Field Scale Soil Nutrient Change In a Beef Cattle Backgrounding Site on Karst Topography Following a Heavy Rain Fall Event.

Beef cattle back grounding functions as the intermediate tier between the cow-calf enterprises and the feedlot finishing. Cattle backgrounding receives weaned calves of different growth stages from cow-calf operations and assembles them ready for feed lots as feeder calves. Many beef cattle back grounding operations adopt either feedlot or combination of feedlot /grazing systems that keep steers/heifers confined to rather smaller land areas that create stocking situations similar to the confined animal feeding operations (CAFO). As such cattle backgrounding sites can contain contaminants like surplus soil nutrients, microbial pathogens, and veterinary pharmaceuticals that can impact the surrounding environments. Heavy rainfall events on these sites can cause  contaminant redistribution and off site movement. In this study we investigated a beef cattle backgrounding site on karst topography for field scale within site soil nutrient variability and changes occuring after a heavy rainfall event. The spatial data and temporal changes of  soil nutrient distribution will be presented.