rancherman - 4/21/2012 15:21

here are some pics of ground adjacent to mine.. Keep in mind, it's hard to show steepness of grade and depth of draws when nothing is there to compare it with.
All these pics were right after a 3.5 inch rain. (very little run off, mainly due to the pure sugar sand, and the fact the grass still there was doing 'it's job holding the soil'.


this is a quarter that was upland prairie hay. whether you believe in Creationism, or evolution, the grass on this land has endured fire, drought, insects, you name it. Typically, big and little bluestem, side oats gramma, indian grass, buffalo grass,switch grass, and about 40 other lesser known to me.. It typically would cut about 1-1.5 tons per acre, harvested once a year.



Here is the new system, with a little chisel plowing going on. 2 days after our 3.5 inch rain. (lets you see how fast water will soak away).



Of course, major 'ditches' need to be bulldozed, so irrigation system can traverse... any pics here that show 'yellow dirt'... this is pure sugar sand
our 'topsoil' is about 6-10 inches deep, and runs less than 1 percent organic.



some of these finished 'ditches' will run close to 40 degree angle slope. Hard to imagine (I'll keep close tabs) on how easily the irrigator is going to cross this barrier. There will be some very stressed towers, not to mention the lack of traction in the sugar sand...

standing in same spot, I did a '180' with the camera, and here is one of my 'meadows'.