Researchers investigate 'whole farm' approach to reduce dairy...( osphorus the part that crops don't use...)

In light of these facts, the city of Waco, which gets most of its drinking water from the Bosque River, filed suit against 14 Central Texas dairies in April 2004, Lambert said.

In Central Texas, phosphorus pollution has been a controversial issue, for dairies are not the only source of phosphorus run-off, Lambert said.

Natural decay of any organic material or other agricultural activities can also contribute to phosphorus run-off. It's an accepted fact that home lawn and garden fertilizers, which are typically over-applied, are also a significant source of phosphorus run-off, he said.

Muddying the waters further, many of the federal and state environmental regulations are based on soils, climate and forage cropping systems that have little in common with those in Central Texas, said Dr. James Pierre Muir, Experiment Station forage research physiologist.

"If you add assumption on top of supposition, you wind up with legislation and litigation based on very little data," said Muir, who is also a member of the research project.

And Central Texas dairies are caught in between the legislation and suits, he said.

Muir, Lambert and the rest of the research project team believe the answer lies in the way small changes in dairy farm management can result in wholesale reduction of phosphorus run-off.

Over the next three years, t
'"/>