cutting oats

If it has a heavy dew on it, how does it go? I have night time hours anyway so cutting at night isn't a problem for me.

Otherwise they'll do it standing, but they leave the head as high as possible, leaving the stubble which chokes out the alfalfa underneath.

Donovan from Wisconsin

We also want ALL of the straw because we bale some of it and sell it for decoration for halloween and we also sell cover hay. We chop what we need for bedding in oats and swamp grass, then the rest gets baled.

The trouble with going in later to cut it, is what the combine smashed down won't get picked up by the haybine so we'd rather cut it first to let it dry a little before they run it. All it takes is to be cut 1 day before they run it so the weeds, if they are there, wilt and dry enough to go through without problems.

Also if they run it standing and they put it right in our grain bin (useing the auger truck), it heats a little and then it doesn't grow as good the next year. Knocking it down a day in advance lets it dry enough so it doesn't cause problems with the seed. We grow it for 4 things, seed, straw, cover crop, and feed. We need it to be dry when they run it, and we need it clipped down right away so it doesn't choke out our new seeding.

I know we could plant alfalfa without a cover, but for us it only makes sense to put in oats too.

Just how it's done in Wisconsin, your results may vary.

Donovan from Wisconsin

We replaced the entire sickle, including the guards and hold down clips. We only reused the drive heads. (double sickle machine)

It's in pretty good shape, and we've only got about $1200 invested so far and it's drastically reduced out time in the feild vs. our 9' New Idea mow/ditioner. We still kept the NI though, it works great in swamps and the like where the grass grows 7-8'+ and 14' is too much.

Donovan from Wisconsin