Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Ag Water Network will be hosting a webinar on February 20, 2025 that will overview the results of irrigated mountain meadow water quality testing conducted by Colorado State University.

Presenters:  Erik Wardle, Director, Colorado State University (CSU) Ag Water Quality Program and Greg Peterson, Executive Director, CAWA

For over a century, agricultural producers in Colorado have been flood irrigating meadows to grow forage for livestock grazing and hay production. The application of nutrients in the form of commercial fertilizer and manure from livestock grazing is common. Concerns have been expressed about whether runoff from irrigated meadows contains excessive nitrogen and phosphorus.

Working with local ranchers and the Colorado Ag Water Alliance, CSU has been monitoring and testing the inflow and outflow water at irrigated hay meadows located in the Yampa, Colorado, and Gunnison river basins.

This webinar will cover the findings from the three years of monitoring that has been conducted.

Topics: 

• The timing of irrigation, fertilization, hay production and grazing.
• Differences in nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the inflows and outflows (runoff).
• Differences in sediment (total suspended solids) loads coming into and leaving fields.
• The effects of manure and commercial fertilizer application on nutrients in outflows.
• Q and A

 Register in advance at the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OfOfcReZQKCOiKvQ0iEKWQ