After cutting the oat stems near the tops of the alfalfa plants we waited a few days for them to dry out. Unfortunately, the weather has been uncooperative: Humid, cloudy, and hazy.
With oats, what I’m learning is that they are quite delicate. They are sensitive to weather, that is why small grains aren’t so popular here in Iowa. Oats like cool weather and shorter days, much like what Canada has to offer.
Grain Millers, Inc., a small grains processor nearby who processes for Trader Joes’ products and other organic brands, would love our oats…at 36# test weight and above. That weight is very difficult to achieve in Iowa unfortunately. The weather from March to July has to be just right to achieve that. Most of our oats go to feed.

This being my first oat harvest ever, I have been rather excited learning the process. Now we have straw in the field that needs baling. Then we wait for more rain to help grow the alfalfa that grew alongside the oats.