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dairy

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cvg

Civil/Environmental
Dec 16, 1999
6,868
Anybody care to share an opinion of what they believe the impervious area should be for a dairy/feedlot operation?
 
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Ummmmm, whatever you want it to be. What specifically are you trying to accomplish?
 
Vary by site -- there would be a great difference between a free stall and open lot dairy. I don't think it would be appropriate to pick a number out of the sky.
 
Pee permeates everything. The answer is zero.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
 
Roofs, pavement, sidewalks, etc. are impervious. if you're trying to come up with a Curve Number for the drainage area, you calculate a Weighted Curve Number based on the Impervious areas (typically CN 98) and the Hydrologic Soil Group (A B C or D) of the soils, along with the ground cover type (bare ground, grass, woods, etc) and condition (poor, fair, good, etc.)

See instructions for TR-55 or TR-20 for calculating Weighted Curve Number.
 
A CAFO should be analyzed very carefully. If it is covered that is one consideration, but open feed lots are not that pervious in terms of runoff. Highly compacted soils will be everywhere and with already high saturation rates it can be very deceptive. I would treat the whole area like a very impremeable surface and be as detailed as possible. Most CAFOs have a lot of wash off, drain off systems in place so make sure you undersand how and where those are going.
 
The NRCS has an excellent set of resources for dairies and other Animal Feeding Operations. Just go to the NRCS web and search CAFO or AFO...
 
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