By Trevor Yurchak and Bob Buchanan, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Athabasca/Barrhead
On a quiet pasture on Wilbur Collin's farm near Athabasca, Alberta, a new project is showing the vital link between cattle production and water qualty.
The pasture is fenced down the middle. Each side has 22 cow-calf pairs. All the cows are mature cows, and all the calves are heifers. On one side, cattle are watering directly from a dugout. On the other, water is pumped from a fenced dugout to a stock tank feeding into a watering trough. The cattle are weighed to calculate average daily gain for the two groups and water quality in the two dugouts is periodically monitored.
The project's key water quality parameter is giardia. A cyst that grows in the gut, giardia causes the illness commonly called beaver fever. Although giardia needs a host to grow, it can survive in water for weeks, or possibly months. If cattle carrying giardia water directly from a dugout, their excrement can contaminate the water supply.
Research by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lethbridge indicates that, in some cases, giardia can reduce livestock weight gains by 20%. The Athabasca project, conducted by Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, is following up on the Lethbridge research and bringing the results to local producers.
The project's results are also contributing to a larger Alberta study on giardia. It is being conducted by Dr. Peter Wallis of Hyperion Research, Dr. Merle Olson of the University of Calgary and Dr. K.J. Cheng of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Water in Collin's two dugouts is also being tested for coliforms (found in water contaminated by excrement) as well as nitrates, nitrites, calcium, sodium, alkalinity, pH and other water quality parameters.
The first set of water quality measurements, although preliminary, have shown some differences. For example, giardia were found in the direct watering dugout, whereas none were in the fenced dugout.
The project will continue next year, due in part to unusual conditions this summer. Although dugouts are flushed every spring, this year a heavy summer rain flushed them again. As a result, both dugouts look good in terms of water quality. This is exceptional -- usually the direct watering dugout looks poor by mid-summer. This could affect results, but if a difference between the dugouts is found this year, it will likely be much larger in subsequent years.
Direct watering can reduce livestock health even when water quality is good. If cattle have to wade deep into mud to drink, they may not water as often as they should. Less water consumption leads to poorer feed efficiency and poorer health. As well, foot rot is much more common among cattle watering directly in the dugout. No such cases were reported for the remote watering group.
This project is supported with funds from the Canada-Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Agreement (CAESA) Farm Based Program.