Evaluation of cattle bedding and grazing BMPs in an agricultural watershed in Alberta
This paper highlights the environmental impacts of implementing beneficial management practices to address cattle bedding and direct access to the creek in a study watershed in southern Alberta, Canada. Approximately 35 cow–calf pairs grazed 194 ha of grass forage and had direct access to the creek in the spring and summer. During winter, the cattle were fed adjacent to the creek at an old bedding site. The practice changes included off-stream watering, bedding site relocation and fencing for rotational grazing. The cost was $15,225 and 60 h of labour. Four years of data were used in a before-and-after experimental design to evaluate the practice changes. After two years of post-implementation monitoring, riparian assessments showed an increase in plant diversity, but no change in the percent cover of the riparian species
Keywords: agricultural beneficial management practices, cattle grazing, environmental impacts, riparian assessment, water quality
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