Feedlots and cow/calf operations in the beef industry who feed 500 or more has annually on grains and concentrates; maintain 500 or more beef cows; backgrounder, stocker/grower, preconditioner; veterinarian, nutritionist, consultant
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The original Whole Pond Seep- age Test (WPT) was developed at Kansas State University nearly 20 years ago and was a real step for- ward in rapid, accurate lagoon seepage testing. It's advantages in- clude rapid results that represent the liner underlying the entire wa- ter surface of the pond. Prior meth- ods typically involved intrusive and often difficult sampling at spot lo- cations that might represent only one millionth of the pond bottom. The WPT has thus become the Gold Standard for seepage testing and it is increasingly being required by regulators. Historically, the test often cost $3,000 or more depend- ing on the following parameters: • The test requires the use of sensitive (expensive) electronic sensors, data collection, and com- munications equipment. • The hydrostatic depth sensors must be regularly calibrated for accuracy. • The equipment must be setup and retrieved by trained techni- cians whose travel time and costs can be quite significant. • Only data recorded under spe- cific limits in water and air temper- atures and low wind speeds is us- able in statistically valid seepage calculations. The system, there- fore, may have to be deployed for extended periods of time if weath- er conditions are outside of the ac- cepted limits. • Any equipment malfunction will require traveling to the site for evaluation and often retrieval, re- pair, and redeployment. • Cellular and internet services are required for remote monitoring and data download. • Qualified engineers or techni- cians are required to screen the data, calculate the resulting seep- age rate, and write a seepage report to regulatory agency standards. There is good news however! The WPT system has been routine- ly improved by the same people that collaborated with KSU in de- veloping the original research sys- tem. Advances in electronics accu- racy and dependability now allow much higher accuracy, in less time, with more rugged dependability and fewer operational challenges. Additionally, the use of remote communications allows potential of simultaneously testing several ponds co-located at one feedlot with no more travel time and ex- pense than required to test one pond. These recent investments in system improvement with geo- graphically distributed staffing have allowed us to reduce WPT cost by 30% to 60%. FL 26 FEED•LOT November 2015 Why Do Whole Pond Seepage Tests Cost So Much? MANAGEMENT The sensor station in a lagoon helps collect data and is an expenses component of the testing process.