SEPTEMBER, 1957
youn9 Oat F9ae
A HIGH QUALITY DAIRY FEED
GEORGE E. HAWKINS, Associate Dairy H1usbandman
K. M. AUTREY, Head, Dairy Husbandry Department
COWS ON GREEN, tender pastures usu-
ally give more milk than those fed hay
or hay and silage. Also, increases in
milk flow have been observed when
cows on barn feeding were grazed as
little as I hour daily on lush young
pasture.
These effects from young green pas-
tures have been observed for many
years. Yet, there has been no experi-
mental evidence to explain why milk
production increases.
The tests reported in this leaflet were
made to determine the reasons for
greater milk flow by cows on young
oat forage as compared with milk yields
from cows on hays.
TEST DESCRIPTION and
RESULTS
Experiments 1 and 2. Three rations
were tested in winter and spring: (A)
alfalfa hay and grain; (B) grain and
alfalfa hay plus green oat forage to
replace half of the alfalfa hay fed in
ration A; and (C) grain and green oat
forage. Green oat forage 6 to 12 inches
high was cut and fed to the milking
cows. The grain (concentrate) fed in
Experiment 1 contained approximately
16 per cent crude protein and that in
Experiment 2, 10 per cent.
Before each test, all cows were on a
ration of alfalfa hay and grain (the
same concentrates as those fed during
the tests).
Experiment 1 was carried out during
January and February. 
The oat forage
was from growth made during the pre-
vious fall. Experiment 2 was conducted
in March and April using forage grown
in the spring, a season of rapid growth.
There were 15 cows in Experiment 1
and 12 in Experiment 2.
The alfalfa hay fed was graded U.S.
No. 1, but it was not highly acceptable
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 
STATION
/ ALABAMA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
E. V. Smith, Director 
Auburn, Alabama
LEAFLET NO. 55
9~i' ~t'
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4i ~
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This 6- to 12-inch high oat forage was fed to milking cows in Experiment 
1.
oil1 tihe hie, and( the gle-ell oa~t Inliare.
Tllc it ic11its inl the ]hax *x v i 52 per
Ceilt dllgextillits a ComlfparedI x\ith7
pi (ilt for thet oat,.' (A htighI ([iliit'
Ct(Iit (llcetiiitlab mtents.) Thie ax ci age
cligestihh protJ I te'ini cIil it ot the "i'Mgee
ats, 15 per cienit, xx a hialie than that
ill tihe allahlit ha). 1 0 per eielit.
thet gi-cei o atsc drtopped( a piclix iii the
sq)i-i, i- frtiin aboutt 27 per eiit tin
Matreh :31 tn 21 per cent 1)' Apil 6i
aal tn abouitt 17 per cent hly April 12.
Alsott chatiiges xx ve noited inl the nat
tiiiaigc fed ili jatiiiii aliit Felit Iar
Duinilg bithi tests eui',, feItd all ori
IOnl the dirx itittter bisi.
St
Wpinter E
(oats,
1
) iiodltie llr na'Iiilk thaii cmxxS le'd
ilfaita lIia i tie Iii0l)V Itil age. PiiidClit
tin lex(I bi v h fedcc grotups ar e gixFen I.in
thie tabile.
Conxx cating nat ftti .le ciii iiic to)
prodcice at tiic origiinai lc'x i. Onl the
othecr iiaiid, there c'~l ',, x iinc drop ill
ittilk xicic' fruin cnxx tin alifaifa itax
'i'( tiixx', oii iratioin A, lnt grecti oat,
oit ci refiused ptart oft the h ax ted. Oil
the eta , x O\ , O'' ii i-atinl 1B andc C
raleix crefused ,il ot thenr teed.
e ext Continued. Alter E~xperiiieint 2,
(6 of thit ttest ca',',. x xcr-c till]]lcd nuit to
fral/t nat pasxturce ,nic the otthe'r 6 xx ere
tiuiitimiit oil the irations the', reeixeci
dniitIgM Expeijinelit 2. Tis xas done
tto detc'iinilic' xxhether the toat Inralte
ciitaicc theIc miilk-.prodcmciii g ti.iiit itx
asxsotie d~~ wxithi otilng, 11ig0ht tjtiaiitv
Ax Nei age clil', iiimilk pricttiiin lby teci gronups
Ilax half x tilig iiat tfiraige tiii ag
ter-iiictnt 1 20) 22 2.3
tiriincnt 2) 17 19- 18
pastures. Of the cows turned out to
graze, 3 had been fed young oat for-
age as the only roughage, 2 had re-
ceived young oat forage and alfalfa
hay, and 1 had been fed alfalfa hay as
the only roughage. Daily milk produc-
tion of cows grazing increased nearly
12 per cent in 4 days. Those barn fed
clipped oat forage dropped a little in
milk flow. The changes in milk yields
probably were the result of the cows
eating more forage while grazing than
when barn fed.
Experiment 3. The green oat forage
fed in this test was similar to that fed
in Experiments 1 and 2. During the 7
days before going on the experimental
rations, all cows were fed a ration con-
sisting of 85 per cent alfalfa hay and
15 per cent blackstrap molasses.
Test rations were: (A) alfalfa hay
and blackstrap molasses; (B) alfalfa
hay, oat forage, and blackstrap molas-
ses; and (C) oat forage and blackstrap
molasses. The amount of oat forage fed
was varied during the 14-day test.
Other parts of the rations were fed in
the same amounts daily.
Cows fed alfalfa hay and blackstrap
molasses dropped in milk yield at a
normal rate. Milk production of those
receiving rations B and C, which in-
cluded oat forage, was in proportion to
the amount of nutrients available for
milk. When cows on ration C had 8.8
pounds of digestible nutrients available
for milk they produced 22.9 pounds of
milk. As the digestible nutrients avail-
able for milk was increased to 11.3
pounds per cow, milk production in-
creased to 25.1 pounds. With a de-
crease to 8 pounds in the nutrients
available for milk, production decreased
to 22.6 pounds of milk per cow daily.
From these results it appears that
the increase in milk flow associated
with grazing lush oat pasture results
from an increase in nutrient intake. In
addition, it seems that there is some
unknown factor in lush, young oat for-
age that helps the cow to convert nu-
trients into milk instead of using them
to put on body fat.
DISCUSSION of RESULTS
Results of experiments described here
show that young, green oat forage is a
very high quality feed for milk cows.
Cows eating this kind of forage can
produce more milk than when alfalfa
hay is the only forage fed.
Dairymen with limited acreage of
oat pasture may get near peak milk
production by grazing their cows for a
short time each day and feeding them
all of the high quality hay they will eat.
Results of these studies show that
cows will eat more nutrients when their
rations contain some green -oat forage
than when alfalfa hay is the only rough-
age. Probably this is due in part to the
relatively large amount of bulk (mainly
fiber) in the hay, and to the high di-
gestibility of the young oats. Also,
there appears to be something present
in young oat forage that increases the
ability of the cow to use more nutrients
for milk than when hay is the source
of roughage. Nevertheless, the amount
of nutrients required to produce a
pound of milk seems to be about the
same from alfalfa hay as from immature
oat forage.
SUMMARY
Young green oat forage is a highly
palatable and digestible feed. Cows
produced more milk when eating green
oat forage alone or half oat forage and
half alfalfa hay than they did when the
roughage was all alfalfa hay.
Dairymen who do not have enough
oat pasture to supply all forage needed
for the milking herd probably will find
it profitable to limit grazing and sup-
plement the pasture with high grade
hay.