Livestock Challenge




Did you know that the rain falling on your pasture carries away pollutants that harm our river?

If you are raising cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, sheep, goats, pigs, llamas or other grazing animals we challenge you to reduce the amount of polluted stormwater that runs off your animal's enclosure and the land it grazes. You will be asked to find a way to improve something about the way you keep your animals that will reduce the amount of stormwater run-off that is polluted by things like:

Design a way to improve the way in which you are managing your animals, and document the steps that you take to implement your plan. The most important part of the challenge will be to compare what your project is like before and after your improvements, and tell us how you have reduced pollution entering streams in your area.

You can document improvements with:
  • A map of your project area (location of pens, manure piles, pasture, feeding stations, nearest stream and/or pond)
  • Photographs documenting the conditions before and after your project
  • Results of any water or soil testing you conducted

You can find out more about how to test the water, including simple tests that use your eyes and sense of smell by going to our water quality lessons. It may take some time before you see results from your project, especially if there has been manure in an area for a longtime. Don't worry if you don't get big drops in nutrients or bacteria right away, just describe what you have done and what you predict will happen after there is a long enough time for the effects to take place.

Click Here for help with designing your project

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