source: Farm and Food Report
The quality of the water used in livestock production can seriously affect the productivity of cowherds.
This is why people like Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food’s Bob Klemmer, a Livestock Specialist in Weyburn, work to increase producers’ awareness of problems and solutions.
“Knowing more about the quality of water in your operation puts you in the driver’s seat. For instance, when it comes to surface water in dugouts and small reservoirs, turbidity or suspended solids like clay, silt, organic matter and algae blooms can be a real issue.”
The phenomenon often results from erosion by rapid spring run-off; too little or a lack of grassed runways; torrential rains; and, cattle impact from mudding, manure and urine because of direct watering.
According to Klemmer, “Research showed that coagulation using aluminium sulphate or alum can reduce dissolved organic carbon, or DOC, by about 60 per cent, reducing colour by over 80 per cent; reducing dissolved phosphate by up to 99 per cent; and also reducing nutrient availability and alkalinity or pH.”
The overall effect of these changes can include reduced algae growth and therefore limited algae blooms. Reduction in DOC also makes the water safer for chlorination, due to a reduction in formation of trihalomethanes, a group of toxic by-products produced when chlorine reacts with organic matter during drinking water treatment processes.
“Turbidity has a very measurable impact,” says Klemmer. “Evidence from animal trials on pasture in Western Canada indicates that weight gain of yearling cattle may be reduced by about 0.3 pounds per day by the effects of turbid water due to direct watering of animals.”
To prevent this, Klemmer recommends fencing surface water supplies as well as the use of remote watering and controlled entry systems.
“Restricting access by constructing a ramp will reduce the severity of turbidity and avoid contamination by feces and urine. The use of continual, high volume aeration is also an essential long-term solution to reducing the severity of turbidity problems. Over-time, it will take care of nutrient loading due to erosion and excrement contamination. Proper sizing of aeration systems is important to getting the results you desire. And grassing or renovating existing grassed waterways and buffer strips will also help limit the extent of nutrient loading and erosion leading to turbidity.”
Quality factors to watch for include blue-green algae blooms, according to Klemmer.
“They not only affecting water palatability and intake, these blooms are also potentially deadly. Certain types of blooms are actually composed of cyanobacteria, which can produce neurotoxins and hepato-toxins that affect nerve and liver tissue.
“When the population reaches a critical size,” explains Klemmer, “nutrient concentrations become depleted and unable to support the bloom, which causes the population to die-off. As the bloom dies off, the toxins may be released in very high concentrations and may be a deadly hazard to cattle and other animals using the water for up to 14 days following the bloom.”
This is a problem that can be largely prevented, by properly designing and using an aeration system. Various licensed commercial preparations which contain copper sulphate as the active ingredient are also available to treat the dugout.
“Treatment with these commercial products, effectively kills off both the algae and cyanobacteria bloom immediately, so cattle movements can be planned to allow a 2-week post treatment isolation period.”
Another common water quality aspect is salinity or total mineralization:
“This is either directly measured by calculating Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS, or indirectly by measuring conductivity. High levels of TDS or conductivity may cause palatability problems and thereby reduce water intake and cattle performance. Various treatment options are technically available today to reduce sulphur and iron levels in water, but most, if not all are presently cost prohibitive,” warns Bob Klemmer.
The starting point for anyone wishing to check the quality of their water is to take a representative sample and have it analyzed by a reputable laboratory. For an adequate assessment, you will need at least a two-litre sample and have it analyzed at leas for TDS or conductivity, sodium, chlorine, sulphur (sulphates), iron, manganese, and magnesium.
For more detailed information on water quality, visit www.agr.gc.ca/prfa/water/quality-e.htm or call Saskatchewan Agriculture Food’s Agricultural Knowledge Centre at 1-866-457-2377
R.G. (Bob) Klemmer
Livestock Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 848-2380
The quality of the water used in livestock production can seriously affect the productivity of cowherds.
This is why people like Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food’s Bob Klemmer, a Livestock Specialist in Weyburn, work to increase producers’ awareness of problems and solutions.
“Knowing more about the quality of water in your operation puts you in the driver’s seat. For instance, when it comes to surface water in dugouts and small reservoirs, turbidity or suspended solids like clay, silt, organic matter and algae blooms can be a real issue.”
The phenomenon often results from erosion by rapid spring run-off; too little or a lack of grassed runways; torrential rains; and, cattle impact from mudding, manure and urine because of direct watering.
According to Klemmer, “Research showed that coagulation using aluminium sulphate or alum can reduce dissolved organic carbon, or DOC, by about 60 per cent, reducing colour by over 80 per cent; reducing dissolved phosphate by up to 99 per cent; and also reducing nutrient availability and alkalinity or pH.”
The overall effect of these changes can include reduced algae growth and therefore limited algae blooms. Reduction in DOC also makes the water safer for chlorination, due to a reduction in formation of trihalomethanes, a group of toxic by-products produced when chlorine reacts with organic matter during drinking water treatment processes.
“Turbidity has a very measurable impact,” says Klemmer. “Evidence from animal trials on pasture in Western Canada indicates that weight gain of yearling cattle may be reduced by about 0.3 pounds per day by the effects of turbid water due to direct watering of animals.”
To prevent this, Klemmer recommends fencing surface water supplies as well as the use of remote watering and controlled entry systems.
“Restricting access by constructing a ramp will reduce the severity of turbidity and avoid contamination by feces and urine. The use of continual, high volume aeration is also an essential long-term solution to reducing the severity of turbidity problems. Over-time, it will take care of nutrient loading due to erosion and excrement contamination. Proper sizing of aeration systems is important to getting the results you desire. And grassing or renovating existing grassed waterways and buffer strips will also help limit the extent of nutrient loading and erosion leading to turbidity.”
Quality factors to watch for include blue-green algae blooms, according to Klemmer.
“They not only affecting water palatability and intake, these blooms are also potentially deadly. Certain types of blooms are actually composed of cyanobacteria, which can produce neurotoxins and hepato-toxins that affect nerve and liver tissue.
“When the population reaches a critical size,” explains Klemmer, “nutrient concentrations become depleted and unable to support the bloom, which causes the population to die-off. As the bloom dies off, the toxins may be released in very high concentrations and may be a deadly hazard to cattle and other animals using the water for up to 14 days following the bloom.”
This is a problem that can be largely prevented, by properly designing and using an aeration system. Various licensed commercial preparations which contain copper sulphate as the active ingredient are also available to treat the dugout.
“Treatment with these commercial products, effectively kills off both the algae and cyanobacteria bloom immediately, so cattle movements can be planned to allow a 2-week post treatment isolation period.”
Another common water quality aspect is salinity or total mineralization:
“This is either directly measured by calculating Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS, or indirectly by measuring conductivity. High levels of TDS or conductivity may cause palatability problems and thereby reduce water intake and cattle performance. Various treatment options are technically available today to reduce sulphur and iron levels in water, but most, if not all are presently cost prohibitive,” warns Bob Klemmer.
The starting point for anyone wishing to check the quality of their water is to take a representative sample and have it analyzed by a reputable laboratory. For an adequate assessment, you will need at least a two-litre sample and have it analyzed at leas for TDS or conductivity, sodium, chlorine, sulphur (sulphates), iron, manganese, and magnesium.
For more detailed information on water quality, visit www.agr.gc.ca/prfa/water/quality-e.htm or call Saskatchewan Agriculture Food’s Agricultural Knowledge Centre at 1-866-457-2377
R.G. (Bob) Klemmer
Livestock Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 848-2380
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