COMPACT TRACTOR SUCCESS STORY


Creating food plots


Business owner and farmer Mark Thompson helped solve a problem for some of his neighbors in northwestern Iowa while furthering his life-long passion of supporting wildlife conservation efforts.


Thompson — who lives on 7½ acres near Primghar (population approximately 770) — also owns two farms 23 miles away in Waterman Township. One farm is 160 acres; the other 60 acres. They are separated by a 20-acre parcel of land.


“About 15 years ago, I began planting food plots on my land after seeing what was happening to wildlife,” Thompson says. “When you have 500 deer and turkeys in an area and you get 30 to 40 inches of snow, they are going to cause trouble for farmers. Lacking food, the deer and turkeys wrecked bales of hay, ate cattle feed and generally tore up things in cattle


for wildlife RURAL RESIDENT ENJOYS GROWING CROPS FOR ANIMALS AND BIRDS


yards. The food plots were a way to keep them out in the wild.”


Thompson planted a 92-acre forest on his land. Down the center is a fi rebreak strip planted in alfalfa, which he keeps mowed. He has about 15 acres of food plots scattered around the two farms, planted to a variety of crops that attract deer, turkeys and pheasants.


He permits area residents to hunt on his property.


“That’s a tradition I started a few years ago, and now I have about 30 people each year,” he says. “I get a lot of pleasure having them visit and hunt.”


continued on the next page EARLY FALL 2011 | WorkSaver Homeowner with Acreage 7


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