Oats are the best grain to feed horses. Many farmers use the straw from oats as bedding for their livestock. Russia is, by far, the leading oat-growing country. The stem ends in a head called a panicle, which consists of many small branches. The majority of oat plants have from 40 to 50 spikelets.
Most spikelets contain two seeds, each enclosed by a husk called the hull.
The hull must be removed before the seeds can be processed into oatmeal or other food products. The oat seed, called a groat, is usually the same color as the hull. Different varieties of oat seeds may be white, yellow, red, gray, or black. The chief kinds of cultivated oats include common oats, red oats, side oats, and hull-less oats. Common oats are the type most widely grown in the United States.