Protecting Deer Forage from Cattle

By GrowingDeer,

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Question
Grant,

I have a hunting lease in Oklahoma.  The land has cattle on it, the landowners don’t care what food plots I plant as long as I don’t put up a fence.  What would you plant in that field that the cattle won’t eat first?

Rodney

Rodney,

The quickest and most cost effective method to protect quality forage from being browsed by cattle is to use a Gallagher Electric Fence.  Usually a single or double strand of electric wire or tape powered by a solar charger will easily exclude cattle but allow adult deer to simply jump the fence.  This is different from a food plot protection fence where a single strand is placed three feet in front of a second row of fence with two stands.  Using Gallagher fencing, food plots can be established anywhere within the cattle pasture that provides an advantage to the crop and/or hunter.

This technique has been used and refined in Texas and other states where cattle have access to most of the properties.

Growing Deer together,

Grant