Getting the Most Out of Oat Pasture
Oats, spring triticale or barley planted early this spring will soon be ready for grazing. The potential seems great, but you may be disappointed if you don’t graze it right.
Oat pastures have increased in popularity in recent years. They can reduce problems from drought and provide fast, early grazing. Oat pastures can be very productive and last through early summer, but they also disappoint sometimes. 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, if initial oat growth 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 your animals start to first graze when oats get six to eight inches tall and they remove just half the growth, it should recover rapidly and tiller well. You probably will need to give your oats a couple weeks to regrow after this first grazing, though, before grazing again.
After this first grazing stimulates tillering, keep oat regrowth between six and 16 inches tall using either continuous or rotational stocking. Begin with a light stocking rate, maybe about one animal every two or three acres. Then adjust animal numbers as growth changes. Don’t worry if a few plants head out. But if many plants get tall and approach the boot stage, either stock heavily for one last hard graze-out grazing or consider cutting for hay.
Grasshopper Management
The 2026 USDA rangeland grasshopper risk map indicates there may be increased grasshopper activity in the eastern Panhandle and southwestern Nebraska. Keeping an eye on fields this spring and summer can help mitigate economic loss from grasshopper feeding.
Grasshoppers tend to thrive in dry, hot conditions, while outbreaks can be severely limited by cool, wet spring weather; however, it is still recommended that producers throughout the state scout their fields while grasshoppers are in the nymph stage and therefore easier to control. Degree-day models estimate that current grasshopper populations are still in the early nymph stage, making this the best time to scout pastures including field margins.
One of the best ways to scout for grasshoppers is to use the square foot method. Randomly select an area several feet away and visualize a one square-foot area around that spot. Walk toward this spot and count the number of grasshoppers you see in or jumping out of this area. Repeat this procedure 18 times and divide the total number of grasshoppers by two. This will give you the number of grasshoppers per square yard. Economic thresholds for grasshoppers range from eight to 40 grasshoppers per square yard, depending on a variety of factors. Keep in mind that control is generally recommended before grasshoppers reach maturity.
For current insecticide recommendations for controlling grasshoppers in rangeland, forages, alfalfa and other crops, please contact your county extension office.
Small Grain Forage Harvest
As we work our way through spring, many small grains are maturing fast and nearing harvest windows. Are you ready to make the most out of these forage options?
Producers seeking hay should consider the animal being fed and feeding method before harvesting. For young growing cattle, small grain hay should be cut in the boot stage or as soon as possible following heading to ensure higher protein and energy content. Mature cow and feedlot managers may consider delaying their forage harvest until the hard dough development stage to increase forage quantity, since these cattle can utilize lower quality forage than younger beef animals. Small grains with awns like rye, triticale and wheat can be a concern at later maturities. Grinding the hay, feeding in ration with additional moisture, or using an awnless (beardless) variety can reduce this risk.
No matter how you harvest, delaying can mean higher productivity. Nebraska studies have shown an 8 ton as harvested feed per acre increase between harvest at boot stage and soft dough on irrigated fields. The trade-off for delaying forage harvest was an 8% drop in crude protein content.
Another concern for silage harvesters is proper moisture when packing. A statewide study looking at 17 Nebraska producers found the biggest loss of small grain silage quality was packing too wet despite almost all producers having wilted the crop before packing. Silage packed too wet had almost three times the energy loss that those packed at proper moisture content. Shoot for 70-72% moisture for proper packing. Study survey data showed producers who harvested at boot, heading or pollination stage and wilted for 16 to 24 hours appeared more likely to achieve target moisture levels.
