Watering after season
Always seek to answer the small questions
I’m always learning about the complicated process of water allocation, usage, and distribution systems within the Pine River Valley. The river and reservoir that feed a person’s property has a lot to do with when water will become available and for how long it will remain in the canals and laterals through the fall months.
For the type of hay that I grow, I am blessed to be able to want, wish, and wait for water to show up as soon as possible in the month of April or early May. I realize that there are tested and true methods about when to water, but I am also blessed with the ignorance of not knowing most of these methods and so I resort to “execute and observe” tactics each year to confirm suspicions or to learn to never do that again.
Over the past three years, when it is available, I’ve turned on water as soon as it begins to trickle into my laterals. In 2022, This was in the second week of May. In 2023, water arrived on the first week of May. This year, water was promised on April 15. Please keep in mind that in the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project (PRIIP), water takes about 7-14 days to ramp up to full levels. Pressure and ditch height are important to the way that I irrigate, so it ended up being about April 26, when I was able to irrigate at full strength. Very much appreciated was I, but to be honest, I would want to see what an April 1 irrigation season would look like.
To each their own
If this was a classroom, workshop, or open discussion, I would have quite a few hands ready to raise for comparison. As previously stated, many people have their proven operation schedules nailed down and I’m sure it works very well for them. I’m just not there yet. I’m learning that my grasses seem to like water on them, even into the latter week of April.
The boundary of my experimentation has only been limited to when water has become available. I’m sure at some point, water will be too cold…or the air/ground temperature is not optimal…or perhaps there is some truth in that the grass gets shocked by it being too early in the year. Not that I don’t believe any of that, I just haven’t seen it with my own two eyes yet. The grass seems to absorb a late April watering with as much comfort last year as it did an early May watering the year before.
The difference in advancing the water timeline, and the watering season to embrace another two to three weeks of watering into October could be the difference between going from two cuttings to three cuttings. Depending on the forage selection, it could even be the difference between three cuttings and four. That is WORLD of difference when thinking in terms of tonnage per acre.
It also offers a hedge to the risks within the industry of farming. As stated early in writing these articles, I was not a fan of getting into a business that was dependent on uncontrollable factors such as weather, rain, insects, and such. The idea that a large percentage of annual production could be ruined by unforeseen circumstances could be a deterrent for many to even enter into this industry. The idea of multiple harvests across late spring into early fall helps to mitigate the risks of weather, spoilage, and loss. It helps people feel better about taking a gamble to aerate, seed, fertilize, irrigate, cut, rake, bale, and stack.
One bad harvest isn’t as impactful when a person has the possibility of having three or four cuts per year. Again, this depends on what is being grown.
What are they doing over there?
I really wanted to end the hay season toward the end of September. The past three years have me eyeing the third week in September. Going later than this just gives me anxiety. As October pops up, the days get shorter. That’s not good for drying grasses. The days get colder…also not good for drying. The grass just doesn’t crisp up the way it does in July and August. Not to mention that the humidity just seems to sit still, and it makes for some nervous baling. Nothing worse than risking a barn fire.
Needless to say, I wasn’t able to make that September target. My final cut didn’t happen until the first week of October. It felt wrong and I had moisture-probed a lot more bales than I normally would. The water in my laterals were shut down on Oct. 1. Just as well, I guess. It did strike me as odd that even though this was the case, I noticed that neighbors on my same county road were still watering well into October through their pivots and side rolls. I was left to wonder why. Why do that if there is absolutely no time left in the harvest season.
After asking around a bit, it was revealed to me. Apparently, the reason to water as long as possible (but before freezing temps sit in) is to keep the soil saturated, the roots pliable, and to keep the ground from cracking. Cracks in the ground expose roots to open air which will freeze. That makes a lot of sense to me. It’s like packaging a fresh product into the insulation of the snow so that it can be unpacked in early spring with its natural preservatives. A little more saturation in the fall could mean a lot less irrigation needed in the early spring. One more feather in the hat of knowledge. More to come.