Management of feeding, watering sites important to cattle operations

Cattlemen do a good job of managing grass for their cattle. The acres in grass help to protect soil from erosion. Most of the grass land that producers use for brome or fescue hay land was likely converted from cropland. The change from cropland to grassland reduces the erosion of soil to those acres, as well.

So, why do cattlemen still need to be concerned about protecting water quality?

The cowherds do have an impact on the water when the livestock have direct access to the creeks for drinking water. The traffic of the cattle up and down the bank to the stream destroys the grass on the stream bank. The next rain erodes the soil directly into the stream. When cattle go into the stream to drink, they may add bacteria and nutrients into the stream when they urinate or deposit manure into the stream.

From a water quality standpoint, the added soil, bacteria or manure into the stream may not reduce the performance for the cow herd, but the users down stream will need to deal with the contaminates. It is the public water supplies that get most concerned with the contaminated water.

It is the phosphorous and nitrogen in the water that contribute to the algae growth in rivers and lakes. Then when the lake "turns over", bad flavored water is produced, which is related to the nutrients in the water.

The water in all public water supplies is treated to kill bacteria. But as producers send more bacteria down stream, the public water supply must stay on top of the levels needed to keep the water safe.

We have yet to determine if cattle drinking water mildly contaminated with bacteria or phosphorus suffer any loss of production or health related issues. However when water becomes unpalatable to the point they will not drink enough, we will find reductions in production. That can come from muddy water, salty water or other filthy conditions.

The two major things cattlemen can do for their cow- herd to protect water quality are to provide alternate water supplies and place feeding sites well away from the stream.

Producers may not realize that if they place an alternate water supply, which can be a stock tank or any of the freeze proof tanks, in a pasture with a stream that 80 percent of the drinking will occur at the tank rather than the stream.

The change in drinking site reduces the contamination directly into the stream as well as the erosion of the stream bank where the cattle travel. An additional benefit of moving the watering site is a decrease of nearly 60 percent of the time the cattle lounge in the riparian area (the timbered area near the stream).

Make sure the feeding sites are located well away from the stream, with a good amount of grass to treat the runoff from the feeding site. From data collected at Kansas State University on 10 cattlemen's feeding sites, an area of 100 ft of good grass between the feeding site and the drainage that collects the runoff can reduce the phosphorus and bacteria levels to nearly zero.

With these two changes, cattlemen can do a major part to protect our public water supplies. Other issues that effect water quality include how often the old feeding sites get changed or cleaned up. We all know of a feeding site that has been used for years and years without ever being cleaned; those are the ones that get so wet and muddy when it rains or the spring melts occurs. Old feeding sites are a source of runoff that oozes out of the site following a rain, and it is also the source of many flies. One K-State researcher has found that one round bale feeding site can be the hatching site for one million stable flies. They can measure a reduction in livestock performance with as few as 20 flies per head.

If you want to do a self assessment of your operation, there is an evaluation form at a K-State Website, www.oznet.ksu.edu/kles ; that stands for Kansas Livestock Environmental Stewardship. There are only 10 questions but they will assist you in understanding the factors that can benefit water quality in your operation.

Editor's Note: Delta George is a K-State Research and Extension agriculture and 4-H extension agent assigned to Bourbon County. She may be reached at (620) 223-3720.