Delivering Water Across Small Farms With Low Cost Solutions
If you're managing a small farm or working with a small patch of land, there's no reason to spend as much as bigger farm operations. With relatively short travel times, it's better to make it easier to get work done on foot with a few low cost helpers rather than giant, swinging irrigation gates or extensive plumbing. Take a look at how a few wisely-placed pumps can make farming a lot easier without breaking the bank.
Getting Well Water Without A Hand Pump
A big, iron hand pump may be a mainstay of the old farming days, but if anyone can appreciate boosts in technology, it's a farmer who already has to work hard all day. A well pump using electricity or fuel can be a real time and energy-saver when placed properly, and can pay for itself as soon as the harvest comes through.
The easiest solution would be to use an electrical well pump attached to farm power. Although many rural areas promote being "off the grid" or not connected to the power grid, if you live in a rural community, you can usually look forward to a small electrical bill as long as you're only using it for the pump's power as needed.
If you're truly too far from current electrical service, putting down an electrical pole and connecting services is a bit of a bigger investment. The cost varies across the country--even in the same county--so be sure to speak with any local electrical cooperative or farmer's cooperative to find the local costs.
To avoid power grid connections completely, solar power is a good option. You'll need a photovoltaic panel (solar panel), a compatible battery (often sold in the same place as the panels) and the proper wiring for your pump.
Unless you have electrical experience, you'll want to contact the well pump service to get information of how to wire everything. Simple power connections usually just need two wires, but the manufacturer will know the right way to connect things. If the pump is already solar powered with a battery, you can just put it on your well pump connection and let it charge for a bit before use.
Sending Water Down The Fields Efficiently
Instead of pumping by hand, the water will be sucked or pulled from the ground with the well pump and sent anywhere you need it to go. To divert the water efficiently, you'll need a series of hoses and maybe a few water tanks or reservoirs.
To water specific plants, you'll either want to install a series of sprinklers with hoses that run between your planting rows or beneath large planting beds to distribute water evenly. It's possible to water large areas with powerful sprinklers if you don't want to tear up existing plant beds, but you'll be investing more for these solutions and wasting a bit of water--water that will eventually return to the ground system by soaking or as rain, but still a current waste.
If you're interested in drip irrigation or dropping individual water droplets onto plants, you'll need to install your drip irrigation system first, then make the well pump hose system connect to the drip irrigation system. It's better to get a well pump with a timer that can pulse on and off when you're not actively managing the farm.
For more information, contact R & H Service Inc or a similar company.