Our use of cover crops consists of two components------ maintaining growth on the ground for erosion control in fall and early spring, AND providing a more effective weed control mechanism.

As you well know, fall-seeded oats die in the winter, so such would have to be replanted in spring in order to provide any real ongoing weed control.  The coverage in spring provided by dead oats provides some benefit for spring, but doesn't amount to a pimple on an elephant's butt when compared to rye growth--------both as to the allelopathic effect on weeds and as to root depth.  Standing oats provides no allelopathic effect...............we've tried oats...........when I got bit by the "cheap bug"............not nearly as effective for our purposes--------probably for any conventional operation, such would be just fine, since the objective is solely winter ground coverage with a carryover of trash to spring.

And we don't dick with a drill..........too many acres to cover, and the objective is just ground coverage, not nice neat rows for yield purposes................broadcast it and forget it.