As the earthworms work, they release N. Art feels this extra N made available to the crop in July or August enables the crop to give a little extra in yield. The forage crops consist of alfalfa, crested wheat grass and timothy grass. Art has a couple of reasons for growing timothy instead of Bromegrass. He really dislikes the brome because of its creeping nature. He feeds the timothy hay to his cattle and is able to sell some of it into the horse feed market.
Art really likes oats in the rotation.
He finds the mellow soil following an oat crop is ideal for seeding canola. The oats also do well on the eroded knolls and they add much fibre to the soil. However, because he has so many stones and rocks to contend with, he can't justify growing peas and lentils and then paying for stone damage to his equipment.