Changing Irrigation Systems and Management in the Harvey Irrigation Area

Product Information

The project is examining issues of water use efficiency (WUE) in the South West Irrigation Area (hereafter called the Harvey Irrigation Area). A significant WUE issue is whether water savings, improved pasture yields and farm productivity can be achieved through sprinkler (centre pivot) irrigation of dairy pasture in comparison with traditional surface bay irrigation (often called flood irrigation).

This project is a case study conducted on a commercial dairy farm and is generating information that is relevant to the planning and operational context of the farm. Irrigators have been seeking such information derived locally and within a commercial and practical context. Furthermore, they are seeking the information within the immediate future in order to have it available for imminent decisions on whether or not to invest in sprinkler irrigation.

The case study is comparing systems by measuring two water use efficiency indexes:

Irrigation water use index = yield/irrigation water applied = kg dry matter/ML

Pasture water use index = yield/evapotranspiration = kg/mm.

It is also simulating pivots of various sizes in order to determine the optimum size on Harvey’s clay based soils. The case study is linking with the DairyCatch project for monitoring water and nutrient run-off and infiltration under both systems.