Evaluate the sprinkler package
Evaluating the sprinkler package is a little more difficult when you cannot pump water; however, one method is to look for nonuniform circular patterns in the crop using summer aerial images. The key is to look for the shape of the pattern. If it is not circular, it is probably not caused by the pivot. If you do not have maps from the past season, many providers still have the images and would be happy to sell them to you.
Sprinkler devices generally do not last as long as the pivot itself and should be replaced as needed. The industry recommends replacement after 10 years or 10,000 hours of operation, whichever comes first. The need for replacement is extremely dependent on water quality. Additionally, newer sprinkler designs offer more options and can be designed to better suit the field conditions than older packages.
In many situations, updating to a newer design is worth consideration. Pressure regulators may wear out or break before sprinkler devices, and/or new sprinkler packages may require a different pressure than the original design. Therefore,
pressure regulators should always be replaced as part of a new package. In fact, sometimes just replacing the pressure regulators and continuing to use the sprinklers may be a viable option.
Easier record keeping
Winter is an excellent time to review your notes from last summer to see what was written down that needs to be repaired, and then get it fixed.
What? You say the wind blew your notebook out of the pickup last fall and it was lost. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?
Maybe it is time to consider setting up one or several different digital notebooks for the farm using a cloud-based note-taking app such as Microsoft OneNote, Evernote or a similar tool.
These apps have several advantages over paper-based notebooks, including they are always backed up (thus, the notes
Download for free at:
http://extensionpublications.unl.edu /assets/pdf/ec3017.pdf
cannot be lost), and everyone on the farm can have access to enter notes and see what others have entered.
Additionally, because most people carry their smartphones at all times, the notebook is always there. Data can be entered by typing, handwriting, voice or photos, and several years of notes can be at everyone’s fingertips. Separate notebooks can be developed for business and personal use with only the appropriate people having access to each. Many online tutorials are available to help you set up and organize a valuable notebook system for your farm.
Steve Melvin is an extension educator
with the University of Nebraska Extension. He has worked for the university 28 years and five years in the irrigation industry.
Wayward water sprays straight up from a center pivot irrigation system when sprinklers are missing or broken and dramatically lowers the application uniformity.
22 Irrigation TODAY | January 2019
CENTER PIVOT IRRIGATION HANDBOOK
EC3017
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