SOILS-L: 199702XX
is the compilation of discussion during Feb 97
via AB4EL Web Digests @ SunSITE
>From LISTSERV@crcvms.unl.edu Thu Feb 13 15:14:53 1997
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 00:00:38 -0600
Subject: SOILS-L Digest - 11 Feb 1997 to 12 Feb 1997
There is one message totalling 24 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Arc View
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 10:21:31 -0800
From: Tom Thomson <tomt@TELEPORT.COM>
Subject: Re: Arc View
At 09:10 PM 2/11/97 +1100, you wrote:
>.....cover all area's being, soils, weather, nutrition, pest/disease and
variety.
>I will be using Arc View V1, and hope to put an Access DB behind it.
Did you mean to say ArcView Versions 1??? They have a version 3 out now
which is far superior and easier to use. You might save yourself some
headaches by trying to obtain a copy of it or even AV V.2!!
Tom Thomson Northwest Agricultural Consulting
Dallas, Oregon 97338 Phone/FAX 503-623-0468
"The only difference between a problem and a solution is that
everyone understands the solution." Charles Kettering
End of SOILS-L Digest - 11 Feb 1997 to 12 Feb 1997
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>From LISTSERV@crcvms.unl.edu Tue Feb 25 10:26:24 1997
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 00:01:07 -0600
Subject: SOILS-L Digest - 12 Feb 1997 to 24 Feb 1997
There is one message totalling 39 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. precision farming of forages
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 17:28:27 -0600
From: Michael Russelle <russelle@SOILS.UMN.EDU>
Subject: precision farming of forages
(My apologies for any cross listings.)
I will be speaking at the International Grasslands Congress this summer, and
would like to know: How widespread (pardon the pun) is the use of precision
farming on fields of perennial forages?
Precision farming (also known by other terms) often includes analyzing many
soil samples taken in a grid pattern or from areas of the field one expects
might have different nutrient supply, and then fertilizing the field
accordingly (adjusting fertilizer rate across the field, based on soil test
level and perhaps other information, such as organic matter level).
Please let me know of farmers, consultants, fertilizer dealers, etc., who
are doing this for perennial forages. Which nutrients (N, P, K, etc.,
including pH) are being evaluated by this approach, and in which forages
(alfalfa, clovers, bromegrass, bermudagrass, etc.) are is precision farming
being used?
Thank you.
Michael Russelle
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Michael P. Russelle voice: 612-625-8145
USDA-Agricultural Research Service fax: 612-649-5058
439 Borlaug Hall e-mail: russelle@soils.umn.edu
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108-6028
USA
End of SOILS-L Digest - 12 Feb 1997 to 24 Feb 1997
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>From LISTSERV@crcvms.unl.edu Wed Feb 26 01:03:54 1997
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 00:02:25 -0600
Subject: SOILS-L Digest - 24 Feb 1997 to 25 Feb 1997
There are 2 messages totalling 30 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. precision farming of forages -Reply
2. Nature's Glue for Soils
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 12:46:25 -0500
From: Alan Moulin <Moulin@EM.AGR.CA>
Subject: precision farming of forages -Reply
To my knowledge precision farming of forages is not practiced in the
Canadian Prairies. You may wish to contact S.S. Malhi
(malhis@em.agr.ca) at the Lacombe Research Station, he has done
considerable research on pasture fertilization.
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 16:42:24 -0800
From: Soil Tech <soiltech@LISCO.COM>
Subject: Nature's Glue for Soils
Hi,
My name is Jim Schaefer and I have worked as a researcher and
technologist with biopolymers to aggregate soils and get rid of
compaction. I have accumulated lots of data. If anyone is interested,
I would be happy to share my information with you. Let me know by
e-mail. Thank you.
Jim Schaefer
End of SOILS-L Digest - 24 Feb 1997 to 25 Feb 1997
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>From LISTSERV@crcvms.unl.edu Thu Feb 27 01:03:13 1997
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 00:01:43 -0600
Subject: SOILS-L Digest - 25 Feb 1997 to 26 Feb 1997
There is one message totalling 35 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 14:13:48 -0500
From: "Dr.Morteza Mozaffari" <mmoz@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Subject: Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P
Dear Soil Scientists:
Hello, my name is Morteza Mozaffari. I am a post doc at Southwest Florida
Research and Education Center a unit of University of Florida. We are
beginning a new experiment designed to evaluate the effect of cattle
stocking rates on water quality, soil, animal performance, forae growth and
quality and wildlife bio-diversity.
The effect of cattle stocking rate on soil P (soil test P and P sorption
capacity) are two of the parameters that we are measuring. There are four
cattle stocking rates and the experiment is replicated twice. Each plot is
50 acres. I have two questions for the group and I will appreciate if any
body can share his/her ideas and experiences with me.
1. Does any body know of other experiemnts that have evaluated the effect of
stocking rates on soil nutrients?
2. (My Burning Question): Given the variability of these fields due to (1)
natural soil variability, and (2) variability of manure deposition by
grazing animals, what sampling strategy should we follow?
Thanks.
Morteza Mozaffari
End of SOILS-L Digest - 25 Feb 1997 to 26 Feb 1997
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>From LISTSERV@crcvms.unl.edu Fri Feb 28 13:57:39 1997
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 05:03:22 -0600
Subject: SOILS-L Digest - 26 Feb 1997 to 27 Feb 1997
There are 7 messages totalling 259 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Effect of cattle stocking rate on soil P (2)
2. Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P (3)
3. Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P -Reply
4. specific storage/yield
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 08:48:08 -0500
From: "Dr.Morteza Mozaffari" <mmoz@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Subject: Effect of cattle stocking rate on soil P
Dear Soil Scientists:
As a part of a multiagency agro-ecology project we are planning a new
experiment to evaluate the effect of cattle stocking rates on water
quality, soil quality, animal performance, and forae growth.
The soil component of this experiment is evaluating the effect of cattle
stocking rate on soil test P (Mehlich 1 extractable P) and P sorption
capacity. There are four cattle stocking rates and the experiment is
replicated twice. Each plot is 50 acres. I have two questions for the
group: and I will appreciate if any body can share his/her ideas and
experiences with me.
1. Does any body know of other experiemnts that have evaluated the effect
of cattle or sheep stocking rates on soil nutrients?
2. (My Burning Question!): Given the variability of these fields due to
(1) natural soil variability, and (2) variability of manure deposition
by grazing animals, what sampling strategy should we follow?
I appreciate if any body can share his/her ideas and experiences with me.
Please excuse cross posting.
Thank You
M. Mozaffari
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 08:19:04 -0600
From: John Sloan <jsloan@SOILS.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P
At 02:13 PM 2/26/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>2. (My Burning Question): Given the variability of these fields due to (1)
>natural soil variability, and (2) variability of manure deposition by
>grazing animals, what sampling strategy should we follow?
>
This is just a thought, but could you sample soil in and around the area
where the manure was deposited and then extrapolate that to a unit area
basis? It seems like there should be some information on how much manure a
single animal deposits per day and you can probably estimate fairly
accurately how much soil each 'manure deposit' influences. If you start
with a previously unstocked pasture, you could probably keep a fairly
accurate account of how much P is deposited and how much soil is directly
influenced. Of course, this method would be complicated by lateral movement
of manure with surface runoff.
====================================================================
John Sloan Tel: (612) 625-4749
USDA-ARS Fax: (612) 625-2208
Department of Soil, Water, and Climate e-mail: jsloan@soils.umn.edu
439 Borlaug Hall, Univ. of Minnesota sloanjj@aol.com
1991 Upper Buford Circle
St. Paul MN 55108
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 09:34:34 -0600
From: Paul Reynolds <PREYNOLD@TNRCC.STATE.TX.US>
Subject: Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P -Reply
Texas A&M has done considerable research and developed numerous
models that deal with animal concentrations across an area of diferent
grazing intensities. Unfortunately, I do not know who to contact to get
this information.
I agree with Johns thoughts pertaining to sampling in and around the
immediate environment of the pats. In this way, you can quantify what
the contribution of each pat may be. By sampling the soils across the
whole pasture, I feel there will be unaccounted error and will dilute the
true values of contribution.
Also, have you given any thought to zoning or setting up a grid to
account for loafing, feeding and drinking areas?? It has been my
experience that the loafing areas will be in close proximity to where the
water is. Therefore, there will be higher concentrations of manure in
these areas.
These are just some thoughts. I was involved with some pasture
utilization studies in the brush infested plains of south Texas. Water
location was very pertinent in the reaction of the animals to pasture
usage.
Thanks.
Paul Reynolds (MC-147), Agronomist
GroundWater Assessment Section, Water Planning and Assessment
Division
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
P.O. Box 13087, Austin TX 78711-3087
ph 512/239-4508, fx 512/239-4450
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 11:02:23 -0600
From: c550587@SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU
Subject: Re: Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P
Greetings,
I agree with Paul Reynolds concerns pertaining to Morteza Mozaffari's
project. Sampling should take place as close to the source of input as
possible. However, in addition to soil samples, it would not be terribly
difficult to obtain water samples from runoff of the watersheds in
question. This would provide good comparison data with the soil samples.
For my graduate work, we are using programmable streamflow samplers (ISCO
samplers). The study sites are small agricultural first-order
watersheds. The samplers are being installed on ephemeral streams near
the outlets of the watersheds. After the initial installation, the
samplers are fairly easy to maintain and have the capacity to obtain 24 to
28 samples.
To be thorough, the ground water of the study site should be
characterized also. This, however, seems to be a bit more costly. In my
study, we will also collect water samples using wells and ceramic cup
tension lysimeters.
Morteza, please feel free to drop me a line if you would like more
information on the ISCO samplers.
Sincerely,
Stephen Schmitt
University of Missouri-Columbia
phone: (573) 882-6853
e-mail: c550587@showme.missouri.edu
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 08:31:37 -0900
From: Edwin B Kroeger <ffebk1@AURORA.ALASKA.EDU>
Subject: specific storage/yield
Soils Professionals:
There was a message on the groundwater mailing list that I think someone
here will be able to help with. Thanks.
Edwin B. Kroeger, P.E.
Instructor of Geological Engineering
University of Alaska Fairbanks
On Wed, 26 Feb 1997, Mark Wilsnack wrote:
> Dear Collegues:
>
> We are in the process of incorporating a new Wetlands Module for MODFLOW
into
> our MODFLOW model of northern Dade County, Florida. This requires that
we have
> estimates of Sy for organic soils such as muck and peat in order to
model
> scenarios where the surface water layer dries up. In addition, we need
estimates
> of specific storage to handle cases where the muck layer remains
inundated and
> is treated as a separate layer in the model. We haven't had much luck so
far in
> finding any values in the literature. In particular, I'm not at all
optimistic
> about finding any values for specific storage.
>
> Does anyone know where such data may be found?
>
> Thanking you all in advance,
>
> Mark Wilsnack <mwilsnac@sfwmd.gov>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 11:18:00 -0800
From: Tom Armstrong <toma@CRL.COM>
Subject: Re: Effect of Cattle Stocking Rates on Soil P
On Thu, 27 Feb 1997, John Sloan wrote:
> This is just a thought, but could you sample soil in and around the area
> where the manure was deposited and then extrapolate that to a unit area
> basis? It seems like there should be some information on how much manure a
> single animal deposits per day and you can probably estimate fairly
> accurately how much soil each 'manure deposit' influences. If you start
> with a previously unstocked pasture, you could probably keep a fairly
> accurate account of how much P is deposited and how much soil is directly
> influenced. Of course, this method would be complicated by lateral movement
> of manure with surface runoff.
It is my observation that where there is ample dry residue left on the
surface where the manure is depositted. A fertile green hue can be seen.
I would think that a soil test from these areas would reflect this. When
stocking rates are high, there is no dry material, I think a lot of
nutrients are lost to run off under these conditions.
Tom Armstrong toma@crl.com Sequera Ranch s.1892 San Gregorio, CA
Barnyard Technology--- Ideas for tomorrow -> from yesterday's scrap.
4th -> 5th gen. on family farm. Can Ag Sustain?
A ghost town fights its way back.. http://www.crl.com/~toma/
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 10:20:37 +1030
From: Amir Fotovat <afotovat@WAITE.ADELAIDE.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Effect of cattle stocking rate on soil P
Haynes R J and Williams P H have extensively worked on sheep and
cattle patch areas of pasture in Australia and New Zealand. Although
the following articles are mainly on N, I guess they might be
useful particularly to give some ideas regarding your sampling method.
Haynes R J and Williams P H 1992 J Soil Sci 43:323-334.
Haynes R J and Williams P H 1993 Adv Agron 49:119-199.
Williams P H and Haynes R J 1992 Plant & Soil 145:167-175.
Williams P H and Haynes R J 1993 J Agric Sci Camb\ 121:83-89.
Williams P H and Haynes R J 1994 Plant & Soil 162: 49-59.
Regards.
Amir Fotovat
***************************************************
* Amir Fotovat *
* Soil Science Dept. *
* The University of Adelaide *
* Waite Campus *
* Adelaide SA 5064, AUSTRALIA *
* e-mail: afotovat@waite.adelaide.edu.au *
* Tel: +61 8 83036519 *
* Fax: +61 8 83036511 *
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End of SOILS-L Digest - 26 Feb 1997 to 27 Feb 1997
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Prepared by Steve Modena, AB4EL
Suggestions and comments to: modena@SunSITE.unc.edu