Wild life

farmmaid · #21 08/26/14, 05:33 PM

100%......the horse, pony and guineas share.

BlackFeather · #22 08/26/14, 06:41 PM

Lots of wild life here, there is 200 acres of swamp land to our west and banks of dirt and rock along the canal for fox or coyote dens. We have a very small pond that usually doesn't go dry and the animals drink there, but the swamp has water and springs running most of the time anyway. The apple orchard to our north has a pond and the old run down mansion on the street north of there has a pond too. We get a lot of deer crossing our land but none settling there. Got rabbits, possums, raccoons and plenty of birds, including turkey, as a matter of fact we had 2 hens and about a dozen turkey chicks in our front yard the other day. Plus a couple of feral cats that wander through catching mice.

Yvonne's hubby · #23 08/26/14, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

Now that sounds like wild life.

It is! All natural and lots of fun.

moonwolf · #24 08/27/14, 03:13 PM

All is accessible to wildlife, most is attractive to deer with
open grassy and hay clover uncut fields with dozens of swampy
alder/poplar acres for sanctuary from many predators.

Mine is adjacent to one main direction about a road mile
to crown land going back several dozen miles through
varied forest and waterways before another road access.
Wildlife is much variety from moose to wolves. Black bear
commonly come closely. Cranes nest across a large beaver pond.
Geese propagate young every year, as well as wild duck and
many other bird species. About 4,000 scotch pint an red pine
in a plantation on the north side average tree sizes now
about 25 ft tall providing additional attracting to wildlife and
various foraging activities with trails to walk or snowshoe.

List of some species within my property limits that I have
seen: woodcock, mink , bear, lynx, otter , beavers, marten ,
red squirrel, flying squirrel, moose, whitetail, Gary wolf,
red fox, many different waterfowl and swamp type birds,
And other song bird species too numerous to mention including
prairie chicken, spruce and ruffed grouse for game birds.

Old John · #25 08/28/14, 07:34 AM

Our Little Place...

We only have 13 rural acres, next to a pretty big State Forest. We have a pond of about 1 1/2 acres. The wild Ducks visit it from time to time.

And there's a little stream that runs through the place, most of the year.So we have a few herds of deer that hang out here off & on. I put out salt and mineral blocks for them.
And we have a couple small flocks of Wild Turkeys, 2 or 3 dozen hang out here.
And there's all kinds of wild Songbirds.
When the Snow stays heavy on the ground, besides the Wild bird seed, I buy big bags of shelled corn for the Deer and Wildlife.

I feed the Hummingbirds all Summer. It's a hobby too. They suck up over a gallon of red syrup, every day, out of the 6 feeders. It sort of keeps me busy, too.

And in Winter, We go through 80 to 100 #'s of Wild bird seed and Black Oil Sunflower seed, every 3 or 4 weeks or so. Oh, and there are 4 to 6 Suet cakes every 2 weeks, too.

Feeding Wildlife is part of my Hobby, too. It's something for an old man to do.

Fetherhd · #26 08/28/14, 02:51 PM

We have 14 acres of gnarly steep missouri mountain land. The top three acres or so is where the homestead is....cabin...future rabbit barn...chicken house ect. The rest we will be developing with wildlife in mind. fruit and nut trees planted here and there...a deer plot down by the stream...and maybe a small farm pond. We would like to provide a good area for the wildlife to flourish in so that not only can we enjoy the beauty of the wildscape but also be able to harvest from it responsibly.

hippygirl · #27 08/29/14, 12:02 PM

Except for the garden and coop/run, all is accessible.

While I know some of the wildlife can be detrimental to livestock/crops (which is why mine are fenced/secured) and can be a nuisance, it never ceases to take my breath away when I turn a corner and see a fox, coon, or deer or catch a hawk or owl take flight out of the corner of my eye.

We share the land as best we can.

am1too · #28 08/29/14, 01:43 PM

So most of you all still buy most of your daily living needs. I'm really looking for how much area a person should devote to wild life while maintaining some animals and a garden. I've dogs and have lost most of my deer and turkeys. Oh I see them every now and then. They just can't resist good forage. Wish I had bout 5 times the acreage. I'd be much more comfortable in wildlife habitat. There's plenty around me though.

DEKE01 · #29 08/29/14, 02:26 PM

am1too, for the next 3 weeks, I'm still a part time suburbanite, but I'm really looking forward to being on the farm full time. So yes, I buy most of what we eat, but I plan to change that over the next couple of years as my livestock, fruit trees, and garden start to pay off.

To answer what I think is your question about how much land you need to devote to wildlife in order to keep a sustainable harvest going, I think the answer is precisely...it depends. I have national forest on three sides, on two of those sides there is no legal hunting, so I could do next to nothing and still get turkey and deer crossing my land. If I had suburbs all around, I might need to have hundreds of non-managed acres to support a sustainable population of deer.

Danaus29 · #30 08/29/14, 08:22 PM

I'm not creating a wildlife habitat on purpose but apparently the birds think I am. Saw a cardinal eating my buckwheat seeds today and the green sorghum heads are practically already stripped.

am1too · #31 08/29/14, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danaus29

I'm not creating a wildlife habitat on purpose but apparently the birds think I am. Saw a cardinal eating my buckwheat seeds today and the green sorghum heads are practically already stripped.

Sounds like you need a dog with fence and or a cat.

I had a cardinal pair landing on my pickup door in front of the mirror and pooping all over everything. Now I always roll up the window. At least they can't poop inside anymore. They still insist on the left door and mirror. The squirrels were climbing on and eating my maters this year with abundant food everywhere.

Danaus29 · #32 08/30/14, 11:10 PM

I've had squirrels wipe out nut crops, peaches, and tomatillos. But revenge will be sweet, squirrel season starts Monday and I have corn and sunflower seed ready to lure the furry tailed rats in.

I'll take the birds over the cats any day. The birds at least do me the decency of eating a lot of bugs during the growing season. I know adult Cardinals are seed eaters but they feed bugs to their babies. Too bad they don't eat Blister beetles and grasshoppers.

mulemom · #33 08/31/14, 05:03 PM

I find the question strange only because anyone who farms winds up feeding wildlife whether they want to or not. Cornfields-deer, racoons, geese. Small pond in the neighbor's golf course lawn-great blue herrons, ducks and to his chagrin geese. Barn swallows scoop water and bugs off its surface and swoop within feet of our tractor when we mow our pastures. Lots of red tail and cooper's hawks and barred and hoot owls in the woods along with tons of grey and black squirrels. Wild turkeys raise their young here because of the mix of fields and woods, it's not unusual to see groups of ten to twenty within feet of our house along with the deer that come for the acorns from white oaks. ODNR owns a lot of land around here. They started out letting the fields grow up untouched but eventually realized they were actually losing wildlife density. Now they lease some land for farming and mow parts of others which has increased the presence of game. Critters we don't see much anymore are pheasants, quail and rabbits, probably due to the influx of coyotes-which we never had when I was a kid 60 years ago. This is NE Ohio.

DEKE01 · #34 09/01/14, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulemom

I find the question strange only because anyone who farms winds up feeding wildlife whether they want to or not.

Of course that is true. At least the way I interpreted to OP question is, in what ways do you as a landowner go out of your way to be wildlife friendly?

ChristieAcres · #35 09/01/14, 11:42 AM

We will continue to retain at least 3 acres in forest, out of 5.1. Our goal is to fence in our garden/orchard, have very natural landscaping (no worthless grass around our home), and enjoy the lifestyle that came with our property. While we currently have grass in our cleared area, this isn't where we will be building our home. Our home site will be in the higher part of our property, which will remain forested. The view from every window, will include beautiful towering trees.

simi-steading · #36 09/01/14, 12:05 PM

Not a spot my property wildlife doesn't have free reign... This includes the ants on the kitchen counters, the mice that decide to move into your kitchen drawers (worthless cat... eeerrrrr) deer eating the rhododendron in the front yard, and horseflies constantly crashing into my picture window..

ChristieAcres · #37 09/01/14, 04:03 PM

Oh, gee, forgot to mention I have a cat and dog, who both kill mice/rats. The lovely dragonflies eat the mosquitoes (my homemade mosquito repellent deters the rest). We fence to deter the deer from eating our fruit trees, won't be planting anything unprotected for them to munch (learned that from our last place), but the dern ants... Right now, not an issue, but have had that problem, too. Lavender repels mosquitoes and moths...

simi-steading · #38 09/01/14, 07:49 PM

My cat chased a mouse out into the middle of the kitchen floor under the table yesterday... He looks at them as wind-up toys that seldom need winding... He rarely kills them, but torments them for as long as he can.. He'll block their path to escapes..

So I have to wait until he corners them in the middle of the room so I can squish them... I really do need a refund on this cat... and my dog.. her barker rarely works.. I think I must be over paying them both...

MO_cows · #39 09/01/14, 08:31 PM

Christmas stuff already out at Sam's club today.

Used to be able to count on pork loin in cryovac for around $1.99/lb there. It started going up a few months ago, today it was $2.98.

Most of the beef cuts are more expensive than the lamb now.

katlupe · #40 09/03/14, 03:25 PM

We live on an acre homestead that is completely surrounded by the state forest. Plenty of wild life around us. Unbelievable, I know, but we have never had to fence our garden. They must get plenty of what they need from the forest. We enjoy the ones who get brave enough to come up close, but that is mostly little critters and the occasional deer. The deer paths go around our homestead and they sleep in the snow beds they make right behind our compost pile all winter.