Evaluation, Design, and Cost Analysis of a 256 Acre Almond Orchard

This project discusses the evaluation, design, and cost analysis of a 256 acre almond orchard. This is a high flow low head system, and the application method is referred to as dual line drip. The system will be designed to be able to meet weekly water requirements within a tight time constraint, and it is important that it can do so efficiently while providing good uniformity. A dual line drip system was designed for this almond orchard using the correct engineering standards and integrated field and farmer constraints. The system design was based on a peak evapotranspiration rate of 7.69 inches per month. The weekly operating hours for the entire parcel would be 96 hours, 4 days a week for 24 hours. The design DU was 0.93, and the final DU of the manifold came out to be 0.96. The system operates with an application rate of 0.087 inches/hour. The total fixed cost to install the entire system will be $363,024 or$1,418 per acre, not including pump and labor

Development and Evaluation of a Bait Station for Selectively Dispensing Bait to Invasive Wild Pigs

Populations of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa; hereafter, wild pigs) are expanding, requiring cost effective tools for control, and disease prevention, such as toxic or vaccine baits. Specifically, development of a novel and humane toxicant is underway for control of wild pigs in the United States and Australia. A species specific bait station for delivering the toxic bait must be used to protect nontarget animals. Further, a bait station must be designed to maximize feeding by wild pigs by accommodating their group-feeding behaviors.We sought to develop a bait station that delivered bait to the maximum proportion of wild pigs and excluded the most ubiquitous nontarget species, specifically white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and raccoons (Procyon lotor). We used direct observations and cameras during 2015 to evaluate wild pig feeding behavior and nontarget access for various sizes, arrangements, and construction materials of prototype bait stations in pen and field settings in Texas, USA. We found that a bait station constructed of 2 back-to-back troughs, 1.1m in length, without a divider was sufficient for feeding the largest proportion of wild pigs in pens.Using this design of bait station at 30 field sites, we found that wild pigs fed more frequently from plastic than metal bait stations, although both bait stations reduced feeding by wild pigs compared with control sites. From near-video imagery at 3 field sites, we identified that 80% of wild pigs (33 of 41), 0% of white-tailed deer (0 of 7), and 17% of raccoons (1 of 6) accessed the bait stations on the final night of testing following a 2-week acclimation and training period. Future steps toward development of a wild pig-specific bait station include adding resistance to the lids of bait stations to completely exclude raccoons and identify baiting strategies that most efficiently acclimate wild pigs to using bait stations