From Giles Dumm, Nicktown, PA – Grew Badger oats for grain, 2014-2016
“I recently combined my Badger Oats, and was very impressed. This is the third year I’ve sown it, and I like the way it works and I like the way it grows. In addition to the 90 bu/A grain yield, I got 50 bales of straw per acre, and it was the prettiest, brightest straw you’ve ever seen. It stood good, even in a bad windstorm. If the birds hadn’t gotten into and kept pushing it down, I think I would have gotten 100 bushels.
I first got the seed from Denny Hines at Cresson Feed Mill. He said he didn’t know anyone who had planted it. I tried it, planting 3 bu/A, and used 225 lbs of 10-20-20 fertilizer. I was looking for something that didn’t lodge, and I was trying to get a heavy oat, since my nutritionist said heavier oats contain more protein. I was very impressed with the bright color of the grain and the straw –it was the nicest by far we have ever had. All my neighbors were saying ‘you’ll never see oats like that again, none compares with Giles’ oats.’
Last year [2015] they yielded about 60-65 bu/A. But it was so wet last year. May was a little wetter this year, and with an April 25 planting, they really benefitted from the long cool wet spring. You couldn’t see the rows, the heads canopied so much. The thickness of plants really help keep the weeds down; the weeds can’t even come up, and after we harvest, the field is clean. As long as you keep selling this oat, we’re going to keep buying it.
I mill some of the oats and corn and feed them to my beef cattle, and the Badger really makes a difference in how they gain. I have 26-28 head, and 60 people who buy freezer beef from me. I market it as 100% natural. I don’t pasture; I feed hay, and mill my own corn and oats. I also sell quite a bit of the grain to my neighbors, and they use it as seed.
Badger helped me solve some of the standability problems I was having. It stands really well, it hulls nice, there’s not a bunch of chaff in it, and it combines easy – no grain sticking to the heads. The stand is just as even as even can be. It was a very consistent stand.
I was also looking for a heavier grain for the high protein. Badger was 41 lbs/bushel. I was hearing some weights at 28-30 lbs, and with the weather we had we didn’t know if it would be a good test weight, but I weighed that and I was very pleased. Even the two years before, it still had good test weight. As it was growing I thought I can’t believe the way this stuff’s busheling out. The timing, the weather, help from the man upstairs – everything just worked out perfectly this year.
I can’t say a bad word about your products. We planted 20 acres of Badger Oats this year, and we plan to have 30 next year. I also have a hayfield of Barfleo Timothy mixed with alfalfa, and this spring I got 144 bales/A, with the bales weighing 43 lbs apiece. I use mink manure for fertility, which I get from my neighbor’s mink farm. I sell most of the hay to horse farmers.
I wish I had called you folks two years ago, when my second cut of timothy was four feet tall. It was just beautiful, and that was another reason I stayed with King’s. I also plant some early timothy (Climax) and that gives me a varied window for harvest. In total I’ve taken about 9000 bales of hay off this year.
I would like to try King Fisher corn – I heard about the floury kernel. My dad taught me about farming, and I’m very fussy about what I grow. As pleased as we are with the oats, we definitely want to try some of the corn.
As long as you keep selling Badger, we’re going to keep buying it!”
Speak to an expert at King’s AgriSeeds now at 1-717-687-6224 or email us at [email protected].