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<br />-conzinued from pag~ 5
<br />
<br />...Lowdown
<br />
<br />blocks, a teChnique that is becoming in-
<br />creasingly popular for fanners irrigat-
<br />ing with Ogallala Wo\ler.
<br />"The blocks make a pictUn: of wha!'s
<br />going on under the ground, so that the
<br />fanner can stan understanding what his
<br />soil moisture prome teally looks like,"
<br />Sauder says. The blocks offer an inex-
<br />pensive way w check soil moisture and
<br />are much mon: accurate than waiting for
<br />surface signs of water stn:ss.
<br />The blocks work on the simplest of
<br />principles. Small plugs or blocks of gyp-
<br />sum are placed in a pn:cisely augered
<br />hole directly beneath a crop row at
<br />depths of I, 2, 3 and 4 feet. Each block
<br />has an electrical wire running from itw
<br />the surface: the wetter the block is, the
<br />better it conducts electriC!}'. Once a
<br />week, Sauder. comes by to read the
<br />blocks.
<br />"The value of gyp blocks is that
<br />they're right there to use. Too often, a
<br />soil probe will stay in the back of a pick-
<br />up," Sauder adds.
<br />Sauder's work has made believers of
<br />three area fanners.
<br />Dan Koberstein fanns with his father,
<br />Ray, nonhwest of Holyoke, raising both
<br />dryland and irrigated corn and wheat.
<br />They now use the irrigation scheduling
<br />methods promoted by Sauder on all
<br />three of their center-pivot circles.
<br />"We'd been using probes:' Koberstein
<br />says, ''but adding the gyp blocks saved
<br />us money and told us right when: we
<br />wen: with soil moisture. If we'd known
<br />they worked so well, we'd have put them
<br />in a long time ago.
<br />
<br />COMING EVENTS
<br />
<br />"We went from about $75 an acn:
<br />worth of water down to $46 last year on
<br />one circle," Koberstein adds. "On
<br />another. we went from $53 to $54 an
<br />acre to $34. Of course. we did have a lit-
<br />tle more rain last year. too.
<br />''Always before. we stane<! irrigating.
<br />the second week in June. Last year. we
<br />turned it on July 28 and turned it off
<br />Aug. . 20-and saw no stressing of
<br />plants. "
<br />Ron Thompson, who farms east and
<br />south of Holyoke. tried gypsum blocks
<br />on one of his pivots last year. This sea-
<br />son, he has them on 100% of his irrigat.
<br />ed fields.
<br />Last July, when the area had 10-15
<br />dry, breezy days with temperatun:s
<br />above 100 degrees, Thompson was run.
<br />ning his pivots continuously. At first, the
<br />blocks on the one circle showed that the
<br />soil moisture was in good shape. Then
<br />the blocks at 3- and 4-fOOl depths began
<br />drying out, though he continued w run
<br />his pivot as hard as he could. The
<br />ground began to rom green, and it lOOk
<br />a 4-wheel drive to get into the field.
<br />They dug for hardpan; there wasn't
<br />any. Sauder then suggested that Thomp-
<br />son slow the pivot down. Though he
<br />worried that it wouldn't get around the
<br />field in time to keep everything wet, he
<br />finally agreed.
<br />"The next week:', Thompson says,
<br />"you could drive a 2-wheel drive down
<br />the pivot road, and the gyp blocks at 3
<br />and 4 feet staned picking up water. We
<br />figured out that the ground had .been
<br />sealing up and water had been running
<br />. off. When we slowed the pivot down,
<br />the water had a chance to percolate.
<br />That field made right at 180 bushels, and
<br />I saved around $15 an acre.
<br />"We're creatureS of babiL We find
<br />something that works ... when you have
<br />so much money tied up in a field, it can
<br />
<br />be pretty hard to change. Sornenmes It
<br />takes something like what happened
<br />here to convince us. -
<br />"I thought 1 knew everything there
<br />was to know abOUt sprink1er irrigation:'
<br />Thompson grins, "but Bill and his iITI-
<br />gation scheduling showed me a thing or
<br />two."
<br />South of Holyoke. Kale Haynes no-
<br />ticed that irrigation scheduling with the
<br />program meant an early end to irriga-
<br />tion around Aug. 14 last year.
<br />"We got a rain on Aug. 20,"' he
<br />says, "and we never rorned it back on
<br />again. Usually, we'd do our last irriga.
<br />tion around the first of September. ..
<br />Havnes noticed another benefit:
<br />"When we started picking our com. it
<br />was down to 15 to 15.5 teal fast. We
<br />hardly had w pay any drying costs.
<br />"I think Bill will be run ragged this
<br />year with guys asking him w come out."
<br />The program, financed by the Western
<br />Area Power Authority and the Colora-
<br />do Office of Energy Conservation, is
<br />run by the Colorado State Soil Conser-
<br />vation Board, local soil conservation
<br />districts and the Soil Conservation Servo
<br />ice. Haynes says, "I've sure wid a lot of
<br />people about it." '
<br />For more information on the work
<br />done by the pump testing and irrigation
<br />water management teams, call: Haxron
<br />(Sedgwick and Phillips counties), Bill
<br />Sauder, team leader, (303) 774-7153;
<br />Burlington (Kit Carson, Cheyenne,
<br />Prowers and Baca counties), Vern
<br />Bauer, team leader, (719) 346-7766;
<br />Wrlrf ("ruma and WashingtOn counties),
<br />Conrad Bauer, team leader, (303)
<br />332.5806.0
<br />
<br />..
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />Kate Jones is the irifonnation spedDlisr for
<br />En~rgy Conservation for Colorado
<br />Agriculru....
<br />
<br />JULY
<br />1l.13-l3th Annual Colorado Water
<br />Workshop, Western State College,
<br />Gunnison.
<br />I4-Front Range Seed Analysts (FRSA)
<br />meeting, I p.m., CSU, Colorado Seed
<br />Laboratory, Ft. Collins.
<br />17-20-Third National Herb Growing
<br />and Marketing Conference, University
<br />.of Kentucky and Purdue University,
<br />Hyan.Regency Hotel, Louisville, Ky.
<br />22.24-Potato Association of America
<br />
<br />tour of San Luis Valley.
<br />24-28-Potato Association of America
<br />annual meeting, University Park Holi-
<br />day Inn, Ft. Collins.
<br />27-30-National Cattlemen's Associa.
<br />tion midyear conference, Hyatt
<br />Regency Denver Downtown Hotel.
<br />28-29-FR$A Summer Seed Symposi-
<br />um, CRP seed identification workshop,
<br />CSU, Ft. Collins.
<br />30.31-Fairplay Pack Llama Race &
<br />Roundup, Fairplay.
<br />
<br />AUGUST
<br />34- The Potash & Phosphate lnstirote
<br />and the Foundation for Agronomic
<br />Research workshop on implementing
<br />maximum economic yield systems,
<br />Toledo, Ohio.
<br />15-19-National Wool Growers Associ-
<br />ation National Ram Sale & Sheep Ex-
<br />position, Salt Palace, Salt Lake City,
<br />Utah.
<br />26-Sept. 5-Colorado State Fair,
<br />Pueblo.C
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />CR&F (10).
<br />
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