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<br />f\) <br />~ <br />-J <br />o <br /> <br />Farm 010 - The demonstration was set up on a seven acre <br />alfalfa hay field. The soil is Mesa clay loam <br />with a gravelly subsoil. The field has a cross <br />slope and remarking of furrows were essential to <br />avoid cross over. The field is quite narrow with <br />long furrows. <br /> <br />The field has been divided into two sections and <br />the owner irrigated them by gated pipes. The <br />upper section of the field is close to his <br />dwelling house and water would seep into the <br />basement during irrigation. The owner's decision <br />to try surge was prompted by the desire of <br />avoiding flooding of his basement. <br /> <br />The surge valve was fitted by the owner in a <br />manner that it would switch water between upper <br />and lower half of the field to accomplish surge. <br />The water tended to run out of the lower half of <br />the field quicker than the upper half due to <br />variation in soil. So the controller was set to <br />operate at 60/40 ratio. The cooperator did not <br />have an area to run conventional for comparison, <br />but there was no more flooding of his basement. <br />The irrigation set time needs to be adjusted to <br />the water holding capacity of the field. The <br />farmer was helped to develop his irrigation set <br />time and ball probes were provided so that he <br />could probe the depth of water penetration to <br />avoid over irrigation. <br /> <br />Farm 011 - The demonstration site was a 20 acre alfalfa hay <br />field. Most of the furrows were quarter mile <br />long. The cooperator's experience with the <br />conventional irrigation in this field was that the <br />water would never reach the end of the field and <br />would sit halfway for a prolonged period of time. <br />The soil is Mesa clay loam with well drained <br />subsoil. With surge it was possible to reach the <br />end of the furrows in a timely manner and there <br />was saving of water. But, this prompted the owner <br />to divert the water to his more important crop - <br />tree fruit, before the soak was achieved. This <br />resulted in under irrigation. As the season <br />progressed it was difficult to get the water to <br />reach the end because of deteriorated furrow <br />condi tion. Cross over started to occur as the <br />furrows were all gone during the haying process. <br />The owner had too many things to attend and had <br />little time to attend to the irrigation of his <br />hayfield. However, he expressed great <br />satisfaction since he could now cover the entire <br />length of the field much faster. <br /> <br />A-4 <br />