Grazing oats.

AYF

Well-Known Member
I visited a farm in OZ who I recall grew oats under a pivot irrigator.
He had the ground divided up into 'pizza slices" and grazed the oats to fatten the cattle!
Thought it a good idea but didn't pay enough attention at the time!

Anyone seen it done?
Obviously not under an irrigator.
But grazing oats.
I think he was able to keep going round and round for a while.
 
I visited a farm in OZ who I recall grew oats under a pivot irrigator.
He had the ground divided up into 'pizza slices" and grazed the oats to fatten the cattle!
Thought it a good idea but didn't pay enough attention at the time!

Anyone seen it done?
Obviously not under an irrigator.
But grazing oats.
I think he was able to keep going round and round for a while.
When I was young and foolish, sorry I mean when I was in sheep, all Oats ground would be grazed twice after harvest, I would give sheep a quick run around straight after the combine, then grub it and graze it again from early to mid Sep and then plant W.W. in early Oct. A good free spin out of tillage fields, but doubt it would pay to sow it.
 
When I was young and foolish, sorry I mean when I was in sheep, all Oats ground would be grazed twice after harvest, I would give sheep a quick run around straight after the combine, then grub it and graze it again from early to mid Sep and then plant W.W. in early Oct. A good free spin out of tillage fields, but doubt it would pay to sow it.
The combine wasn't getting near this stuff.
Puerly grazed
 
Often graze oats after the combine and whatever would be grazing it would be in great order coming off it. Did think of going back and sowing 3 or 4 stone of oats after the combine but never did it. Taking 2 crops off land is hard on it.
 
I’ve a neighbour who tried growing oats for whole crop,all it did was lay flat to the ground ,he never could get it harvested so gave up.
Grazing wouldn’t have that problem though.
 
I’ve a neighbour who tried growing oats for whole crop,all it did was lay flat to the ground ,he never could get it harvested so gave up.
Grazing wouldn’t have that problem though.
Oats only or was there peas in the mix as well, I don't know much about cereals but I would think it shouldn't lie flat on the ground at 12 or 13 weeks
 
Some years ago I was on a dairy farm in California. They used a lot of whole crop oats there as silage.
 
The combine wasn't getting near this stuff.
Puerly grazed
Not bad grazing for sheep, but I wouldn't consider it any better than an fresh grazing, (ground that hasn't had sheep on it for over 12mths) if you have free ground that is not going to have anything in it for a few months, have cheap seed, (home saved) have a cheap way to sow it. it is great,but I doubt it would be make sense without most of those advantages.
It was a great cheap Autumn/Winter run, I wouldn't think it would be managed with sheep during the early summer and think there are better options if trying to grow winter grazing for sheep.
 
Some years ago I was on a dairy farm in California. They used a lot of whole crop oats there as silage.
Growing Oats for wholecrop silage is a different ball game, Oats is great for milking and pregnant animals. Every dairy farm in the country should be feed Oats, it is rocket fuel for cows, but because the "computer feed value" is not good the nutritionists think adding straw to maize will do the same, but it doesn't.
 
The brokers buy vast quantities of maize and sell it on to the mills . They do not deal much in oats . For the mills it is one phone call or email to get all their supplies. To get oats they would have to deal with the merchant directly . The mills or the brokers do not have the interest of the farmers or the welfare of the stock as their top priority. Some of the stuff the brokers import is used for filling potholes in the country of origin.
 
I visited a farm in OZ who I recall grew oats under a pivot irrigator.
He had the ground divided up into 'pizza slices" and grazed the oats to fatten the cattle!
Thought it a good idea but didn't pay enough attention at the time!

Anyone seen it done?
Obviously not under an irrigator.
But grazing oats.
I think he was able to keep going round and round for a while.
You'll have to go back a bit in time to get info on that. my father used graze oats and barley during the winter here, said it used help tiller the crops and control weeds and diseases on the crop. According to him it used be fairly common to do it.
 
Is there many lads sowing oats for their own use. I used to sow them a good few years ago for feeding to the cows before calving, but with the weather and time spent rolling it, it wasn't really viable.
 
Grow porridge oats here and always keep a load. Around 12 tons that we roll as needed ourselves. Fed to all incalf cows and heifers. Could be getting as much as 5kg a day. With pre calver. Fabulous stuff and wouldn’t be without it. Very lively calves.
 
When I was young and foolish, sorry I mean when I was in sheep, all Oats ground would be grazed twice after harvest, I would give sheep a quick run around straight after the combine, then grub it and graze it again from early to mid Sep and then plant W.W. in early Oct. A good free spin out of tillage fields, but doubt it would pay to sow it.

I had winter oats twice , in the early part of this century . Easy crop to grow , lots of lovely straw, and rolled the grain for own use . I still had sheep at that time . The fence was middling between the oats and the sheep . They got out in it around the 17th of March , and several times before end March when I stripped the field to let up for silage . It made a super crop afterwards . And before accident than design.


Often graze oats after the combine and whatever would be grazing it would be in great order coming off it. Did think of going back and sowing 3 or 4 stone of oats after the combine but never did it. Taking 2 crops off land is hard on it.

Would the sheep grazing it , their dung , and the residue being ploughed down , not be a net gain to fertility ?

You'll have to go back a bit in time to get info on that. my father used graze oats and barley during the winter here, said it used help tiller the crops and control weeds and diseases on the crop. According to him it used be fairly common to do it.

See above . In my very limited experience, it worked well .

Is there many lads sowing oats for their own use. I used to sow them a good few years ago for feeding to the cows before calving, but with the weather and time spent rolling it, it wasn't really viable.

I know of several doing it . I wouldnt mind sowing a bit , but ceased growing corn 3 years ago , due to more stock , and being scarce in silage on a couple of occasions.
Any one feeding it to weanlings or preparing to cows sings the praise for oats .
 
Growing Oats for wholecrop silage is a different ball game, Oats is great for milking and pregnant animals. Every dairy farm in the country should be feed Oats, it is rocket fuel for cows, but because the "computer feed value" is not good the nutritionists think adding straw to maize will do the same, but it doesn't.
Oats are a fantastic feed for dairy cows. Currently feeding it to cows here in their last 10 days of pregnancy, makes calving piss easy and we have hapes of colostrum. 👍
 
UCD did a trials in Lyons estate this year feeding a ‘native grain’ concentrate comparing it to a standard maize/soya type based ration to the dairy herd. On paper the native ration was inferior due to the lower ufl value of the oats, but in practice it performed every bit as good. Encouraging to see we can produce a quality home grown concentrate if we want to.
 
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