How all y'all irrigate?

[blackcowz]

That's plural, by the way, so I want as many answers and suggestions as I an get. My boss is going to be planting a hay mix next spring, and I know we'll need to put a little water on it. A garden hose won't work. We won't need to irrigate vast amounts of land, maybe 10 or 15 acres. He has access to a pond and a little stream that runs into the pond. I was thinking about utilizing that water to irrigate the hay. Bad idea? Will it stand a chance of working? How do ya pipe water out to sprinklers? How do I build enough pressure to make the sprinklers go? Is there a better alternative? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[grannysoo]

Most everyone around here has pipe and irrigation heads left over from the tobacco days. When it gets really dry, you see this used here to water some of the pastures.

You probably don't have that in your area...

Another option is the hose reel irrigation system.

 

[Angus Cowman]

we irrigate the old fashion way it is really simpl although not real reliable
it work real well for us in the first 1/2 of the yr and thru most of the summer (a little to well last spring) then about the end of Sept. the pump broke and we finally got it working this past saturday and we hope it works about normal in 2009

if ya haven't figred it out it is called rain :lol: :lol:
we don't do much irrigation in MO

 

[novatech]

Several people around here have been using this system. From what I have seen it works pretty good.
http://www.atsirrigation.com/kline/index.htm

 

[dun]

I've seen water canon type sprinklers powered by a pinto engine. 3 holes ran the ngine and one ws onverted to a prssure pump to power the canon
http://www.nelsonirrigation.com/products/index.cfm?id=5

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

That's plural, by the way, so I want as many answers and suggestions as I an get. My boss is going to be planting a hay mix next spring, and I know we'll need to put a little water on it. A garden hose won't work. We won't need to irrigate vast amounts of land, maybe 10 or 15 acres. He has access to a pond and a little stream that runs into the pond. I was thinking about utilizing that water to irrigate the hay. Bad idea? Will it stand a chance of working? How do ya pipe water out to sprinklers? How do I build enough pressure to make the sprinklers go? Is there a better alternative? Thanks for any help you can give.

Need more info...

That aside,

Basic info you need:

• 1. Amount of water in the "little stream"...trickle? large volume? width and depth of stream?
  2. You'll need a centrifugal pump. Don't know your elevation there, but about the highest you can "suck" water effectively at sea level is about 25 feet or so. Suction efficiency depends on elevation at site.
  3. Pipe water using PVC, Polyethlene, or Aluminum pipe.
  4. For even a moderate volume sprinkler (10 to 15 GPM discharge at 40-60' radius you'll need around 60+ PSI at the sprinkler head.
  5. To irrigate 10-15 acres, you'll need a LOT of water volume and pressue. Otherwise, you'll spend 24/7/365 moving sprinklers about every 4 to 6 hours or so at minimum.

 

[blackcowz]

That's plural, by the way, so I want as many answers and suggestions as I an get. My boss is going to be planting a hay mix next spring, and I know we'll need to put a little water on it. A garden hose won't work. We won't need to irrigate vast amounts of land, maybe 10 or 15 acres. He has access to a pond and a little stream that runs into the pond. I was thinking about utilizing that water to irrigate the hay. Bad idea? Will it stand a chance of working? How do ya pipe water out to sprinklers? How do I build enough pressure to make the sprinklers go? Is there a better alternative? Thanks for any help you can give.

Need more info...

That aside,

Basic info you need:

• 1. Amount of water in the "little stream"...trickle? large volume? width and depth of stream?
  2. You'll need a centrifugal pump. Don't know your elevation there, but about the highest you can "suck" water effectively at sea level is about 25 feet or so. Suction efficiency depends on elevation at site.
  3. Pipe water using PVC, Polyethlene, or Aluminum pipe.
  4. For even a moderate volume sprinkler (10 to 15 GPM discharge at 40-60' radius you'll need around 60+ PSI at the sprinkler head.
  5. To irrigate 10-15 acres, you'll need a LOT of water volume and pressue. Otherwise, you'll spend 24/7/365 moving sprinklers about every 4 to 6 hours or so at minimum.

I don't know, I'll have to look at the stream. Here, we're between 6,100 and 6,500 ft. above sea level. I may have to do some thinking about that water volume, we may not have enough. Novatech and dun, thanks for the info. It was helpful.

 

[dun]

I hesitate to mention it, but one of the alpaca sites has information on irrigation using canons. The illistrate the capture of the irrigation water and pumping from there.

 

[4CTophand]

That's plural, by the way, so I want as many answers and suggestions as I an get. My boss is going to be planting a hay mix next spring, and I know we'll need to put a little water on it. A garden hose won't work. We won't need to irrigate vast amounts of land, maybe 10 or 15 acres. He has access to a pond and a little stream that runs into the pond. I was thinking about utilizing that water to irrigate the hay. Bad idea? Will it stand a chance of working? How do ya pipe water out to sprinklers? How do I build enough pressure to make the sprinklers go? Is there a better alternative? Thanks for any help you can give.

before you go out and get some supplies, I would check with Denver Water Board as they own most of the water shed east of the Rockies and if they do own it--- you will be fined -- you can count on it.
Anyway we use pivots because we dont graze permanent pastures; because TDN and CP are both unsatisfactory compared to Summer and Winter annuals, since they require less fertilizer and out produce any perannent grass pasture period.

T

 

[Nesikep]

Our place has gravity feed water supply, so I can't offer any info on how to pump it

However, I will say that for 10-15 acres, get about 15-20 lengths of 3" (2" would do, but it's a pain to move, and more delicate) aluminum irrigation line, we irrigate about 80 acres with it and we spend about 1-2 hours a day moving lines.. it becomes a routine.. and you will only spend about 20 minutes a day.. and it won't be every day either, though if you have cattle in the field you're irrigating, I advise keeping the line pressurized or they'll kink it up by stepping on it... depending on the shape of your field (a square field this would be the system to go with).. if you have a long narrow field that a water cannon could reach the width, then having one on a powered reel would be a good way to go. center pivots on round fields are good, but costly to start up, and for 15 acres, would be pointless.... unless this is a tax writeoff

 

[HerefordSire]

An 5-8HP (?) gasoline sump pump made in China connected to a couple of 2-3" (?) Firestone rubber hoses should allow you to flood irrigate 10-15 acres economically provided the acreage is relatively level (if not level, you may have to play with the flow). It has the power of a little less than a fire hose and will shoot a reasonal stream of water. You could rig up a system where the water doesn''t directly hit the ground and erode the soil. It will really suck the water up and you don't have to worry to much about sand and gravel.

 

[Dave]

In virtually every state in the Western USA you have to have irrigation rights to use the water. You better make sure that you have the right to use the water. This is nothing new. Most western water laws date back to the 1800's. Water rights laws are so strict that you can't legally build a pond to catch the run off water and use it. If you do that you are basically using water that belongs to someone else. It is watched very carefully. Be sure and check on water rights before spending money on irrigation equipment.

 

[MrBilly]

Several people around here have been using this system. From what I have seen it works pretty good.
http://www.atsirrigation.com/kline/index.htm

We put in a Kline system a couple years ago on about 35 acres and just love it. The one hay field that is irrigated had three cuttings, all the others only two. We pump out of a 45 acre lake in the center of the farm, have an irrigation permit from the state, and use a ten horse electric motor on the pump. Costs about $10 per day to run the system 14 hours/day - that irrigates all ten lines simultaneously. You move the line over fifty feet each day until you have covered the entire field (5-9 days depending on size) and then repeat. This puts one inch of water on field each week. Takes about 45 min. to pull the ten lines with a utility vehicle.

Worth a look and was cheaper than guns because it is a low pressure system and relatively low flow.

The official K line site gives more detail plus video : http://www.k-linena.com/

Billy

 

[cypressfarms]

Every day I thank my lucky stars that I live in a place that receives so much rainfall. Apart from hurricanes (we won't go there) and the heat I really am fortunate. There are NO irrigation systems around here as the need is not there.

I was only trying to read the thread to learn something new about irrigation, but wound up feeling blessed by what we have here.

 

[dun]

In days gone by we used center pivots, wheel lines and flood irrigation. The least labor is center pivot the most is wheel lines.