Test Water Quality Before It’s Too Late

The grass is ready, fence is fixed and water sources are full, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to turnout pairs. Testing water quality should be a routine part of the spring checklist for ranchers across the country.  

“I recommend testing water at a minimum prior to turning animals into a pasture or pen…,” says Miranda Meehan. When we're in a drought situation, we should be looking at things more frequently because those levels of the salts and sulfates in particular are going to become more concentrated as water evaporates as a result of that drought.” 

Meehan is an Extension Livestock Environmental Stewardship specialist at North Dakota State University who doesn’t underestimate the impact water quality has on both animal health and a rancher’s bottom line.  

“If we have poor water quality, that's going to influence intake, which then is going to result in lower performance of those animals,” explains Miranda Meehan, Extension Livestock Environmental Stewardship specialist at North Dakota State University.  

Lower performance can show up in a variety of areas including reduced weaning weights, body condition scores and abortions. Knowing which sources to test starts by understanding regional geology.  

“It’s really going to depend on the geology of that source,” shares Meehan. “Especially in the Northern Plains, we have a lot of high amounts of natural occurring salts, sulfates being one of those salts that can influence the quality of our water.” 

In the southern plains, the concern is more likely nitrates in both aquifers and surface waters. Regardless of location, Meehan encourages producers to know the history of which aquifers they are pulling from or surface waters cattle have access to better understand the likelihood of high levels of sulfates, nitrates, phosphorus and harmful algal blooms.  

Fortunately, testing water sources is a simple process that can be done by extension agents or ranchers themselves.  

“What we use is a handheld Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter to see if those total dissolved solids or the salt mineral component of the water is elevated,” says Meehan. “On the sulfate side, we have sulfate test strips and we just dip those in the water, look at what color they turn and match that to a scale that's provided on the sampling container.” 

Favorable results are less than 5,000 ppm for TDS and 800 ppm for sulfates. If the intial results meet or pass these thresholds, it’s recommended sample be sent in to a lab for further analysis.  

She says, “We look at above 5,000 parts per million as a threshold there because that is where we start seen risks of abortions… and the threshold for sulfates for mature animals is 1,000 parts per million and then for calves is 500 parts per million.” 

In addition to TDS levels, cyanobacteria are important to watch and test for during the summer months.  

“As we move into summer and hot, dry, stagnant conditions, we see cyanobacteria,” says Meehan. “We used to say the July-August period was the highest risk, but we’ve even seen October blooms in North Dakota.” 

Unfortunately, cyanobacteria usually aren’t caught until it is too late.  

Meehan explains, “Often you're going to find a dead animal before you realize there's a bloom. And unfortunately, there's nothing you really can do because of how fast that bacteria produces toxins.” 

When water quality is unfavorable, producers have several options with the most common being evaluating the grazing system and hauling in water.  

“Fence out waters that are poor quality,” says Meehan. “As much as people say animals can recognize a source that has poor quality, they can't and appearance doesn’t really tell you anything either.”  

Hauling water is another short-term option. 

“It still allows you to use that grazing resource. And I know with widespread drought right now, that is something people aren't going to want to give up,” says Meehan.  

In the long-term, producers can look at wells, pipelines and rural water taps to provide reliable higher quality water sources. 

“Just monitor your water sources,” says Meehan. “I think we all know the importance of making sure animals have water, but it's very simple to screen our water sources and it can save an animal in the long run.” 

Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.