Grazing System Project in Gorham

Ontario County SWCD completed a watering system as part of a prescribed rotational grazing system on a farm in the Town of Gorham with cost-share funding through the Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) program. The project consisted of installing a water well and a watering facility to act as a pasture water supply. This project will allow for prescribed grazing on up to 40 acres of pasturelands. The well installed through this project feeds a buried 1,725 gallon reserve tank that is then connected into a pressure tank that serves 820’ of uphill underground water lines connected to a frost free hydrant system. The farm can now run additional above ground lines from these hydrants on its grazing rotations and allow the animals to fulfill their watering needs without having to leave the distant paddocks. A well-managed grazing system can help reduce sediment and nutrient losses to the watershed by spreading nutrients out across the pasture and reducing overgrazing, thus, improving the condition of the groundcover and forages in a pasture system.