小蓝视频

YORKTON - The site of a herd of cattle wading in the river on a hot summer’s day isn’t exactly the kind of image most ranchers want to portray when it comes to good agri-environmental stewardship on their farm.

Yet, such sites are far more common along creeks, streams, and rivers in the Assiniboine watershed than one may think.

Ranchers will sometimes use waterways not only as a water source for their cattle, but also as a natural fence for their adjacent pasture.

Such a practice has its share of risks from an animal health and safety perspective, as cattle may be required to navigate muddy, sloped banks to access the water.

In addition, the dry conditions we’ve been experiencing the past couple years has meant many of these creeks and streams, or even rivers, that in the past were deep enough to deter cattle from crossing over into the neighboring land, have now dried up to the point where many ranchers are having to deal with cattle “testing the water” and getting out of pasture.

From an environmental perspective, cattle having direct access to surface water increases the risk of streambank erosion, degrades the vegetation along the bank, and increases the likelihood that nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in manure will get into the water, which can lead to increased algal blooms in downstream waterbodies.

Luckily, the Assiniboine Watershed Stewardship Association (AWSA) is working to make such sites a thing of the past. The non-profit water stewardship group out of Yorkton, Sask. implements a variety of projects and programming aimed at protecting the health of the watershed that the residents of east-central Saskatchewan call home.

The AWSA was successful in a proposal to Environment Canada’s Lake Winnipeg Basin Program to receive grant funding to provide an incentive for ranchers to eliminate direct access of their cattle to creeks, streams and rivers through cost-shared funding for exclusion fencing and remote off-site watering systems.

Three ranchers were chosen to receive 50 per cent cost-shared funding to implement their projects. The projects were along the two major rivers in the watershed, the Assiniboine River and the Whitesand River.

Northwest from Yorkton along the Whitesand River, one rancher installed 1.1 miles of permanent four-strand barbed wire fencing and dug a new dugout that will be used as the cattle’s new water source.

One rancher, located West of Endeavour, installed 1.2 miles of the same type of fence along the Assiniboine River. This rancher also chose a new dugout as the new water source for his herd. Downstream on the Assiniboine River, North of Canora, a rancher installed 1.25 miles of electric fence. This rancher purchased a solar powered float pump watering system that will be used as the water source while grazing on the pasture.

The AWSA would like to acknowledge the financial support from Environment Canada’s Lake Winnipeg Basin Program for making these projects possible and thanks each of the ranchers for doing their part to be good stewards of the watershed.

If you’re interested in doing stewardship projects such as these on your farm, please call Jesse or Amber at 306-783-1696 for more information.