Dream Farm with Bill Winke

Making the undercover thicker is a main priority on the farm this off-season. That will combine two practices: TSI and tree planting. We are just getting started with the TSI (Timber Stand Improvement) effort. We have 52 acres to go through (a lot of country in this steep ground). In this episode, I talk about what we are cutting and why. kwhunting kwwhitetail

I have tried the TSI method of killing the trees standing using chemicals, but I don't like this method on my farms for a couple of reasons. In this episode, I go into the reasons I prefer to drop the trees vs Hack & Squirt. I also show an area where I aggressively cut cedar trees last you so you can see what spots like this look like one year later.

If you want to change the habitat on a piece of property by making it thicker, and creating ground level forage and regeneration of tree species, you have to get sunlight to the ground. The key to good TSI is making openings. Just cutting a tree here and there won't improve the habitat very much. In this episode, you can see us create some serious openings.

I am really getting into the role that apple trees are playing on my new farm. They are zero maintenance long-term food sources that my deer seem to love! With that in mind, I am going to keep learning. My next step is to start grafting commercial apple varieties into a few of my wild trees. The deer won't care, but now we can get the best tasting apples for human consumption built on the found

I have been open about my reluctance to start burning because I just don't have enough experience to know what works and what doesn't so I spent an afternoon with two experts, Gregg Pattison from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and Greg Schmidt from the Iowa DNR, to learn more. Their tips are very practical and useful. I learned enough from this discussion to try a burn on my own - you will see that ef

After being inspired by my last video, I set out to do a timber burn by myself - without any help. I ended up burning 20+ acres, and in the process I learned a lot about the process. I also learned that one person is really not enough. I will probably do solo burns again, but it requires a lot of prep work and patience. You have to be super patient and thorough when burning in your fire break. Th

Jack Huston, from Missouri Drone Deer Recovery, made the trip from Columbia, MO to my farm to do an aerial survey with his thermal drone. I had no idea getting an aerial survey could be so easy. In the past, such data required helicopter time and lots of money - neither of which I have. So, being able to learn exactly how many deer I have on the farm and even how many of them are bucks, was real

I went back to the area of my timber burn to see how much of the underbrush died. I was really happy to see that most of it is fried to the point where it is either dead or severely set back. I then compare that area to the timber on the other side of the fire break. The difference is amazing. Finally, Ben Sweeney and I burn that adjoining section. There may be more to this burning than I had

In a recent episode Jordan and I talked about the perfect crop to plant in a small food plot. During that discussion I got off topic on whether it makes sense to plant both grains and greens. I moved on without really diving into that subject. In this episode, I talk about what percentage of my plot acres are in grains and what percentage is in greens.

You don't have to own fancy equipment to plant corn. My planter is an old beater and I know guys that use super old Buffalo planters and get great stands of corn each year. The key is to get the seed at the right depth, at the right rate and with the right amount of fertilizer.

I have all my plots planted and now it is just a matter of getting the weeds under control. With all the rains we have had this year, weed control is a big challenge. Last year at this time I was complaining that it was too dry! In this episode, I discuss two ways to get beans in the ground, using a no-till drill vs using a corn planter with bean plates in the row units. My preference is the na

Real farmers will keep their seedbeds as clean as possible to give their growing crop the best possible access to moisture, sunlight and nutrients. But as food plot growers, the question of when to spray a plot is not quite as obvious. We have to fight the wildlife in these small fields and that becomes an even greater priority than pure agronomy concerns. In this episode, I discuss how deer and t

In trying to figure out how to remove grass from one of my sorghum plots we came up with a unique (high effort) solution. I also update on early-dropping apple trees and start an experiment to test a blend of perennials I have never planted before. This episode is a bit of a mixed bag, but it moves pretty fast so hopefully you find something here that interests you.

Now is the time to overseed your food plots with brassicas. This simple step can really add a lot of forage to your plots and give the deer a lot more food during the coming fall and winter. I walk you through the basics, why, where, when and how to decide on a seeding rate.

I have converted mostly to no-till for the bulk of my planting. I really like how quickly I can get the work done and no-till has some important advantages. But, there are still two situations when I prefer to till the ground before planting. In this episode, I discuss when I still prefer to till and why.

Just about everything we planted grew very well, but the biggest challenge remains: how to create something useful and attractive in the remote mid-sized grain plots. Even this year, the soybeans didn't grow fast enough to stay ahead of the deer. I saved those plots by drilling Winter-Greens into the beans, but I have an idea for using a combination of beans and sorghum that might improve those p

I have benefited from a number of government programs over the years that were aimed at improving conservation practices on my farms. Recently, two members from the local NRCS (USDA soil conservation office) and one member from Pheasants Forever paid a visit to the farm. The goal of the visit was for me to show the group the projects we have been working on and for us to look for other possible

This is the first episode we have added to the Dream Farm series for several weeks. It is getting to be time to start thinking about management projects. I have a small consulting business where I take about 10 clients per year and in this episode I talk about what I do when I visit a property. I also gave some thought to what I would tell myself if I was consulting on my farm.

I have been using these drills since 2014 (when they were sold under a different name) and I have planted hundreds of acres of food plots (and even some commercial crop fields) with them. They perform well under a wide range of soil conditions and when planting a variety of seeds and seed blends. In this episode I talk about the key features and discuss how no-till drills work and why they are t