December 2006
New UC dairy water quality publication for lenders, ag consultants
“The state has fewer dairy farms than it did 20 years ago, but the average herd size has increased,” said Stu Pettygrove, UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) soils specialist, UC Davis, and co-author of the publication. “Dairy producers are faced with increasing scrutiny by environmental health and planning agencies. We’re happy to be able to share practical approaches and technologies that work to protect water quality.”
Pettygrove noted that wide-scale adoption of farming practices that protect the environment depends on awareness and support of agricultural businesses and regulatory agencies. The guide is aimed at lending institutions, consulting engineers and crop management companies that work with dairy producers, as well as regulatory bodies like county environmental health departments and the regional water quality control boards.
Each dairy is different, and production practices must be individually tailored, Pettygrove said. The guide identifies three kinds of dairies -- those with irrigated cropland, those with non-irrigated pasture and hay fields, and those with limited cropland -- and outlines a variety of management measures for each. It also summarizes four critical components that must be in place to protect water quality:
- All dairies must have sufficient cropland to receive recycled wastewater and manure for their land base
- There must be suitable storage for manure during periods of rain to keep nutrient runoff out of waterways
- There must be a distribution infrastructure and equipment to move manure nutrients to cropland
- There must be management procedures and recordkeeping to document that recycled manure is applied at appropriate rates and does not pollute water
“The process of upgrading an existing dairy facility to an ‘ideal’ dairy farm takes time,” Pettygrove said. “We have compiled some of the specific measures taken by progressive dairy producers who have improved their nutrient management practices. There are a wide range of solutions to the challenges facing dairy farmers.”
California Dairies: Protecting Water Quality was co-authored by Patricia L. Ristow, former postgraduate researcher at UC Davis; Deanne M. Meyer, UCCE livestock waste management specialist, UC Davis; David Lewis, watershed management advisor, UCCE Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino counties; Nyles Peterson, dairy advisor and county director, UCCE San Bernardino County; and Janet C. Broome, area plant pathologist, UCCE Sacramento, Yolo and Solano counties.
The 16-page guide was produced with funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s “Buy California” Initiative, the USDA, the US-EPA Clean Water Act, and the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP). It was developed through UC SAREP’s Biologically Integrated Farming Systems program (information at http://sarep.ucdavis.edu/bifs/). A limited supply of free copies is available in Pettygrove’s office through Tiva Lasiter at tlasiter@ucdavis.edu, or phone (530) 752-1130.
The guide is ANR Publication 21630, and may also be ordered for $10 (plus tax and shipping) by calling (800) 994-8849 or by logging onto http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu .
Media contacts:
Stu Pettygrove, UCCE soils specialist, UC Davis, (530) 752-2533, gspettygrove@ucdavis.edu
Bev Ransom, UC SAREP BIFS coordinator, (530) 754-8546, baransom@ucdavis.edu
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
