first year planting oats for winter

   / first year planting oats for winter #1  

RancherSam

Silver Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
102
Location
Hays County, TX
Tractor
Case IH JX95 4x4
Hi all,

I'm planting oats for the first time on 30 acres of pasture land near austin, tx, and have a few questions. I will be discing soon and getting the ground opened, then hopefully I'll using an old grain drill I just bought to bury the seed in the ground. I submitted a soil test, but have yet to see the results, for potential fertilizer application. The field has been fallow for a while, but I've shredded and disced it earlier in the year. I'm planning on buying the seed from a local farm and supply store, but did see a few ads in the local craigslist for oat seed for sale. So my first question is here, are oats seeds just oat seeds and I can buy the best deal, or is there anything I have to look out for? This will be used mainly as winter grass for animals. Secondly, are there any other steps I should take other than discing and drilling seed in? If the grain drill fails can I just spread the seed and disc again? Also, how much seed per acre? Please feel free to pass on any information that you may deem useful for a new farmer like me :)

Sam
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #2  
It depends on what you untend to do with the oats, but from what I hear, oat seeds are not just oat seeds.

A neighbor planted a little oat for his own use, harvested it and threshed it, but the seed still has husks. He is trying to figure out what to do now to dehusk it so he can press it and eat it.

Just today I was talking with another farmer about this and he mentioned that there are varieties of oats that do not have husks. Of course the guy could have planted wheat or rye which also don't have husks, but don't make as good a hot breakfast.
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #3  
I just checked with google and it is not called a husk (that is what wraps corn). The covering on oats is called a hull, and there are hull-less varieties of oats.

From "The New Book of Whole Grains: More Than 200 Recipes Featuring Whole Grains"
"Hull-less varieties of oats exist, although since they have never been successful commercially, they may be hard to find. Three such varieties are James, Liberty, and Nakota..."
Link to google books excerpt of this book
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #4  
RancherSam said:
Hi all,

I'm planting oats for the first time on 30 acres of pasture land near austin, tx, and have a This will be used mainly as winter grass for animals. Secondly, are there any other steps I should take other than discing and drilling seed in? If the grain drill fails can I just spread the seed and disc again? Also, how much seed per acre? Please feel free to pass on any information that you may deem useful for a new farmer like me :)

Sam

Sam----Discing and drilling the oats in should work fine. If the drill fails you can broadcast it in with a spreader and then harrow it lightly. For winter grass I would put the oats down fairly heavy so you get a luxurious thick cover. For rye I used approximately 2 bushel per acre, maybe a bit more. Good luck.
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #5  
Lopezian, Looks like our friend needs an oat roller.
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #6  
Oleozz said:
Sam----Discing and drilling the oats in should work fine. If the drill fails you can broadcast it in with a spreader and then harrow it lightly. For winter grass I would put the oats down fairly heavy so you get a luxurious thick cover. For rye I used approximately 2 bushel per acre, maybe a bit more. Good luck.


Oleo,
You've got to be a little more specific in reference to a bushel.

A bushel of "x" doesn't weigh the same as a bushel of "y"...too many variables. I'm not bashing your logic, I understand it perfectly, but a lot of seed is sold in ___ lb bags...sometimes, not in weights corresponding to a bushel.

Here is a list of some bushel to weight ratio's for various grain/seed : http://www.norganics.com/bushelwgt.pdf
 
Last edited:
   / first year planting oats for winter #7  
The Amish that I bought the rye from had a bushel and a half in bags that weighed about 100 lbs. I didn't weigh them but they sure felt that heavy when lifting them into the spreader.:rolleyes:
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #8  
Oleozz said:
The Amish that I bought the rye from had a bushel and a half in bags that weighed about 100 lbs. I didn't weigh them but they sure felt that heavy when lifting them into the spreader.:rolleyes:


Sounds like you got a pretty good deal then :)
 
   / first year planting oats for winter #9  
RancherSam,

Follow whatever the soil tests say you should...that would be my number one piece of advice.

I've had pretty good luck with overseeding oats but we have also had very mild winters the last several years. In East Texas, we sometimes get winter kills of oats from freezes and because of that my winter pastures always also have other plants in them including rye and legumes. That way, if the oats is lost, then I'll still have some winter forage.
 
 
Top