Producing Quality Oat Hay

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Growth stages should be used to determine the appropriate timing for additional nitrogen applications (see year planner). To maximise quality any late nitrogen should be applied between GS25 and 31. Before this stage the nitrogen increases yield, but after this point it can accumulate as nitrates and reduce quality. If growth rates decline or nitrogen deficiency symptoms are observed applicaions of 25kg/ha of nitrogen can be sufficient. Where soil fertility is high hay crops are prone to lodging. This causes the lower stem to be shaded and become bleached resulting in a poor feed test and visual assessment. Excess nitrogen applied to the crop can occasionally result in hay with nitrate nitrogen levels greater than 500ppm, which is unacceptable to many hay markets. Phosphorus Response of oat hay to phosphorus is similar to cereal crops grown for grain; therefore application rates are the same as for other grain crops. Potassium Cutting hay removes greater levels of potassium than cereals harvested for grain. Particular attention should be given to potassium in the nutrient budget. Figure 6.2 Impact of increasing seedbed nitrogen on water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content of early and late sown crops - source Agrilink Agricultural Consultants. PRODUCING QUALITY OAT HAY Figure 6.3 Impact of increasing seedbed nitrogen on neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content of early and late sown crops - source Agrilink Agricultural Consultants. Figure 6.4 Interaction between variety maturity and fibre content under increasing regimes of seedbed nitrogen. The impact on quality was more negative in early and mid season varieties - source Agrilink Agricultural Consultants. 55
Weed control Impact on hay quality • Contamination • Colour • Taints • Toxins Pre-seeding weed control is vital, as in-crop weed control options are limited. Weeds not only impact on yield but also on quality. Exporters will have standards for acceptable inclusion of weeds and admixture; generally it is 5% of the hay by weight. Non-selective knockdown herbicides are the most economic option for pre-seeding weed control. At the time of writing there are few on-label herbicide recommendations for weed control in oats or for soil active weed control when sowing oats. Some states such as South Australia have supplementary lists for herbicide use in oats. Advice should be sought from your herbicide reseller. Some herbicides used for weed control in oat hay crops are listed in Table 6.5. In-crop weed control should be carried out when weeds are small and easily killed and before GS32 to minimise the impact of crop damage in wheel tracks. Broadleaf and grass weeds can reduce hay quality due to contamination and reduced visual and sensory characteristics. 56 PRODUCING QUALITY OAT HAY Grass weeds Wild oats cause yield loss, increase CCN levels, are a source of rust inoculum and have a detrimental effect on quality due to early maturity. <strong>Hay</strong> paddocks containing wild oats should be cut as near as practical to the flowering stage of the wild oats to prevent a build-up of wild oats in the paddock and to decrease their detrimental effect on quality. For most oat hay varieties this means cutting the oats before flowering as wild oats generally flower before commercial oat varieties. Some of the early maturing varieties may coincide with wild oats. Very late maturing varieties should be avoided where wild oats are expected. There is no safe chemical option for the control of wild oats in oat hay although the use of trifluralin applied in no-till systems has given partial control. Ryegrass is a particular issue for oat hay production because hay is often included in the rotation to provide a non chemical control of ryegrass. However, ryegrass hosts the ARGT complex that can poison animals fed hay containing ryegrass infected with the toxin. Initially the export market limited the ryegrass level in oat hay to 5% but as ryegrass itself makes very good quality hay often higher levels can be marketed as long as the hay is free from ARGT. Good ryegrass control can be difficult to achieve in oat hay with herbicides but trifluralin (especially in no-till systems), metolachlor (pre-seeding or post sowing pre-emergent) and chlorsulfuron (for Group B susceptible populations) have been used. Grass weeds such as barley grass, silvergrass and brome grass reduce palatability and visual quality. After cutting, regrowth of oats and other grass weeds can be controlled with paraquat or glyphosate. Image 6.7 <strong>Oat</strong> hay is often included in the rotation to provide a non chemical control of ryegrass. To achieve this hay must be cut before ryegrass sets seed. However, ryegrass hosts the ARGT complex that can poison animals fed hay containing ryegrass infected with the toxin.
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Producing Quality Oat Hay
Page 3 and 4:
Acknowledgements Authors Pamela Zwe
Page 5 and 6: The oat hay year planner Between cr
Page 7 and 8: Zadoks Stage Growth Code Activity C
Page 10 and 11: Foreword Growing Oat Hay was first
Page 12 and 13: Chapter 1 Why grow oat hay? Growing
Page 14 and 15: Table 1.1 Gross margin in dollars p
Page 16 and 17: Chapter 2 Is oat hay a viable choic
Page 18 and 19: Chapter 3 What the market wants? Do
Page 20 and 21: Hay for export Over the past five y
Page 22 and 23: Figure 3.5 Overview of the Australi
Page 24 and 25: Objective measurement and chemical
Page 26 and 27: Chapter 4 Disease of oats A wide ra
Page 28 and 29: Leaf and stem diseases - fungi Stem
Page 30 and 31: Septoria Leaf Blotch, Septoria aven
Page 32 and 33: Leaf and stem diseases - bacteria F
Page 34 and 35: Root Diseases - nematodes Nematodes
Page 36 and 37: Root Lesion Nematode, Pratylenchus
Page 38 and 39: Take-all, Gaeumannomyces graminis v
Page 40 and 41: Chapter 5 Variety selection for hay
Page 42 and 43: Swan Swan is a tall mid season vari
Page 44 and 45: Seed purchased for sowing to produc
Page 46: Table 5.4a Agronomic and hay qualit
Page 49 and 50: Herbicide residues Some herbicide r
Page 51 and 52: Higher plant populations produce hi
Page 53 and 54: Figure 6.1a Sown round and round -
Page 55: oadcast or deep banded at seeding.
Page 59 and 60: Image 6.8 Pre seeding weed control
Page 61 and 62: Insect control Oat hay crops are da
Page 63 and 64: 62 PRODUCING QUALITY OAT HAY Figure
Page 65 and 66: Ripe grain in hay is undesirable to
Page 67 and 68: Plants leaning at different angles
Page 69 and 70: Curing For every one tonne of hay b
Page 71 and 72: Figure 7.4 The impact of rainfall a
Page 73 and 74: Image 7.7 The windrow before (L) an
Page 75 and 76: Testing moisture content A moisture
Page 77 and 78: Handling can be easier if the bale
Page 80 and 81: Chapter 8 Storage and transport Hay
Page 82 and 83: Time line Spontaneous fires in stac
Page 84 and 85: side of the vehicle to the other, w
Page 86: Producing Quality Oat Hay The marke
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Producing Quality Oat Hay

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