What’s this mean-Tips to Get Started

Mike Sporcic

Booting the Porgram

• Booting (double clicking the short cut) the program takes a little time.

• If it doe not boot the first time close it and start it again.

Booting cont.

•You should see a splash screen that indicates the program has started

Delay in Refresh

• There are times when you may have the program running and you click on your email or some other program for a while, when you go back to WEPS running in the background, it may take 10 seconds or so to refresh the screens.

• This is normal and is related to the MS operating system memory sharing.

Deleting File Delay• Deleting Run Files inside WEPS take a few

moments. (WEPS allows you to delete more that one file at a time).

• In this case I have 5 runs to delete.

• If you highlight and Click delete, it will take WEPS time before another button will work.

• In this case 20 sec.

Read the Screens

• Don’t assume you know what the model is doing.• Don’t panic, most things are fixable• In this case I needed to reconvert or edit this management file because an error was saved in the first conversion of Skel files.

Errors Lead to Error Reports (sometimes)

• When you started WEPS for the first time you were asked for your name and email.

• When an error is encountered WEPS will try to send message to the WEPS ARS team in Manhattan, KS.

•Try to describe what you were doing when the error message occurred. Then press the send button.

Loading Converted RUSLE Mgt Files

• Sometimes when loading a templated converted mgt. file, you will get an error message.

• Some RUSLE files, especially perennials, were build in RUSLE as partial rotations.

• In this case I used the Arrow Button on the main interface to load this mgt.

• It failed to load.

Loading Converted RUSLE Mgt Files, cont

•If you open the management editor (pull down arrow), and import that same mgt file, the editor will read it.•This is a 2yr partial run stored as a 1yr complete run in the a. management directory. The Years in Rot. states 1, but the file has year 1 and 2 listed.•The file name also had 10yrs listed in its name.

Loading Converted RUSLE Mgt Files, cont

Additional operations are required to complete the partial rotation.

Converting RUSLE Files

Fixed SKEL file

Is there a Date Issue?

What you get

The fall chisel plow is out of place.

It should be at the end of the rotation and all of the dates moved back to show only 4 year Tt.

Number of years problem

Fixed FChisel date and Harvests operations

Ratoon and Nurse Crops (RUSLE file shown)

This is an irrigated Alfafla/Oat,hay(3), 3cut, diskspring, CMZ05 RUSLE rotation. Note: that the first Veg file is spring seed Alfalfa and Oats harvested as silage. And that the second Veg file is a harvest to yr 2 regrowth file for the Alfalfa. Then comes the Alf.All harvest in this file are Harvest hay, legume.•WEPS has converted this based on the oat silage and not the alfalfa.•Alfalfa was not the planted crop, oats was.•This file will require editing to use in WEPS.

Ratoon and Nurse Crops, cont

•Users will need to edit the file to add irrigation, harvest of the silage oat crop and calling in the ratoon alfalfa file.•All you get is the oats planted.

Ratoon and Nurse Crops, cont

•The edit will look like this when the file is fixed.•Crop was changed from Oat, spring to Oat, spring, hay•A harvest was added for the Oats•Alfafla, released growing crop was added•Irrigation was added

What does this do?

•The biomass adjustment factor is used to adjust the yield and residue produced for the run. The question is whether you want to Save the new adjustment factor in the “oats, FC, st, pt, disk, fcult, Z1”, current mgt file.

What does this do?

•When you finish a calibration run, consider if you would like to save this to a Local Crop Template. In the case shown WEPS reduced the yield by 48%. Saving this file to a local template may make good sense.

Use the Save As button to place it in the Local Directory.

Restoring a Run

• You might be temped to look in “File” on the toolbar. Look in “Run” instead.

What to do with a Warning

“Great, now what do I do?”Warnings are not the end of the world or the WEPS run. WEPS is telling you the Peas did not grow to maturity. I thought it was the Wheat that did not grow. Lesson to me, read the note.

Stop that WarningIn this case the crop database said that the Peas needed 90 days to grow the crop. My management run in MCREW was set from 4/25-7/15. Counting on my fingers and toes I get only 80 days. Solution: Add a few days to the grow time in the spring or before harvest.

What to do with a Warning

In this case I was running an Oat crop for spring hay. WEPS is telling me that the oats did not mature before we harvested. In this case that is fine.

What does this mean?

Save to current management, means the run behind the box will be changed to use the edit you just made. WEPS will use the change in the next run with what is in MCREW if you say yes. It does not change the template data base file.

These must mean “undo and redo”

Nice try but, I don’t think so! It’s only taken me 6 month to figure it out.

These buttons move the whole rotation one year forward or one year back.

This is not Larry’s misunderstanding it is mine!

This must mean we have a fork in the road?

•Again good guess, but wrong!•Use this one to adjust the yield values from the Crop database. Once set they will be used to make a calibration run on the project screen (interface).

Translation Files from SKEL files

• WEPS tries to match up Oper and Crop names as it brings in a RUSLE. Make the best match you can. • If you get this you should let me

know so I can add the operation and crops needed.

Selecting a new soil directory takes time

•Changing any of the folders may take 10-15 seconds on our machines. Just go slow and only click once until you find out if it is actually doing something.•Field Offices may change there soil DB to a location on the servers. They may decide to move a copy of the mdb file to the WEPS soils diretory.

Calibration of Forage Crops

• Forage Crops (and other crops too) can be calibrated, IF we harvest the crop only once.

• Multi-cut crops like Alfalfa can not be calibrated since we harvest them more than one time each year and multiple years.

• Cover Crops that are not harvested can not be calibrated.

• You will need to change the “biomas adjustment factor” in the management editor. It is set to 1.0 when you start.

• If the yield of a forage crop is to low try increasing the number say 1.25 and make a rerun.

• If the yield is to high try lowering the value, say to 0.75.

Man and Soil Pulldown

•When you click the black arrow on the pulldown you see a list of the directories with two main folders, Current Project and Templates.•The switches, open and close directories.•This one shows the “Template” Management directory open. I have two CMZ available to use.•My current Project directory does not have any mgt in it yet.

Switch, a down position indicates it is open

Man and Soil Pulldown

•I have now opened the “CMZ 01”the “a”, “Alf and Brome”, and “1 yr Alf and Brome” subdirectory.•You now can select the any management listed in the subdirectory.•There is now one mgt listed in the Current Project subfolder because I selected Canola from the template list.

Project Folder Mgt

•The WEPS will continue to accumulate files in the Project folder until you delete, move, or save them somewhere else.•The File command on the main interface allows you to delete the run, management, and soil ifc files.•It is very important to clean out the junk. A good habit is to delete any remaining files after you have a good run you want to keep

Remember WEPS make a copy of all the files you used to create in the Run File Directory itself. If you save the good run to a server directory, you can remove all the information left in the My docs Project directory.

Project Folder Mgt

•You can also delete, copy, and move items using Windows Explorer.•The Canola Mgt listed in the model is stored at: C:\Documents and Settings\michael.sporcic\My Documents\WEPS_Project•Always leave the .ini file in the project folder

Default Configuration

•The first five directories can be specified to a different location.•This may come down to only the Management Templates as a user configured item

Default Configuration

The soil directory can be changed if the user wants to use the .mdb Toolkit soil maintained on the service center server. This one is pointed to the subdirectory where the program is loaded.

The WEPS data maybe moved in future to accomidate Windows 7 (not Office 7).

Default Configuration

Several things under the Miscellaneous tab can be turned on or off.

Default ConfigurationEmail can be entered or changed from the Email tab

All remaining screens Config items are locked and should not be changed.

Questions?

Medicine Hat, AB, Canada; Summer 2009 (Based on the WW growthfrom another picture)Round Bales Do Blow, but can they fly?