If any of you have attempted to log on the PALS system for retrieving your waste or soil reports, you may have found it difficult to access or even find your reports. If you do manage to find them, your older reports may be missing information such as N Values for Waste Analysis. With hog farm inspections in full swing, not having your report handy or having that “N” value can pose quite a hassle. Don’t worry though, you are not the only one having trouble.

On July 2 of this year, NCDA& CS went live with it’s new agronomic website, which is supposed to make finding and printing reports much simpler. As with most technologies there are glitches not found until the system is operational. The Agronomists with NCDA are working hard to fix the problems. It is expected that all N values will be restored within the next week now that the problem is known. Until then if you need help accessing your report, please contact the Extension office for assistance.

With the new system also came a set of new codes for waste analysis— effective July 1. If you are submitting a waste sample — especially a swine lagoon sample — you need to pay attention to the new codes.

If you are submitting a swine lagoon sample for a farrow to wean operation, you now have your own code (ALF). All other swine operations will continue to use the old code (ALS). As of right now, there is no code for an aerobic lagoon; but, this is a mistake and is supposed to be re-added to the list of codes. Those that bring samples to the Cooperative Extension Office, we will make sure you get the right codes before your sample is sent off.

If anyone has any questions about the codes or any other changes to the system, you can contact the Extension Office for assistance. The next waste sample collection date is Aug. 4, 2012 at the Livestock Facility.