Courtesy National Ground Water Association Check your well cap for cracks and problems with the seal to help eliminate bacteria and other contamination entering the ground water.

Nearly 45 out of every 100 Americans use well water in their homes for drinking. As part of Ground Water Awareness Week, March 7 to 14, 2010, the National Ground Water Association is encouraging farmers with wells to perform an annual maintenance check on their system to make sure the water is safe and clean.

A properly functioning well system is especially important for farmers who use the water for growing crops and feeding livestock on the farm.

“Irrigation accounts for the largest use of ground water in the United States,” says Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “Some 58 billion gallons of ground water are used daily for agricultural irrigation from more than 378,082 wells.”

A poorly maintained irrigation well system on the farm could lead to contamination in the aquifer, says Cliff Treyens, the public awareness director at NGWA. This contamination can come from nitrates, bacteria from animals and crop care chemicals.

Trey wrote in his brochure “Eight Tips for Maintaining Your Well,” that 80 percent of private well owners surveyed never had a well-maintenance inspection. The NGWA advises that inspections should be performed by a certified contractor who will check your well system’s water flow and level, pump motor performance, pressure tank and pressure switch contact and water quality.

The contractor should also check for sanitation and ensure that the well equipment meets all local code requirements. Tests can be performed on the water for problems that are local concerns, such as tests for coliform bacteria or nitrates, and for problems related to plumbing such as iron, manganese, water hardness and sulfides. Other tests might be recommended if water appears dirty or has an odor, if bacteria are detected, or if the system isn’t working properly

Performing these checks on an annual basis can save you financial expenses and safety concerns.

Following the inspection, the well owner will receive a report detailing the results of the tests and recommendations for well maintenance. The NGWA recommends well owners take the following steps between inspections to ensure safe and clean ground water:

• Maintain proper separation between your well and buildings, waste system and chemical storage areas. Speak with your contractor about local codes regulating these separations.
• Keep hazardous materials at least 50 feet from the well. These materials include paint, fertilizer, pesticides, motor oil and waste from livestock and other animals.
• Regularly check your well cap for cracks and make sure it’s properly sealed. “A damaged well cap can allow the entry of bacteria or other contamination into the well,” says John Pitz, an NGWA board member. “It’s one of the easiest things to check and a well owner can do it.”
• Keep well records in a safe place. These records include the construction report and your well inspection report.
• Get your well tested if you notice a change in the taste, odor or appearance of your water, or if the well system is serviced.

To have an inspection performed on your well, you can find a contractor in your area at Wellowner.org by clicking on “Finding a Contractor” then “Contractor Lookup.”

“NGWA operates the only national certification for water well drillers and pump installers, who must pass exams and take continuing education courses,” Trey says.

The listing will show whether the contractor is NGWA certified.

Photo courtesy John Deere In the spring, check the tire inflation on your tractors and other equipment to make your farm operation more efficient.

Proper tire maintenance on farm equipment and implements is important for improving efficiency. Now, at the cusp of spring, is the perfect time for farmers to look at maintaining or replacing tires.

“Flat tires can cause a lot of downtime, so it’s important to do plenty of walk-arounds to check for wear and cracking—both on tractors and implements,” says Dennis Buckmaster, a Purdue University agricultural engineer. “Properly maintaining tires improves equipment efficiency and can mean less labor, fuel and tire wear.”

To ensure higher efficiency with their equipment, farmers need to keep tires properly inflated, Buckmaster says. Properly inflating tires doesn’t necessarily mean adhering to the inflation pressure measurement on the tire wall.

“Proper inflation is a function of the load on the tire. There are manuals and tables available on the Internet to help farmers calculate the best possible inflation based on tractor weight, what’s being pulled and the speed traveled,” Buckmaster says. “They also can help determine the amount of weight to add or subtract from the tractor.”

If farmers closely inspect tires and find it’s time for tire replacements, Buckmaster says farmers should keep several factors in mind, including price, warranty, performance and dimensions.

“The most important thing is that tires be rated to carry the load,” he says. “That doesn’t mean farmers should necessarily replace the current tire with a new one of the same dimensions. Most equipment has several compatible tires, so the original dimensions may not be optimal for certain operations.”

Even the stock tires that come with new farm equipment may not be optimal for a particular farm operation. In that case, farmers often can trade the new tires for a set that will have better performance.

Buckmaster says determining the correct weight, size and inflation pressure of the tires can improve traction by 50 percent.

“Tractor power efficiency hovers around 60 to 80 percent, on average, but proper tire maintenance could improve efficiency by up to 10 percentage units,” he say. “That big of a shift in efficiencies translates into fuel savings, so doing it correctly does pay off.”

In addition to improved efficiencies, proper tire inflation can prevent premature tire failure.

“Underinflated tires run the risk of slipping off the rims or other failures,” Buckmaster says.

While overinflated tires also risk failure, they have a smaller footprint, or weight distribution. This leads to field compaction. A tire wall can say to inflate to 25 psi, but the tire may only need to be inflated to 14 or 15 psi, Buckmaster says.
He also stresses that the decades-old debate between radial or bias tires is no longer an issue.

“For vehicles primarily used for road travel as transport or utility vehicles, bias might be a suitable tire, but for any tractive functions radials are the way to go,” he says.

Through USDA-issued amendments to the National Organic Program, organic livestock producers will be required to allow their livestock to take in 30 percent dry matter from grazing pasture for at least 120 days during the grazing season.

After a five-year process, the USDA issued its final ruling on amendments to National Organic Program regulations, which clarify the use of pasture in raising organic ruminant and slaughter livestock.

The final rule provides certainty to consumers that organic livestock production is a pasture-based system in which animals are actively grazing pasture during the grazing season. The majority of organic dairy and ruminant livestock producers are already grazing animals and maintaining pastures that meet the requirements of this rule. These standards contain clear requirements that will provide greater assurance that all producers are being held to the same standards.

“Clear and enforceable standards are essential to the health and success of the market for organic agriculture,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

The USDA received a substantial number of comments on provisions of the rule affecting finish feeding practices of slaughter livestock and extended the comment period for this provision for 60 days. Finish feeding is commonly used by cattle raisers to improve the grade of beef and involves feeding livestock grain

“It is difficult to decouple standards for milking cows from standards for finish feeding,” Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said. “Since finish feeding gets swept up into this dairy rulemaking, we are taking an extra step and inviting public comment on the finish feeding requirements. We want to be certain that our actions pertaining to finish feeding are aligned with organic principles.”

This final rule is the culmination of a process that was initiated in 2005 when the National Organic Standards Board recommended that ruminant livestock obtain a minimum 30 percent dry matter intake for at least 120 days. The proposed rule, published on Oct. 28, 2008, received more than 26,000 comments from producers, retailers, handlers, certifying agents, consumers, trade associations, organic associations, animal welfare organizations, consumer groups, state and local government entities, and various industry groups.

The main components of the rule in organic livestock production say:

• Livestock must graze pasture during the grazing season, which must be at least 120 days per year.
• Livestock must obtain a minimum of 30 percent dry matter intake from grazing pasture during the grazing season.
• Organic producers must have a pasture-management plan and manage pasture as a crop to meet the feed requirements for the grazing livestock and to protect soil and water quality.
• Livestock are exempt from the 30-percent dry matter intake requirements during the finish feeding period, not to exceed 120 days. Livestock must have access to pasture during the finishing phase.

The final rule becomes effective on June 17, 2010. Operations that are already certified organic will have one year to implement the provisions. Operations that obtain organic certification after the effective date will be expected to demonstrate full compliance.

Although this is a final rule, comments on the exceptions for finish feeding of ruminant slaughter stock may be submitted before April 19, 2010. This comment period pertains to the finish-feeding provisions only. The specific questions to consider and instructions for submitting comments are available through the National Organic Program.

The NOP also has copies of the final rule and additional information available.