Monitoring Cattle Use of Riparian Areas and Water Sources

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Based on his findings of cattle fecal deposition rates in streams and the impact they have on water quality, Larsen (1989) suggested that providing water away from streams, especially in areas where cattle concentrate, could reduce fecal contamination of water sources. Veira et al. (1999) also found positive changes in cattle distribution following the use of off-stream water troughs.

Methods
The locations of fifteen cows were recorded for 49 days in a pasture that had open access to a medium-sized stream (Louis Creek). Each cow's location was recorded every 5 minutes for 24 hours a day using GPS collars. Most of these locations were accurate to within 5 meters. In 2002, cows were monitored in 2 separate periods from June 9 to July 9; and from August 29 to September 16. During the first period the availability of trough water was varied by turning the trough on for 1 week, then off for 1 week. This pattern was repeated for 2 more weeks. This was done to ensure that it was the availability of trough water, not some other factor such as reduced forage, or changing weather that caused observed changes in cattle distribution.

The resulting data set of cattle positions were layered onto a base map of the area using GIS software in order to determine the relative use of various habitats and zones. Habitats and zones within the areas were mapped to a sub-meter resolution using differentially corrected GPS data.