Program aims to be self-sufficient   

The Tribe’s Wildlife Resource Division recently acquired a center pivot for seasonal irrigation on a section of the land it uses for ranging its bison herd. “The Southern Ute Tribe’s current herd is numbered at 95 animals; 24 of those are this year’s calves,” Wildlife Resource Management Division Head, Aran Johnson said.  

“The Bison Program aims to be self-sufficient, producing enough hay on the pasture to feed the bison herd through the winter months without having to purchase hay from outside sources,” Johnson said. “The pasture currently produces hay on about 50 acres using both gated pipe and side-roll irrigation systems and it falls a little short of producing enough hay for the herd of 95 animals. The center pivot will add about 65 acres of hay production on the pasture, and once fully producing will provide more than enough hay to feed the entire herd through the winter months.” 

The total acreage of the bison pasture is 350 acres, which sits just southeast of Ignacio on Tribal land.  

“This project is fully aimed at making the Bison Program self-sufficient with regard to hay production for the herd,” Johnson said. “If in the future the pivot produces surplus hay, then it may be possible to use that as a revenue source for the Tribe.” 

The center pivot project is funded by a combination of Tribal funds and a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) grant.  After the Tribe pays upfront for certain parts of the project, the NRCS reimburses the Tribe for completing stages of the project. “When it’s all said and done the NRCS will have reimbursed the Tribe for nearly 70% of the cost of the system,” Johnson said. “Installing the complete system (materials and labor) was contracted at $168,000.” 

The contractors working to set up the irrigation system in the latter half of October were with Water Works Irrigation, Inc. based in Alamosa, Colo.  

“Irrigation season is generally mid-May thru September,” Johnson said. “We expect that the system will be up and running during the 2025 irrigation season and will be fully producing hay by the end of the 2027 irrigation season.”  

“Adding the center pivot to the pasture will also require adding cross fencing to exclude the herd during the hay season,” he said. “Excluding the pivot and an adjacent side roll field will mean that almost 100 acres of the 350-acre total pasture will be off limits to the animals mid-May through September. Therefore, some of the smaller hay-producing fields will be converted to irrigated pasture where the herd has access year-round.”