Keeping track of water tanks, dams and bores on the farm

Water is the one thing on a farm that cannot run out, and it is spread across more places than anything else: tanks on sheds, troughs in paddocks, a spray tank carted to the far block, dams, bores and the pump between them.

Phase keeps all of it in one list, on the map, with a level or a check one tap away.

Four kinds of water point

Add offers four things:

• Water tank. Takes a level, as a figure or in one tap.
• Trough. Takes checks, with a note of any fault.
• Dam. Its size is in megalitres, and it takes levels like a tank.
• Bore. No level. It takes checks, faults with the pump, float or valve, water tests, cleaning and maintenance.

What the water is for

Each one can say what it is used for: Stock, Spray, House or Fire fighting. Pick as many as apply. Once the farm has more than one kind, the list gets filters such as Stock water and Spray water.

That matters for alerts. A carted spray tank running dry is not a stock water problem, so it does not raise a livestock water alert.

A level in one tap

Nobody is going to dip a tank and type a number every time they drive past. So the level form has Full, ¾, ½, ¼ and Empty as one tap each. Typing an exact figure still works when you have one. Every tank card has a Level button beside Check.

What feeds what

A tank or trough can name the dam or bore it is supplied by. The trough then links to its dam, and the dam lists everything it feeds. When a dam gets low, you can see at a glance which troughs depend on it.

Scan the tag on the tank

Put a Phase tag on a tank and scanning it with a phone opens straight to that tank, with Record level as the big button. A trough's tag leads with Record a check. A worker doing the water run can record every point without finding it in a list.

Where it lives

Water has two homes that show the same thing. On a cropping farm, look in Inventory → Water. On a livestock farm, Livestock → Water is the same screen. More → Water Tanks & Troughs opens it too.

Every water point also has its own pin on the farm map.

Why bother

A record of water checks is cheap to keep and valuable the day you need it: when stock are found on a dry trough, when a tank loses water faster than it should, or when someone new takes over the water run and needs to know where everything is.

On the same map as everything else

Water points are part of Phase's one farm record. They sit on the same map as your paddocks and mobs, low stock water shows as an alert on the Overview, and the same app holds the crop plans, inventory, machinery and livestock records for the farm. Nothing about water has to be kept in a separate book.