Good dugouts provide great watering systems
Water is the most essential nutrient for livestock, Naveen Arora, agricultural water specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, said during a webinar held by the Peace Country Beef and Forage Association.
“In the Peace region, our long winters and reliance on surface water place a unique stress on our water system,” he said.
Related story: Could dugout water quality testing be done at home?
The Peace has been facing a multi-year drought where low surface water and low wells have been major challenges.
This year, things are looking better for producers in the Peace.
Strong snowpack accumulation set up the potential for rapid spring melt. As the melt moves quickly across frozen and saturated soils, it creates a strong recharge signal and surface runoff.
Surface runoff
Runoff doesn’t just carry water; it brings everything that’s on the landscape with it, including sediments, manure and nutrients.
“It will come straight into the surface water sources like dugouts, and the first thing we will often notice is high turbidity and the water will look a bit muddy or chocolate coloured,” said Arora.
This could make the water less palatable for the cattle, causing them to drink less.
Runoff can also cause a short-term spike in bacterial population, especially fecal coliform bacteria from overwintering manure. Nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, in the form of nitrates, can run into water sources.
Planning a dugout
In the Peace region, the three main water sources are wells, springs and dugouts. Dugouts are the most used water sources.
“They are highly dependent on runoff site conditions and ongoing management, which makes them especially sensitive during spring and early season,” he said.
When people are planning dugouts, they need to see the legal framework of the water and how it is managed in Alberta.
In that province, water is vested in the crown, which is managed by the provincial government. Landowners can use water under conditions set out in the Water Act, administered by Environment and Protected Areas.
This past March, the Alberta government updated regulations to expand the overall capacity of water sources for agricultural use to 7,500 cubic metres from 2,5000 cubic metres if the conditions mentioned in Water Act fact sheets are followed.
“Understanding the legal framework helps us to design projects or work on the projects and move forward smoothly and predictably,” said Arora.
Location is one of the most important considerations while planning a dugout. They need a watershed large enough to reliably capture water.
“We generally recommend that it should be filling a dugout in eight years, at least in 10 years, because that will be a reliable source because of weather changing, drought and wet conditions,” he said.
In the Peace, evaporation rates are low, and there is a large catchment area to fill dugouts.
From a regulatory perspective, dugouts cannot be built in creeks, streams or wetlands.
Starting the dugout build
Before starting any dugout project, a producer should dig test holes below the proposed bottom depth where the dugout is planned.
“This will help to identify seepage prone soils like sand or silt. That upfront work is worth doing so we don’t invest too much on that particular location,” he said.
The government of Alberta has produced a manual on dugouts.
They should be built deeper rather than wider. This reduces surface area, limits evaporation and keeps water cooler and more stable.
A good depth is 13 to 21 feet. Slopes should not be steeper than 1.5 to one.
“This provides stability to the bank, and it helps reduce erosion and minimizes evaporation,” he said.
Once the dugout is excavated, the soil pile should be placed at least 15 feet from the edge. It should be levelled, graded and seeded to prevent slumping and sediment runoff from entering the dugout.
“Good depth and slope design protects the storage efficiency from the first spring fill onwards,” he said.
The dugout should secure enough water for two to three years of water supply for the livestock.
Drought proofing the dugout
“Especially for the Peace region, we always recommend to drought proof or have an additional supply of water for at least two to three years. Drought proofing is a code-designed consideration and not an add on,” he said.
Even though evaporation is lower in the Peace compared to southern Alberta, the Peace region has more severe winters, which can increase the winter ice tie up, making 25 per cent of water unavailable.
“Even if dugouts look full, over time down the line after a few years, sedimentation reduces the effective depth. So basically, the drought proofing is about usable water over time, so which is why depth slopes and total storage matters in design,” he said.
Keeping livestock out
Once dugouts are designed, they must be protected. Livestock should not have direct access to the dugout because they can damage the banks, muddy the water and contaminate it.
The best option is to fence around the dugout to exclude livestock, said Arora.
“If a dugout is not fenced, there is more likely to be a risk for contamination and injury to the livestock, especially in winter,” said Arora.
When a dugout is fenced, livestock no longer have direct access, and an off-source watering system will need to be used. These watering systems pump the water from the protected source to a remote trough or container.
Power options for pumping are dependent on the site.
The most common power option right now is a solar water pump. There are other options, such as wind-operated pumps, gravity-fed systems and nose pumps.
Water is delivered through a fixed pipeline to a fluid control graph or stock tank, where the flow is managed through pumping.
Arora said producers want to avoid pulling from the bottom of the dugout and instead collect water from around the middle of the dugout water column or a few feet below the surface.
Off-source watering systems need to be able to run during winter.
“We have to make sure spring checks are mostly about intake position and pump function. We also have to try to run the pump to make sure it is running smoothly and water is reaching the trough,” he said.
The trough should be checked because there may be spillage when livestock move.
‘We have to make sure you can control spillage and livestock traffic, so that will keep the water size stable and prevent poor water quality issues. Allowing cattle direct access to ice is a safety risk,” he said.
Ice has unstable edges, which will affect the water quality. If cattle are on the ice, they will contaminate the ice by depositing manure on it in winter, which will increase contamination during spring melt.
“That’s why off-source watering matters year-round. Keeping the cattle off the ice protects the dugout not just in winter, but also heading into spring,” said Arora.
