John_PA....Oats!

Saw your question down there on my swather post. Made it to page three before I saw it though! Been out spreading fertilizer. Going to plant some corn tomorrow.

The oats went about as smoothly as anything does the first time around here! I made it four times around the headland and was just about to start working up and down the field when the right side of the drill stopped planting. I have an old McCormick drill. It's a nice one but it is from the 50's and I pull it with an IH 300U made about the same year. Anyhow, the drive clutch for the grain completely gave out on that side and was not going to plant. So we cleaned all the oats out of the thing and I mounted the 3 pt cone spreader and we dumped them all in there and I went up and down the field broadcasting oats all over. I had rigged up a 16' plank with a 40' chain hooked to each end and dragged that behind to give some coverage. Didn't look to me like it was doing anything and a lot of oats just lay there in the sun. THEN the rain came and the temps dropped and next thing you know I had a really nice stand of oats coming up. You don't have to cover them if you get the right weather. They come up faster where drilled but in the long run they are just the same. I have a little IH 810 head with a Sund pickup on it and a pretty nice swather. Swather just had the engine worked on, carb cleaned and a new starter and battery installed. Also the draper belts are new and installed. Never have grown oats before. Should be interesting. Thanks for asking!

We always swathed our oats when they were quite green and let them cure in the swath to avoid shelling loss. That normally produced heavier test weight oats and we baled the slightly green straw to be used for livestock bedding. However, the livestock would eat about half of the bedding so we had to spread more of the oat straw than we did if we used wheat straw. Made good roughage for the cattle though.

Dick, are you talking juicy green or more toward the dry but not brown? I could run a few a different stages to see what works out the best.

I completely missed this post.

What I can say is that I am really proud, and if you want a cheap back-up drill, I have a good one that plants hay like no other, ever. I have gotten better hay stands with it than anything. I don't want to sell it, but, I need to get it out of the road.

it is a trip rope lift clutch.

it's a massey fergoooson #33.


it's wicked. I don't want it to sit outside.


$1400 and you can own it, delivered to mitchagain. I want to come see you farm anyhow.



I can't wait for pictures of your oats stand. remember, you got to spray them when they are less than a couple feet tall iffen you seed those weeds in them. otherwise, the spray won't get the weeds, and if the weeds are more than 3 inches tall, they require 3 tmes as much spray.

Good luck. WIDEMATCH and BANVIL(DICAMBA)

clean oats in your future!