Notes for SNAP-Plus version 1.125 - April 22, 2008:

This release of Snap-Plus addresses additional issues found since the January 2008 version 1.123. You should download and install it to avoid problems.

Grass content assumptions for established alfalfa have been changed.

Calculated soil loss on fields with alfalfa will increase because of this change in assumptions.
In former versions of Snap-Plus, the established alfalfa and red clover managements assumed there was a substantial amount of grass in the alfalfa. While this assumption may be accurate for many older fields, it is not accurate for others. To ensure consistency with RUSLE2 soil loss calculations for conservation plans, after this update, established alfalfa is assumed to be pure stands. For legume hay with substantial amounts of grass, use "Alfalfa/Brome", Alfalfa (grassy, yr 3+), or Red Clover (grassy, yr 3+).

Most crops with the "Chisel Plow" tillage name have been changed to "Chisel plow, no disk"

This is a change in name only! The actual tillage used in RUSLE2 is the same as it was before, so soil loss will not change as a result.
The former version of Snap-Plus had one fall and one spring chisel plow tillage option that corresponded to the following systems in RUSLE2 soil loss calculations: Fall or spring chisel plow, twisted shank; Spring disk; and Field cultivation before planting. New options have been added which represent RUSLE 2 systems without the spring disking: Fall or spring chisel plow, twisted shank; and Field cultivation before planting. These new systems are labeled "Chisel plow, no disk". The tillage choices formerly labeled "Chisel plow" are now labeled "Chisel plow, disked". All existing Fall or Spring "Chisel plow" entries in Snap-Plus will be changed to "Chisel plow, disked" after the update but the original RUSLE2 management descriptions will be maintained, so soil loss calculations for field years with chisel plow managements will not change with the update.

Version 1.125 fixes an update issue in 1.124 which blanked out "Chisel Plow" tillage in Winter Wheat and Winter Rye crops. It also fixes a problem with the display of tillages for the crops "Corn Silage to small grain cover crop" and "Soybeans to small grain cover crop".

If you have already downloaded and run SnapPlus version 1.124, then there is an easy way to roll back to your 1.123 version of data and avoid having to hand correct the lost tillage data. If you use the Windows File Explorer to navigate to any SnapPlus databases you might have opened, you should see a folder called bak.1.xxx.x where the x's stand for a SnapPlus version number. This folder contains a full backup of the database from before it was upgraded to 1.125. Replace the files in the original database folder with these backup files and then open SnapPlus version 1.125 on the original folder again. The winter wheat and winter rye chisel plow tillages should be preserved.

Issues addressed and fixed in Snap-Plus version 1.124 and 1.125:

• "Reset Farm Slopes and Lengths" added to Tools menu to reset old slope lengths in meters not changed to feet. (See Snap-Plus manual, p.6)
• Added "chisel plow, no disk" two-pass tillage options for many crops (See Snap-Plus manual, p.16)
• Assumptions on "Alfalfa" and "Red clover" changed to represent pure stands for soil loss calculations. See above.
• N excess messages corrected for double crops if crop 1 was a non-legume and crop 2 was a legume (ex. winter wheat to late-summer seeded alfalfa).
• Contains updated Nutrient Management Standard 590 Tech Note Appendix I (Restricted soils by county)
• Irrigated soils get the correct corn N recommendation.
• Corn MRTN nitrogen recommendation and N credits are displayed correctly correctly for the corn year in a legume hay - soybean -corn crop sequence.
• Corn MRTN nitrogen recommendations following small grain crops are corrected.
• Spreading plan and Spreading and NM sorted by crop reports in the Spreadsheet (.csv) format do not have any text in the numeric cells
• Zero-yield level for alfalfa, red clover, alfalfa/brome added for when these crops are used as cover crops (not harvested).
• "Winter small grain silage" and "Winter small grain silage to Late-Direct Seeded Legume Forage" added to crop list.
• Typing in non-numeric characters in the livestock estimator does not freeze the data entry grid.
• Organic Matter rounding (to the nearest 0.1) is now consistent on the soil test screen and cropping screen.
• "Horse, grazing" manure nutrient source added.

In addition the following problems were fixed:

• Changing the 2nd and 3rd year manure credits setting cleared the calculations for all farms instead of just the current farm.
• Livestock estimator was active with no seasons set up.
• Farm screen controls were active when there were no farms in database.
• Progress bar did not always go away after using Rotation Wizard.
• Blank fertilizer names caused an "access violation" on some computers.