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NW IA | The oats will be fed and sold to a neighbor who cleans some each year to be sold as seed.
The straw will be small squared for calf hut bedding.
If the straw is heavy enough I will round bale the balance since there can be a good market for it as a feed ingredient in TMRs.
The red clover is just a nod to the soil health movement and an attempt to get some "free" N. If it doesn't amount to much I have a place to haul manure. Two years ago I got a fantastic stand and a cutting of nice soft hay. I had started to haul bedded pack manure on it and decided to leave half of the field to bale. I was pleasantly surprised that with some timely rain the manured side of the field grew out and yielded almost as well as the "clean" side (it was a pain to cut though).To my Dad red clover was a dirty word. But there are modern varieties that dry better and have other improved traits. I would have added Nitrogen alfalfa in the mix if I had waited for April, but the soil was ready and I pulled the trigger. | |
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Oats Are In
