Best thing to plant in pens?

Im a beginner to deer farming and only have hunting food plot experience as well but have talked to a few farmers and was told the reason they only want dirt is so the deer only eat what they want them to eat to maximize antlers

in other words they dont want them grazing on native vegetation over their feed

I plant clover.

We had Whitetail Institutes food plot blend in our first 3 pens. It was great but did not hold up to the heat and high traffic. Of course having a drought for 2 straight years did not help either. Clover and fescue seems to hold up pretty well. We are actually planting fescue in most of our pens now. I think the deer need some grass, but you also need to keep it mowed to prevent all the insects. If you have a free pen, soy beans might be a great option.

I agree with Brad, Atleast here in North Mo. Fescue fertilized and regularly limed and mixed with Clover is about all that I have found can take the beating.


 


But again like Brad.....................2 years of drought has been hard as hell on it!

If ya have the room i like to mix things up. I have my main pen's loaded down with alfalfa and clover and then on side pens off of those pens i plant a corn,beans and sunflower mixture. I open those side pens up to them later in the fall and winter. Helps cut down on the feed bill a bit.

We have given up on all food plots in small pens except Round up Ready alfalfa.  The other alternatives get choked out by weeds and can not be sprayed.  We now have RR alfalfa in all the pens.  Initial planting should have an oat or barley cover crop with the alfalfa and mow when grain gets about 6 to 8 inches high then spray it out two or three weeks later if alfalfa is well established and rooted in good.  If planted late in the year it is important to have enough of the cover crop so bugs like flea beetles, grasshoppers and others don't eat the new alfalfa to the ground.  The cover crop also gives the deer something to chew on instead of pulling the alfalfa out by the roots when it is getting established. 


 


If it gets really dry and there are high deer numbers they can be tough on the stand but at least the weeds will not choke out the alfalfa because you can spray out the weeed with round up three times a year if you need to.  I put some MSO adjuvent in to help kill the weeds.  If the alfalfa starts blooming mow it so it does not go to seed.  I have had one plot that is now 8 years old still going strong.  I got some of the first release product. 


Now i have plots in every pen.  It does fairly well even in dry conditions if the deer pressure is not too high.

The brand name of the RR Alfalfa seed we used is Legend Seeds.

we are not sure yet.  50 / 50 chance we will be there.