Water

A simple DIY project from items everyone has at home!

Getting water to the herd can be one of the most challenging parts of a grazing system. Without water, weight gain takes a dive, or pastures become unusable. On the other hand, those luck enough to have a pond, stream or river in pasture face another challenge: using that water source without harming it. That’s […]

In this 15:39 video, Jim Gerrish breaks grazing down to the very basics to help us focus on the principles behind what we do, no matter the environment we live and work. Starting With Four Basic Ingredients We all work with the same four ingredients: • CO2 • Solar energy • Water • Soil minerals […]

After digging a well and running polyethylene tubing all over the place, my intensive grazing operation was humming right along. Cows never needed to walk more than two or three hundred feet to water and things looked pretty sweet. Then the water problem started. During a dry spell my well struggled to supply sufficient water […]

As grazing season approaches, we think of two things – fencing and water for the livestock. Stock-watering solutions for mob/rotational grazing require an extra degree of creativity, so we like to provide examples that you might be able to adapt to your own operation. So, here’s Greg Judy in a 7:40 video describing a temporary […]

John Fant, Colonel, US Army (Ret), returned to southwest Virginia in 2013 to resume daily operations and management of the family farm. In this 6:52 video, John describes how he assessed the farm’s resources and then developed and implemented a plan that would improve water quality, and soil and animal health. What he found was […]

This idea comes to us from the Beef Cattle Research Council of Canada. They’re sharing ideas from producers about how they improve the efficiency of their operations. Travis Peardon of Outlook, Saskatchewan likes to keep an eye on summer and winter watering systems as well as farmyard activities even when he might be some distance […]

Troy Bishopp and John Suscovich of Farm Marketing Solutions get together now and then to share tips for how farmers and ranchers can be good graziers. In this 3:34 video, they talk about how Troy set up his system to water his cattle without letting them walk through his streams. With a $5 piece of […]

Getting water to livestock is one of the challenges to managed grazing systems. It’s also a problem for graziers trying to take advantage of crop residues to extend the grazing season. No one wants a permanent tank in a crop field, or the soil compaction that livestock can cause by congregating to drink. To help […]

Thanks to Heather Emmons of the Natural Resources Conservation Service for this story of how to get water where livestock need it. (It comes to us from the  Conservation Roadtrip and you can see it in it’s original form here.) It can give you an idea of how you might work with the NRCS on […]

GIS is an abbreviation for Geographic Information Systems. In practical terms GIS is the application of the science of location and all things related. In the last several years significant advances on global positioning and high tech farm equipment has leveraged this technology to increase yields  on grain farms, more efficiently apply fertilizers to growing […]

The reason I often mention the Natural Resources Conservation Service as a good resource is that NRCS is known for providing one-on-one, personalized advice on the best solutions to meet unique conservation challenges. As an example, here’s a story from David Sanden, about how NRCS staff helped a rancher get water to his herd without […]

Oregon is a funny place. We recently changed our State bird from the Meadow Lark to the Osprey, mostly because several other States were claiming the Meadow Lark, and Oregon likes being….unique. Some would say bizarre. Our State Flower is called Oregon Grape, and of course, is not a grape at all. But it is […]

With growing concerns over riparian management and its effect on water quality, farmers and ranchers are facing tightening regulations and restrictions on grazing next to streams and water bodies. Here, Troy wonders if we, as graziers, are doing all we can to protect water quality and our grazing future. At this year’s Northeast Pasture Consortium […]

As you think about how you’ll manage forage this season, keep in mind that your grazing management has a lot to do with how your soil captures and holds water – its hydrologic functioning. That function is crucial to determining how well your soil will provide water during dry periods, as well as how well […]