Vegetative treatment systems tested: New answer for feedlot runoff

BY BILL HORD WORLD-HERALD BUREAU LINCOLN - Lush grass fields are replacing wastewater-filled holding ponds as a means of managing rainwater runoff from small cattle feeding pens in Nebraska. The same systems could someday be approved for larger feedlots. Researchers in Nebraska and Iowa are testing what are called "vegetative treatment systems" on cattle feedlots larger than 1,000 head, following success at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with new systems on smaller feedlots. If pilot projects indicate the systems are effective against pollution, the alternative pollution-control methods could save cattlemen thousands of dollars in construction costs and hundreds of hours in waste...