Nebraska aka the boondocks | I am still all ridge till even under pivots. With furrow irrigation you do twelve hour sets. This can vary if you struggle to get water through. To vary for fields, most are 1/4 mile or half mile rows, you simply open more gates on your pipe. 28-32 gates on 1/2 mile rows and probably 45-60 on 1/4 mile. Most pumps are electric here and the psi is around 30. You can over water the top, especially if you struggle to get water through. But I would say most inconvenient fields are now pivots, leaving only the easiest ground left for furrow irrigation. Fuel use per hour simply varies on how deep you pull from, it wouldn’t take a lot to move 10ft, especially if it just dumps into an open ditch. As for running fertilizer in the water, I wouldn’t even consider it.
Some years furrow irrigation is our best yielding, maybe because it’s too much work and we tend not to overwater. Whereas, with a pivot, it’s too easy to press a button to “keep your soak,” as the agronomist likes to say. |
Educate me about furrow irrigation
