Snowmaking network keeps Alpine cattle supplied during dry summer

Water pipes used to supply snow cannons at the Silvretta Nova ski area in winter are providing drinking water for cattle at the Alpe Nova alpine pasture, ORF reported. The system has supplied the pasture’s livestock troughs since the 1980s and has become particularly important during this exceptionally dry summer.

Located above Gaschurn and St. Gallenkirch, Alpe Nova is home during the summer to about 70 dairy cows and 200 young cattle. Around 25 mobile livestock troughs are connected to the snowmaking network.

The pasture covers almost 350 hectares, about 80 percent of which is supplied with water through the network, according to pasture manager Markus Salzgeber. Without the pipes, the cattle could not be brought to the pasture, he said.

Water from several sources is collected in storage reservoirs and then pumped into the network used for snowmaking in winter. In summer, the livestock troughs are connected to it. Each trough has a float valve that allows water to flow in only after animals have drunk from it.

Silvretta Montafon operations manager Günther Tschofen said the summer use did not create a problem for winter snowmaking because the animals’ consumption was small by comparison. A dairy cow needs up to 100 litres of water a day in the current temperatures, while a snow cannon operating at full capacity can use up to 30,000 litres an hour.

Silvretta Montafon provides the water to Alpe Nova free of charge. The cooperation between the pasture and the mountain railway company is close, and Alpe Nova is the largest landowner in the ski area.

The dry conditions have highlighted the importance of the system. Alpe Nova’s own spring is currently producing only about two litres of water per second, compared with almost four times that amount normally at this time of year. Long-serving herdsman Andreas Wieser said the hot summer of 2003 had also been dry, but not as extreme as this year. The water is now insufficient even to clean the area in front of the pasture.

If dry summers become more frequent, the snowmaking network could be used more extensively for agriculture. Less grass has grown back because of the drought, and the pasture is considering irrigating individual grazing areas through the existing pipes. No decision has been made, and any such use would have to be coordinated with Silvretta Montafon. For this summer, the priority is ensuring that the cattle have enough food until the planned descent from the alpine pasture on September 5.