Dr. Guy Fipps, Texas A&M professor and AgriLife Extension agricultural engineer, has seen a peaked interest from both farmers and ranchers. Some desire to install complete systems from the ground up, and others want to make the system they have more efficient.
"Typically during droughts we have a lot of cattle producers who, because of shortage of hay or the cost of hay, start looking into the feasibility of irrigation," Fipps said. "Then, if you look at other growers, what we see is not so much growers that are looking at irrigation that have never had it before, but rather they are looking for ways to make better use of what they have."
Fipps said livestock producers who consider irrigation tend to own smaller tracks of land, anywhere from 20 to a couple hundred acres.
"For that group, the first place we start with them is (asking) 'do they have water?'" Fipps said. "I guess that anyone that wants to go into irrigation, that is really the first step is figuring out if you have enough water to consider irrigation. Most of them have ponds or tanks where they collect runoff. Generally, those collection systems don't collect enough water to provide for irrigation. So, the second step to look at is availability of ground or surface water."
There are laws and regulations that determine if a well can be built to obtain access to groundwater and how much of that groundwater a landowner is allowed to use.
"For groundwater, the situation in Texas is that we manage ground water through Ground Water Conservation Districts. But, not every county has Ground Water Conservation Districts. So, the first place to start is to find out if there is a Ground Water Conservation District where you live, and contact them and see what their rules and regulations are on wells, which differ from district to district."
Those who are looking to improve upon their current irrigation system during drought are most likely those who use irrigation to supplement rainfall.
"When we don't get the rainfall, they don't really have enough water to irrigate the amount of acres that they have, or they become interested in more efficient forms of irrigation or technologies," Fipps said. "The trend we have been seeing in Texas and across the country is we have been seeing a slow movement away from surface irrigation, flood irrigation, to sprinkler irrigation, mainly because it can be more efficient and you have less labor."
Financially, the dent these changes can put in a wallet depends on where an operator is starting and where they are going.
"If someone is currently flooding their fields. then yes it is a fairly expensive process to convert from there to like a center-pivot type irrigation," Fipps explained. "If we look at people that currently have center pivots and are looking at ways they can improve the efficiency of their systems. then that isn't very costly."
The way Fipps suggested going about the less expensive route is to look at the type of sprinkler being used, the water applicator, and find a more efficient device.
"For that sort of system, you can convert a pivot for a few thousand dollars, and you can make anywhere from a 15 to maybe a 30 percent efficiency just by changing out your sprinkler package." Fipps said.
Another way Fipps suggested improving current irrigation systems is by practicing irrigation scheduling, which is adopting one or more scientific approaches to deciding when irrigation is needed and how much water needs to be applied.
One technology Fipps finds to be highly overlooked, that can provide an efficient solution to irrigation at a lower price point, is surge flow irrigation -- a system developed in the 80's.
"We have surge flow valves that you can get that are relatively inexpensive and they can help automate feral irrigation and they can increase the efficiency of feral irrigation up to 20 percent," he said. "For a lot of growers who may not be able to afford something like center pivot, something like surge flow is really something that they should look at. We don't have a lot of dealers that are really pushing surge flow irrigation, but it is a really good low-cost option to surface irrigation."
No matter what type of irrigation system is being considered, be it a brand new system or tweaking an existing system, it is important to do a cost benefit and risk management analysis before investing. AgriLife Extension has resources that can provide services that will aid a producer and help determine the best option.
