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Concordia, KS | I agree. I live in Hesston and my family farms around Concordia and I think that most of the time it is moisture/heat that limits our yields in both areas. The last two years that hasn't necessarily been the case, but for a more normal year I think it is. We no till and try to keep residue as long as possible and try to use all the moisture we get to the crops benefit. My own opinion is that the benefits of using oats as a cover crop don't justify the consequences. If you could store at least part of the moisture that the oats uses, that could be put into grain that will generate revenue. If the oats uses one inch of water (just a guess, don't know how much it will use or the storage capability of your soils), that inch could be put to grain that could give you another 4 to 5 bushels of soybeans. Cash soybeans at home are $8.79 so that means the oats have to give you another $35 to $44 bucks to pay their way. Even if they use a half inch of water it still could cost you $20 in beans. Just some food for thought. It will cost you at leas $1.70 per bushel for seed, custom rates range form $9 to $18 bucks so there are some costs associated with just getting the seed in the ground.
Hope this helps,
Kevin | |
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Thinking about planting oats
