– Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County
In order to optimize utilization, oats have been strip grazed throughout the winter.
With Ohio’s wheat crop coming off early this year, those who may need additional forage have an excellent opportunity for acres to be available where annual forages can be planted and grazed or harvested yet this year. For those wanting acres available for multiple grazings or cuttings later this summer, a summer annual such as sorghum-sudangrass may be the logical choice. However, if the forage need is not immediate, but rather a single grazing or cutting in late summer or fall is preferred, based on our experience in Fairfield County with oats planted after wheat harvest over the past 20+ years, oats are a low cost yet high quality feed alternative. In fact, if planted most any time in July or August, there’s an opportunity to grow anywhere from two to five tons of forage on a dry matter basis while investing little more than the cost of 80-100 pounds of oats, 45+/- pounds of nitrogen, and some time and labor.
With wheat harvest so early this year there may be the urge to get a second crop forage planted immediately. If planting a summer annual such as sorghum-sudangrass an earliest possible planting date is important. However, over the years we’ve found it’s NOT important to rush to get oats planted as Continue reading Wheat’s early, are oats a doublecrop ‘forage’ option?
