What stage do you cut oats for hay?

What stage do you cut oats for hay?

Oat hay is ideal for young livestock if cut when oats just begin to head out. Or you can increase yield by about one-third and cut oats in the early milk stage for hay that’s excellent for stock cows. Also, milk to early dough stage oats makes excellent silage.

How do you know if oats are ripe?

Don’t wait to harvest until the kernels are hard or you will likely lose a lot of grain. The kernel should still be soft and easily dented with a fingernail. To harvest the oats, cut the seed heads from the stalks as high up as possible.

How long does it take for oats to head out?

Oats normally require about 60 days of growth following germination to reach the boot-stage. However, summer seeded oats tend to mature more slowly as days shorten in the fall, so may require an additional 10 days or so.

How long does it take for oat hay to dry?

It’ll take at least 4 or 5 days till its dry enough to rake and even then some underneath might be quite green. The V rake usually fluffs it up enough that the wind and sun will dry it out the rest of the way in a couple of days.

Can you bale oats for hay?

Very hard to dry down oats, you want it crimped for sure. very hard to get oat hay dry enough to keep in the bale if not crimped. i have made it work, but even if it seems dry, it has a way of getting wetter after it is bales. will heat very easy and get hotter then you can belive.

Will oats grow back after cutting?

Manage initial oat growth before it gets too tall. “Oats grows rapidly. Once it gets 5-6 in. tall, it quickly can shoot up to a foot tall in almost no time. As nice as this sounds, if initial oat growth gets that tall it may not stool out, tiller, and regrow after grazing very well.

Are oats a profitable crop?

This means that while oat grain is indeed less profitable than soy grain at $389 of revenue versus soy’s $594, the oat year still comes out ahead of the soy in revenue at a total of $1,046 per acre.

Will oats regrow after cutting?

“Oats grows rapidly. Once it gets 5-6 in. tall, it quickly can shoot up to a foot tall in almost no time. As nice as this sounds, if initial oat growth gets that tall it may not stool out, tiller, and regrow after grazing very well.

How far apart should oats be planted?

7.5 to 12 inches
Oats are usually seeded with a row spacing of 7.5 to 12 inches but research has shown that in no-till systems wider row spacing up to 14 inches does not affect plant numbers or tillering.

How do you know when oats are dry enough to bale?

Breaking stems in half or twisting them in a circular motion to see if the stems break cleanly will give farmers the go-ahead to bale. “If all the stems break and crack that’s an indication that the hay is cured and then you can rely on the moisture test that you’re getting from the probe,” Yaremcio said.

Is oat hay good for cattle?

Oat hay is nutritious and high in both protein and energy content. It can be fed to horses and cattle. In addition to straight Oat hay, alfalfa is often planted with oats to allow for better alfalfa stand establishment. This results in a high-quality feed.

What is the color of the seedhead of an oat?

The seedhead is green, the developing grain has a liquid, milky color starch. c. ‘Dough’ stage. The seedhead color is changing from green to yellow; the grain starch is changing from soft to hard consistency. The forage yield and forage feeding value of the harvested crop change as the oat plant matures through its growth stages.

How do you know when oat crop is ready to harvest?

The seedhead color is changing from green to yellow; the grain starch is changing from soft to hard consistency. The forage yield and forage feeding value of the harvested crop change as the oat plant matures through its growth stages. (See Figure 2 and Tables 1 and 2). Note that these changes occur relatively quickly.

What is the soft dough stage of plant growth?

Soft dough stage As the plant reaches maturity, sugars in the stems and leaves are translocated to the grain and converted to starch. These changes are associated with changes in colour from an all-green plant in the vegetative stages to an all-yellow plant in the fully mature plant at the hard grain stage.

What are the stages of oat farming?

OAT GROWTH GUIDE6 STAGE DECIMAL CODE OAT GROWTH STAGE SEEDLING GROWTH GS10First leaf through coleoptile GS11First leaf unfolded GS155 leaves unfolded GS199 or more leaves unfolded TILLERING GS20Main shoot only GS21Main shoot and 1 tiller GS25Main shoot and 5 tillers GS29Main shoot and 9 or more tillers