Improper fertilizer and animal waste application can affect soil and water resources. The Beef Quality Assurance Field Guide suggests these tips for monitoring and managing both soil and water to prevent contamination, reduce run-off and prevent the transfer of disease.
Soil Management Tips:
- Use soil testing to determine the level of nutrients required for the optimum production of the target forage species.
- Apply fertilizer materials based only on soil test recommendations.
- Record all applications (rate and nutrient composition) of fertilizer (regardless of source) and the area to which it was applied.
Water Management Tips:
- Use elemental scans to determine which salts are potential problems if high levels of total dissolved solids are detected.
- Develop water sources using gravity, solar, wind or electric power to prevent cattle from watering in streams.
- Limit cattle access to streams and sensitive riparian areas; fence critical management areas with temporary or permanent fence.
- Provide vegetative filter/buffer strips between corrals and streams; the width of the strips is dependent on soil type and slope.
- Install runoff diversions above livestock holding areas or corrals to keep up-slope runoff from mixing with runoff from corrals.
- Install dikes and/or sediment ponds below livestock holding areas or corrals and streams.
- Seal all old and abandoned wells and protect active wells.
Casey Wade, vice president of ranching operations for Dixon Water Foundation, maintains a detailed plan of how many animals will be grazing in which locations based on the amount of grass available and its rate of growth. The plan is never set in stone, however, because adaptation is a core principle of managed grazing. As rainfall, forage availability, and other conditions change, Wade adjusts the plan. It sounds laborious—and it is—but the goal is to boost profitability by growing more grass, rejuvenating lands previously overgrazed, and raising more cattle per acre.
Casey Wade, vice president of ranching operations for Dixon Water Foundation, maintains a detailed plan of how many animals will be grazing in which locations based on the amount of grass available and its rate of growth. The plan is never set in stone, however, because adaptation is a core principle of managed grazing. As rainfall, forage availability, and other conditions change, Wade adjusts the plan. It sounds laborious — and it is — but the goal is to boost profitability by growing more grass, rejuvenating lands previously overgrazed, and raising more cattle per acre. Learn more tips for managing cattle for soil and watershed health from Wade here.
During this virtual field trip of Jeff and Marsha Marley’s poultry and beef farm, check out how they partnered with the Arkansas Discovery Farm Program to develop water conservation practices that have helped protect their local Beaver Reservoir Watershed.