24. Irrigation

The weather is (mostly) warm and dry now we are into summer. Due to the high grazing pressure on the grass it is necessary for it to be irrigated to maintain a suitable growth rate.

This farm, mostly made up of a valley is far too steep to accommodate the imposing structures that are center pivot irrigation. These are very popular, particularly north from here on the Canterbury plains. Our neighbours across the road use a pivot. 

They are powered by an electric motor and move very slowly over fences, cows and anything else that gets in the way. There are gaps in the fences with bungee cord that allows the wheels to cross over. 

On steep pasture such as ours, the best method of irrigation is through the use of K-lines. These consist of pipes attached to hydrants in the paddock. On these pipes at equal intervals of about 12-15m (I havn't measured them), are pods that contain sprinklers. It is much easier to post photos than trying to explain them.

I hope you readers think these photos are worth me getting completely soaked when I took them, I got very irrigated and very irritated. 

Here is a short clip of the irrigation in action:

The lines are moved around daily (not be me, I stick with the livestock) by towing them with a quad. There is a plastic ball (could be a buoy) at the end of each line that is picked up by a trailer, it can be done at pretty high speed if you have enough experience in mending broken plastic pipes. 

Yes, the bike and trailer are usually this muddy.

There is another type of irrigation used here in NZ but not to the extent of pivot or K-line. It is surface irrigation where water is carried in canals at the edge of paddocks. These canals have dams which when blocked allow the selected paddock to flood, the ground is in a structure which allows the water to drain from paddock to paddock and then back to the canals. This is a lot less practical than the plumbed irrigation used here. 

The irrigation seems to be doing its job, because the grass is growing. You may remember I posted this picture back in August.

After some selective reseeding, plenty more rain, a bit of sun, irrigation and three grazings, and now a bit of a hammering from the calves, it looks like this.

 

It's pretty hardy stuff grass.

Right that is all for now, I will leave you with a picture of me holding a leveret that I caught (future rugby coaches take note, that is how fast I am).