Getting Ready to Harvest Oats

In my upcoming schedule I have three fields of oats that need to be harvested. The process goes like this first I have the Oats cut down and laid in windrows where it dries a few days and then combined to separate the oats from the plant. After this is done I come in and bale up the straw. I plan on keeping some of the Oats back to feed the pigs and then I plan to sell the rest to the Albert Lea Seed House and local customers. It will be interesting to see how each field yields. I have planted a different variety of oats on each field. All three fields were fertilized with balanced fertilizer(micro nutrients included) from EarthSoils. No toxic chemicals of anykind were applied. All three fields were sewed down in mid April of this year. Two fields were sewed in corn stubble from last year and one field was sewed in bean stubble from last year. The following are some pictures and description.

Here is 7 acres of Jim Oats. The Oats are underseed with a medley of grasses and legumes for future pasture. These Oats will be used to feed the pigs this summer. These oats were planted into corn stubble and this antagonized the oats. By this I mean the stand of oats had a hard time getting establised. This oats will most likely be cut down next week. Next year cattle will move through here in herds to graze.

Here is a 12 acre field of Spurs oats. This field is also underseeded with a medley of grass/legumes for future pasture. The oats were sewed into corn stubble as well and took awhile to establish but the underseeding and oat stand look relatively decent now. These oats will be marketed to customers looking for quality oats. As you can see this field is behind maturity wise compared to the field of Jim which is shown above. This will be the last field to be harvested.Next year Cattle will graze this field and possibly sheep.

This is a 20 acre field of Colt oats. This field is underseeded with orchardgrass and alfalfa. I intend to bale hay off this field for the cattle which will be mainly fed during the winter months. This field was sewed in bean stubble and established very vigorously. unfortunately this field was affected by a hailstorm that left some golf ball size hail on June 25th. Some damage has occured. This field is almost ready to harvest. This field will be the first to be harvested.

I will post the comparisons of my 3 plots of oats in an upcoming blog in addition to pictures of the harvest and straw baling.