For the week of August 26th – September 2nd
We got into our oats and was able to get just over half of them harvested. Had a rain delay mid week, and then had to wait a few days to get caught up on drying so we could free up some space. The oats we harvested to date look to be satisfactory for quality — on the lighter side but feel once we run them through the grain dryer they will pick up a little more weight. Oats tend to be quite sensitive to hot and dry conditions in July — one rain can make all the difference between another 30-40 bu/ac in yield – and all that is in how heavy the oats are – which is determined by kernel weight and plumpness.
We ended up swathing some of the oats to help get them to dry quicker – naturally rather than having to run them all through the grain dryer. A few years ago most of the milling oat buyers started to put restrictions on using glyphosate as a preharvest desiccant. This was mainly due to people spraying too early, as the oat pannical matures from top to bottom which is opposite to other cereals. If sprayed too early it would cause the oat kernel to stay green when it was dehulled and they don’t like that when they mill it. The loss of the ability to desiccate oats is one of the major reasons oat acres have been dropping – it’s just too hard to manage harvest
We will be getting into some wheat this week while we wait for the rest of the oats to get dry. The forecast is looking good – cooling off midweek but then warm again by the weekend!
