AEN-103: Stormwater BMPs for Confined Livestock Facilities

Steve Higgins, Sarah Wightman | Jul. 28, 2011 (New)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that agricultural sediment, pathogens, and nutrients account for more than 50 percent of water pollution in the United States. Animal confinement facilities, widely used for holding, feeding, and handling animals, are potential sources of that pollution. The pollution load of these facilities can be reduced by installing and maintaining best management practices. The BMPs may be implemented as part of permit compliance or may be used to ensure that a permit is not needed.

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AEN-107: Paved Feeding Areas and the Kentucky Agriculture Water Quality Plan

Steve Higgins, Sarah Wightman | Jul. 28, 2011 (New)

Kentucky's abundant forage makes it well suited for grazing livestock. Livestock producers can make additional profits by adding a few pounds before marketing calves; however, adding those pounds requires keeping calves during the winter months, when pasture forages are dormant and supplemental feed is required. The areas used to winter calves need to be conducive to feeding and need to avoid negatively impacting the environment, especially water quality.

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AEN-108: Permeable Pavement for Stormwater Management

Carmen Agouridis, Joe Luck, Jonathan Villines | Jul. 26, 2011 (New)

Managing runoff in urban areas offers many challenges for engineers, landscape architects, and planners. As cities grow, the amount of impermeable surfaces--those that do not allow water to infiltrate into the ground--increases. Examples of impervious surfaces are asphalt roads, concrete sidewalks, parking lots, building roofs, and areas of highly compacted soils such as in subdivisions. If not properly managed, the stormwater runoff produced by these impermeable surfaces can have negative effects on nearby surface waters.

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AEN-106: Reducing Stormwater Pollution

Carmen Agouridis, Joe Luck, Jonathan Villines, Sarah Wightman | Jul. 15, 2011 (New)

Stormwater is excess water from rainfall and snowmelts that flows over the ground and does not infiltrate the soil. It is a concern not just in urban areas but in suburban and agricultural locations as well. As stormwater runoff flows over the land or impervious surfaces, it picks up and transports trash and debris as well as pollutants such as pathogens, nutrients, sediments, heavy metals, and chemicals. This publication reviews some of these techniques and provides a list of recommended resources for additional information.

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AEN-101: Stream Crossings for Cattle

Carmen Agouridis, Steve Higgins, Sarah Wightman | Jul. 13, 2011 (New)

This publication provides livestock producers with instructions on how to install a stream crossing that provides animal and vehicular access across streams. This best management practice (BMP) is intended for use with exclusion fencing that restricts cattle access to the stream. Implementation of a stream crossing with exclusion fencing will improve water quality, reducing nutrient, sediment, pathogen, and organic matter loads to streams.

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AEN-105: Pasture Feeding, Streamside Grazing, and the Kentucky Agriculture Water Quality Plan

Carmen Agouridis, Steve Higgins, Sarah Wightman | Jul. 13, 2011 (New)

Kentucky's abundant forage makes it well suited for grazing livestock, but the pasturing and pasture feeding of livestock need to be managed. Allowing cattle to behave as they would naturally can lead to overgrazing, congregation in sensitive areas, buildup of mud, loss of vegetation, compaction of soils, and erosion.

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AEN-104: How to Close an Abandoned Well

Steve Higgins, Sarah Wightman | Jul. 7, 2011 (New)

Abandoned wells are often the only structures remaining after an old house or barn has been removed. If left unmanaged in agricultural areas, these abandoned wells can pose a serious threat to livestock and human safety because of the large surface openings they often have.

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AEN-100: Building a Grade Stabilization Structure to Control Erosion

Steve Higgins, Donald Stamper, Sarah Wightman | Jun. 15, 2011 (New)

Gully erosion creates large eroded channels that become problematic for many farms. Gullies form in natural drainage swales when vegetation in the swale is lost through overgrazing or tillage practices. They cause valuable soil to erode, and they form large channels that drain runoff into streams. This runoff can carry sediment, nutrients, and pathogens that can degrade the water quality.

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AEN-102: Basics of Automatic Section Control for Agricultural Sprayers

Joe Luck, Scott Shearer, Tim Stombaugh | Jun. 2, 2011 (New)

The potential economic and environmental benefits of these systems are gaining the attention of producers and custom applicators looking to reduce their overall chemical costs. The purpose of this publication is to describe the basic operation and benefits of automatic section control systems.

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ID-187: Woodland Winter Feeding of Cattle: Water Quality Best Management Practices

Steve Higgins, Jeff Stringer, Sarah Wightman | May. 5, 2011 (New)

Cattle maintain their body temperature in winter by burning more calories, which requires them to consume more feed. Livestock producers use wooded areas to provide protection for cattle from wind and low temperatures. That protection enables the cattle to conserve energy and eat less. Using wooded areas for winter feeding makes practical sense, but producers need to consider several environmental issues when planning for it.