Question on establishing oats

[JSteim]

We planted our pasture in oats for winter forage this year.
About half the pasture came in pretty good and the other half not so good. The field had a soil test was fertilized and was disked twice.
Any thoughts on what happened and how we can avoid it happening again?

 

[JMJ Farms]

Bad seed? Enough moisture? Good seed to soil contact? Temperature? Planted at same time? Lot of variables.

 

[JSteim]

We hired the farmer next door to do the planting/disking. All up between two adjacent fields its around 55 acres. A couple of acres of his did not take, about 8-9 acres of our came in as dirt.
Same seed, bob oats, on both drilled in at a rate of 90 pounds per acre.
Both fields were dry planted late in september, as it was getting late in the season. When it next rained 2-3 weeks later we got about 6 inches over 3-5 days and the fields stayed really wet for a while after that.
Only other real difference is his fields were disked the first time 6-8 weeks or so before planting. We were grazing our field down and ours got disked a few weeks before planting. His got a little rain after disking ours did not.

I am not looking to find fault or blame. Just want to avoid whatever we did wrong next time around.

 

[Kingfisher]

Maybe plant some rye with it next time?

 

[fenceman]

Lots of fields like that around here , we got the same very heavy rains at one time . looks to me like the fertilizer got moved by the heavy rains and accumulated in some areas.

 

[JSteim]

We did get the same rains. Our place is over in Coupland.

 

[fenceman]

We did get the same rains. Our place is over in Coupland.

:lol2: reckon I've been there, y'all doing ok.

 

[1982vett]

You said you dry planted in September....my guess it wasn't as dry as you thought. Some probably sprouted then died due to lack of rain and 90 degree daytime temps you had in September.

 

[JSteim]

That's a thought. Sure seemed like a long bone dry summer after a really wet spring.
Thinking on sprigging the pasture in coastal in 2016 in any event.

 

[Jogeephus]

You raising brood cows or stockers? How many days of grazing do you expect to get from the oats?

 

[JSteim]

We are cow/calf.
I was hoping to get ~ 4000 pounds of forage per acre for 20 acres between now and May to get 100+ days of grazing for our small herd. With a portion of the field coming in as dirt not sure what we will get now. It cost us about $2000 for fertilizer/disking/planting. If we get 40 days of grazing we will break even as compared to throwing round bales.
The farmer next door has planted a 27 acre field in oats the last few winters and it looks like he gets more than that as he puts about 75 weaners on it for several days at a time. Seeing how much grazing his herd got out of that field is what made me want to try putting it in oats.

 

[Jogeephus]

The unpredictability of winter grazing like that makes things tough. Maybe more will germinate and it won't be as big a train wreck as it appears.

 

[1982vett]

The unpredictability of winter grazing like that makes things tough. Maybe more will germinate and it won't be as big a train wreck as it appears.

Jogee, he has probably gotten close to 20 inches of rain since he planted so more is not going to germinate. One thing he might could try is to sling out some ryegrass to fill in by spring...maybe...even getting that done now won't be as easy as one expects. Its been wet ever since it finally resumed raining. Everyone's oats is 5 - 6 behind this year. Just the way it goes sometimes.

 

[JSteim]

I thought about spreading some ryegrass on the bare spots. Wondering if I have to drag something over that to get the seed to make good soil contact?

 

[1982vett]

I don't think dragging would be all that good for what you do have. If I did anything I'd sling out the ryegrass before turning the cattle on. The ryegrass isn't going to do much between now and spring any way but it should extend spring grazing. This is when a healthy seed bank of clover and ryegrass is beneficial.

 

[JSteim]

Sounds good - broadcast spreading seed I can do - thanks.

 

[lavacarancher]

Just curious. What kind of seed oats did you use? There is a huge difference in the price of real seed oats, those with guaranteed pure oat seed, and oats that are sold as feed. Most folks around me use the later and take their chances. I've done it a time or two and the results are not nearly as good as when I use real seed oats. I like to get my winter forage crop in by the middle of October IF I have the moisture. Earlier than that it's too hot and much later it might be too cold for the seed to germinate. I use a drill to put my crop in with, not broadcast because, as someone said above, soil contact is also pretty important. Just my :2cents: .

 

[JSteim]

It was Bob Oats which from the bag looked like seed not feed. The seed was drilled in. It was also dry planted and sat in the ground for a few weeks as there was no rain and it was getting late in the year.

 

[M-5]

I think there was enough moisture to germinate but not enough to survive