Monitoring water sources to protect herd health

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A common cause of poor-quality water is high sulfate levels, which can lead to secondary copper and selenium deficiencies. Nutritional issues in beef cattle typically result from multiple contributing sources, which is why both water testing and feed testing are important, according to Waldner.  

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“There’s a lot of us that have water with sulfate levels that are in the trouble zone,” she said. “Getting a better understanding of exactly what this means is important. We can’t just look at water in isolation, we’ve got to remember that all of these things act cumulatively, total intake, feed, and water.”  

Saskatchewan beef producer Carla Hicks said after multiple years of drought the result was high levels of sulfates, cattle distress, and production losses in their cattle herd.  

She upgraded her water sampling tool to a hockey stick with a big water jug taped to it. 

“So, it could get a long way out into the water and get a good sample without worrying about falling in,” Hicks said. “We have a water tester and I bought it on Amazon. They’re $35. We take salt out, we take mineral out, and we test the water. That’s just what we do all the time. It takes 30 seconds to dip the hockey stick in the water, pull the water. It takes another 30 seconds to read the tester,” she said

 Information on managing stock water can be found here.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com