Eric Madsen farms with his family near Audubon, Iowa on organic and transition ground. For seeding oats each spring, he uses a base rate of 1.2 to 1.4 million live seeds per acre.

Adjusting seeding rates: “Generally for oats, low germination is not a problem, but you want to take note of the germ percentage when calculating seeding rates,” he notes. If they end up planting later, like the middle of April in Eric’s region, he’ll increase his seeding rate to 1.5 million live seeds per acre to encourage less tillering. Eric uses the same seeding rate with or without an underseeding, but says, “if your end goal is a 2- or 3-year alfalfa stand you may want to lower your seeding rate by 30 percent.”

Counting seeds: Newly bought oats should come with a seed lot count, but when Eric saves back seed he’ll weigh 1,000 seeds to calculate seeds per pound. “I’ve seen oat seeding rates vary by over 32 pounds per acre due to seed counts,” he notes. Eric recalibrates his drill each year ahead of seeding, advising that “retail seeds typically run through faster because they're better cleaned.”

Planting considerations: Eric makes sure the disc openers on his Great Plains drill are sharp and properly spaced before planting. Since his drill has press wheels he doesn’t use a cultipacker. He heads out as soon as the field is firm enough to drill, ideally in mid-late March and aims for a seeding depth of 1.5 inches.

Don’t forget! Farmers in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska are eligible for TWO cost-share programs in 2022 for their extended rotations.

In this blog, we highlight three important factors to consider when planting oats.

PFI has a treasure trove of resources on small grains production from our "Rotationally Raised" video series.

This video from "Rotationally Raised" has crucial tips from PFI members on small grains planting depth and seedbed prep.

In this video, lifetime PFI member Wade Dooley of Albion, Iowa, walks through grain drill calibration in this video from PFI’s rotationally raised series.

March 23: Field Day - Cover Crop and Soil Health Field Day

April 1: Webinar - Crop Insurance for Organic Grain Crops

April 9-12: Conference - North American Milling Conference