Why you should be planting Peas & Oats this year

Why? Because Peas and Oats produce spring harvested bulk silage in only 86-90 days. By adding peas, which are high in metabolisable energy (ME) and have nearly three times the amount of protein as corn, you gain an excellent quality feed. The Oats also produce 44% more than annual ryegrass and are up to $600 per hectare more profitable to grow.

Growing oats and peas together increases the feed yields from 2.55 tons per acre to just peas which produce around 2.29 tons per acre. This shows that growing peas & oats together is really beneficial and can be used for livestock such as beef cattle, dairy cows, sheep, and even deer. An important detail to recognise when combining different pea & oat varieties is the relative timing of flowering and maturity.

Ideally, the peas should be flowering around 2-3 days ahead of the oats. With the peas having a much longer flowering time than oats, this means that the peas will continue to flower along with the oats, increasing the forage quality. If the oats have a flowering time that is way behind the peas, you should look for a different combination, or to make it easy, we have specially put together a pea & oat mix for you. With 60% peas and 40% oats, this mix can grow up to 1.5 meters high. Check out Wesco Seeds Peas & Oats Mix.