The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) is pleased to feature the provincial stewardship award recipients nominated for 2022 The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA). The recipient of the CCA’s national award will be announced during the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Penticton, British Columbia, August 16-18, 2022.
For 26 years, recipients have shared their stories, insights, beliefs, and values, so Canadians can get a glimpse into the care and commitment that is taken to raise cattle, while protecting and enhancing the environment.
In this issue, we feature the Beef Farmers of Ontario Environmental Stewardship Award recipient, Grey Dufferin Community Pasture.
Community pasture receives Ontario environmental accolade
Management practices show improved beef production and environmental stewardship are complimentary
By Lee Hart
Proper forage and cattle management practices that have benefited beef production while at the same time helped to reduce the environmental impact, have earned the Grey Dufferin Community Pasture in southwest Ontario an award for its environmental stewardship.
The community pasture located in northeast Grey County, about 1.5 hours north of Toronto, was recognized recently as the 2022 recipient of the Beef Farmers of Ontario’s The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA).
The annual award recognizes the outstanding environmental stewardship of beef producers in the province.
"The award is a tribute to the foresight of the board of directors who over the years have recognized not only the value, but their responsibility to apply proper management practices," says Mike Swidersky, manager of the community pasture located in an area known as the Dundalk Highlands. "It demonstrates that proper environmental stewardship and improved beef production can compliment each other."
The 700-acre community pasture, that includes about 100 acres of creeks and riparian areas, was established in 1979 following the amalgamation of several smaller farms. It is the largest block of pastureland in Grey and Dufferin Counties.
Operated under a rotational grazing system since 1980, the whole management strategy has evolved and intensified over the years recognizing the need to protect sensitive wetlands and riparian areas, along with applying proper grazing and forage management practices. Those practices have protected and enhanced wildlife habitat, while at the same time improving forage production, which has supported increased beef production.
"Over the decades the farm has been able to gradually increase its cattle numbers, from a couple hundred head in the early 1980s to 600 head of steers and heifers today," says Swidersky. "Throughout the years, the management of the grazing has evolved from having four different smaller groups of cattle which were moved every seven to 14 days to now, where there are two larger groups which are divided into smaller fields with temporary fence and moved every two days. The plan is to allow 45 to 50 days rest on a 120-day grazing season."
The community pasture is part of the Dundalk highlands, which is known for its fertile flat landscape with cool temperatures and high elevations. The area is the start of several of southern Ontario’s watersheds. The riparian area within the community pasture includes a spring fed creek/municipal drain that runs through the center of most of the farm. The farm also has a sizable land area, which is low land that contains black muck soil and is prone to flooding. The rest of the land is mostly flat, open land with treed sections throughout.
Proper grazing and forage management has been a priority for community pasture patrons from the start. In the early 1980s the farm sold saw logs and firewood from its woodlot to fund the fencing and cross fencing projects. That project also included exclusion fence to keep the cattle out of the creek and other sensitive riparian areas.
In the early years, the community pasture’s board of directors made it a priority to provide livestock with clean water through an off-site watering system. With the help of some government programs there were several kilometers of buried and surface water lines installed. At the same time, there were also seven different watering points developed. These consisted of cement water troughs that were placed on gravel, cement or recycled asphalt shingles bases.
The whole watering system is based around the water drawn from a 100-foot drilled well. "We are extremely fortunate to have a reliable source of high quality water," says Swidersky. "The well consistently maintains a water level 15 feet from the top."
After many years of investment, the water system is still going strong with most of the trough set ups still being used today. Swidersky says the troughs and bases have proven to be extremely important especially with large groups of cattle in years with excess rainfall. In recent years, there have been additional watering points set up in response to the tweaks of the ever-evolving grazing system.
Along with fencing to exclude cattle from the waterways, Grey Dufferin Community Pasture has also been proactive in protecting its watercourses by installing environmentally friendly low-level water crossing structures and culvert systems. This allows both cattle and equipment to cross the watercourses without disturbing the creek beds.
Being in a higher rainfall area, Swidersky says the Grey Dufferin Community Pasture generally has to be managed for wetter growing conditions as opposed to dryer conditions, although some year’s lack of moisture is a concern, too.
Weather and moisture variability requires the management plan to be flexible and adaptive to growing conditions. While proper fertility has been important over the years to maintain and improve forage production, the community pasture did make an important change a few years ago to enhance environmental stewardship.
For many years nitrogen fertilizer was applied to provide nutrients to forage crops. Swidersky says over time it became apparent that there were problems with this strategy both economically and environmentally.
"In wet years it was difficult to get application equipment on to the farm to apply the product," he says. "There was also the danger of leaching nitrogen into the nearby creeks. This was a cost to the dollars invested, grass and animal performance as well as the possible loss of the product into the nearby creeks. In the dry years it was a struggle to see a return on investment on the fertilizer applied."
As an alternative to applied nitrogen fertilizer, the community pasture for the past five years has been applying a purchased municipal compost product to forage crops.
"This product, with high nutrient value, has shown impressive results," says Swidersky. The compost has been applied to one third of the farm each year, so regardless of the weather (hot, cold, wet, dry) the results will be seen at a steady pace through out the years. Another result of using the compost is the grass is taller and thicker, with a more diversified mix of grass species and legumes throughout the year. Use of compost also eliminates the risk of nitrogen loss and environmental impacts.
Swidersky, who has been pasture manager for the past 10 years, says it is an ongoing challenge to manage the Grey Dufferin Community Pasture under variable weather conditions.
"It is very common to have both very wet or very dry conditions in the same year," he says. With low-lying areas of pasture prone to flooding during high rain events as well as wooded areas that can be wet and springy and slow to warm up and start growing in the spring, grazing plans need to be flexible.
"If these areas aren't grazed with caution or at the wrong time, severe damage can occur," he says. "It has become a standard operating procedure to skip or defer grazing these sensitive areas if conditions are not suitable. Since this strategy was adopted, the sensitive areas have begun to thrive. In sites where very little grass would grow, now these areas produce almost as much forage as the high open areas that have been intensively managed."
From the conception of the Grey Dufferin Community Pasture, it has always been a priority to encourage research and education, that includes local annual farm tours and as well as by cooperating in research projects with government, academia, and private environment groups. Throughout the years there have been research projects involving rotational grazing, pollinators, forage utilization, grassland birds, and parasites to name a few.
"Grey Dufferin Community Pasture is very proud to be stewards of one of the largest areas of grasslands and pasture in both Dufferin and Grey Counties," says Swidersky. "This property not only provides feed for cattle it provides a habitat for many species of birds, mammals and amphibians. Some key environmental goals the board of directors have identified are to build soil organic matter with the use of compost and grazing management.
"It is believed that the more resilient, more productive and diversified the grasslands, lowlands, and wooded areas on the Grey Dufferin Community Pasture are, the better the cattle’s health and growth will be as well as the better the habitat for all the wildlife that call the pasture home."
Learn more about TESA
In celebration of TESA’s 25th anniversary in 2021, CCA checked in with some of the outstanding farmers and ranchers from across the country who have been recognized as past recipients. Learn more about their stories in the short video below.
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