Pasture irrigation

Help Support CattleToday:

Millerranch

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2010
Messages
47
Reaction score
0
Location
Quitman Texas
I guess this is a good time to talk about this. Im here in East Texas, the desert. My place has a 5 acre pond and a 1 acre pond. I am looking at possible buying some irrigation stuff to do say 10 acres. With 20 cows, I am thinking 10 acres of heavily irrigated grass would keep them happy on a type rotational grazing program for awhile.

Is it worth while irrigating? What system - I have looked at the Kline, but it is pretty pricey. Any other options out there?

Thanks,
 
I am in Athens, TX and just purchased K line system and have been happy with it in general. I already had an industrial propane engine / pump and pull water from 2 lakes that are fed by artesian wells. However, even with this the water level is now low this year. If you have a well instead of surface water then may not be an issue. You must figure how much it will cost to irrigate with the value of what you are irrigating. We are not irrigating bermudagrass because of the cost, but sorghum-sudan. If I had Tifton then would irrigate that. Irrigating winter pasture in the fall to have earlier grazing also probably makes sense. With these extreme conditions it is hard to get anything to grow, even with irrigation. Probably would have to put out 1.5 to 2 inches per week. Pretty expensive for cows!
 
CJohnson":2j0mdjys said:
. . . With these extreme conditions it is hard to get anything to grow, even with irrigation. Probably would have to put out 1.5 to 2 inches per week. Pretty expensive for cows!

Amen to that. Irrigation water ain't nowhere near as good as rain water. Maybe if you pour a bunch of extra fertilizer to the land it might do nearly as good as rain, but your ponds will still draw down.
 

Latest posts

Top