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Outreach
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Courses help ranchers, farmers
mitigate water-quality impacts
Water-quality short course participants evaluate a sediment
source site (bank-cutting) along Parson’s Creek using the
Sediment Inventory Method, at the UC Hopland Research and Extension
Center in Mendocino County. Photo credit: John M. Harper |
Most of the water-quality problems in the United States are from
runoff, and in many places much of this nonpoint source pollution
in rivers and lakes comes from agriculture, according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Ranching and farming practices
can degrade streams and coastal waters with nonpoint source pollutants
such as sediment, heat and nutrients. This degradation can threaten
salmon, which need cold, clear water for spawning.
 In 1989,
the range livestock industry recognized that it needed to address
water quality and asked UC for help. “The industry knew regulation
was coming,” says Melvin George, UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE)
rangeland management specialist.
In 1994,
the UCCE Rangeland Watershed Program began working with ranchers
and state agencies to develop the Ranch Water Quality Management
Planning Shortcourse, which helps ranchers develop voluntary plans
for managing water quality on their land. “The beauty of it
is that landowners can make their own decisions so they don’t
have a regulatory agency come and tell them what to do,” says
George, who helped develop the short course.
Landowners
in watersheds with rivers listed as impaired by the EPA must help
meet total maximum daily load (TMDL) regulations, which stipulate
how much pollution bodies of water can receive and still meet water-quality
standards.
Road crossings at streams are an important
source of potential sediment on North Coast rangelands.
Photo credit: John M. Harper
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The ranch
water-quality short course entails about 10 to 15 hours of classroom
and field instruction, including clean water laws; monitoring pollution
sources; and management of nonpoint source pollution, such as sediment
from cattle grazing and trampling, heat from decreased riparian
vegetation, and nutrients and pathogens from manure. The short course
culminates in developing individualized ranch water-quality management
plans that identify and prioritize water-quality problems and outline
how to address them.
The short
course has had more than 60 sessions attended by more than 800 ranchers
from 31 counties, and by mid-2004 had resulted in plans covering
1.3 million acres of rangeland. A 2002 survey of participants showed
that 60% had completed a plan in class and 67% had implemented at
least one of the recommended practices for protecting water quality.
These practices include installing fences to exclude cattle from
riparian areas; revegetating riparian areas; and slowing down the
movement of water along and across dirt roads, which are a major
source of sediment on slopes. “We proved that a voluntary program
can work,” George says.
The short
course also encourages landowners to form watershed management groups.
“Nonpoint source pollution is not an individual problem, it’s
a watershed problem. If everyone gets together, they can have an
effect,” George says. Course participants have formed watershed
groups in counties including Humboldt, Mendocino and Monterey. Other
benefits of forming such groups are that they are more likely to
get water-quality grants and can streamline permitting for watershed
activities such as modifying streambeds.
A similar
course for Central Coast farmers was patterned on the successful
ranch course a few years ago, spearheaded by UCCE farm advisor Mary
Bianchi. Unlike many other irrigated agricultural areas in California,
many Central Coast farms are on slopes that are susceptible to erosion.
Moreover, these watersheds drain into Monterey and Morro Bay estuaries
or into rivers where salmon spawn.
This new
course for farmers may be particularly relevant to growers in coming
years. While agricultural discharges in California have historically
been exempt from water-quality regulations, the State Water Resources
Control Board recently began developing a compliance process for
growers who discharge irrigation return water. The process would
include monitoring and management measures to protect downstream
water resources.
Like the
ranch short course, the Farm Water Quality Management Planning Shortcourse
culminates in developing a water-quality management plan that addresses
farm nonpoint source pollution such as sediment, nutrients and pesticides.
The short course is now offered in all seven Central Coast counties
from San Mateo to Santa Barbara, and already 16% of the Central
Coast producers have participated (about 400 out of 2,500). The
course is offered in both English and Spanish, and binder materials
will soon be available in Spanish.
“[The
short course] encourages growers to complete conservation plans
that integrate their production goals and management practices with
water quality, habitat conservation and soil conservation goals,”
says Julie Fallon, representative for the UCCE Farm Water Quality
Planning Program.
— Robin Meadows Back to
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Dairy
workers learn husbandry, management skills
Students in UC Cooperative Extension’s dairy herdsmen short
course receive state-of-the art training in basic husbandry
and dairy herd management. Gerry Sanchez (with stethoscope)
listens for the heart and lung sounds of a dairy cow at the
California State University, Fresno, dairy farm. |
While California is the top milk-producing state nationwide,
many workers in the state’s 2,125 dairies lack basic husbandry
skills. In addition, as dairies have gotten larger, the dairy herdsman’s
role has grown to include training and managing other employees.
“California dairies are getting so intricate that employees
need state-of-the-art training,” says Gerald Higginbotham,
UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) dairy advisor.
To help meet
this need, UCCE dairy advisors and specialists established the Dairy
Herdsman Shortcourse. Higginbotham coordinates the program, which
was developed with input from the California State University (Fresno
and Chico), UC School of Veterinary Medicine, California Animal
Health and Diagnostic Laboratory, and dairy producers. Five short
courses have been held since 2001 for about 170 dairy employees.
The Dairy
Herdsman Shortcourse spans 3 days, with lectures in the mornings
and hands-on laboratories in the afternoons. Because many Western
dairy workers are Latino, the short course presentations are simultaneously
translated into Spanish. Participants receive a notebook with the
lectures and presentations, a California Mastitis Kit, a stethoscope
and one colostrometer per dairy.
The short
course covers dairy management, basic dairy husbandry and the latest
in dairy practices. The management sessions include the use of herd-management
software as well as labor management, from selecting to evaluating
and disciplining employees.
The husbandry
lectures include reproductive anatomy; milking and troubleshooting
milk-quality problems; and herd health, such as nutrition and diagnosing
diseases like mastitis and Johne’s disease. The husbandry labs
include assessing cow health from heart and lung sounds, proper
hoof trimming and a calf autopsy. The most recent short course also
had a lab on difficult calvings, in which participants learned how
to manipulate calves into a normal position.
UC Cooperative Extension dairy specialist Steven Berry discusses
tools used in the proper care of cow hoofs. Photo credit:
John M. Harper |
The
sessions on the latest in dairy practices include educating herd
managers on animal welfare issues related to tail docking (clipping)
and handling downer cows. While some dairymen think docking leads
to cleaner udders and cleaner milk, science does not support this
practice. “It was a fad several years ago,” says UCCE
veterinarian John Kirk, who helps teach the short course. However,
research has shown that docking fails to increase udder cleanliness
or reduce the milk bacteria count. Moreover, docking has a downside
for cows, which need their tails to brush away flies. “We focus
on the welfare of cows,” Kirk says.
Downer cows
are those that are not ambulatory for reasons such as nerve damage
during calving. Fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE,
“mad cow disease”) have led to a ban on taking downer
cows to the slaughterhouse. Instead, they must be euthanized at
the dairy and picked up by a renderer. The short course teaches
several methods for euthanizing cows. “If a downer cow doesn’t
recover in a couple of days, they should be euthanized to reduce
suffering,” Kirk says.
The effectiveness
of the short course has been demonstrated in two ways. First, more
than 70% of participants get higher scores on the posttest than
on the pretest of the material covered. Second, a survey of participants
in the first three courses showed that more than 40% have already
begun to apply what they learned to their dairies.
The Dairy
Herdsman Shortcourse is in such demand that there is a waiting list
to participate. The course is particularly beneficial to counties
that no longer have dairy advisors due to state budget cuts, such
as Stanislaus, San Joaquin and even Tulare, which is the state’s
top dairy county. “We’re trying to fill those voids by
taking this program on the road,” Higginbotham says.
— Robin Meadows Back to
top
Preventing
Johne’s disease is good all-around dairy practice
Cows with advanced Johne’s disease, a chronic wasting disease
transmitted by manure, usually do not show symptoms until they
are at least 3 years old. Signs of Johne’s disease include
chronic diarrhea and weight loss. Typically, affected animals
remain bright and alert, without fever, and eating well. http://johnes.org |
About one-fifth of U.S. dairies have cows with Johne’s
disease, but in 1997 nearly half of the nation’s dairy producers
were unaware of this bacterial illness, which can cause chronic
diarrhea, wasting and ultimately cattle death. California dairy
workers who have participated in a voluntary educational program
on controlling Johne’s (“Yo-knees”) disease are both
more aware of this illness and more likely to do something about
it, according to a 2003 survey of participants by John Kirk, UC
Cooperative Extension (UCCE) veterinarian.
Also called
paratuberculosis because it is caused by the slow-growing bacterium
Myobacterium avium paratuberculosis (Map), Johne’s disease
primarily affects the digestive systems of cows and other ruminant
animals. The disease can decrease milk production, and increase
mastitis and reproductive disorders. Afflicted cows usually catch
the disease as newborn calves via manure, colostrum or milk but
have no symptoms until they are at least 3 years old.
Because California
dairies generally do not keep cows long enough for the disease to
manifest, it has little apparent economic impact on them. Even so,
controlling the disease is in the dairy industry’s best interests.
Johne’s disease is somewhat similar to the human Crohn’s
disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that likewise causes
chronic diarrhea and weight loss, and has no cure. While the cause
of Crohn’s disease is unknown, some fear that people can catch
it by drinking cow’s milk.
“Bottle jaw,” also called submandibular edema, is
another sign of Johne’s disease. A UC Cooperative Extension
short course teaches dairy operators the clinical signs of Johne’s
disease, as well as how to prevent it. http://johnes.org |
Studies
to date have yielded conflicting results and there is not enough
evidence to prove or disprove a link between the two diseases, according
to a 2003 National Academies of Science report. “It seems biologically
plausible that Map could cause at least a subset of Crohn’s
disease,” the report stated. “If evidence of a link were
found, it would transform Johne’s disease into a serious public-health
problem.” At this time, Johne’s is considered a cattle
disease and Crohn’s a human disease.
To help control
the disease, in 1999 the California Johne’s Disease Advisory
Council established a 1-hour educational program as part of the
California Dairy Quality Assurance Program. Initially presented
by UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Extension faculty, the Johne’s
disease educational program is now also presented by 150 certified
private-practice veterinarians.
A followup
survey of 27 participants showed that many have begun implementing
measures for controlling Johne’s disease. For example, the
survey found that 92% are now looking for cows with symptoms of
the disease; 86% are cleaning calving areas more frequently; and
60% are removing calves from the calving area before they begin
to nurse. These measures are important because in most cases calves
are infected soon after birth by ingesting manure or nursing from
manure-covered teats.
However,
some control measures were not as likely to be adopted. For example,
while Johne’s disease can also be transmitted in milk, more
than half of the participants were doubtful about feeding calves
pasteurized milk. This may be due to the high cost of effective
pasteurization equipment, which ranges from $20,000 to $40,000.
“Most dairymen have initiated control measures that require
only a change in attitude or management without major costs,”
Kirk says.
In addition,
the surveyed participants were split on using blood tests or fecal
cultures to gauge the prevalence of Johne’s disease in their
herds. “This probably reflects the general feeling among California
dairymen that this disease is of insignificant economic impact on
their dairies,” Kirk says.
However,
measures to control Johne’s disease can also benefit dairies
by controlling other diseases. “Many dairy diseases are passed
in manure or milk to newly born calves,” says Kirk. “All
Johne’s disease control and prevention measures that reduce
manure and milk transmission to calves will also reduce other diseases
such as salmonellosis and mastitis.” —
Robin Meadows
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