Irrigation from a natural spring

[Saltydawg]

Been pretty dry this year so I been looking into ways to get water to some of my pastures.

Located on one of the hills above my pastures is a natural spring that "never" seems to go dry.
It used to supply water to the old farm house but hasn't been used in ages.

There is a 5x5 concrete foundation poured around it to act like a mini-well and the spring bubbles up into it.
It's been filled up with leaves and stuff over the years however so isn't much of a storage tank now.

Anyone have experience or advice on the best way to get this water down the hill and on my pastures?

Keep in mind I live at high elevation in New York state so winters are cold and everything freezes up that isn't buried.

I would only need the water for a few months every year....July through late Sept.

 

[Horticattleman]

First I would build a small pump shed to house the equipment and keep it from freezing. You could channel the water into a holding tank (2-300 gal) and put a pump or booster pump to pump the water to wherever you want.

 

[dj]

you will need to know your flow rate.
If the spring can't flow enough to replace what is pumped out.
well you could have spent money on a pump and well house for nothing.
If everything you want to water is down hill I'd try siphoning first.
At this time my spring won't flow enough to be pumped. Just siphoning with a garden hose(3/4) will take water faster then the spring will supply it. But i can drop to a 1/2 line and it will put water in the pasture and still have enough for the cows to get a drink.
I also cleaned my head pressure tank this year. And I got to wondering if I wasn't doing to wrong thing. I'd hate to relieve the hydrostatic pressure and have the spring collapse further in the formation. Shutting off teh water for me.

 

[Saltydawg]

Yea it's up hill from everything I want to water so was gonna try to do it without any pumping equipment. There is probably 100ft of drop from the spring head to the pastures.

The old concrete foundation from where they capped the spring many years ago is still in tact. I'd need to build a cover for it though to keep the leaves and critters out.

I'm not really sure how to test the flow rate of water coming out of the ground but it keeps the surrounding area below the spring head in a soupy mess all year round so I think it's a pretty good spring. I can't even drive the 4 wheeler below that spring cause I sink to the frame in thick mud. I have to approach the spring from the upper side.

I've just never dealt with springs and irrigation before so dont really know what I'm doing. :lol:

Guess the first step is to clean out the old concrete foundation and find out how much water I have to work with.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

First thing I'd do is clean out the area and make sure no leaves, trash, other debris inside the concrete "well". With 100' elevation to the pasture you should get about 43 PSI at the pasture level: Water pressure is .43 psi for every one foot of elevation.

Could siphon or use small pump to pump water out of the "well" and into pipe leading down to pasture. Put storage tank at pasture leve. Use pump down there to pump water out of tank and get pressure you need for watering. In freezing weather, merely disconnect water source at top of hill and gravity will drain the water line going down there. Water tank shouldn't freeze unless you have extended real cold weather at your location. Of course, in freezing weather, any pump must be drained so it doesn't freeze and ruin it.

 

[Beaver]

As dj indicated, the water flow rate is very important, plus how many acres do you need to irrigate? Do you think your spring can provide enough water for your pastures? Anyways, check out this link http://www.fao.org/ag/AGL/aglw/farmerwa ... uppmat.htm . They've got most comprehensive information on the Internet for whomever interested in irrigation. Download them and have them printed. Terrific information! I've also been fidgeting around to build a syphon irrigation over here, not for pastures though, but for crops. If you are only going to be using it from June to September, I'd suggest you to build a small canal. This way it's much cheaper and you don't have to dig through 8 feet soil to prevent your syphons freeze up. But frankly, I am really not sure what's best for your situation. Those d amn syphon pipes are way too expensive over here. You've just got to find out yourself. good luck!