I'm guessing you have to have the sprinklers on top of the pivot span because you're in corn.

Here, we use hose drops and low-drift nozzles to keep the wind consumption to a minimum. Because we're growing nothing but forage, our nozzles come down to between 30" and 40" off the ground, max. For you guys in corn, our nozzles would be absurdly low, but when you get down to within 3' of the ground, I can report that you keep a LOT more of your water on the ground.

Our Et in hay here from now until August will typically run about 0.30 to 0.35" per day.