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whole oats vs seed oats

Posted By: no-guts-no-glory

whole oats vs seed oats - 08/26/10 03:31 AM

What is the difference between whole oats and seed oats? And which one would you plant in your food plot?

Posted By: Justin T

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/26/10 04:01 AM

Last year I threw out seed oats. It was only about 3 bucks difference per 50 pounds, so not a big deal. There is just some kind of coating on the outside of "seed" oats.

Posted By: stxranchman

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/26/10 04:07 AM

If you are talking about whole or feed/"Bob" oats then feed oats are a spring type Scandanavian oats that might freeze out if it gets down below freezing long enough. Seed oat would be oats that are varieties that will do good in your area and take colder temps better.

Posted By: R_Sendero

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/26/10 05:47 AM

"whole" oats and "feed" oats can be the same or completely different from "Seed" oats. the risk is solely on the buyer.

Seed oats from a reputable dealer are cleaned, sized, bagged and tested for germination, purity, and off-type seed/noxious weeds.


Feed,whole,rolled oats covers all other oat grain that is not verified as seed quality. It may be straight out of the combine, carryover from past crops, full of weed seed, cleaned but found to be less than optimal germination, or any combination of potential problems.

Some dealers will sell this product as "feed" -nudge nudge wink wink - to circumvent testing and tagging required by Texas Seed Law.



"Bob" is a variety of oat. Old, disease prone and rusty as it is, they are slightly better than feed oats.

Variety is determined by the breeder of the oat genetics and differentiated from other in the same overall class (oat) by specific traits. Some are tall, some short, some mature faster, some tolerate heavy grazing, etc.

In most cases, the genetics are owned by the breeder and can only be grown/sold by authorized users. Similar to an intellectual property patent. Royalty is paid to the breeder to enable further breeding to continue improvement of the genetic lines. Disease resistance drives much of the breeding. Rust, virus and insects are continually adapting to the new varieties.

These varieties must be grown in pure stands, inspected by the Texas Dept of Ag, and processed separately of other varieties.

Royalty, inspection, contract growers, etc will add to the cost that is passed to consumer. Consumer benefits from improved stands, disease resistance, lower input cost (fungicide, insecticide) etc. And educated consumers can plant based on traits they deem important to their operation.

Finding the value/cost point should be a priority for the dealer and the consumer. Or you can toss a few bags of feed oats in the truck and see what happens.


Yes I am in the industry... but not trying to step on toes here. deer2

R

Posted By: okietex

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/26/10 06:41 AM

are you grewing a crop or feeding? Ritorical question

Posted By: don k

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/26/10 05:55 PM

Don't try to plant anything except seed oats. I tried that one year when I could not get any seed oats. It barely came up and would not grow. Was a waste of time and money.

Posted By: jcoutdoors

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/27/10 06:14 PM

R-Sendero thanks for the education. Very interesting stuff.

Posted By: chargercody

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/27/10 06:26 PM

I've always had good luck planting feed oats. Of course, you gotta have the rain. All I have is an old antique harrow that I drag behind the truck, then I broadcast the seed and drag again. No rain no grow. But when I get the rain, they grow really well. Good luck on your food plot.

Posted By: BowSlayer

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/27/10 08:19 PM

I have never used anything except regular ole whole oats and they always look great provided they get a little moisture.

Posted By: no-guts-no-glory

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/28/10 11:45 AM

Will whole oats survive when winter hits? Or does seed oats survive when winter hits?

Posted By: BowSlayer

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/28/10 03:04 PM

I have never had a problem with whole oats surviving in winter.

Posted By: Seed Man

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/28/10 05:21 PM

R_Sendero hit it on the head!

I would rather pay a couple bucks more to get a quality seed oat and know it will come up rather than buy a feed oat and take your chances and loose money and the crop!

Posted By: Texas Dan

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/29/10 09:19 PM

Originally Posted By: don k
Don't try to plant anything except seed oats. I tried that one year when I could not get any seed oats. It barely came up and would not grow. Was a waste of time and money.


Same here. Many of the feed stores will try to sell you some other type of oats when they don't have any seed oats. If they were the same, why would they be called something different.

Posted By: BowSlayer

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/29/10 10:48 PM

Because if they call them seed oats you will pay more for them..lol

Posted By: don k

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/29/10 11:38 PM

Feed oats come from where ever. Seed oats usually come from the area where you buy it. I don't care what anyone says you are way ahead by getting seed oats.

Posted By: txdonald

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/30/10 02:27 PM

I prefer Quaker oats myself, specifically the instant ones with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. Seed oats leave a bad taste in my mouth! smile

Posted By: R_Sendero

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/30/10 02:50 PM

There is absolutely no way to predict if whole oats or feed oats have any cold tolerance. You also will not be able to tell if they are true winter oats or spring oats (no cold tolerance). Spring oats will die at first frost.


Seed oats (winter) have variable tolerance to freezing temperatures, depending on variety - due diligence is the key.


Saving a few bucks is nice, but not at the expense of the entire project. Time, equipment, fuel etc are expensive to risk on an unknown product.


R_Sendero

Posted By: BowSlayer

Re: whole oats vs seed oats - 08/30/10 04:27 PM

If it makes you feel better, then buy the seed oats for sure. Only reason I don't is I did an experiment with them about 20 years ago. I planted about 10 acres of seed oats and 10 acres of just plain whole oats. I could not tell the difference in them when they came up and neither could the deer. Been using whole oats every year since without problem.

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