Oats are grown for human consumption and for animal feed as grain or hay. This widely adapted and reliable cereal is a major winter cereal grazing crop. It also offers some rotational benefits where conditions are not suitable for broadleaf break crops.

Oats can tolerate a range of cereal diseases such as take-all, crown rot and common root rot. The ease of establishment and early time of sowing are other major benefits. Its adaptability to tolerate acid soils, use for hay and silage, for pasture renovation, suitability for broadleaf weed control by post emergent herbicides, and usefulness for grazing out make oats a versatile crop in farming systems.

Topics

• Planning/paddock preparation and planting
• Plant growth and physiology
• Nutrition and fertiliser
• Weed and insect control
• Nematode management
• Diseases
• Plant growth regulators and canopy management
• Crop desiccation and spray out
• Harvest and storage
• Environmental issues
• Marketing