Grassland

Three years ago I was able to enroll some of my land into the Federal Conservation Reserve Program. Native grasses; Big Blue Stem, Switch grass and Side Oats Gamma were planted. The subsequent years have been very wet and idea for starting grass plantings. Now the Big Blue Stem is taller than I am. The Switch Grass is about 4 feet tall and the Side Oats Gamma about 3 feet.

In addition to soil preservation it makes wonderful wildlife cover. Many varieties of birds and mammals use it. There are also many butterflies and especially Monarchs who use the Milkweed for their larva.

It is one this land that I plant 6 acres of corn each year for winter food plots for wildlife. The last two years I sprayed much of the corn with Roundup which has given good control of the thistles. Therefore, I did not have to spray it this year because the other weeds do not spread on the wind like thistle seeds do. I cultivated it twice which was sufficient for the corn but left many weeds. With the abundant rainfall, at least double the average, the corn has grown well and so have the weeds. Any self respecting farmer would be ashamed to have such a field. But I'm delighted because my goal is wildlife cover. The corn and weed mixture; fox tail, wild sunflowers, rag weed, pig weed, etc., make wonderful habitat full of food that will feed the critters all winter.

In addition to the corn I also planted six acres of trees. They, too, have benefited from the abundant moisture and are growing rapidly. The varieties were chosen to provide winter cover and food for wildlife.

I'll enclose some pictures of the prairie grass.