Buck Forage Oats

[Mike O]

Anybody ever did side by side comparison between Buck forage Oats and the regular oats you get at the elevator or feed store? I dont really care about deer presference as much as I wonder about cold tolerance. My hunting land is in the Upper Penninsual of Michigan so zone 4. If there is some evidence that they stay green a few weeks later into the season then that might justify the cost. If you have any experience with this product would love to hear it.

 

[Bill]

why not go with winter rye or wheat? It will stay green

 

[SwampCat]

I have done side by side with wheat in the south - the oats yellowed much quicker when the ground got wet. At four times as much per bag - would really have to be something great.

 

[Tree Spud]

I tried BFO next to winter rye one time. The winter rye out did the BFO in freezing temps and was 1/4 the price.

 

[Westwind]

Dbltree did before his passing! It is probably here somewhere: https://habitat-talk.com/threads/cereal-grains-for-whitetails.1381/

If I remember right, regular old Jerry Oats did just as well if not better.

 

[Mike O]

So no difference in terms of cold tolerance then.

 

[Randy6471]

Several years ago I did a side by side comparison with BFO and regular feed store oats in 2 different plots. I did the test 2 years in a row and I didn’t think that the BFO handled the freeze any better than the feed store oats. A friend of mine also did the same test with the same results. We’ve both been using the cheaper oats every year since that time. I’m in Northeast Pa, zone 5

 

[matinc]

Oats seem to die as winter approaches. It's a better summer filler plant. I use rye or wheat if I cant get rye. Especially in michigan and ur in the UP I it's just not a lasting plant into winter. You get way better nutrition with rye earlier in the spring and then comes wheat

 

[Mike O]

Randy---Thank you for confirming what I already suspected. I have planted regular Oats that I got at the grain elevator, at my place in the Upper Penninsula and they were green and being grazed by deer opening week of rifle season Nov. 14th. That being said if we got a real cold snap earlier in the season my Oats might be in trouble. I will likely just do a mix of Oats and wheat to be on the safe side.

 

[Mike O]

Have planted both Oats and Rye up there and they will be the only thing green by Nov. Its the big woods and the deer simply have few options so they pound the cereal grains.

 

[Telemark]

I did a recent deep dive into this question, and from what I've read so far it seems Whitetail Institute oats stay green the longest. I'm planning to buy a bag for next season.

I'm on a property East ofnthe UP in Ontario, so the conditions there are probably similar. I have a bunch of rye, wheat, and oats from a local ag supplier in Gore Bay that I will test out next season along with the WI oats and some rye from Merit in Ohio. I know that doesn't help you now, but hopefully the side by side trial will reveal something useful for the future.

 

[gjs4]

Forgive the twist- but for broadcast seeders are you all seeing a difference in germination of oat varieties? WW?

 

[Telemark]

Forgive the twist- but for broadcast seeders are you all seeing a difference in germination of oat varieties? WW?

I got very poor results when broadcasting oats. I won't do that again. I'll disc or drag harrow the oats into the soil.

 

[Brian662]

Broadcast oats on the ground then till/disc at the lightest setting has proven excellent for getting oats to germinate for me. Cultipack if necessary.
I normally use oats for a clover nurse crop or early fall attraction and that's been my preferred method.

 

[270sniper]

I am in NE PA and planted BFO with WI clover & chicory in one plot this year. ALso, I did a WW plot and a WR plot and last week while hunting in a blind I had deer in all the plots.

For the last two years prior, I only had WR & BFO plots and last yr. I had more deer eating the WR. The year before the deer liked BFO. Laast Yr also I had a plot of Triticale (cereal grain of WW, WR & oats) and I never did see a deer in that plot

 

[PoorSand]

I haven't tried Buck Forage Oats. I've been thinking that is old technology and that Winter Barley may be the current technology, though I couldn't get seed this year to try it out. That said, Winter Rye did just fine for me this year. I pre-soaked the seed in water for a day and then broadcasted it on the surface by hand in the Central Sands region of Wisconsin.

 

[Randy6471]

I’ve also had poor results when I didn’t lightly disc the oats into the ground.

 

[TenPoint]

I till then broadcast then drag then pack. Always get good germination. I like BFO’s. The deer do as well. I include that in my LC cereal grain mix with WR, clover, radish, and sometimes AWP.

 

[matinc]

Hey poor sand please expand on how much seed you soaked and how you did it. That's an interesting idea

 

[gjs4]

Hey poor sand please expand on how much seed you soaked and how you did it. That's an interesting idea

Also curious if this is loose beach kind of sand or more like the Appalachia strip mine hard when dry stuff.