INNISFAIL, Alta. – Owning and operating a 4,000 head feedlot built in 1962 comes with its own set of challenges.
For Don Curtice, manure management and water quality are at the top of the list.
Little Red Feeders Inc. is a backgrounding operation for calves, as well as a bull test station. Curtice usually holds his numbers at about 3,500 head so he can control the amount of manure.
“We can handle the manure at that stage. It’s a comfortable level,” he said.
One of his achievements has been a practical approach to purifying feedlot runoff. His solution was good enough to receive the Alberta Beef Producers’ environmental stewardship award in 2002.
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His work in this area began in the early 1970s when an aerial photograph that was part of a survey of the Little Red Deer River Valley showed a trail snaking down from his pens to the river. The surveyors implied that the feedlot cattle were trailed down the hill to drink from the river.
“I got offended by it and figured if that is what they are perceiving, we better do something about it.”
Curtice got to work. The feedlot was built on a hill for drainage, and most of the runoff ended up in the Little Red Deer, which drains into the Red Deer River at Innisfail, which in turn links up with the South Saskatchewan River in southeastern Alberta.
Curtice began experimenting with a natural plant-based filtration system to slow down water, which prevented erosion and held nutrients on the land rather than releasing nitrogen, phosphorus, pathogens and solids into the river.
“Everything was built on farmer technology and it’s not expensive,” he said. “My logic tells me when there is water in my lagoon and there’s no water anywhere else on this farm, then it’s not seeping.”
A 3.2 kilometre network of settling ponds, artificially created marshes and floodplains purifies water that drains from about three quarter sections of farmland.
Fibrous material such as straw and sawdust settle into the first ponds. Further down the network, cattails seeded into ponds and marshlands act as natural sponges, capable of removing nutrients from the water as it drains.
A native grass runway is the final step. Strong and lush because of the added nutrients, this area can be successfully grazed. Cattle have to be moved out quickly, however, so their hoof action does not scuff up the vulnerable soil and cause erosion.
Drought for the last three years saw almost no action in the system.
Last year, the farm recorded about 90 millimetres of moisture during the growing season. This year, since Easter weekend, the farm received 300 mm of moisture, mostly through heavy snow. That has put Curtice’s system to the test.
He has been working for several years with researchers from the University of Calgary, Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, Alberta Agriculture and his local Friends of the Little Red Deer River Society.
“I got involved in research because I need a piece of paper to say this works,” he said.
Government-run tests proved his theories.
When the syrupy-looking brown water leaves the feedlot, one litre contains 4.4 million parts per million of contaminants like nitrogen, phosphorus and particulates. By the time it drains into the river, each litre contains 1,100 ppm.
Curtice was also instrumental in forming the Friends of the Little Red Deer River Society to get local residents interested in water quality and river improvement.
The river provides recreation to residents and visitors through canoeing, fishing and camping.
Over time the river water quality has improved and the fish are returning.
Riparian areas are returning to health with lush vegetation growing along the banks. Long stretches of banks have been fenced to limit livestock access. Water is delivered in off-site systems.
Wintering livestock along the river is discouraged, although at one time cattle were fed and wintered on the river ice.
Society members fly over the river each year to monitor progress.
Encroaching residential development is a concern. Curtice doesn’t worry about acreage communities if they are managed properly.
However, he said improperly installed septic systems could be as troublesome as improperly handled manure during a flood.
To spread the message, he welcomes researchers, students and tourists to his farm to show them a practical low-cost system.
That open door policy offers proof that it is possible to clean up water from an intensive livestock operation before it is released.
Two years ago, 300 people toured the farm. Among the visitors have been representatives from the Natural Resources Conservation Board, which last year was given responsibility to monitor livestock operations.
Curtice was leery about the visit because his feedlot is more than 40 years old and was not built to modern engineering standards.
He found the board’s approach was favourable because it wanted to find practical pollution control systems on a variety of farms.
Pleased with his results, he believes river care is a responsibility he owes his community.
The Little Red Deer River Society’s most recent work involves restoring Olds Creek near Olds, Alta.
