Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.

Access to water is a critical aspect of livestock production, although the relationship between livestock weight gain and water quality remains poorly understood. Previous work has shown that water quality of poorly managed farm dams can be improved by fencing and constructing hardened watering poin...

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Autores principales:	Leo Dobes, Mason Crane, Tim Higgins, Albert I J M Van Dijk, David B Lindenmayer
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2f0670e27bf2432880e70a14c10761f9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2f0670e27bf2432880e70a14c10761f92021-12-02T20:18:02ZIncreased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0256089https://doaj.org/article/2f0670e27bf2432880e70a14c10761f92021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256089https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Access to water is a critical aspect of livestock production, although the relationship between livestock weight gain and water quality remains poorly understood. Previous work has shown that water quality of poorly managed farm dams can be improved by fencing and constructing hardened watering points to limit stock access to the dam, and revegetation to filter contaminant inflow. Here we use cattle weight gain data from three North American studies to develop a cost-benefit analysis for the renovation of farm dams to improve water quality and, in turn, promote cattle weight gain on farms in south-eastern Australia. Our analysis indicated a strong likelihood of positive results and suggested there may be substantial net economic benefit from renovating dams in poor condition to improve water quality. The average per-farm Benefit-Cost Ratios based on deterministic assumptions was 1.5 for New South Wales (NSW) and 3.0 for Victoria in areas where rainfall exceeds 600mm annually. Our analyses suggested that cattle on farms in NSW and Victoria would need to experience additional weight gain from switching to clean water of at least 6.5% and 1.8% per annum respectively, to break even in present value terms. Monte Carlo simulation based on conservative assumptions indicated that the probability of per-farm benefits exceeding costs was greater than 70%. We recommend localised experiments to assess the impact of improved water quality on livestock weight gain in Australian conditions to confirm these expectations empirically.Leo DobesMason CraneTim HigginsAlbert I J M Van DijkDavid B LindenmayerPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0256089 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Leo Dobes Mason Crane Tim Higgins Albert I J M Van Dijk David B Lindenmayer Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.
description	Access to water is a critical aspect of livestock production, although the relationship between livestock weight gain and water quality remains poorly understood. Previous work has shown that water quality of poorly managed farm dams can be improved by fencing and constructing hardened watering points to limit stock access to the dam, and revegetation to filter contaminant inflow. Here we use cattle weight gain data from three North American studies to develop a cost-benefit analysis for the renovation of farm dams to improve water quality and, in turn, promote cattle weight gain on farms in south-eastern Australia. Our analysis indicated a strong likelihood of positive results and suggested there may be substantial net economic benefit from renovating dams in poor condition to improve water quality. The average per-farm Benefit-Cost Ratios based on deterministic assumptions was 1.5 for New South Wales (NSW) and 3.0 for Victoria in areas where rainfall exceeds 600mm annually. Our analyses suggested that cattle on farms in NSW and Victoria would need to experience additional weight gain from switching to clean water of at least 6.5% and 1.8% per annum respectively, to break even in present value terms. Monte Carlo simulation based on conservative assumptions indicated that the probability of per-farm benefits exceeding costs was greater than 70%. We recommend localised experiments to assess the impact of improved water quality on livestock weight gain in Australian conditions to confirm these expectations empirically.
format	article
author	Leo Dobes Mason Crane Tim Higgins Albert I J M Van Dijk David B Lindenmayer
author_facet	Leo Dobes Mason Crane Tim Higgins Albert I J M Van Dijk David B Lindenmayer
author_sort	Leo Dobes
title	Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.
title_short	Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.
title_full	Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.
title_fullStr	Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.
title_full_unstemmed	Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.
title_sort	increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: a cost-benefit analysis.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2f0670e27bf2432880e70a14c10761f9
work_keys_str_mv	AT leodobes increasedlivestockweightgainfromimprovedwaterqualityinfarmdamsacostbenefitanalysis AT masoncrane increasedlivestockweightgainfromimprovedwaterqualityinfarmdamsacostbenefitanalysis AT timhiggins increasedlivestockweightgainfromimprovedwaterqualityinfarmdamsacostbenefitanalysis AT albertijmvandijk increasedlivestockweightgainfromimprovedwaterqualityinfarmdamsacostbenefitanalysis AT davidblindenmayer increasedlivestockweightgainfromimprovedwaterqualityinfarmdamsacostbenefitanalysis
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Increased livestock weight gain from improved water quality in farm dams: A cost-benefit analysis.

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