Field edge surface water and tile drainage water monitoring on a confinement dairy
Name of farm:
Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy
Read a flyer from Pagel's Ponderosa. download pdf (1.5 mb)
Discovery Farm since:
Fall 2003: 3 surface water monitoring sites -- one discontinued Fall 2006
Fall 2004: 2 tile drainage monitoring sites
Family:
John and Kim Pagel and family
Location:
West of Kewaunee, Kewaunee County, WI
Enterprises:
Milk
Corn, soybeans, forage, and other crops for on farm feeding.
Farm photo tour - view here.
Research and advisory team:
Dennis Frame, UW Discovery Farms
Fred Madison, UW Discovery Farms
Eric Cooley, UW Discovery Farms
Aaron Wunderlin, UW Discovery Farms
Research opportunities:
This farm was chosen to represent conventional, total confinement large-scale dairy operations that have associated cropland. Farm location is in the Great Lakes Basin, a region once glaciated. Gentle to moderate sloping (2-6 percent slopes) landscape and field configurations led to 2 paired 13 and 21 acre watersheds, all completely controlled and farmed by participant. Ideal for studying this farming system. Nutrient and soil sediment loss in surface and tile-line discharge of fields with liquid and solid dairy manure.
Conservation practices:
All manure is either injected or surface spread and incorporated within 48 hours with a disk.
Follows USDA -- 590 nutrient management standards -- phosphorus based
Grassed waterways
Manure storage system
Monitoring in place:
Edge-of-field surface and tile-line water monitoring stations, placed at lower end of grassed waterways. Two of each of these are in place, collecting water from a unique watershed that is 100 percent farmed and controlled by participating farmer. Watershed sizes range between 13-21 acres. A third surface water monitoring station in another watershed was in operation from the Fall of 2003 until Fall 2006.
Paired surface water and tile-line water runoff quality, as impacted by 20+ year history of corn and alfalfa, with liquid and solid dairy manure. Manure is typically applied to cropland in fall and spring. Under certain conditions when manure is available, alfalfa fields may have manure applied after second or third cutting. Manure is held in series of storage lagoons when conditions warrant no spreading.
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