Grommeck Acres

Near the end of Gladstone Hollow Road in Andes sits one of Delaware County's most picturesque farms, Grommeck Acres. As a recipient of the O'Connor Foundation's Farm Beautification grant two years ago, the Grommecks created a beautiful farmstead sign and flower bed of native Catskill bluestone but the beauty of the farm is more than skin deep. Walking around the house toward the barn, a major water quality protection project has been in the works by the Watershed Agricultural Program and Council staff, and is now complete.

This family owned and operated dairy farm includes about 866 acres, of which 415 are utilized as hay and pasture land. The Grommecks maintain a herd of approximately 100 mature Holstein dairy cows and around 90 head of young stock. The family manages their dairy herd in two groups of about 50 animals each.

One of the primary water quality concerns on this farm was the existing barnyard, which encompassed part of a small stream flowing adjacent to the barn. This stream drains about 310 acres of land capable of producing about 450 cubic feet per second of water flow during a 25 year/24 hour storm event. Exclusion of the animals from the stream and providing them a route to nearby pasture were two major issues addressed by this farm’s Whole Farm Plan. Two projects: a Barnyard Water Management System and a Stream Crossing were planned and implemented to tackle these water quality concerns.

The Barnyard Management System included a diversion ditch to divert clean surface runoff water around the barnyard area, a concrete barnyard with curbing, fencing and gates, and a barnyard runoff system to collect and direct the runoff to a grass filter area approximately 500 feet from the water course.

The Stream Crossing included a 60-inch diameter plastic pipe crossing with laid stone headwalls and a plunge pool lined with rip-rap at the outlet end. The inlet channel is lines with heavy stone rip-rap as well, to prevent any possible damage or erosion due to the high volume of water that flow through the site periodically. With the animals now completely excluded from the stream, bank erosion has been reduced significantly and potential pollution problems on this farm have truly been addressed.