Spring oats

irish eddie

Well-Known Member
Thimkin sowing 30 acres in spring for a break crop so i can get back sowing winter wheat , was talkin to few men saying country is full of oats and will make nothin come harvest whats peoples thoughts on this , would i b better off sticking with feed barely
 
Thimkin sowing 30 acres in spring for a break crop so i can get back sowing winter wheat , was talkin to few men saying country is full of oats and will make nothin come harvest whats peoples thoughts on this , would i b better off sticking with feed barely

I'm not a tillage farmer, but I hear that the oat market is set for a steady rise in demand, hence why Glanbia have put up the store in Portlaoise.
A bit off of topic, would undersowing oats be a better alternative to barley when reseeding in the likes my sticky acidic soil?

Posted from the Ham Bone using Crapatalk 2
 
I'm not a tillage farmer, but I hear that the oat market is set for a steady rise in demand, hence why Glanbia have put up the store in Portlaoise.
A bit off of topic, would undersowing oats be a better alternative to barley when reseeding in the likes my sticky acidic soil?

Posted from the Ham Bone using Crapatalk 2

Yes, I would agree that the long term outlook for adding value to high quality Irish oats looks very positive. People like Flahavans and Glanbia are working hard to find high value foreign markets for a crop that suits our climate. These companies should be applauded.

[MENTION=3118]irish eddie[/MENTION] , perhaps a contract with Glanbia could give you a better price than standard feed oats?

Brucey, yes oats will tolerate low ph much better than barley but due to their height I would be worried that they would compete too much with the grass.
 
Also Oats produces a hormone that supresses competing plants and this could have a very bad effect on the grass and clover
 
Thimkin sowing 30 acres in spring for a break crop so i can get back sowing winter wheat , was talkin to few men saying country is full of oats and will make nothin come harvest whats peoples thoughts on this , would i b better off sticking with feed barely

I wouldn't sow oats without it being grown on contract, the price could be very poor. Bogman was saying that Connolly's of the Red Mills filled a store that they usually use for wheat with English Oats and they will need to buy very little this harvest.
 
logically outside of the horsey market and the human consumption side of things where is there a home for oats. Ideal for store animals but besides that?
 
logically outside of the horsey market and the human consumption side of things where is there a home for oats. Ideal for store animals but besides that?

Sheep.

Margins in oats are so slim in oats you would only be growing them for the benefits of a break crop.
 
Sheep.

Margins in oats are so slim in oats you would only be growing them for the benefits of a break crop.

Couldn't agree with that now Nash. 3t easy enough to get. Bonus over feed barley if contract more if near Stradbally. No herbicide needed usually other than pre-harvest. Fungicides simple and cheap, mildew is the main threat. 80-100 units N plus P+K depending on soil fertility. You do need extra K alright over and above barley. A good PGR programme and your away.

More straw also than barley so that makes up for any reduced price. Would stack up as good if not better than feed barley especially on worn ground.

On markets there is a significant export market for horsefeed with Connollys and Quinn buying a lot of Wexford crop for this.
 
Often our best paying crop, get a similar price for Oaten straw as for barley, not expensive to grow, 3 to 3.5t, have had 4t in the past, havnt had oats in the past few years but have some this year.
 
A lad that we share farm with analyses the margin on the crops to the last degree and after a first wheat oats would usually be the next best payer.
 
Also Oats produces a hormone that supresses competing plants and this could have a very bad effect on the grass and clover
Would this hormone be more dominant in modern varieties? the reason I was asking was oats were the staple in Ayrshire up to mid60s any more than 2 white crops was a no no second crop was always undersown just cuorious.
 
Would this hormone be more dominant in modern varieties? the reason I was asking was oats were the staple in Ayrshire up to mid60s any more than 2 white crops was a no no second crop was always undersown just cuorious.

Ohhhh now there's a challenging question....!!

This phenomena is known as Alleopathy and is seen in many plant species - oats, beech trees and the Australian bottle brush plant.

I'm not aware of a difference between oat varieties in this regard.
 
I stand to be corrected 6600, ithastopay and CoNaMi. I am not always right and that is why it is good to debate and stir a good arguement :thumbup:

I was looking at it from the Teagasc 2013 margins and also some rough calcs I had done here. I may have been off a little.

Not so sure on the straw arguement though, extra yield but subdued demand for it?

I should say spring oats by the way.
 
On the straw Nash ,it's not very popular round here and very hard to get lads to take it. Personally I think it's grand stuff and we would use it ourselves. We would usually find it a bale an acre behind spring barley though. Also it really needs to be sprayed off to have any comfort saving the straw.
 
logically outside of the horsey market and the human consumption side of things where is there a home for oats. Ideal for store animals but besides that?

Dairy men should be using way more Oats, both pre and post calving, but because most nutritionists are now computer jockeys and when it comes to Oats "The Computers Says Noooooooo", it is no longer considered.
But it has very little to offer for fat stock
 
when one considers the amount of soya hulls and citrus pulp dairy guys buy at crazy prices its easy i suppose to see where it can have a place, especially at todays prices. I wouldnt have any problem using a 5 o 10% in a beef ration as a fibre source along with the health benefits of oats. presume I could get away with feeding them whole. chances are they wouldnt pass through 10% the dung 10% per ton, which would be the cost of rolling. Have fed to younger store cattle unrolled but as they have the ability to process them
 
Last edited:
A big beef man we work for was saying his nutritionist is after having a major look at oats and reckons we should be using them instead of soya hulls . This year the same farmer is going to grow some oats himself and in fairness to him he is a very good operator and nothing is done by chance
 
A big beef man we work for was saying his nutritionist is after having a major look at oats and reckons we should be using them instead of soya hulls . This year the same farmer is going to grow some oats himself and in fairness to him he is a very good operator and nothing is done by chance

was watching this and i know my view is different but i will put it forward anyway.

i think nutrionalist get caught in a trap of not looking outside their normal ingredients. bit different but looking at sheep rations and have seen quite a few with great labels and second rate ingredients brought up to spec with megalac and stuff. so have went with an oldstyle mix. 70% is cereals-barley, maize and soya(over 20% soya) rest is molasses etc and it is nut form. cheaper than the other mix but same output from ewe.

it is the view we take here that meal needs to be basic, after looking at old labels i have noticed that the best meal was once a made with all better straights, now it has plenty of profit in it.

what is the feeding value of oats as to barley, was thinking of them for lambs for finishing in late summer.
 
If you find it hard to get rid of the oats straw try a few horsey men.they love it for the horses.it sits up nice in the stable creates a lovely snug bed for them might not last as long as barley but is easier sprong out again due to its length.my old man loves it here for the horses.sadly I can't say I enjoy cleaning them out.anyone got a bobcat.

Grew 120 acres of oats last year and got 3 ton plus with them.8x4x3 bales of straw got €13 a bale I got 18 for the wheat.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
was watching this and i know my view is different but i will put it forward anyway.

i think nutrionalist get caught in a trap of not looking outside their normal ingredients. bit different but looking at sheep rations and have seen quite a few with great labels and second rate ingredients brought up to spec with megalac and stuff. so have went with an oldstyle mix. 70% is cereals-barley, maize and soya(over 20% soya) rest is molasses etc and it is nut form. cheaper than the other mix but same output from ewe.

it is the view we take here that meal needs to be basic, after looking at old labels i have noticed that the best meal was once a made with all better straights, now it has plenty of profit in it.

what is the feeding value of oats as to barley, was thinking of them for lambs for finishing in late summer.

I wouldn't be pushing Oats as a feed for fattening lambs, if you're going down the route of a Barley/Wheat mixed with Soya only ration the addition of 15% Oats would add roughage and soluble fibre to the mix, but for the few weeks lambs are being fattened I would go for other sources, I'm not in touch with feed prices or more over "Values" anymore so if these are too dear sorry it is 15 years since I priced up a ration for sheep, Beet Pulp would have been my roughage and fibre provider of choice or Citrus.

I would also say that with Sheep, I would never use a meal that didn't include Oats when feeding my Ewes pre and post lambing and with Oats prices on the floor as they are at the moment I would be including very high rates of Oats in their diet. This will lower the computer lead "spec" of the overall feed but just feed the ewes 5/10% extra depending on your % of Oats and hey presto you have stronger healthier Ewes and Lambs. Lambs will tend to be stronger and much less floppy when the ewes are feed Oats pre lambing and ewes will milk slightly better on an Oats diet because of the bypass protein.
Oats is a no brainer for Ewes, just see what price you can buy it at and depending on the value on a given year include anything from 20 to 75% in the diet. From a pure energy point of view Oats was approx. 10% less energy per ton than Barley.
But if you really want rocket fuel buy Naked Oats, massively high ME, Oil etc.
 
Grew it for a few years, but importing the seed was a pain in the ass.
As you say yield were poor, 2.5/3T, but other than the seed costs were very low.
 
Ohhhh now there's a challenging question....!!

This phenomena is known as Alleopathy and is seen in many plant species - oats, beech trees and the Australian bottle brush plant.

I'm not aware of a difference between oat varieties in this regard.


I have unsprayed winter oats here with a nice bit of chickweed now present, how well does Alleopathy in oats deal with chickweed?
 
Back
Top