The Rural Voice, 2004-10, Page 32MORE GAIN
AND LESS
PAIN
Bruce producers find
better water supply
helps cattle gain as
well as improving
river water quality
By Nancy Tilt
for the Ontario Soil and
Crop Improvement
Association
/t's nota problem this )ear," says
Carman Lippert of Bruce County
near Chepstow, "but in dry
summers our creek has not been a
reliable source of water, and when
the creek is flowing. I didn't like the
•
cattle having access." Lippert
pastures 50 Charolais steers on 40
acres of pasture. A tributary of
Teeswater River runs through his
land, eventually emptying into the
Saugeen River.
During the last two years, Bruce
County Federation of Agriculture
decided to take advantage of funding
available through the Agricultural
Ln•.'irons-mental Stewardship Initiative
(A1;SI) for water quality
28 THE RURAL VOICE
Carman Lippert's cattle have done better since they started getting their
water from a stock tank instead of the stream (above). The water is colder
and there's less algae, he says. (Below) The Lipperts ran four strands of
barbed wire on 75 points with an electric offset along the length of the stream,
about 130 rods.
improvement projects.
The timing was right for Lippert.
"We decided to completely fence the
stream, provide an alternate water
source and upgrade our stream
crossing," explains Lippert.
They ran four strands of barbed
wire on 75 posts with an electric
offset along the length of the stream,
about 130 rods. One strand of electric
wire powered by a Gallagher M800
electric fence energizer reinforces the
barbed wire fencing.
The water system proved to be the
biggest cost of the project. The cattle
rotationally graze the 40 -acre pasture,
divided into five fields serviced by
three 110 -gallon stock tanks. The
water system draws from Lippert's
well, making it a secure water supply
in terms of both quality and quantity.
It relies on a three-quarter
horsepower submersible pump to
pipe water through 2,200 feet of
three -quarter -inch black plastic pipe
to the stock tank in use.
The pipe runs along the surface of
the ground on the streamside of the
barbed wire fence. Lippert will drain
the pipe for the winter months, but
will leave it in place.
Lippert upgraded and widened the
bridge deck over the stream for easier
handling of cattle when moving them
from one pasture to another. He
improved the approaches with stone