First of all, I just purchased a fantastic book from The Groundwater Foundation, called Rainmakers: A Photographic Story of Center Pivots. Its a good book with lots of scenic images, and has a foreward by congressman Tom Osborne, which I thought was neat. For $24 US (though with S&H, it cost a bit more in Canada), its a nice little coffee table book for anyone who enjoys a bit of agricultural invention and a broader sense view of how an item helped to change modern day food production.

But obviously, with any good book comes the chance to ask some questions, so I will. And what I am wondering is.

1) What is the best way of laying out a field with center pivots? Are most fields planted straight across? Or do some plant in circles? And if you do plant in circles, does 'fall back' on the inside sprayer boom become an issue?

2) How good is chemigation / fertigation? Is it popular? Is it accurate?

3) How much extra acres does an end gun get you, and do you square up fields at that point?

4) How common are corner swing arm systems? Are they cost effective, or are they maintenance problems?

5) Between both the end gun and corner systems, do they provide the same water application levels as the main system? Or is it a case of 'whatever water we get is better then none at all'

Thanks for answering my questions. And to those who are interested, the website for the book is http://www.groundwater.org/shop/proddetail.asp?prod=0102

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