California Drought

[Jogeephus]

Saw on the news the drought in California is really bad. Bureaucrats said they were going to take some harsh measures and only allow people to water their lawns two days a week. Must be really bad.

 

[lmbrsn]

It's Bad, I hope that my water well does not go dry like some of the ones around me.
I have a Ag water contract for my pastures but they have cut the amount of water I can get, and raised the price.
Last year I was able to water just enough to keep some of it alive, but not enough to be productive.
Same thing this year.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Our irrigation water held out ok last year. Do not know what it will be like for this year yet, but I have already decided to dry out one pasture for the horses that can not eat the clover anyway. Our irrigation district also raised prices slightly.
Fortunately, I have never had a problem with my well. However my "family home" (that I am partially responsible for) does have a problem...........
I wouldn't count on those "2 days of watering" in the cities. They often cut them back to "no watering of lawns."

 

[cow pollinater]

I left both valley pastures dry this last year and will do it again this year. I lost one well and had to have a new one put in and have one that I expect to have problems with this year and two that are cutting it pretty close. I do own ditch stock but last year the ditch only ran for forty five days and they didn't let out enough water to really give me a good soaking so that won't help as much as I need. I do have a veggie garden but no lawn and this year I disked my orchard floors clean so that there is not a blade of grass to steal a drop from my trees.
People are beating up on farmers pretty hard right now because we do use the bulk of the water. They see young almond plantings and flip out but what they don't see is the strategy of planting a baby tree that only needs a sip that can be irrigated with fanjets until we have water again as aposed to planting a field crop that has to be flood irrigated. Farmers here have been shouting about water conservation for decades and now that there is both a natural and political drought we're the ones getting blamed.

 

[backhoeboogie]

When I irrigated here, back in our drought, I had over $40 a bale in pump fuel costs. I don't see how you do it and make a profit. The pump was pushing 300 gallons per minute.

 

[backhoeboogie]

In case anyone wants to know, you have to pump 27,154 gallons of water to put 1 inch on an acre. At 300 gpm, it takes about an hour and a half to put an inch of water on that acre. 50 acre fields eat up a few days. By the time you get to the end of the field, its time to come back and start over on the front side. Two 300 gpm pumps let you alternate moving your pipes and cut your time in half.

 

[cow pollinater]

When I irrigated here, back in our drought, I had over $40 a bale in pump fuel costs. I don't see how you do it and make a profit. The pump was pushing 300 gallons per minute.

My pumps are all electric.That gets expensive as well but I can run during off peak hours and save quite a bit of both money and water from evaporation. I'm planning a fairly substantial solar project that will really help my energy bill.
All of my trees are on fanjets/micro sprinklers so I can really dial in my irrigation to the perfect amount needed to water the tree without soaking all the way down past the root zone the way flood irrigation does so my pumps don't run anywhere near as long as they would if I were trying to flood irrigate hay. I do have to flood irrigate when I use ditch water but that fills my water table some so I don't mind.
My permanent plantings are much higher value than any hay I'd produce on the same acreage so I can stand more input costs than I could growing hay and even when inputs are high I have to think in terms of what is best for the tree in the long run as permanent plantings are for the most part permanent so if I do it right this year it will pay me back for years to come instead of just next year.

 

[wacocowboy]

Hearing y'all talk reminds me of when we were in a drought that was horrible. I feel for y'all hope it gets better soon before y'all break off and fall into the ocean.

 

[cow pollinater]

Hearing y'all talk reminds me of when we were in a drought that was horrible. I feel for y'all hope it gets better soon before y'all break off and fall into the ocean.

I'm cool with half the state getting submerged... That would wipe out the major cities and leave me sitting pretty with allllll that water we send to LA and SF coming right here for me to farm with. ;-)

 

[branguscowgirl]

Hearing y'all talk reminds me of when we were in a drought that was horrible. I feel for y'all hope it gets better soon before y'all break off and fall into the ocean.

I'm cool with half the state getting submerged... That would wipe out the major cities and leave me sitting pretty with allllll that water we send to LA and SF coming right here for me to farm with. ;-)

I was thinking that also CP, until I remembered ALL those people affected would be coming our way to live! :x

 

[wbvs58]

In Australia we have been on the brink of an El Nino event all summer which usually means drought for us on the east coast however we have been lucky and had a good summer from unusual rainfall but large areas of the north are in a bad way and missed their 3rd consecutive wet season.
I was under the impression that an El Nino event in the Pacific resulted in above average rainfall in the western Pacific, the west coast of America. It doesn't sound like this has held true for you guys. Am I correct in my understanding of an El Nino for you guys?
Whatever the scientific reckoning is it still comes down to what is happening on the ground and drought is not much fun, hope you get some good rain soon.
Ken

 

[jedstivers]

In case anyone wants to know, you have to pump 27,154 gallons of water to put 1 inch on an acre. At 300 gpm, it takes about an hour and a half to put an inch of water on that acre. 50 acre fields eat up a few days. By the time you get to the end of the field, its time to come back and start over on the front side. Two 300 gpm pumps let you alternate moving your pipes and cut your time in half.

Sometime I might really try to figure it exact but it looks roughly like we pump somewhere around 45,000 gallons a minute.

 

[wacocowboy]

Hearing y'all talk reminds me of when we were in a drought that was horrible. I feel for y'all hope it gets better soon before y'all break off and fall into the ocean.

I'm cool with half the state getting submerged... That would wipe out the major cities and leave me sitting pretty with allllll that water we send to LA and SF coming right here for me to farm with. ;-)

I was thinking that also CP, until I remembered ALL those people affected would be coming our way to live! :x

Come on now BC love thy neighbor. :hide:

 

[branguscowgirl]

Come on now BC love thy neighbor.

I love my neighbors. I just don't want any more of them! :mrgreen:

 

[Jogeephus]

Hearing y'all talk reminds me of when we were in a drought that was horrible. I feel for y'all hope it gets better soon before y'all break off and fall into the ocean.

I'm cool with half the state getting submerged... That would wipe out the major cities and leave me sitting pretty with allllll that water we send to LA and SF coming right here for me to farm with. ;-)

To farm with?! That's really what struck me about the newscast. Not one word was said about agriculture. All had to do with watering the lawns. Have our priorities changed that much?

 

[wacocowboy]

Jo people in big cities don't think about the process it takes to get the food to the grocery store, so yes their lawn that they see every day is more important.

 

[jedstivers]

Jo people in big cities don't think about the process it takes to get the food to the grocery store, so yes their lawn that they see every day is more important.

They don't need farmers. Don't you know anything? Food doesn't come from farms anymore, it comes from the "supermarket".

 

[Kingfisher]

In case anyone wants to know, you have to pump 27,154 gallons of water to put 1 inch on an acre. At 300 gpm, it takes about an hour and a half to put an inch of water on that acre. 50 acre fields eat up a few days. By the time you get to the end of the field, its time to come back and start over on the front side. Two 300 gpm pumps let you alternate moving your pipes and cut your time in half.

Sometime I might really try to figure it exact but it looks roughly like we pump somewhere around 45,000 gallons a minute.

Where does that water come from and where does it go??

 

[Jogeephus]

I agree. I just thought sad they never mentioned agriculture and an extreme hardship was going to limit their lawn irrigation to two days a week. I don't think I watered my yard two days in the last ten years.

 

[jedstivers]

In case anyone wants to know, you have to pump 27,154 gallons of water to put 1 inch on an acre. At 300 gpm, it takes about an hour and a half to put an inch of water on that acre. 50 acre fields eat up a few days. By the time you get to the end of the field, its time to come back and start over on the front side. Two 300 gpm pumps let you alternate moving your pipes and cut your time in half.

Sometime I might really try to figure it exact but it looks roughly like we pump somewhere around 45,000 gallons a minute.

Where does that water come from and where does it go??

It's all ground water. It goes through pivots and through furrow irrigation down the middles. I have a lot more furrow irrigation than pivots.