No luck with oats

[DIY]

Does anyone else deal with deer that couldn’t care less about oats? I think this was my last season planting them. I have planted them in late Aug, early Sep, mid Sep and now late Sep. They are 6” - 8” in multiple locations on our 1,000 acre lease in SE Tennessee and I don’t see any sign that a deer has touched even 1 blade of them. I have learned that our deer will eat late-planted winter rye pretty hard starting around mid Nov through the end of the season. I just top sowed a few hundred pounds of rye into the oats and some other plots and I expect it will produce while the oats get tall, wide and undesirable.

What I think I’m witnessing is that our deer would rather eat clover, soybeans and acorns during Sep/Oct when oats should be at peak attraction.

 

[Drycreek]

I like wheat. I've planted oats, elbon rye, triticale, and wheat, and I like wheat the best. The deer like it and it's almost idiot proof. I always have a couple plots of WINA clover too, but my go-to plot for fall/winter is wheat.

 

[g squared 23]

Wheat in my area is also popular to the deer. It seems like it actually attracts the things, like they're stoked to eat it and will get of bed early to get some. Rye seems like bran flakes to them; they'll eat some because they know they should but they're not real stoked about it. Oats have also seemed meh-ey.


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[Chipdasqrrl]

I’ve had odd experiences with oats. Sometimes I’ll plant them and they get hit hard until the snow is too deep, and other years they’ll only nibble the plot


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[FarmerD]

Acorns trump oats (or wheat or rye). Could that be a problem? They have something better to eat now?

 

[Chainsaw]

Bought unnamed oats off the combine one year to grow next to Buck Forage Oats (BFO) in an effort to get the job done with less expensive unnamed oats as most people then were saying that there was no difference between BFO and other oats. BFO had always drew more deer during fall for us than anything we were planting at the time (note were not planting soybeans back then). The unnamed combined oats and the BFO were planted on the same day side by side with each given equal great spots in the same plot. The unnamed combined oats grew tall and were virtually untouched while the BFO oats were kept mowed by the deer like a golf course green; no string was needed for marking where the BFO ended and the combined oats started.

Disclaimer; I am not affiliated with BFO or it's owners. This had just been my experience on this very northern zone 4 property plain and simple regarding oats. BFO gets planted here every year and in reference to FarmerD's acorn observation if acorns could be grown quickly like oats, they would be on the every year planting schedule also and nearby acorns could definitely draw deer exceptionally well as he stated causing your oats to not be the life of the party. And as usual all of our properties be can different in what deer prefer.

 

[Tap]

I've tried VNS (variety not stated) oats for a few years now. My deer don't touch them.

 

[DIY]

This year I drove quite far to pick up a few bags of the officially branded BFO’s. Unfortunately, I’m seeing the same useless results that I got from VNS oats in previous years. One year I tried the Plotspike forage oats from Tractor Supply. No luck with those either.

I have no doubt acorns in the adjacent state park are contributing to the oats being ignored, but this has happened 5 years in a row regardless of the size of the acorn crop.

I may just have to conclude that the deer that live on our chunk of Tennessee didn’t get the message about oats being an attractive food source for deer and their most preferred cereal grain.

 

[Tap]

I've also tried spring planted oats with zero luck so I know acorns are not the reason my deer don't eat oats.
I guess oats are okay for a nurse crop, though. There is little chance that deer will destroy it.

 

[MarkDarvin]

Couple thoughts here.

One: I think oats work where you don't have such a high quality menu to offer. Beans, acorns, clover, corn would all probably outperform oats side by side.

B: Oats have varieties just like bin beans, ag beans, and Eagle beans. It pays to learn about oat varieties and the stages of desirability. You can get BFO oats for a third of the price of BFO and it's the same thing, a late maturing oat.

4th: Timing matters, and a good frost helps turn them on. If your oats put out a seed head, they've turned fibrous. The biggest thing I struggle with is getting them germinated at the right time so I can get max tonnage without them setting a seed head.

I use very early maturity oats in spring for various things, and a late maturing oat in late summer for fall forage. In the fall, I put them in a grains mix. Rye and wheat are good, but you can't beat oats for fall tonnage when you get the timing right.

 

[SwampCat]

I have planted feed wheat alongside BFO and if anything, deer preferred the wheat. The BFO also yellowed up much worse during wet conditions. I could see maybe using BFO if planting a single food plot, but I buy two tons of wheat for planting every fall. That feed wheat is 25% the price of BFO - and for no noticeable difference - it is not worth paying four times as much. Deer like wheat in my area. Deer eat the wheat heads in the summer. Doves hang around all summer, eating the wheat. Oats dont have a place in my planting scheme.

 

[g squared 23]

Interesting discussion. I'll mix in some $8 feed oats with the better grains for some diversity, but I'm not gonna bank on them contributing a whole lot.


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[Chainsaw]

I have planted feed wheat alongside BFO and if anything, deer preferred the wheat. The BFO also yellowed up much worse during wet conditions. I could see maybe using BFO if planting a single food plot, but I buy two tons of wheat for planting every fall. That feed wheat is 25% the price of BFO - and for no noticeable difference - it is not worth paying four times as much. Deer like wheat in my area. Deer eat the wheat heads in the summer. Doves hang around all summer, eating the wheat. Oats dont have a place in my planting scheme.

That is interesting Swamp cat that they prefer the wheat over the BFO at your place; We have 35 or so acres of winter wheat planted this year all in the vicinity of an acre of BFO. Both were planted later than normal for us so it will be interesting none the less to see how the deer respond. We have planted wheat, rye, tritical, and barley before as well as BFO but this year it is just wheat planted and the one acre of oats grain wise. And there is lot's of volunteer rye growing from last years rye being combined in late July/early August of this past summer.

Last summer we also planted four acres of sweet peas in four one acre plots. They hit it in the fall but it didn't stand out as that special; The deer also hit it again eating leaves in spring and peas as they came out. Overall though we thought it not worth the cost and effort compared to other plantings.

 

[SwampCat]

That is interesting Swamp cat that they prefer the wheat over the BFO at your place; We have 35 or so acres of winter wheat planted this year all in the vicinity of an acre of BFO. Both were planted later than normal for us so it will be interesting none the less to see how the deer respond. We have planted wheat, rye, tritical, and barley before as well as BFO but this year it is just wheat planted and the one acre of oats grain wise. And there is lot's of volunteer rye growing from last years rye being combined in late July/early August of this past summer.

Last summer we also planted four acres of sweet peas in four one acre plots. They hit it in the fall but it didn't stand out as that special; The deer also hit it again eating leaves in spring and peas as they came out. Overall though we thought it not worth the cost and effort compared to other plantings.

To be honest, i have found sometimes it takes the deer a year or two to fully accept something new. I planted soybeans on my home ground one year and could not tell they every ate a leaf off of them. I planted them again the next year and they ate the ok - and from then on - they have destroyed them. I planted some tecomate lablab plus this year and it has been very lightly browsed.

Maybe if I planted BFO for two or three years - I might see a difference, also - but it would have to be a huge difference. I have purchased 95 bags of wheat for planting this fall - BFO costs four times as much. The deer use my wheat great - I cant justify spending for times as much money for basically the same useage. Deer arent crazy about winter rye at my place - using it even less than the oats

 

[THE LLC]

Never had much luck with oats. Lot of folks swear by them but our deer aren't crazy about them.

 

[Chainsaw]

To be honest, i have found sometimes it takes the deer a year or two to fully accept something new. I planted soybeans on my home ground one year and could not tell they every ate a leaf off of them. I planted them again the next year and they ate the ok - and from then on - they have destroyed them. I planted some tecomate lablab plus this year and it has been very lightly browsed.

Maybe if I planted BFO for two or three years - I might see a difference, also - but it would have to be a huge difference. I have purchased 95 bags of wheat for planting this fall - BFO costs four times as much. The deer use my wheat great - I cant justify spending for times as much money for basically the same useage. Deer arent crazy about winter rye at my place - using it even less than the oats

Opening day today for muzzle loader was today. Went out 1 1/2 hours before days end (published sunset is the end of deer hunting daily in NY) . During legal hunting there were 22 deer seen in one winter wheat field of about fourteen to twenty acres total with one deer being a 4 1/2 year old buck, one a 3 1/2 and one a young spike with the rest does. So there is no doubt the wheat does work. Oats and all else are just another extra. It may not be necessary to have extra most weeks but it sure is great when it works and adds to the action.Did not hunt the oats field tonight due to it being the wrong wind conditions but saw twelve deer in it in the way out(remember it is only one acre).

I get and have experienced the part about deer taking time to "find" a new plant; conversely here when it came to oats they found it immediately here. Again all properties are different.

 

[SwampCat]

Opening day today for muzzle loader was today. Went out 1 1/2 hours before days end (published sunset is the end of deer hunting daily in NY) . During legal hunting there were 22 deer seen in one winter wheat field of about fourteen to twenty acres total with one deer being a 4 1/2 year old buck, one a 3 1/2 and one a young spike with the rest does. So there is no doubt the wheat does work. Oats and all else are just another extra. It may not be necessary to have extra most weeks but it sure is great when it works and adds to the action.Did not hunt the oats field tonight due to it being the wrong wind conditions but saw twelve deer in it in the way out(remember it is only one acre).

I get and have experienced the part about deer taking time to "find" a new plant; conversely here when it came to oats they found it immediately here. Again all properties are different.

Yes - definately. All properties are different. I am sure if I offered only oats, my deer would eventually eat them just as good as wheat. Nobody else plants a food plot anywhere near me, and deer are going to find the easy food after the acorns are gone. But, Wheat seems to tolerate wet conditions a little better - and a lot of my ground is in the bottoms. Deer eat the heck out of the wheat heads during the summer and they never seemed to do that on my oats (unfortunately, hogs do to), and doves love the wheat fields during the summer - concentrating them on my ground before my sunflowers ripen. I have no idea how wheat compares to oats as far as taking cold weather - but that is not a factor for me. I might plant oats again, but I dont ever see myself paying $3000 more each year just to buy BFO. But, Yes - you do what works for you.

 

[Foragefarmer]

If oats are not working for you in your food plot system ditch them and plant what works. Turnips don't work for me so they are not in my brassica plantings anymore. But for others, don't count oats out either. When I have planted oats on my place I have had good utilization. YMMV always.

 

[SwampCat]

If oats are not working for you in your food plot system ditch them and plant what works. Turnips don't work for me so they are not in my brassica plantings anymore. But for others, don't count oats out either. When I have planted oats on my place I have had good utilization. YMMV always.

I have no luck with brassics - but me and my wife like to eat them. I have two properties in the same river bottoms that dont manage anything alike. I plant about 30 acres in the fall, about 28 acres in the spring, and ten acres in the duckholes during the summer. I am trying to make it more simple to reduce planting time. I am down to planting only wheat and durana clover for fall plantings. They work for me, it makes it simple with the planter, it makes it simple buying it - but that might not work for everyone. I have been planting food plots for forty years - and it took a lot of years to get where I am now. I have experimented with all kinds of plantings. But trying to make it simple is what drove me to where I am as much as anything. I agree - find out what works for you by trying different things yourself - because what works best on one piece of ground wont necessarily work on your place.

 

[Foragefarmer]

I have made my system simple by going to notill and mostly planting things that my cattle will get to eat as well at some point. Some days I miss my alfalfa field but I don't miss managing it.