Water Use and Conservation at Texas High Plains Beef Cattle Feedyards

Water conservation in the Texas High Plains has become increasingly important as groundwater resources aredepleted. A water usage study was performed over a two-year period at a 50,000-head beef cattle feedyard. Water usagewas correlated to meteorological data from a NOAA weather station. Average daily water usage over the two-year periodwas 40.9 L/head/d (10.8 gal/head/d). Whenever water trough floats were adjusted for winter conditions, 66% of totalusage was for drinking, 2% was used in the feedmill, and 32% was used for overflow to prevent freezing. Whenever watertrough floats were adjusted for summer conditions, 89% was used for drinking, 3% was used in the feedmill, and 7%leaked into the overflow collection system. Options identified for conserving water include installing more efficient watertroughs, repairing existing troughs, and installing an overflow recycling system. Potential beneficial uses for the overflowwater include irrigation of crops, sprinkling pens for dust and temperature control, and use in steam flaking of grain atthe feedmill. If all of the overflow water were recycled at this feedyard, then 162 000 m 3 (42.7 million gal) would beconserved per year (22% of total annual use). Construction of a $39,000 filtration-chlorination water treatment systemwould have a payback period of six years at 8% interest, and result in a net monthly savings of $707 after payback of thecapital investment.