Oats ready to harvest?

[bigfoot2you]

Can anyone tell me how I would know if my oats are ready to harvest? I have some growing in the field and want to gather them for my rabbits..........do they dry themselves and turn kinda brown when they are ready?

Thanks in advance.

[jwal10]

Yes they turn and the seeds oat gets hard. But....why not start feeding them while still green, the rabbits love the stems while green. Start just after milk stage like if making hay. Then when dry you can harvest the oat for feed. A lot more work than feeding stem and all....James

[bigfoot2you]

Well, I never thought of that...............I'm so afraid to give the buns something they shouldn't have! I've researched on line and thru here but still makes me nervous.............TKS!!

[FarmboyBill]

If you dont go crazy, u wont hurt them. That being said, What breed of rabbits u feeding. I feed NZs and it wouldnt hurt them. I take a full stalk of lambsquarter and feed the preg does just ready to drop and after, But I NEVER feed moms when the babies are out and big enough to try to eat some themselves. Then, Ill just give a couple leaves of it to them. Theryll eat it quick before younguns knoww whats the deal. Full grown rabbits you wont hurt if you feed 4 or so stalks a night. If you do end up haveing to thresh, you should cut, IF your going to cut with a sickle or sythe while theres still the slightest bit of green still on the stalk/leaves. Theat means that the plant hasnt entirely dried out, and that the cutting action of the blade wont shatter the grain off like it might if the plant was entirely dried out. Next gather it, and I havnt a clue how much grain youve got so I have no way of telling you how to thresh it. If you have an acre or so. take a stick around 2ft long. Take a pole around 5ft long that you can cut from a young tree around 2in dia or more. No more than 3, or whatever feels good to the hand. Take an old belt at least an inch or better wide, and at least 2ft long. Nail a foot of it with roofing nails with the rubbers off to each piece. youvew made a flail. Find say a 1/2 doz or more pieces of plywood and make a threshing floor by nailing them together with 2 X 4s. TIGHT. Then lay the oats down on either side of the floor with enough room for you to walk between them. Swing the flail over your head side by side, and walk back and forth FOR A LONG TIME. Then stir up the straw and rearrainge it and do it over again. If your right handed have your right hand ahead of the pole. You MUST swing your body from side to side with the side the flail falls on. Once you think the seed is beat out of the oats, gather it up and shake it as you do on the floor in case any is still in the head or is trapped between stalks ect, and put it where you will store the straw, and sweep up the seed into whatever container you have, and relay the floor and do it again. In the OLDEN days, this was done in the winter time as it was hot work. Also the oats/wheat was as dry as it was going to get. If they couldnt cut wood cause of a storm say, they would go out to the barn, and, in the middle, where the hay racks came into the barn to unload hay, or the wheat or oat shocks, that is where they would do their threshing. Good luck.

[Danaus29]

IIRC oats are ready to harvest when you can't dent the seed with your fingernail. Yes they will be brown and the seeds heads easily shattered, at least if you are using mechanical equipment. When cutting by hand you can cut them a little early if you can get them dried properly. I've never done hand cutting other than the few handfuls that have come up where I've dumped the rabbit waste.

As for rabbit feed, I've fed them green oats just after the seed head fills out. Not too much at once as previously stated because too much at once will cause bloating and possibly death.

If you don't want to thresh the seeds out and you have cut the stalk with seed heads intact you can give the rabbits the whole thing. They do eat oat straw. While it's not very nutritious it is full of fiber and the rabbits will love it.

[oregon woodsmok]

There is a lot more feed value in the oat grass than there is in the grain.

If you cut that grass when the seed head is in the dough stage, you can dry the grass and have some really nice hay for the winter. Once the seed head is mature, the grass has no value for hay.

If your patch of oats is big enough, feed fresh oat grass from sprouting to dough stage, then cut some for hay, and leave some to take the mature grain from. You'll have rabbit feed over a very long time period.

[FarmboyBill]

My only knowledge of leaveing the head on the stalk and storing it for hay or straw, is that, come winter time, youll find out if you have any rats or mice around the barn. Your forkfuls will come alive with bailing rodents.

[sirquack]

How about this for a way to Flail and Winnow on a small scale?

YouTube

[Danaus29]

FBB, true. You'd also have rodents in a grain bin unless it was totally rodent proof. Separated it would be easier to store but you'll still miss some grain and therefore still have rodents in your straw.

[geo in mi]

Wait till the grain almost shatters off the stalks. Go out in the patch with a bucket. Reach down and strip off the grain from a handful of stalks that you have "feathered" through your fingers and put them in the bucket. Your animals will do the rest. Make it easy on yourself.....

geo