New Irrigation Lines
 

Okay, not really gardening, but it is for growing. PVC prices bottomed out and I ordered 2,100 feet of 12" diameter line to have all of my irrigation supply lines underground and to make it easier to irrigate my alfalfa fields. I've been using 16" poly lines (a roll-out line that inflates under pressure), but coyotes really tear it up and this causes big problems when I discover new big leaks in the line when I'm pumping 2,500 gallons per minute! The 12" PVC lines have risers for each alfalfa "check" strips 27' - 39' wide so I can more readily get the water into the sections that need it. My partner I farm with on other ground next to my farm brought his excavator over to dig our trenches 48" deep so the lines are covered 36" deep. There were some expected obstacles in the way, such as large 12" high pressure (1200 PSI) natural gas distribution lines so we must make sure we know where we are digging! After a few more days of installing, I'll be up and ready to irrigate my alfalfa. We just finished baling up our second cutting.





Cheers,

Harvey

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

Whoa Harv! That's quite a bit of work to do but it sure beats the coyotes' visits.. How much is the total bill?

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

Harvey,

How many cuttings do you get a year? How often do you have to reseed?

And finally, how are prices holding up?

Congrats on the repipe project!

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

Hi Tog, this will avoid the constant repairs required due to the coyotes (and to a lesser extent, voles) but also make it much easier to get the volume of water I need for each "check" (27'-39' wide section) so I can get them irrigated well. The pipe is costing about $6,000 but the valves and fittings will be something like another $8,000. A small section of this is on the neighboring parcel so my partner is helping cover a portion of that since we rent that together and then the company that owns the natural gas rights on my property and drills for gas is paying me $1,500 since I need to go around a pad they put in my field a couple of years ago (they've spent about $8 million dollars drilling three wells and have not hit gas but have ruined about 3 acres of my land, they still have an old well that's been producing for about 60 years).

Hi John, we hope to get 7 cuttings but got 6 last year and will probably 6 again this year. We end up getting delays trying to avoid rain storms and then delays in getting rain-damaged hay baled up so we get behind our ideal schedule. If weather stays cool like we've been having growth is also slower, though quality is higher (more leaves, less stems). We can keep a stand in for 5 and maybe up to 7 years before replanting, usually having a rotation crop like wheat before the next planting. Prices suck but I'm still making some money unlike the dairymen who are having a very tough time and losing lots of money. Worldwide demand for dairy products is down and there is a big over-supply of milk. Some dairies are losing sickening amounts of money right now and many cows will be culled early to try to bring production into balance with demand and this is also reducing the price beef cattlemen receive for their cull cows. I bought 2 gallons of nonfat milk for $3.19 the other day and thought that was crazy. We pay more than that for bottled water! Last year dairy prices were a little better but alfalfa prices were ridiculously high, over double of this year and at all-time highs. I knew it would not last but wished it did not drop so low. Our last cutting of 2008 had some rain damage and we got $170/ton for it. Our first cutting this year had bad rain damage and we got $65/ton and we pay about $36 to have it baled and stacked. Our second cutting had some slight rain damage so I hope to do a little better and hope for something more normal on the next cutting in a few weeks. I'm glad I'm expecting to do well in chestnuts this year and have a wife with a good job and we have little debt!

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

2500gpm! Thats pretty serious! Where are you drawing the water from? The pipe price is very cheap. I think I paid more than that per foot last time I bought PVC and that was just 2 inch. Do you know where to get a good rate on on the 2 inch. I need about a 1000 feet.

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

I draw water from the Sacramento River. Our 15 horsepower pump only pumped about 1,500 gpm for many years but we had the bowls rebuilt a year ago and it's capacity increased to more than the 1,800 gpm which should really be pushed through 12" lines. I can divert the water into more than one line at a time to decrease the load or I can dump some water into the river into I clear all of the air from the lines and then push it up without any trouble.

I believe saw a pretty good price for 2" line at Home Depot recently and they had it marked "new lower price" but it was only in 10 lengths and then you must also buy couplers. I bought 520 feet of 1.5" PVC recent for $.618/foot from the same local supplier but can't remember what the Home Depot price was for the same. My mind is pretty foggy about all of this right now as I'm beat. Four days down and about two more to go!

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

I only get about 50 gpm out of my well pump at a mini ranch I have in snowflake its 40 acres. We are attempting to convert it to a farm/mini orchard. Currently we have about 250 fruit trees of various types planted(still very small about 6 feet each), and about three acres of squash/pumpkins/watermellon/corn etc. When all is said and done I'm hoping for about 1500-2000 trees, about 10 acres of veggies and about 5 acres of clover etc for poultry. That may a little too much to ask of a well though. After all it is high desert land. But it is located on the largest aquafer in the southwest so maybe it will work out.

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

We have lots of water around here, that's for sure, just not much from the sky. The static water level in my domestic well is at about surface grade. Our biggest potential problem is too much water. If our levee breaks we may very well lose our home (my childhood home was lot to flooding in 1972).

Good luck with your ranch. Just make sure you keep it fun and don't make too much work for yourself!

Re: New Irrigation Lines
 

Thanks, I have care takers that live there for free and keep an eye on things. It also has a solar array with battery backup and is off grid so they have no utilities either. So not a bad deal for them.