The potential of off-stream livestock watering to reduce water quality impacts

Abstract

Small commercial and non-commercial animal enterprises (SCAEs) are often located in suburban watersheds. Such operations raise a small number of animals on a few acres and have potential water quality impacts from their manure management. A typical pollution abatement practice includes fencing livestock from streams and providing an off-stream watering area. However, if there is a large stream to land area ratio, this practice becomes very costly for implementation and maintenance. An alternative is to provide off-stream watering areas without fencing to lure animals from the stream. This project demonstrated that off-stream watering areas are an effective alternative to stream fencing. They reduce the time animals spend at the stream under small acreage grazing conditions. In addition, an animal-operated pasture pump was demonstrated to be a viable off-stream watering device. The animal-operated tested pump pulled water from the creek and held the water in a small basin accessible to the animals. It is a usable alternative where conventional watering systems are inconvenient or expensive.