Escherichia coli runoff from sheep and dairy cow grazed pasture: A plot scale simulation

Animal agriculture is recognized as a key source of fecal microbial impacts on water quality and associated risks to human health. Most of the research effort has focused on losses of fecal microbes from cow/cattle feces with little research effort on sheep fecal risks. The literature on fecal microbial risks from pasture is complicated by the fact that experiments are carried out in different environments leading to difficulties in making direct comparisons between sheep and cow/cattle losses from pasture areas. In this study, a plot scale simulation was conducted on the same pasture plots, using simulated rainfall to generate comparable runoff conditions, and using simulated grazing to create similar relative stocking rates. The Escherichia coli concentrations in the runoff were similar from simulated or natural rainfall events. At an equivalent stocking rate, the E. coli runoff concentrations from the sheep grazed pastures were four times higher than the cow grazed pasture. These results show that at an equivalent stocking rate, the E. coli runoff risk from sheep grazed pasture is higher than for cow grazed pasture. Further research is needed to understand the relative impacts of different grazing species of animals as well as stocking rate or management effects on these relative risks to water quality.