Oat Hay

[HDRider]

I am considering drilling oats into my Bermuda hay field.

I usually make my first Bermuda hay mid-May. My last frost is early April.

I have never fed oat hay.

Assuming I plant the oats in February or March, when would I cut those oats?

Thanks

 

[T & B farms]

Here we try to drill them mid feb here.Usually first part of May is when they need to Come off. Can be a very difficult time to get them put up. We have to wrap them every year. Oats loose there feed value very quickly when they start to head. In 5 years, we got them put up right once.

I planted 100 acres of triticale this fall. I've been told it holds its quality a little better. We will see.

 

[Silver]

I put mine up when it's headed out and the oats are in the dough stage. I prefer to wrap it as the cows tend to clean it up better. If dry baled they tend to root through for the oats and lay on the rest.

 

[Bigfoot]

I am considering drilling oats into my Bermuda hay field.

I usually make my first Bermuda hay mid-May. My last frost is early April.

I have never fed oat hay.

Assuming I plant the oats in February or March, when would I cut those oats?

Thanks

Asking because I've been intrigued by bermuda........Will the oats shade the bermuda, and slow its progress?

 

[Silver]

I mixed sweet clover into my oat mix this year, and that makes a really nice combination. In places the sweet clover came up above the oats, and the oats were over 5 feet tall. So maybe the bermuda would compete for that sunlight and really out do itself. It would be an interesting experiment.

 

[bird dog]

I am unrolling oat/rye grass hay this year that was baled after it headed out due to wet conditions. It tested 8%. The oats ripen earlier than the Rye grass so not exactly easy to hit the optimal baling date.

It was rolled up real tight and has very little waste after the unroll. It plants a lot of seed. The cows were not real crazy with the first couple of rolls but the young calves loved it. It smells very sweet. Now the herd cleans up a roll in about two hours.

I planted it again this year in October but a early hard freeze set it back. Its now doing well and should be able to graze it some in about a month if it stays warmish.

In my area, it needs to be baled about April 10. This years crop was rolled up 3 weeks after that. It was grazed off and on up until the first of March.

 

[1982vett]

I am considering drilling oats into my Bermuda hay field.

I usually make my first Bermuda hay mid-May. My last frost is early April.

I have never fed oat hay.

Assuming I plant the oats in February or March, when would I cut those oats?

Thanks

Asking because I've been intrigued by bermuda........Will the oats shade the bermuda, and slow its progress?

I've always planted in the fall so don't know how spring oats act but you would time cutting to get the oats off at its opportune time. Shouldn't be a whole lot of Bermuda growth at that time but what you will have is going to be some good stuff.

Shading out...if you plant it like you would a pure stand I guess you might see some issues. Where I would use around 100 lbs of oats on prepared seed beds, inter seeding into Bermuda I'd use 40 to 50 lbs. Hit it with 250 lbs of fertilizer at planting. Maybe a little more if I knew I wanted to bale it. I'll see if I can dig up some old photos from 10 years ago later today.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Let is flower, then mow it down. Oat/clover hay is some of the best dry hay you can make in May. Even if it goes to straw your cows will still eat it like candy.

 

[skyhightree1]

I plant oats in the fall as well and soon as they are in milk I cut it weather permitting.

 

[Texasmark]

I had temperature problems with oats the only time I planted any, was warned that it could happen and it did. Recently I have been running rye grass (cold tolerant) as a winter crop, either planted in the fall or volunteer once you have a stand (annual) established, and pulling it off when it starts to die in the spring with the hotter temps, which is when the Coastal shoots are gaining steam. Remembering that both have to be fed.

 

[1982vett]

Here are some pictures of Oats drilled into bermuda pasture. Now it doesn't look like much but you have to take into consideration where rainfall should have been around 20 inches from the time I planted till the date on the photo. Records show it got 8.5 during that time with 3 of it coming in April.

Planted 35 lbs to the acre after we got 1.6 inches from Ike in September...may have even been about mid October after a good shower. Anyway, it was most likely grazed till late February or early March.

 

[bird dog]

Vett, did you use a use a conventional drill or a no-till? Also were those picture taken in April? Any fertilizer?

It looks like the seeds were planted on 12" centers.

 

[Texasmark]

Here are some pictures of Oats drilled into bermuda pasture. Now it doesn't look like much but you have to take into consideration where rainfall should have been around 20 inches from the time I planted till the date on the photo. Records show it got 8.5 during that time with 3 of it coming in April.

Planted 35 lbs to the acre after we got 1.6 inches from Ike in September...may have even been about mid October after a good shower. Anyway, it was most likely grazed till late February or early March.

No doubt, water can make you or break you either way...too much or too little. My best ever production year, this year, was due to having the right amount of water at the right time.

 

[1982vett]

Vett, did you use a use a conventional drill or a no-till? Also were those picture taken in April? Any fertilizer?

It looks like the seeds were planted on 12" centers.

Yes, a no-till and the dates on the photos are correct. Records show I purchased fertilizer March 24. April 8, and April 24. I would assume it would have gotten around 250# 30-10-10 during the March application. Only 4 tons bought in the fall so that would have gone on the tilled ground and not on the bermuda.

As mentioned in previous post, rainfall wasn't up to par after planting and first quarter of 2009 so I suspect survival rate after sprouting was greatly effected, on the other hand, it also says something about the drought resiliency of oats over ryegrass... at least for those of us in this part of the south.

 

[Richnm]

Here we try to drill them mid feb here.Usually first part of May is when they need to Come off. Can be a very difficult time to get them put up. We have to wrap them every year. Oats loose there feed value very quickly when they start to head. In 5 years, we got them put up right once.

I planted 100 acres of triticale this fall. I've been told it holds its quality a little better. We will see.

We switched to triticale completely. Less waste, more tons, it's also catching popularity. Just cut it at the right stage , if weather permits. Pre boot stage. Feed value and protein are hard to match. 3-4 tons per acre , per cut.

 

[HDRider]

I am going to look at triticale.

I am still afraid of it interfering with my Bermuda hay. That Bermuda hay is my lifeline.

 

[VaCowman]

Here we try to drill them mid feb here.Usually first part of May is when they need to Come off. Can be a very difficult time to get them put up. We have to wrap them every year. Oats loose there feed value very quickly when they start to head. In 5 years, we got them put up right once.

I planted 100 acres of triticale this fall. I've been told it holds its quality a little better. We will see.

We switched to triticale completely. Less waste, more tons, it's also catching popularity. Just cut it at the right stage , if weather permits. Pre boot stage. Feed value and protein are hard to match. 3-4 tons per acre , per cut.

How many cuts are you getting with Fall planted triticale? We've grazed it in the fall, and then 2X in spring before terminating it for summer annuals.

 

[T & B farms]

Here we try to drill them mid feb here.Usually first part of May is when they need to Come off. Can be a very difficult time to get them put up. We have to wrap them every year. Oats loose there feed value very quickly when they start to head. In 5 years, we got them put up right once.

I planted 100 acres of triticale this fall. I've been told it holds its quality a little better. We will see.

We switched to triticale completely. Less waste, more tons, it's also catching popularity. Just cut it at the right stage , if weather permits. Pre boot stage. Feed value and protein are hard to match. 3-4 tons per acre , per cut.

How many cuts are you getting with Fall planted triticale? We've grazed it in the fall, and then 2X in spring before terminating it for summer annuals.

I'm only planning on 1 cutting. I assumed they would just be done after getting cut like the oats usually are. I'd love for them to grow back 3-4" that would be awesome weed suppression for the no-till beans following them.