Glossary > Feed Ingredients > OATS

Oats rank around sixth in the world cereal production statistics following wheat, maize rice, barley and sorghum. Oat grain has always been an important form of livestock feed.

They are a good source of protein, fibre, and minerals but world oat grain declined as farm mechanisation increased between 1930 to 1950. Oats remain an important grain crop for people in marginal ecologies throughout the developing world, and in developed economies for specialist uses.

In many parts of the world oats are grown for use as grain as well as for forage and fodder, straw for bedding, hay, haylage, silage and chaff. Livestock grain feed is still the primary use of oat crops, accounting for an average of around 74% of the world's total usage in 1991 to 1992

Russia, countries of the former Soviet Union, the US, Canada, Germany and Poland account for about 75% of the worlds supply of grain oats, seed and industrial grade oats. Since the 1960s the proportion of oats used for feed has declined in the US and Canada, remained unchanged in the former Soviet Union countries and Poland, and increased slightly in Germany.

Oats consumed as feed in the US are becoming a specialty feed for race horses, hobby farmers and breeding stock. The leading exporters of oat grain are Canada, Finland, Sweden Australia, and Argentina. The US, Japan, the former Soviet Union, Switzerland and the European Union are the principal importers of oat grains.

A significant proportion of the oat grains and forages produced on smaller more remote farms around the world, including in the Himalayan region, are consumed on the farm and never enter the commercial market place.

Oats are grown for use as grain as well as forage and fodder, straw for bedding, hay, haylage, silage and chaff. Food uses for oats include oatmeal, oat flour, oat ban and oat flakes for use as breakfast cereals and ingredients in other food stuffs. Oats are one of the most nutritious grain cereals, high in protein and fibre.

The protein of rolled (flakes) oats is generally greater than that found in other cereal grains. Many of the vitamins and minerals found in oats are combined in the bran and germ. Most oat food products use the entire groat, making it a nutritious cereal grain.