebrates that are found in MSU's, although beans are just as good at getting the invertebrates females need for migrating back up north to breed.

[Blakeley]

Duckman,

I have always found the "duck energy days per MS managed" very interesting but debateable and I appreciate your opinion. No doubt that a "well managed MSU" provides this when it includes inverts. But there are only a handful of state or fed owned areas in this state that are run this way, that I can think of. Of those, when those managers speak, I listen.

But the ducks will still leave those areas for row crops. I've seen interesting patterns set up once flights settle into the area. Roosting will occur in MSUs and feeding occurs in rowcropped inpoundments. And vise versa.

Even on us, one year, we had ducks roosting and feeding well into the night then leaving out before/during shooting time (of course) to head to the refuge. Stomach contents showed the majority of corn and a few small seeds.

Stomach contents of birds shot on us during morning hunts, during a normal pattern, showed very little seeds from MSUs. We took that to mean, they were hungry and the MSUs were not providing what they wanted.

Other gov. impoundments are just "maintained". Meaning let's flood, drain, circulate, maintain the dikes and watercontrol structures, and mow some grass and God help us if Phragmities shows up. It's from these impoundments that a row cropped impoundment can most certainly attract and hold those ducks with relative ease.

I agree with JAB that weather is the factor when attracting ducks to corn or rice. When it's warm, those ducks don't move around. And to have a wholistic plan in place instead of row crop only.

In the end, that little bird's brain is going to make the decision on what he or she wants to eat and how far it wants to fly to get it. All we can do is hope that little bird chooses what we have to offer (hopefully it's both cropped and MS) and brings several hundred friends.

Goverment terms and quanities like duck energy days and pounds of seed per acre be damned!!!

Anyone else with thoughts?

[duckman88]

Yea this is true, I just wonder how much a bird needs carbs once they get down here. I realize that they are vital up north where it gets so cold. Do they need that many carbs once they are down here? Can they not get what they need from Moist soil seeds? I think the best option would be to have both row crops and MSU's if you have the land. I have heard that a lot of hunting clubs out here will rotate a rice field to an MSU every third year. You get the benefit of the residual rice plus all your MS plants. I will say that 90% of the MSU's that we monitor are mixed in with rice fields. So I wonder..... I am hoping to do MSU/Row crop research for my masters so hopefully I will understand it more in about 4 years. But, cherokee, you snd JAB sound like your set up pretty good so keep on keepin' on.

[duckman88]

Oh and my buddy just showed me the results of the may pond count and some of the increases are INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!! Pintails sky rocketed, same w/ shoveler. All duck species are up in cosiderable amounts ecxept for gadwalls I believe. All divers are down except cans which are up over 100% from last year. I say close season 1 more year and they will be good to go.

[Blakeley]

Duckman88,

That master's is one I certainly would read. I hope that works out for you and you are able to pursue it. Get it published in the Journal. I'm tired of reading about lead poisoning or an NTMB's niche. No bent eared nuthatch is going to pay my bills.

On carbs, I would imagine they would need to replenish what they have spent pretty fast on the way down. Then, once here, maintain and have sufficent muscle for the push back north. Stopping along the way and choosing/knowing what foods will help the migration back home.

Could it be that they know what to eat to maintain the energy? Would they choose corn over MS seeds b/c they know they can eat fewer seeds of corn to gain that energy back faster? For example, would 15 corn seeds do the job for the day instead of 40 MS seeds to maintain? Then any extra seeds during the day go into muscle growth or repair.

I know this has been studied in Quail at TT and Jones. But they never came to the conclusion that quail chose high quality planted seeds over natural seeds. It just depended on opportunity.

But ducks have a wider range, not just in the migration. It maybe easier to nail it down what they prefer. But, again, having both available is the best bet.

Good luck with the Master's Degree. Hopefully, you will need "dead subjects" to examine and this place is eat up with people willing to travel out there if you have a "test tract" for them to hunt.