Above ground water line for rotational grazing

[Devin]

I need a little advice. I have 110 rented acres that I feel I could improve without alot of expense if I could develop a rotational grazing system. There is one pond near the center of the farm and there is a city water hydrant near the center also. The fact that it is rented ground on a year to year basis means I don't want to bury alot of water lines on the property. Do any of you run water lines for this purpose on top of the ground in warmer weather and if so what type of pipe do you use and have you had good success. I want to keep this flexible so I can move the whole thing around depending on the availabe grazing at the time. I only have 25 cow calf pairs that will be on it in the spring and summer months so I should be able to take some hay off of a portion of it. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[dun]

I use 1 inch poly pipe and water 7 different pastures with it. The price was fairly reasonable in 300 foot lengths when I bought it through NRCS.

 

[dyates]

I use black pvc laid on top of the ground. It's pretty rigid, especially when pressurized. Traffic from equipment and cattle doesn't really seem to hurt it. If you plan to use the pond, I hope you have an electric source nearby. The cost of the electric wire alone will eat you alive. You'll also have to run 220 if your pump is more than a couple hundred feet from the meter.

 

[Devin]

I was planning on hooking the above ground line to just a frost free hydrant (spelling?) The county said that they could adjust the pressure on my meter so maybe that won't be a problem. I'm not sure yet what type of float system to use on the tanks. They will all be black plastic tanks. Do you guys move your tanks and stuff around or do you have your system down good enough that it all stays in one place. I think mine will take alot of adjustment to get it right. Thanks for the responses.

 

[dun]

We connect to a hydraunt with a section of wash machine hose, it will stand the pressure. Also use the same kind of hose from the end of the polypipe to the float. I use the little giant cheapo plastic ones. Our pressure runs pretty high plus a lot of downhill that increases the pressure so I use a standard brass pressure reduction valve at the tank end.
When the cows move to another paddock that I need water in I move the tank .

 

[nap]

Could you run a high tensile wire across your pond? This would immediately give you two large paddocks. With the proper reducers maybe you could use a good quality garden hose to supply a tank with a float valve. This is what I'm using this summer until I can come up with a more permanent solution. The longer the hose the more paddocks you can create. A simple but fairly effective solution to the water problem.

 

[Jalopy]

I know this may make some people cross their eyes, but when I used to field farrow sows and had to water them I ran the water in black plastic water line hung on the fence posts from field to field. If we just ran in on the top of the ground on a hot day it could sweat and rodents and varmits would chew into causeing leaks. Also we set the water tanks on skids/platforms so we could move the water tanks easily when we would move to different paddocks. That could work for you so you would only have to have a couple larger tanks that you could move from field to field. A larger tank helps so that if you want to turn off water supply line because of a leak you will still have water in the tank for a longer period of time while you are fixing any problems.

 

[gertguy]

Fence around the pond and have fences going away from the pond. Have springgates for each pasture and minerals around the pond

 

[badaxemoo]

I have 1" 160psi running along the fence on top of the ridge. I'm lucky because me well is at the high point on the farm, so everything is gravity fed. The grass grows up to the bottom wire in the fenceline and helps keep the line a little cooler. I think the 1" is worth the extra expense over the 3/4" because the fill rate is a lot higher.

I put a Plasson valves every 300 ft. between sections of line. Since I move my cattle every two days, it's really nice having water easily availaible in every paddock, and those plug-in Plasson valves are handy. Just wish I could do it that way all winter!

 

[gabby]

I plow my pipe in with a subsoiler. Pull it underground behind the subsoiler like a rope. I use schedule 40 PVC not black plastic.

I don't try to irrigate any more because it takes so much water, and because an inch of irrigation water won't grow nearly as much grass as an inch of rain.

 

[Devin]

Thanks for all of the replys. I plan on using the pond too, but it won't allow me to make my paddocks as small as I want them. I want to try to get this place in shape without spending a tremendous amount of cash on fertilizer. I figure I can take the time to move the cows every day, twice a day or what ever to save as much money as I can. It has a fair stand of fescue and lespedeza. It had alot of broom sage in it, but the soil test didn't call for any lime. I am planning on putting cattle on the worst half in the spring and see what happens. For you guy who rotate using small paddocks, do you drag the paddock after removing the cows and if so have you seen a benfit from it? Thanks in advance.

 

[dun]

It used to be thought that broomsedge was an indicator of low ph. Lately the thought is that low P or K, don;t remember which, is the culprit. Others seem to feel that it's an imbalance of the whole soil chemistry deal. It will drive you nuts trying to figure out how to get rid of it. I've just learned to live wiht it. After it goes dormant I just chop it and let it return the nutrients to the soil. Something that seems funny is they stand never really thickens, even with the reseeding every year.