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ncia | I used to grow oats. Main reason, was so that I had a place to haul manure in the summer time. I could also use the straw in my farrow to finish hog operation. (at the time) I also raised it for a few years so that I could tile in the summer time after the oats were off. I don't think that they are ever a profitable crop because of low prices,. Ive heard small squares of oat straw have become more valuable, tho. Helps if you have a baler and a place to stack them (inside) til winter.
Big thing when growing oats is test weight and disease resistance. Windrowing and letting it "cure" seems to increase test weight a bit, but adds another operation and very few windrow pickups around. When harvesting , turn your cleaning fan up to blow out all the little "pin oats". that will increase test weight. Oats will go through a "sweat" 3days to a week after harvest. If you can leave them in a small bin or even on a trucks of grain cart til after this also seems to help test weight. Handling them again helps too.
Oats are cheap to raise. I applied about a 30-30-30 (npk) along with around 3 bushels of seed. If you don't get them planted by the last week of april, forget it and plant beans. 120 bpa oats seemed very doable in north iowa. fwiw. good luck to you | |
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Growing Oats...
