Thinking about filling some hay feeders with chaffhaye or straight alfalfa (or maybe a mix) on my lease in Val Verde to attract whitetail and exotics. However, I'm worried that hogs might tear up the feeders trying to get at the molasses smelling chaffhaye. We do not have cows and we do not use feeder pens as the hogs aren't usually too big of an issue around corn feeders. There are some feral goats and there have been wild horses there in the past but the latter are probably not a concern.

Anyone have any experience with the stuff, particularly in or around Val Verde area? I'm definitely open to suggestions.

My biggest question is do hogs like Chaffhaye?

don't know about hogs but you better keep it out of reach of cows as they absolutely love it....can't imagine hogs wouldn't love it as well. If the cows were ever hanging around an area we were trying to hunt, we could simply spread a bag elsewhere and they'd run to it....never stayed on the ground long enough for hogs to find it. Unfortunately, we never could get the deer interested. If I were to try again, I wouldn't feed it until the dead of winter when there's little green to eat.

I tried it one time on one of my Nacogdoches county leases and it just rotted on the ground.

Horses will eat it for sure.

Ive seen a lot of deer farmers feed chaffhaye whitetails definitely like it..

Yes...we fed it several ways..on the ground....on the ground with corn sprinkled on top...in a small hay feeder...in hay feeder mixed with corn....just couldn't get the deer to take to it. I have been told by a guy a the feed store who worked with a breeder that it does take some effort to get them to eat it but once they do, they won't stop.

We fed it in Brackettville with really good results and that was putting it on the ground. The problem was it only lasted a week or less and the hogs eat it as well. We switched to regular alfalfa in a barrell hay feeder and get as good or better results. In addition you get more hay for the same price or less.

So you didn't see any huge difference in Chaffhaye and Alfalfa in attracting whitetails and exotics except that the hogs like Chaffhaye more than alfalfa?

We've got some old corn feeders that we've taken the legs off and cut holes in for use as hay feeders.

I think it would do well out there, we're in the junction area and they can't get enough once they figure it out. Not sure if it was the axis or white tails but they ate a whole bail of alfalfa out of our converted feeder in two days flat just last week. We just cut out the bottoms of some old feeders and attached four L shaped braces that connect in the middle about 10-12" down. Drive up toss it in and go. We only use the Chaffhaye when actually hunting because they eat it overnight.

Mule deer love it!

Yes it's awesome for exotics. I used to have a place in Sonora that I wanted to see more axis. I made a simple feeder that held the hay perfectly and had lots of success.
You need two pieces of cattle panel. Mine were 4x5. You pound two t posts in the ground at about 70 degrees. You pound them so they cross each other at ground level. Then pound in two more 4ft away. Then you wire panels up against them. It's basically a cradle for the alfalfa. Deer come in from the sides to feed. It keeps it up off the ground and dry. Over time the ground around the feeders would be covered in alfalfa and deer would bed down on it right in the middle of the feed pen.

Axis absolutely love it.

Yep, no big difference between the two. That is exactly what we did for hay feeders. They are corn feeders on 3 foot legs with large access holes in the bottom of the barrel. We actually cut the bottom out of the barrel and extended the barrel 16 inches. That allows for a full bale to fit