Producing Quality Oat Hay

Executive summary
Annually, Australian farmers’ produce between
5.5 and 6.5 million tonnes of fodder. Most of
this is used on farm or traded domestically,
however a growing proportion is exported, of
which the majority is oat hay. The export oat
hay industry has grown from about 100 000t in
1993 to over 600 000t in 2005 and is worth at
least $150m annually.
The market for oat hay, whether for export or
domestic use is driven by quality. High quality
hay demands high prices and depending on the
year growers can increase income by $50 to $100
a tonne for high quality hay. A consistent supply
of high quality hay is essential for the industry to
meet the challenges of increasing competition
from North America, expansion into new
markets and maintenance of current markets.
As the oat hay industry has grown and
developed, factors affecting hay quality have
been identified and many of these are influenced
by management. An understanding of those
factors that can be managed by the grower will
help to reduce the risk involved with producing
premium quality hay.
The purpose of the book Producing Quality
Oat Hay is to provide growers with a practical
management guide to produce high quality,
profitable hay crops. The information is based
on new developments and current research on
growing high quality oat hay.
Producing Quality Oat Hay contains details that will
help novice and experienced growers evaluate the
viability of oat hay in their system. Oat hay is
often grown for ryegrass control but with good
management it can become a profitable cropping
option in its own right. One of the great challenges
is to achieve high yield while maintaining or
improving hay quality. The book contains
information on all aspects of growing, making,
storing and transporting oat hay to meet these
challenges. It explains quality requirements by
market and how these are measured. Chapters
include the latest details on variety selection
especially in relation to disease; row spacing and
seeding issues; fertiliser management; cutting,
curing and baling hay; and storage and transport.
10 PRODUCING QUALITY OAT HAY
While preparing the material for the book, several
research areas that require further investigation
became apparent.
1. The development of variety specific
agronomic management packages at the
time of new variety releases. The data
presented in the book clearly show that
varieties’ quality traits react differently to
nitrogen management. Variety specific
management packages would ensure that
growers achieve optimum quality for
each new variety.
2. The control of foliar disease using
fungicides. Although genetic resistance is
the preferred option for controlling diseases,
varieties with combinations of the desired
resistances are not always available. Currently
most information about fungicide use is
from data collected from other cereals.
More information is needed for fungicide
application in oat hay especially relating to
withholding periods in oat hay production.
In addition research on protective or
preventative chemical control is required.
This is where fungicides are applied at earlier
growth stages to prevent foliar diseases later
in the plant lifecycle.
3. Yield and quality prediction. Development
of a model to predict oat hay yield and quality
early in the growing season, such a model
would help growers modify management to
optimise these parameters. Currently, oat
crops with high dry matter yields are more
likely to produce poorer quality hay. Better
prediction of yield and quality will assist in
producing high hay yield while maintaining
good quality.
4. How to bale dry hay. Currently when hay
becomes too dry it will not produce a good
bale and baling must stop. This results in
substantial lost time and increased potential
for weather damage.
Dr Pamela Zwer,
SARDI, National Oat Breeding Program