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Snow would fix water problems for cattle
PIERRE, S.D. (AP)--Several inches of rain this spring have improved prospects for those who raise cattle and have been dealing with years of drought, but all is not rosy in West River areas where soils are high in salts, an Extension Service official said June 20.
Julie Walker, an area beef specialist, said rain that is funneled into ponds can carry high levels of sulfates. Cattle that drink from those water holes do not gain weight like they should and can get sick, he said.
"If quality gets very bad, we've actually seen cases of polio in cattle, and that can lead to death," Walker said.
While runoff from rains helps dilute sulfates that build up in stock dams, it also carries more sulfates into them, she said.
Many stock dams that dried up in the past couple of years are again brimming with water, but they still may have questionable water quality, Walker said.
"In general, we are much better off, and I'm not asking for rain to stop at any time, but it hasn't fixed all of our problems yet. It's the environment we live in. Because of the geology of the soils, water quality will be a continuing problem."
Ranchers who think their ponds are high in salts can bring water samples to the nearest Extension offices for testing, which is free, Walker said.
Water-quality in areas with high salts is best improved by heavy snows, which melt directly into the ponds and don't carry salts that wash from soils when it rains, she said.
"We probably have gotten two-thirds of our normal precipitation by the middle of the year, which is awesome, but we really need snow melt to get those dams back up to par," Walker said.
"We still have a water quality issue."
Date: 6/22/05
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