Oat hay

[mikegahr]

I'm thinking about planting 40 acres of oats this coming fall and bale 30 acres of it, what do you think about oat hay and what stage would you bale it, I was thinking in the boot stage. Will be good for horses as well as cattle.

 

[TexasBred]

I'm thinking about planting 40 acres of oats this coming fall and bale 30 acres of it, what do you think about oat hay and what stage would you bale it, I was thinking in the boot stage. Will be good for horses as well as cattle.

Oat hay usually is very good hay and cattle love it....as do mice. ;-) You can usually graze it some thru the winter as well if you want. Shouldn't hurt a horse. Just make a slow transition from his old hay to the oat hay.

 

[hayray]

Maybe it works good in the dry and hot areas because you can cure it and cut it at the right times but where I am it usually bleeches right out and just looks like straw. Protein is usually no higher then 8% and fiber real high so it does not make very good hay in my area too often. I do not know what state you are in that might help. My guess is there are alot better crops to plant like Italian ryegrass or something. Horse will dig right into it but if it don't look like green grass bales after you bale it they will just tear apart the bales and get the seed heads and leave you with a big mess of loose hay.

 

[Jogeephus]

It does make good hay if you can get it to dry in time. Might be best to have a backup plan like having a wrapper ready in the event the weather doesn't cooperate with you.

 

[angusdave63]

oat hay makes good hay like the others said cattle love it and mine seem to do good on it we seed it with alfalfa and mow it in the milk stage yes they pick the heads out first but i round bale mine and by day 3 or 4 it is pretty well cleaned up here in east central indiana it takes 4 to 5 days to cure enough to store for dry hay

 

[12251HD]

On corn fields we are rotating to eventual hay fields, we disc in spread oats in mid April; cut and bale in late June/early July, just as the heads start to turn. It takes a couple extra days to dry, but the cows love it. We position the bales so that anything left over is used by cows as outdoor bedding for the new born calves in the winter. The oats make great support crop for new clover as well.