Birdsfoot Trefoil

[dvermeer]

I recently read a QDM article by Ed Spinazzola regarding mini plots and in the article he mentioned birdsfoot trefoil and it sounded like a very good option for a food plot. However, I haven't seen much else about it and most commercial mixes that I have seen don't include it. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with in in Iowa with either good, bad, or mixed results. I assume that Ed was using it in his home state of Michigan.

Thanks for any info you may have

 

[dbltree]

I have grazed cattle on Birdsfoot trefoil and also put it up for hay...good stuff as it will reseed it self. I had quite a bit of it come up when I killed the brome in my CRP and planted switchgrass, but I have never noticed deer feeding on it. I realy don't think I would plant it for a foodplot, since they seem to prefer clover and alfalfa.
It is very easy to frost seed we even used to feed it to the beef cows in the mineral and they seeded it for us! Loves heavy clay ground and it's readly available, just not a favored deer feed so you don't see it put out by foodplot seed suppliers.

 

[Old Buck]

I've observed the same thing. It is great for erosion control but I've never seen deer feed on it. From my point of view it is a weed in my prairie re-establishment and legume plots. I have read that there are other varieties of birds food that are prefered by deer but I don't know anything about them.