Northfield Specifics
Wetlands and Surface Water:
Around Northfield there an extraordinary amount of wetlands, streams, and rivers. Besides the bigger Cannon River, there are several smaller rivers and many even smaller streams all contributing to the wetlands in the area. Many farms reside right on the edge of a stream, river, or wetland and because of this some factors should be given due consideration.
In the pasture ecosystem, amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are needed and valued nutrients. But those same nutrients can become pollutants if they reach surface water. Consumption of nitrates can cause methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome) in infants. There are also pathogens that can be carried by livestock waste into the ground and surface water such as cryptosporidium (Office of Water, 2001) Nitrogen also contributes to unwanted algae blooms, which are a problem in the Cannon River region. Because of the abundance of surface water in the area, it is very important to think about run off and nitrogen and phosphorous entering the water.
The Minnesota regulations on how far back spread manure from open water should be followed and were mentioned in the manure management section. It is also a good idea to keep horse pastures back from open water. Rice County has some regulations on how far back pastures and manure should be kept from open water and wetlands. Consult your local University of Minnesota Extension Service of Rice County directly if you have questions on these issues.
More generally, non point sources of water pollution make up a large percentage of water quality issues across the nation. And 50 to 70 percent of assessed surface water is being adversely affected by agricultural pollution from soil erosion, pesticide use, and fertilizer run-off. Livestock and nutrient management has been identified as the major source of these types of problems. Manure often is the source for the nitrogen found in surface water (Quinn, 2001).
Proper management includes preventing horses and their waste from coming in contact with runoff and water sources, properly applying waste as fertilizer on crops or pastures, and appropriately managing pastures (Office of Water, 2001). The management practices previously covered will all help to properly manage for the least water contamination possible.
It has also been pointed out that pastures in general are better for possible water contamination than tilled fields are because the vegetation cover keeps the nutrients in the pasture rather than letting it pass through the soil and perhaps end up in the near by stream or wetland. So it is better to spread manure directly on pastures or other vegetation rather than on bare tilled fields (Paine and Lyons, 1999).
Researchers connected with the University of Wisconsin did a study on water quality and livestock pastures and they found that well managed pastures, grassy buffers, and woody buffers had more pollution sensitive species than did pastures with unrestricted cattle access, and this would go for horses as well (Paine and Lyons, 1999).
The Horse Owners Guide to Water Quality Protection urges horse owners to "be informed and proactive. Analyze possible water quality impacts of your operations before and during rains. Learn how to perform simple water quality monitoring tests. Carefully consider potential water quality problems before expanding your facility. Schedule a workday at your stable to install roof gutters, improve drainage channels, set up a new manure storage system, or re-vegetate a creek" (Council of Bay Area).