The chemistry of your farm, ranch or other land, begins with the chemistry of the bedrock. Along with environmental impacts, the chemistry of the bedrock migrates into your soils and water and then into your grasses and forage. From rare earth elements and plant nutrients to arsenic and organics, know what you have, or what you are buying.
Geochemical Testing
Bedrock Testing – Good Parent Bedrocks make for good soils which make for good: grass, cattle, orchards, vineyards, wheat, soybeans, corn, yards, foundations. Whatever you are going to do, starts with the parent bedrock. You will never have a good soil if you don’t start with good rocks.
Soils Testing – What is the texture? Sand, clay? Do they shrink and swell, how is their Cation Exchange Capacity? Are the clays young vermiculites or old kaolinites or some combination? Is the coarse texture nonreactive silica or clay behaving micas? Do you need fertilizer, are you sure, if so what and how much?
Water Testing – Sulfates are highly mobile in water, you need it in the soil for Sulphur but if it gets leached out and you get too much in the water then your cattle are sick, always wrestling with sulfates. I have devised some treatments for high sulfates in water but first you need to find out what is in the water. Are you going to drill for water, how deep do you expect to drill, where do you expect to drill?
Grass and Forage Testing – What is the protein content of your grass? Is there plenty of sulfur in the bedrocks but missing in the topsoil, where did it go? Has it leached into the water? Can your roots reach it? Is the calcium way too high, maybe that is really causing some infiltration issues?
I ran into an issue of high calcium in an alfalfa field that was inhibiting alfalfa growth. Irrigation water was high in sulfates, soil was high in calcium. Calcium + Sulfates is gypsum or sheetrock. Alfalfa doesn’t like growing in sheetrock!
I had a client that had been told how bad the water was, they were constantly treating for water problems but the goats were getting worse. I had them collect a water sample and tested it, turns out the water wasn’t bad, they quit treating for the mythological problems and the goats got better.
Polioencephalomalacia (PEM) or cerebrocortical necrosis or sulphur toxicity begins with high sulfates in drinking water. Common practice is to treat the cattle, but what can you do for the water before the livestock drink it? There are certainly some things you can do that will help.
Are you farming, ranching, have water problems, drilling a well, buying passing on to next generation? Do you have oil and gas issues, Rare Earth Element questions? Understanding the problem is generally the key to a simple and inexpensive solution.
If you need assistance, please call the office, 325-277-0224.
Water Well Completion and Pump Design Bidding
Need help with pump designs, planning or bidding? I work with State Licenses Water Well installers
Experience and Background
Over 50 years on a farm and ranch, early years with irrigation, water well exploration with gravity, soil and livestock judging. Geology, Chemistry, Plant and Soil Science, Livestock Production and Economics educational background. Post college discovered two new oil fields, designed mostly sustainable cattle rotation plan based on co-evolution of bison and grasses, used and proven for 20+ years. Last round bale of hay put in pasture was 1990's. Continuous herd of cattle since 1980's. Oil and Gas over 2000 wells drilled or serviced, mostly 2000 to 7000 feet vertical some horizontal. Services included exploration and exploration services (organic and mineralogical) to well design including planning surface, intermediate and production string casing and included all cementing plans then followed by perforating and completion. Completion included working with Electric Submersible Pump installers for 6000 foot wells to design and implementation of more efficient PC pumps for 2000 foot wells. Primary geological work from Ft Worth west to Rio Grande west of Valentine. Proficient in open hole and cased hole logging. CE including Texas Renewable Energy Land Laws, Texas Water Laws and Regulations, Floodplain Modeling, Geological Overview of Austin Chalk, Artificial fluid lift of wells, Horizontal well completions, Evaluation of Unconventional Reservoirs, Enhanced Oil recovery, Naturally Fractured Reservoirs, Geodetic Surveys.
Testing for These Water Constituents:
Cesium, Gold, Iridium, Mercury, Neodymium Niobium, Osmium, Palladium, Platinum, Praseodymium, Rhenium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, Tungsten, Uranium, Bromide, Chloride, Fluoride Nitrate/Nitrite-N, Orthophosphate, Sulfate, Aluminum, Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Boron, Cadmium, Calcium, Chromium, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Lead, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Phosphorus, Potassium, Selenium, Silica, Silicon, Silver, Sodium, Strontium, Thallium, Tin, Titanium, Vanadium, Zinc, Alachlor, Aldrin, Atrazine, Benzo(a)pyrene-(PAH), Butachlor, Chlordane, Di(2-ethylhexyl)adipate, Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, Dieldrin, Endrin, Heptachlor, Heptachlor Epoxide Hexachlorobenzene, Hexachlorocyclopentadiene, Lindane, Methoxychlor, Metolachlor, Metribuzin, Propachlor, Simazine, Aggressive Index, Alkalinity as CaCO3, Bicarbonate, Carbonate, Conductivity, Hardness as CaCO3,Langelier Index, pH, Ryznar Index, Tannin-Lignin, TDS, Turbidity, Bromodichloromethane, Bromoform, Chlorodibromomethane, Chloroform, Total THM, 1,1,1,2-Tetrachloroethane, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane, 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, 1,1-Dichloroethane, 1,1-Dichloroethylene, 1,1-Dichloropropene, 1,2,3,4-Diepoxybutane, 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene, 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene, 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropan, 1,2-Dibromoethane (EDB), 1,2-Dichloroethane, 1,2-Dichloropropane, 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene, 1,3-Dichloro-2-propanol, 1,3-Dichlorobenzene, 1,3-Dichloropropane, 1,4-Dioxane, 1-Chlorobutane, 1-Chlorohexane, 1-Propanol ,2,2- Dichloropropane, 2-Butanone (MEK), 2-Chloroethanol, 2-Chloroethyl vinyl ether, 2 Chlorotoluene, 2-Hexanone, 2-Hydroxypropionitrile, 2-methyl-Napthalene, 2-Nitropropane, 2-Pentanone, 2-Picoline, 2-Propanol, 3-Chloropropionitrile, 4-Chlorotoluene, 4-Methyl-2-pentanone (MIBK, Acetone, Acetonitrile, Acrolein (Propenal), Acrylonitrile, Allyl alcohol, Allyl chloride, Benzene, Benzyl Chloride, Bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide, Bromoacetone, Bromobenzene, Bromochloromethane, Bromomethane, Butyl Acetate, Carbon disulfide, Carbon tetrachloride, Chloral hydrate, Chloroacetonitrile, Chlorobenzene, Chloroethane, Chloromethane, Chloroprene Cis-1,2-Dichloroethene, cis-1,3-Dichloropropene, Crotonaldehyde, Dibromomethane, Dichlorodifluoromethane, Dichloromethane (Methylene, Diethyl ether, Epichlorohydrin, Ethanol, Ethyl acetate, Ethyl methacrylate, Ethylbenzene, Ethylene oxide, Hexachlorobutadiene, Hexachloroethane, Iodomethane, Isobutyl alcohol, Isopropyl Acetate, Isopropylbenzene, m,p-Xylene, Malononitrile, Methacrylonitrile, Methanol, Methyl Acetate, Methyl acrylate, Methyl methacrylate, Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTB, n-Amyl acetate, Naphthalene, n-Butanol, n-Butylbenzene, Nitrobenzene, N-Nitroso-di-n-butylamine, n-Propylamine, n-Propylbenzene, o-Dichlorobenzene (1,2-Dichl, o-Toluidine, o-Xylene, Paraldehyde, p-Dichlorobenzene (1,4-Dichl, Pentachloroethane, Pentafluorobenzene, p-Isopropyltoluene, Propargyl alcohol, Propionitrile (ethyl cyanide), Propyl Acetate, Pyridine, Sec-Butylbenzene, ß-Propiolactone, Styrene, t-Butyl alcohol, tert-Amyl methyl ether, Tert-Butylbenzene, Tetrachloroethene, Toluene, Total Xylenes, trans-1,2-Dichloroethene, trans-1,3-Dichloropropene, Trans-1,4-Dichloro-2-butene, Trichloroethene, Trichlorofluoromethane, Vinyl acetate, Vinyl chloride. Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), Perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA). Perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA), Perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), Perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), Perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), Perfluorotetradecanoic acid (PFTeDA), Perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA), Perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnA)