Precision Water Control
Irrigation Saves The Day During Hot Summer Months
(Third Part Of A Four-Part Series On Triple G Farms Of Arlington, Ky., Operated By Darren Grogan, His Father, Bobby, And Younger Brother, Brian.)
ARLINGTON, KY.
One very interesting facet of the operation of
Triple G Farms is the center pivot irrigation
system located in the very fields that
have been tiled, as well as some upland fields.
“We put in our first irrigation
pivot back in 2001 and
we immediately saw the benefits
of irrigation,” said Darren.
That first pivot, placed on
rolling hills, covered a span of
135 acres. “We have two problems
in our geographic area:
We have an abundance of
water but the water is deep;
we also have a sand formation
requiring special pumps to remove
enough water per
minute to satisfy an irrigation
system. When you put that in
you’ve got an expensive well.
The other limiting factor is our
field size and shape. We’re
looking at a well cost of
around $40,000.”
That cost is just to install
the well. It doesn’t matter how
many acres are to be watered.
When they dug the first well
they considered just the minimum
quarter section pivot
which was a water machine
for 135 acres. The pivot was
1,300 foot long, so it covered
a 2,600 foot circle.
“In West Kentucky it’s hard
to find a field that doesn’t
have a telephone pole or road,
some kind of barrier within
that circle,” he said. “So the
next two or three years we put
in two more pivots. Then we
had three circles, and we
never looked back from that
point. We felt our irrigation
was a key profit center of our
operation. This last year we
thought we had a couple of
more possibilities for irrigation,
but largely that was
going to be about it. Then
along came $6, $7 corn and
$13 soybeans, so now the
rules have changed. We’re currently
putting in four more
systems. We would like to put
in seven or eight, but we don’t
feel we can get the work done
before spring. We will put in three, four, maybe
five more next year.”
This is the one project not done in house. An
outside contractor is setting up the irrigation
system. The irrigation is being put in the bottom
fields that are already tiled. The tiling helps
remove the moisture in early spring allowing for
planting; and the irrigation adds moisture during
the hot, dry months of July and August.
“Just like precision ag, it took us three or four
years to get our management practices in place,
to learn irrigation so we could get the most out
of it,” Darren said. “The first years with corn we
were seeing probably a 40 to 50 bushel yield increase,
and we were tickled to death with that.
We have since learned how to do 80 bushel.
When we first irrigated these hills we were looking
at 190-200 bushel corn yields, which was
very good. Dryland we were in the 140 bushel
range. We have since started pumping nitrogen
and fertigating through the pivot and we have
adjusted our populations to get optimum yields.
Now we are seeing 230 to 245 bushel yields on
corn under irrigation.”
On the fields that are tiled and irrigated, Darren
sees little difference.
“I think there could be some, but irrigation
seems to level the playing field,” he said. “Some
fields need to be drained and others don’t, but
once they’re drained, the drained fields really
are comparable to the fields that don’t need to
be drained.”
The bottoms that are tiled will do 200 bushel
dryland for the most part.
“This past year we had some dry ground,” he
explained. “We had a dry summer, it didn’t get
dry until later and we were still running 200 to
215 bushel on tiled bottoms. Under irrigation,
we would have been looking at 235 to 245
bushel averages. We can see as high as 280 or
290 bushel averages in the tiled bottoms that
are irrigated. The tile, without irrigation, does
not do it alone.”
Some may think a field can be over-tiled, and
that will hurt the yield in a dry year. Grogan
said that’s not the case.
“Anything that is wet enough to be tiled, in
this area with our summers the way they are,
that doesn’t eliminate the need for irrigation,”
he said.
As the newest irrigation systems are installed,
Triple G Farms will have seven systems in place,
covering 1,000 acres. There also are future
plans to add more, all center pivot.
All in all, Grogan said tiling is more important
than irrigation in the wettest fields.
“Of the two, if a person had the need for tile
and was considering irrigation, I would push
them to tile,” he said. “Tile makes more money
than irrigation. It has a faster payout. It is less
of an investment, you’ll see a similar yield response
if the ground does truly need to be tiled,
and there is no operational cost.”
Once the tile is installed there’s some general
maintenance on outlets, but no further big investments.
While the acres that have tiling and irrigation
are being rotated, Grogan is thinking about
going to continuous corn.
“We are considering it,” he said. “The reason
we haven’t is it’s going to be interesting to see
what wheat does. We cannot add a tremendous
amount of yield to an early soybean with irrigation.
You can add some, but not enough to justify
the cost of a pivot.”
Darren feels he can be more efficient and
achieve bigger yields in his operation with a
corn crop.
“Absolutely! With one wrench in that. We can
add a tremendous amount of yield to a double-crop
soybean, that’s why we have stayed with a
corn/soybean rotation. We grow wheat under
our pivots, then the double-crop soybeans make
60 bushels to the acre, whereas we would be
looking at 35-bushel full-season beans.” Δ
(Watch next week’s paper for the fourth and
final installment of this series.)
BETTY VALLE GEGG-NAEGER: Senior Staff
Writer, MidAmerica Farmer Grower
Darren said when they first irrigated the hills they
had 190-220 bushel corn yields. Since they started
pumping nitrogen and fertigating through the pivot
they are now seeing 230 to 245 bushel corn yield.