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Post by canadamike on Jan 31, 2012 21:22:24 GMT -5
Remember I discussed here an old oat I had found in the mennonite community in Ontario? The one that grows up to 7 feet? It turns out that I had the results on its weight per bushel, or more exactly weight in pounds( english system) per hectoliter( french one)..a curious combination of measurements that is common in Quebec...transitionning towards the metric system SLOWWWWWLLLY. It turns out tht it weighted 59.9 pounds per hectoliter, up to now I have not met ONE person having seen these numbers. AND ALL THAT HAPPENED WITH AN OAT SOWED 2 MONTHS TOO LATE IN THE WORST SUMMER FOR PROTEIN EVER SEEN IN MODERN HISTORY IN CROPS. The weight of almost all grains in central Quebec, the area that saw historic floods and hurrican Helena is LOW this year, even alfalfa is low on protein. In these exceptionnaly harsh circumstances, I would have expected the oat to be in the high 30's...like 36-38. When it hits 45 or so the guys feel like jerking off But I haven't met a man who ever saw 59.9 in his life. Especially not in the worst year in history. The message left on my answering machine by Mr Daviau, who cleaned it and weighted it says it all...you could feel the ''awe'' in his voice. For those not in the business, the weight of the grain is, to say it simply, a measurement of the kernel in ratio with the shaff...short explanation. If it is a bad year, the kernel fills less and the shaff ( lighter) is more important in the weight/volume ratio. The grain is lighter. No wonder guy who did the cribbling and measurements called to know if he could sell some. Michel
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Post by steev on Jan 31, 2012 23:38:20 GMT -5
May I be the first to say congratulations. How can I get some?
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Post by canadamike on Feb 1, 2012 1:30:36 GMT -5
Send me an e-mail with your adress...it might be a good idea It is normal for this oat to produce 1.8 ton/acre. This year it was, planted almost two months too late, 1.1 ton, and only 3.5-4 feet high. But it is much more than the provincial average of 0.4 ton with straw so short that it was often not harvested but turned in as green manure...
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Post by potter on Feb 1, 2012 2:14:46 GMT -5
It just comes to show, that old varieties are worth of preserving for.. With so long stems it will produce lot of useable material too. Do you know how oat straw was traditionally used over there? Do you shred it all and return it back to land? How much of that oat did you grow?
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Post by canadamike on Feb 1, 2012 10:40:53 GMT -5
We have aboutten tons of it. Here, oat straw is the favorite for farm animals, but many not in the need would normally turn it under ( the straw) to add carbon and potash to the soil. Except that these years, there is a huge shortage of straw on the market and it goes for record prices. There is actually more money to make out of the straw than the grain itself. An oat with such a giant straw is quite attractive
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Post by davida on Feb 1, 2012 10:44:21 GMT -5
Send me an e-mail with your adress...it might be a good idea It is normal for this oat to produce 1.8 ton/acre. This year it was, planted almost two months too late, 1.1 ton, and only 3.5-4 feet high. But it is much more than the provincial average of 0.4 ton with straw so short that it was often not harvested but turned in as green manure... So is the 1.8 ton/acre the weight of the oats without the straw for a yield of 112 bushels per acre? If so, that is a fantastic yield. Our yields in Oklahoma is usually under 50 bushels per acre. Is it being commercially grown in Canada? Very interesting!!
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Post by steev on Feb 1, 2012 11:30:25 GMT -5
Given that it grows so tall and that I could plant it in the Fall, this oat might really be a weed-choker.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 1, 2012 13:01:51 GMT -5
Michele, You are a great oat.
I find this very interesting,when I talked to Carol about selecting beans for more protein, she cautioned me that protein comes with a price, lower yield.
Please pardon my Shakespeare, "but this seems to go against the grain!"
This year, I turned all my corn waste into chicken bedding. I have high hopes of a grain crop which will afford me the same use.
Nice work! What other seed did you find from the Mennonites? They are awesome farmers and folks.
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Post by canadamike on Feb 1, 2012 13:43:26 GMT -5
1.8 is the weight of the grain only... and yes it is a lot of oat, one of my friend, an organic farmer, made 90 large 5 feet bales of hay with the straw on 14.5 acres... 1234, I agree in general terms with mrs Deppe. However we have to consider 2 things: The oat was foliar sprayed with seaweed, which, especially if yucca extract is included both as a wetting agent and also another complementary phyto-hormone, tends to increase both yield and protein content. Protein content is a constant across the board, yield increse is lesser with corn as an exemple. But mineral content analysis of the plants and seeds show huge augmentation of minerals, Second: if you look to old pictures or paintings from a bygone era, you would often see wheat or else fields that are very high. It used to be like that. That is why a farmer around here wants to call it the ''OAT OF THE PHARAOS'' ;D ;D no kidding!!! I kind of like that name If you ask me, the modern breeding efforts trying to decrease straw size in favor of a higher ratio of grain/stem have been at best a mixed blessing. I am being polite here.
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Post by steev on Feb 8, 2012 0:10:33 GMT -5
Kind of sounds like trying to breed all the roughage out of the diet and then wondering why they're so bound up.
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Post by DarJones on Feb 8, 2012 2:14:49 GMT -5
When I first read the title, I thought it said "The Old Goat" and was wondering who on earth Mike was talking about. Then I put my glasses on and saw it was an Old Oat that was being discussed. Then steev starts about a low fiber diet and figures that is why farm animals are constipated. The best I can figure, the old goat has a belly ache and needs someone to feed him some extract of castor bean. DarJones I vote to send seed to anyone who can grow it!
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Post by turtleheart on Feb 8, 2012 6:32:07 GMT -5
i would love to have oats that produced that much biomass. i hate dinky small oat plants. i need something to compare to my other grains in the dry field.
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Post by steev on Feb 8, 2012 20:44:30 GMT -5
I wasn't thinking of farm animals; I was referring to some veggie breeders who aren't getting enough fiber in their products...
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Post by canadamike on Feb 8, 2012 23:30:15 GMT -5
Well folks, it turns out there is more to say about it. The old oat's weight/volume ratio was mesured by the company who cleaned it, and it showed up at a NEVER SEEN WEIGHT in that area of 59.9 kilos/hectolitre or 48 pounds per bushel, a ratio THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN THAT AREA, EVEN IN THE BEST OF YEARS, NOT THE WORST IN MODERN HISTORY LIKE 2011. The company that cleaned and weighted it left a message on my answering machine, asking to distribute our CÉRÉASOL, the name of the seaweed, bacterias and yucca extract complex we sprayed it with twice. The average weight per bushel in that area in a good year is about 33 pounds. When they hit 36 they jerk off like teenagers Imagine 48... A weight like that is only achieved in the prairies and in very remote northern area, where the straw can get long and heavy before the heat comes. Grains, all of them, stop growing when they transpire more than they do photosynthesis, it happens when heat hits, that is why they sow wheat in winter in warm countries, and then, whatever their lenght, they go to seed, having been given the signal that the end is coming... a lot of the oat in that region was not even harvested. You've got to admit: almost 3 times the harvest and 50% more weight per bushel, sowed almost 2 months too late, harvested one month before the others, there is something good in our concoctions.... I have LONG been a proponent of seaweed here...and met many doubters... I never felt comfortable enough to go further, even my great body Alan talks about it in terms like ''if it only does half of what you say, I'll love it'' and things like that. We have two scientific proof this year...this oat, and record production we had in commercial soya fields...double of the best within ''the others''. It was a year stressful to plants, and seaweed is a powerful adaptogen... What gives me a blast is that we are making inroads in cash crops, where most of the polution arises from...and it is by fighting GMO's with nature...we did beat the crap out of the bastards in 2 very important areas this year: grains and soy...barley story should come soon...
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Post by raymondo on Feb 9, 2012 3:26:37 GMT -5
When do you think the optimum time is for applying seaweed to grain? I'd imagine you'd need to spray quite early on with something like barley as it seems to develop so quickly.
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