Canandaigua Lake Barnyard Runoff Management Project

The Round 28 Agricultural Nonpoint Source Program (Ag NPS) Canandaigua Lake Near-Shore Runoff Management Project was a partnership effort with Ontario County SWCD and a local livestock farm that is located adjacent to Canandaigua Lake, a class AA drinking water supply for over 70,000 people. This farm runs a 100 animal beef operation that rotationally grazes animals on almost 200 acres of pasture in the spring through fall, and brings the animals back to the farm for the winter months. Prior to this project, the animals were overwintered in a 2 acre open feedlot. This open feedlot directly upslope of Canandaigua Lake was exposed to rain and snowmelt and had several concentrated water flow paths, creating a resource concern for the watershed. The outdoor feedlot also made it difficult to collect the manure from the barnyard and apply it to the farm cropland. Ontario County SWCD, the farm, and an engineer worked together to create a system of Heavy Use Area Protection, Roofs and Covers, and Roofwater Runoff Control Structures to resolve this resource concern. After completion, this project entirely eliminated the outdoor barnyard, created a short-term manure storage for the farm allowing all manure to be collected off the barnyard to be applied to cropland, and now provides livestock with stable access to the pasture.