Believe it or not winter can be the best time for testing irrigation equipment (obviously providing you have a water supply) as the weather is often at its most settled – fine days with no wind! There are different levels of testing being offered by the irrigation industry and you need to know what you […]
To wrap up the 2019-20 irrigation season we’ve analysed the weather data from the Lincoln and Winchmore climate stations and then estimated how much water an efficient irrigation system would have used. The following table provides a summary of average daily and monthly water use for pasture (Potential Evapotranspiration – PET) alongside monthly rainfall. The […]
It’s been a long dry summer with some areas in Canterbury, particularly mid, central and north, receiving very little rainfall since mid-December. Irrigation is a relatively simple task in dry weather, you turn it on, check the flow rate and system pressure are correct on a daily basis (this can be automated) and keep going […]
Norwester season has arrived! Irrigation is a relatively simple task in hot dry weather, you turn it on, check the flow rate and system pressure are correct on a daily basis (this can be automated) and keep going until the weather forecast provides you certainty significant rainfall is coming. From late November through to mid-December […]
After a cold and damp start, the 2019-20 irrigation season has finally begun. In the last post we predicted it would be early November before irrigation needed to start-up. This prediction turned out to be on the money. It was informed through running a water budget using Winchmore and Lincoln climate data, 2-day and 10-day […]
It’s meant to be spring, but it’s not quite kicked into gear yet! In my last column I talked about September being the month to check your irrigation and October being the month to start keeping an eye on your soil moisture sensors or water budget alongside the 3-day weather forecast. If you’ve been doing […]
Given our last two posts have focused on the recurring issues we’ve found with irrigation systems, for this one, instead of pointing out the problems, we thought we best talk about solutions! The team at Water Strategies has spent the last few months working through how we can cost-effectively deliver a service that meets Farm […]
As previously highlighted almost 50 percent of center pivot irrigation systems in New Zealand are now over 10 years old. This means they are beyond half their serviceable life and issues are starting to occur. Water Strategies continues to undertake much infrastructure assessment work for clients, providing each with a detailed report on the remaining […]
Almost 50 percent of Center Pivot irrigation systems in New Zealand are over 10 years old. This means they are now beyond half their serviceable life and issues will be starting to occur. There are also many Center Pivot systems that have been installed on rolling hill country, or that climb up and down river […]
After a month back out in the field it’s become clear there is an urgent need for tailored advice and services. Irrigation and Irrigation good management practice advice is all about what works for the farm in question not a blanket recipe. We visited a client last week where the audit requirement was to ‘Do a Bucket Test’ […]
