Casey spent the month of May working on multiple projects on the farm to not only improve his odds this fall, but to also increase the habitat for years to come. This particular food plot had been no-tilled with corn for a few years. It’s time for a new crop and for the soil to be broke up. He started with an aggressive pass of The Firminator with the blades angled at 20 degrees to break the soil then flatten it back and level the Firminator on the second pass to level the soil and give the beans a good firm seed bed. The main goal for this plot isn’t to provide summer forage, it’s to create a location to bring deer to him come fall.

The next project was to cut plugs of switch grass from a different location and transplant them into an area of timber where Bush Honeysuckle was cut out earlier this spring. It’s a creative way to establish a stand of Switchgrass that hasn’t been documented much. Will it work? Time will tell, but if it does, it’ll open up a new tool for future use in other locations. By planting these plugs in a grid pattern, over time, they’ll create cover for bedding and Casey will add in some oak trees for mast. The Switchgrass will act as a cover for the young oak trees and help them grow straight as they reach for the sunlight among the taller Switchgrass.

Casey’s final project for May, was to burn off a 3.5 acre patch of fescue in preparation for planting more Switchgrass. He’s trying to utilize every square yard of the property by turning it into usable habitat. Anything you can do on your farm to add habitat is money and time well spent and anything is better than fescue.