Family farm operation run by my father, uncle, cousin, and myself. We typically grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and oats on ~2,500 acres. We also run about 35 head of cows with calves between my father and I.

Design containment of runoff from feedlots and management of nutrients.

Design agricultural practices on private lands.

Provide leadership for educational programs to improve the productivity and sustainability of agricultural production while protecting water quality and quantity.

Design ag. waste systems for small ranching facilities and large scale Hutterite colonies including stormwater management, manure transfer pipelines, lagoon covers, separators, and shelter walls. Design streambank protection projects including toe rock, full bank riprap, barbs, and bioengineering methods. Design for various irrigation systems including land leveling, gated pipe, wheel lines, and pivots. Work directly under area engineer to assist the Great Falls Field Office with EQIP planning and construction inspections, provide guidance for field office employees in GIS and CAD as well as several spreadsheet design tools. Assist the field office staff with stockwater pipelines, animal trails and walkways, and micro-irrigation designs. Complete spot checks for engineers and technicians to provide quality control for work within the north central area of MT.

Maintained weather stations across the state for the Automatic Weather Data Network (AWDN). Preformed set-up and troubleshooting for weather instruments with CR1000 or CR10X dataloggers, RF400 series radios and Raven XT cellular modems. Created weekly precipitation maps for SD using ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst.

Conducted research on the performance of “vegetative treatment systems” (VTS) for water treatment from beef feedlots across South Dakota. Measured for and analyzed water and nutrient balances within a VTS. Assisted in side research of lake seepage, soil moisture for biomass production, and landscape irrigation scheduling. Taught a weather and climatology lab.

Collected soil moisture and weather data and programmed ET based irrigation schedules for center pivot irrigation systems. Troubleshot automated gates for canals in the Belle Fourche Irrigation District. Dealt with problems that were mainly with instrumentation of water levels, programming controls with Campbell Scientific data loggers, and communication via radio.

Developed an electronic filing system for equipment within the soybean plant. Included locating all equipment and organizing it’s specifications into files that are easily navigated. Used AutoCAD to design a process and identification diagram of steam lines in the oil refinery.