So.....as i have been looking at the 100 acres that i hunt and share with a cattle rancher, it has gotten me thinking about if there are any other types of feed that i can feed that do not involve fencing off good sized chunks of property to keep the cows out. I am pretty sure that i am going to end up fencing no matter what, but i figured i would ask if anyone knew of anything i could feed that would make it more difficult for the cows than regular shelled corn. I was thinking something like cracked corn but i didnt know if the deer would bother to eat that or simply leave it to the birds. I am open to ideas, just thinking outside the box before trying to figure out fencing. I also tend to carry a slingshot with me in the blind to shoot if they get to be too big of pests. Thanks for any ideas!!!!

Feed pens are the only real solution.
Especially after cows have associated a deer feeder / corn as a food source.

12 - 16 16' pig or cattle panels arranged in a circle, T posts every 8'. The bigger the pen the better.
I prefer 34" hog panels, using 50" cattle panels you usually have to cut down 3 or 4 areas to 34" - 40" ish to allow deer access at least until they become accustom to jumping into a feed pen.

If the cattle on the property can pick up corn or even sweet feed off the ground there really isn't another type feed that will discourage them.

Whats bad is that they actually have gotten to where they follow and clean up my corn on the road even. Im actually starting to think that buying a few bags of range cubes and feeding them at the front of the property where there arent any feeders might be cheaper and see if that keeps them up and away from my feeders.

On our hill country lease a few years back we ended up doing that. When the cows would setup near the feed pens just take them on a long walk by slowly dumping out a bag of feed over a couple hundred yards. Kept them occupied for a few hours and away from the pens.

I’ll warn you about this strategy, those cows will recognize your truck, Atv, etc. and expect to be fed every time you hit the gate.

Sounds like there are too many head of cattle on too little land and the owner doesn't care for them by providing cubes or hay.

Ive wondered about the over populated question as well, though i think he actually runs them on more than the 100 acres i hunt but i almost never see them NOT on my portion....lol. I think the whole property is closer to 400 acres. But i dont think the cows are rotating through the rest of the property. The gaps are open, but they dont seem to be moving around. He does provide hay and has that big black tub with 4 holes that im guessing is molasses as well.

Years back we hunted 900 acres in South Texas, owned by a broke rancher with way to many cows. Really bad drought to boot.

Cows so hungry they would run over you when trying to fill feeders. Cows so hungry they were dying. We bought feed not just to keep the cows out of our hair but we felt bad for them.

Cow died, rancher claimed somebody shot it, but nobody did.

Rancher finally brought in some round bails and realized his cows were starving. We cleared out before the season was over and chalked it up to experience.