Oats harvest

Oats harvested for grain in the US are usually combined. The much greater labor efficiency resulting from combine use may at times be offset by loss of grain or deterioration due to excessive moisture in the grain at time of harvest.

The combine was towed by a tractor equipped with a drive shaft, driving by the tractors power-take-off to power the parts of the combine which operated the sickle which cut the heads off the plant, the belt which transported the crop into the cylinder which beat the grain from the chaff as it were.

They are beaten with rotating bars, knocking the grains free of the shoots.

The grains fall through a sieve and are collected; the shoots are discarded out of the back of the combine.

In North America, the oat harvest starts in late May in the northern Mexican states and moves north into Canada throughout the summer.

After harvest oat grain should be dried to a moisture content of 12-14% before storage with a storage temperature below 20 °C.

In industrialized countries oat grain processing generally involves cleaning, drying, hulling, cutting, steaming and flaking or milling.
Oats harvest