Pond Management Key for Grazing Cattle

OMAHA (DTN) -- Often the only water sources cattle grazing in pastures have access to are ponds and streams. Proper maintenance is important to make sure those sources of water stay clean.

Proper management can also enhance plant growth near water sources. If not managed correctly, water quality can degrade, bare ground can be exposed, and erosion can increase.

WATER QUALITY IS KEY

As cattle graze in summer, they need to drink about 2 gallons of water for every 100 pounds of bodyweight, Philip Lancaster, Kansas State University (KSU) Extension beef cattle nutritionist, stated in a KSU news release, https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/…. Cattle can drink about twice as much water in hot environments than cows in the cold winter months, he said.

"Even though their diet is mainly milk, calves also need to drink water to help their rumen properly digest any food they are starting to consume," Lancaster said.

The quality of the water cattle have access to is important, according to KSU Extension veterinarian Bob Larson. Low-quality water can lead to various issues with cattle, he said.

"Anytime cattle are not hydrated as well as they could be, they are suspectable to disease, as in the case of pneumonia," Larson said.

PROPER GRAZING NEAR PONDS

Adaptative grazing near water sources is valuable, according to a news release from the Noble Research Institute, https://www.noble.org/…. Adaptive grazing guidelines consist of briefly grazing a site until livestock consume less than 50% of the leaves on the most desirable plants and then adequately resting the plants after grazing so they completely recover before grazing the site again.

Livestock must be moved before desirable plants initiate regrowth and before livestock cause negative impacts to the area near water sources. These include increasing water turbidity (level of soil particles in the body of water), increasing bare ground or causing erosion.

When water sources are plentiful and well distributed, livestock can graze in these areas with the adjacent pastures well because they do not have to return to the recently grazed area for an extended time for their water needs. Unfortunately, water availability is limited in many pastures.

"Repeated access to impoundments and streams may be necessary to provide water for livestock while they graze multiple paddocks," the Noble Institute's release said. "In such situations, ranchers need to plan and manage water access intentionally to properly steward impoundments, streams and their shorelines and flood plains.

MANAGE WATER SOURCES INDEPENDENTLY

In grasslands with limited water availability, most water sources should be managed independently from surrounding pastures. This usually requires fencing the water areas separately from pastures so they can be grazed and rested independently.

To supply livestock with access to water, the Noble Institute recommends creating one or more livestock water access points. In addition, water can be piped from a stream, or water can be piped to troughs from wells, springs or other water sources.

The Noble Institute said it has used fenced lanes to provide livestock access between water points and paddocks. To prevent excessive livestock impact on the lanes, temporary fencing allows for the periodic movement of lane locations, the report said.

If lanes have more permanent fencing, a series of gates can allow livestock access to only certain portions of lanes while restricting livestock access to other portions of the lanes, which minimizes negative impacts.

"Admittedly, it can be difficult to appropriately use and rest the plants in lanes when those lanes serve multiple paddocks, but it is generally better to compromise small portions of a property that occur in lanes rather than compromise more ecologically important impoundments, streams and their shorelines and flood plains," according to the report.

More information about pond management can be found from the University of Illinois Extension here: https://extension.illinois.edu/….

Russ Quinn can be reached at Russ.Quinn@dtn.com

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