06 March 2009Water Storage for a Texas Research Facility
The installation of two new 50,000 gallon PIONEER GALAXY™ water storage tanks has delivered an improvement in the reliability of water supply at Texas AgriLife Research Center – McGregor. Operated by the Department of Animal Science of Texas A&M University, the 6,400 acre facility’s primary mission is to support beef cattle research programs.
The Center is home to 900 cow-calf pairs and up to 500 stocker or feeder cattle at any given time. Breeds include Brahman, Nellore, Hereford and Angus, primarily crossbred combinations of these breeds.
The new water tanks store well water and are the sole water supply not only for the Center’s livestock, but also for staff who work and live on site. The PIONEER GALAXY™ water tanks replace an aging single steel tank.
“A reliable water supply is critical to our operations,” said Dr Jason Sawyer, the Center’s Superintendent. “Installing more reliable storage, and storage that if needed we could sequester by shutting one tank off from the system, has increased our peace of mind and given us a reliable water supply.” he said.
In addition to installing the two new PIONEER GALAXY™ water storage tanks, BlueScope Water also undertook the associated pipework. This included excavation, installation of pipelines and valves and connection into the Center’s existing six inch main waterline.
“Given the importance of water supply to the Center’s operations, we had to work quickly,” said Davis Garrett, BlueScope Water’s Project Manager who oversaw the job. “We disconnected the old water supply, made the new connections and had the improved system fully operational within six hours, well within the parameters the client set for us.” he added.
Under the Center’s flagship research program, ‘the McGregor Genomics Project’, researchers work to discover genes that control or influence many aspects of efficient and profitable production of food. Current research programs at the facility include feeding efficiency of beef cattle, production efficiency, use of ethanol in cow-calf feeding systems and meat quality.
The research undertaken at Texas AgriLife Research Center – McGregor delivers wide ranging benefits, ultimately translating into production of higher quality food at a lower cost due to improved efficiency and sustainability. Many of the discoveries are also adapted and utilized by biomedical researchers to advance human health care and to prevent and cure a variety of diseases.
For more information, call BlueScope Water on 877-389-1099, or contact us.