Oat pastures have increase in popularity in recent years as one
way to reduce problems from drought. Oat pastures can be long
lasting and productive, but also disappointing at times. While
we don't know all we need to know, here are a few grazing
recommendations that will help you succeed. Oats grows rapidly.
Once it gets five or six inches tall, it quickly can shoot up to
a foot tall in almost no time. As nice as this sounds, once oats
gets that tall it may not stool out, tiller, and regrow after
grazing very well. So it's important to start grazing early and
to graze hard enough to keep your oats vegetative and leafy,
thereby stimulating it to constantly form new tillers. So how
early is early? That's hard to say, but if we start to first
graze when oats get six to eight inches tall and remove about
half the growth it will recover rapidly and tiller well. After
this first grazing to stimulate tillering, keep oat regrowth
between six and sixteen inches tall using either continuous or
rotational stocking. Beg