Help: April 2010 Archives
Clean, fresh water is just as important for livestock as it is for us. But water without proper in and out flow gets stagnant, warm and undrinkable in a hurry. Sloughs and dugouts are prone to algae blooms and water weeds that quickly choke out the water source, leaving ranchers with little choice but to find alternate watering sources.
Stan Harder, a regular contributor to Grainews and a former angus breeder from St. Brides, Alta., recently zipped me an email about the once-unknown danger of bluestone (copper sulphate) to control algae blooms and weeds in sloughs and dugouts. The product is the perfect farm fix-it: cheap, effective, available and easy to use. The problem? Copper sulphate is far from innocuous and can lead to mild to severe instances of eyes, nose and throat irritations and even kidney and liver damage. Handling precautions (gloves, goggles and a respirator) should have been donned or the product not used at all, he says in hindsight.
In the absence of bluestone, what other options are there? Stan has heard of submerging barley straw for weed and algae control, but is unsure of its success. There are algaecides on the market but according to the label they are not approved to control water weeds.
How do you control algae and weeds in dugouts and sloughs? Do you have first-hand experience with submerging barley (or other) straw for control? I'd like to hear from you. I'd like to do a feature on this in an upcoming issue of Grainews, if we can find some handy on-farm solutions that our readers are so famous for.
Help?
Stan Harder, a regular contributor to Grainews and a former angus breeder from St. Brides, Alta., recently zipped me an email about the once-unknown danger of bluestone (copper sulphate) to control algae blooms and weeds in sloughs and dugouts. The product is the perfect farm fix-it: cheap, effective, available and easy to use. The problem? Copper sulphate is far from innocuous and can lead to mild to severe instances of eyes, nose and throat irritations and even kidney and liver damage. Handling precautions (gloves, goggles and a respirator) should have been donned or the product not used at all, he says in hindsight.
In the absence of bluestone, what other options are there? Stan has heard of submerging barley straw for weed and algae control, but is unsure of its success. There are algaecides on the market but according to the label they are not approved to control water weeds.
How do you control algae and weeds in dugouts and sloughs? Do you have first-hand experience with submerging barley (or other) straw for control? I'd like to hear from you. I'd like to do a feature on this in an upcoming issue of Grainews, if we can find some handy on-farm solutions that our readers are so famous for.
Help?
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Grainews editor Lyndsey Smith answers readers' questions, asks her own and, now and then, discusses what's new and interesting in western Canadian production agriculture.
