[wavesofgrain]

So how is growing oat hay compared to forage trit or barley? We grow alfalfa and usually a forage grain of some kind every year. However seed prices are screaming right now due to the drought. I was told by our extension agent yesterday that oats do not get eaten up by wireworms (we have a MASSIVE problem with them) the same way other grains do. And the seed is cheaper. Does it make the same biomass/tonnage as forage barley? How is the hay for palletability compared to other grain hay? I was wondering about a oat barley mix.

 

[V876]

We have used oats for bale silage. You do get decent volume. The problem with oats is unless you grind or process it some way before feeding the cows will eat the top third of the plant and leave the rest. They do not like the coarse straw and end up wasting a fair bit, but if you grind it or use a feed wagon they seem to eat it ok.
Not sure that you will get the same protein or energy as barley.

 

[tjdno1]

Mix oats with peas will increase tonnage, palatability, and protein content. Pea vines up the oat stems so it makes cutting easier. http://www.midwestforage.org/pdf/179.pdf.pdf

 

[hog987]

We have used oats for bale silage. You do get decent volume. The problem with oats is unless you grind or process it some way before feeding the cows will eat the top third of the plant and leave the rest. They do not like the coarse straw and end up wasting a fair bit, but if you grind it or use a feed wagon they seem to eat it ok.
Not sure that you will get the same protein or energy as barley.

What breed of oats do you grow? I have grown baler oats and the cattle eat it like candy. Stems and all. No grinding or anything. They will eat the oats before they will even eat second cut hay. If you growing a grain oat or a grain/forage oat they might not like it as much. But with a straight forgae oat they love it.

In theory a forage oat compared to a forage barley. The barley will be more protein and energy but less yield. I normally get payed by yield not feed value so I grow oats. But on a per acre basis there is close to the same feed value being produced.

 

[brazil07]

baler oats ?

Think I am going in different direction, but was considering the oat green feed as possible option. What sort of yield(mt baleable quality/acre) do you expect out of your baler oats. Also, do you have seed close to Red Deer and/or what cost as that may swing my decision? Thx.

 

[V876]

What breed of oats do you grow? I have grown baler oats and the cattle eat it like candy. Stems and all. No grinding or anything. They will eat the oats before they will even eat second cut hay. If you growing a grain oat or a grain/forage oat they might not like it as much. But with a straight forgae oat they love it.

In theory a forage oat compared to a forage barley. The barley will be more protein and energy but less yield. I normally get payed by yield not feed value so I grow oats. But on a per acre basis there is close to the same feed value being produced.

All we have ever grown was grain oats, so maybe that's the issue.

 

[712alberta]

You may want to check out Mastin seeds Seed for Sale by Mastin Seeds of Sundre, Alberta, Canada - Home Page if he doesn't have the variety you want he maybe able to find it, or maybe he has something that is better, and more suited to your needs. He does have a price list on his web site, I don't know if its current or not.

 

[hog987]

Think I am going in different direction, but was considering the oat green feed as possible option. What sort of yield(mt baleable quality/acre) do you expect out of your baler oats. Also, do you have seed close to Red Deer and/or what cost as that may swing my decision? Thx.

I use the oats for green feed. Get my seed from the Bashaw seed plant. Last year the seed cost was $5/bushel. Last year was the first year I mixed peas in with the mix. We got dry here less than 3 inches of rain durning the growing season. Even with that little bit of rain still had a yield of 2 metric ton per acre of bales. Grew them before on sandy land with out any fertilizer and they yielded between 3-4 MT/acre. I seen a field of them by Lacombe a few years ago and had to look twice to make sure they were not corn. As the leaves were so big and thick!

Did a feed test on the oats this year and it tested the best of all the stuff I put up.
relative feed value was 115
relative forage quality was 134.
lower in protein at 9% but had lots of energy with the fat and starch from the oats.

There is now suppose to be an even better forage oat called haymaker. Its suppose to have the leaves like baler but have bigger heads with more grain in them.

 

[oldred460]

Oats / Greenfeed

Been running the baler feed oats for quite a few years now and the cattle clean it up way better than regular grain oats. Both as green feed baling it or swath grazing. Have always put some peas in with it also. The stem is supposed to be more palatable and digestable also. I am going to try some of the Haymaker oats this year. The only down side is they are about $6.50/Bus ?

Mark from out in West Central AB oat country lol.

PS: Where you from hog987 ??

 

[bear]

oats and pea mix works well for us in aussie ,seed mix way cheaper than any forage barley or wheat

 

[offroadnt]

Is there a variety name or number for this baler or baler feed oats? We use seed oats for greenfeed and the yield is great but what a mess! The stuff won't dry in the windrows and we can't put it through a 4910 baler, only the 2190s can handle it. The cattle also won't eat the straw. I've been wondering about mixing it with something like peas but the oats gets so thick and heavy it won't choke the peas out? We use it as a cover crop for alfalfa, get a beautiful stand of alfalfa afterwards.

This is on irrigation.

 

[garyfunk]

offroadnt, if your oats won't dry, adding peas to the mix won't help. Bale processors help with them eating the stems.

 

[brazil07]

drying the stuff

Guess it would not work if underseeded, but was wondering what a shot of roundup would do on the stuff just before cutting it for baling. Not sure on this, but curious if anybody tried.

 

[hog987]

Been running the baler feed oats for quite a few years now and the cattle clean it up way better than regular grain oats. Both as green feed baling it or swath grazing. Have always put some peas in with it also. The stem is supposed to be more palatable and digestable also. I am going to try some of the Haymaker oats this year. The only down side is they are about $6.50/Bus ?

Mark from out in West Central AB oat country lol.

PS: Where you from hog987 ??

Iam located by Mirror AB

Where have you found see for the haymaker oats? I have two fields about the same size and was thinking about doing a trail between baler oats and haymaker oats.
What kind of pea do you mix in with them. I have only tried peas this last year(2014) with horizon peas.

 

[hog987]

Guess it would not work if underseeded, but was wondering what a shot of roundup would do on the stuff just before cutting it for baling. Not sure on this, but curious if anybody tried.

Your talking about making yellow feed. Do an internet search on it. Suppose to have about the same quality as greenfeed. Had a neighbor who did some a few years ago and said it works good and would do it again. Cattle seem to like it. I guess he would know since he runs around 500 pair.

 

[712alberta]

Guess it would not work if underseeded, but was wondering what a shot of roundup would do on the stuff just before cutting it for baling. Not sure on this, but curious if anybody tried.

Yep its been tried, not by me though. They call it yellow feed. http://www.neag.ca/Portals/0/Reports/Forage Crops/2012 Harvesting Oats and Barley as Yellowfeed.pdf

 

[snapper21]

Yellow feed can take the stress out of putting it in good condition. You need to spray about 3 weeks before you plan to bale it. The stuff will grow some before the roundup finally kills it off. With oats I think it's about late milk when you want to spray. When it's ready the baler can follow the swather. Somewhat anecdotal but I think because it's sprayed the feed is a bit more brittle and makes the thick stems maybe more palatable. I seen swath grazing barley sprayed out the same way and knocked down a week ten days after. Cows really cleaned it up. It's a good way to clean up continuous feed ground and makes harvest timing a lot more convenient.

 

[oldred460]

Iam located by Mirror AB

Where have you found see for the haymaker oats? I have two fields about the same size and was thinking about doing a trail between baler oats and haymaker oats.What kind of pea do you mix in with them. I have only tried peas this last year(2014) with horizon peas.

There are 2 places I got lined up for the Haymaker oats, one down at Carstairs and the other up by Westlock both are about $6.50/bus. The peas were yellow in color and supposed to be a new higher yielding variety compared to the usual purple-ish ones we had been using. I'll have to look back at bill to see the variety.

Mark

 

[SimmX]

Excellent when put through a tub grinder and mixed with alfalfa We did this last winter with 400 oat bales , the straw was yellow mature and the grain was fully matured.