Swath or Straight Cut

[BreadWinner]

We swath all of ours when its dead ripe, it doesn't shell from swathing. There is a bigger risk of leaving it stand and shelling out in the wind or breaking down. It will combine in two days after swathing.

[Guest]

we swath if ground is dry . a few years back when canola all blew away we had triiactor oats and the wind took 30-40 bu/ac . we knew because we had some swathed for seed and had sprayed the rest . personally I wouldn't swath any grain this year , rains every day or every second day . as far as I know Quaker doesn't care about desiccating .have never said anything here . there is a big risk either way . we have to swath or spray in this country and have lost oats either way . all depends on your ground condition and rain

[furrowtickler]

Agree with case , depends on ground condition and rain .
We have a field for seed wheat , ready to swath but we will not even consider it until the weather straightens out.
Unfortunately it may take a hard frost to straighten weather out
Swathing canola as fast as we can now.
Going to be chilly the next few mornings but I don't see frost yet

[freewheat]

I am biased towards straight combining, of course in our exceptionally wet area. Way more frequent to have rained on, soaking swaths than to have shelling issues standing. Each area will vary on this. I am an anti swather guy.

[hobbyfrmr]

Let them stand. The longer they stand they will gain weight. You will get nice white oats.

When you cut them...its final! If you swath them, there is the risk of rain, and deer feces.

If you let them stand, there is a good chance that any wild oats you have will shell out before you harvest. If you swath, you keep everything and it goes to the bin.

Check with your buyers about pre harvest spraying. You may be limiting your options for buyers.

[may-be]

I have not grown oats for a long time. The wheat I strait cut this year and I am so happy I did it. Rain every few days and a not good drying factor made my decision easy. I used to strait cut and went back to swathing because I was able to get it in the bin earlier and I found post harvest roundup worked better for me on the weeds anyway.

[4GFarms]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will see what the mid week rain/storm event does and then make my mind up. Hopefully they dont break down before I get to do something with them. Looks like a decent crop!

[furrowtickler]

Good luck , again this is where acurate weather forecasting is critical and and much more than most of the b/s being pushed on us