Livestock Management to Protect Riparian Areas
Wednesday Dec 23rd, 2020
News Reporter With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.
It’s estimated that approximately 60% of California is rangeland. The ecological benefits of well-managed livestock on this land is well-documented. Part of that management is making sure to protect riparian areas. Ken Tate is a professor and cooperative extension specialist in rangeland watershed management at the University of California, Davis.
Tate… “If you re in a large landscape and the only available drinking water is a riparian area and associated stream, and livestock needing 20 plus gallons of water a day to consume, they re inherently going to spend quite a bit of time in those areas. And so one of the most effective tools that we have available to kind of reduce and limit livestock time spent in riparian areas and thus damage from hoof trampling, and over-consumption of sensitive plants is to provide off-site drinking