Producers reminded to test water quality before use

May 07, 2018

After some issues with water quality last year, livestock producers are being encouraged to test their water supplies this season, even if that supply was safe to use in the past.

Colby Elford, Livestock and Feed Extension Specialist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, says the only way to tell for sure if your water supply is suitable for use is by doing a test on it.

"Sometimes it's expected that if the water has been good in the past, that it will continue to be good," he said. "But we've seen cases that the water was thought to be good, but throughout last summer it turned into a situation where it was unusable, so really testing the water before use is the only way to know for sure that it's safe."

Elford says that people should get the test done a couple before they plan to use the water.

"I usually recommend to guys to get a test done two weeks before your planning on using the water," he said. "Their's ample time for the lab to get the sample, do the tests and for the results to get back and then for producers to make a backup plan if the water is unusable."

Source : Discoverestevan

Video: Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

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I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.