I’m an agronomist in the Golden Triangle (Great Falls, Shelby, Havre). There’s a lot of dry land farming that goes on, and it’s pretty common to leave a field fallow every other, or every third year in order to replenish the limited moisture we get.
Montana road trip
- Thread starter homestead
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Peas are being planted also, correct? mtmuley
Gerald Martin
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. I happen to agree with your opinion though.
Yes, I don’t work with peas much, but iirc the price isn’t great so there’s reduced acres this year. Plus with the early spring, most everything is already in the ground by now.
antlerradar
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No different out west. But people love them and money and work do not matter when you love something.
antlerradar
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The first irrigation systems were all gravity flow, The landowner would start the ditch far enough up stream so that you could with a ditch with less gradient than the river just let the water flow on to the fields. This worked best where there is plenty of fall in the river. In eastern Mt where there is not much elevation change, the farmer would often have to start the ditch miles upstream from the fields and have a dam in the river. The dam and the extra ditch were very expensive to maintain. There was also a lot of ditch loss of water. Our original pre 1900 ditch was close to three miles long before it got to the first fields. My father was a boy when we quit using it in the 50's. At the intake there was two 36 inch head-gates, by the time the water got to the fields the water volume was maybe half because the first mile of ditch went through a lot of gravel. The dam was combination of rocks, logs and willow sticks bundled together with rope. Every time the river flooded the dam would wash out and would have to be rebuilt. It was very expensive then and with today's regulation, the cost would be too much to even think of going back. Most people have gone to pumping the water instead of gravity flow ditches. However there as still a few gravity flow ditches in use where there is enough river gradient that you do not need a dam and T& Y irrigation district near Miles City has a concrete dam. Most farmers have gone to pumping water into a ditch or sprinkler systems. Pumps come in all different sizes. The pump @cgasner1 mentioned will pump around 7500 gallons a minute give or take depending on the river elevation. There are pumps that will do much more. Sprinkler systems are sold as using a lot less water, but this really isn't true, Plants use water, ditch systems and sprinkler systems deliver the water to the plants. What the plants do not use, evaporates into the air or ends up back in the river. Because sprinklers deliver considerably less water it is economical to irrigate places much higher in elevation above the river than you ever could with a ditch system.
How do the water rights work? Are they attached to the property? The person? Are these water rights permanent, or do they need to be renewed on a continual basis? Are there financial costs? Obligations for upkeep of ditches/dams, etc...?
I really appreciate all the responses, especially given that most of my questions don't pertain to hunting. I'm a social studies teacher, so the culture and history of places I go is just as important to me as the hunting. And the crowd here on Hunttalk always strikes me as quite diverse. Thanks folks.
cgasner1
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I live on a cistern so I have to haul water to my house. I haul 900 gallons of water home a week for the house. Imagine my reaction to being told that pump was pushing 7500 gallons a minute
That definitely provides perspective.
antlerradar
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Water rights are generally attached to the property, In general a water right has a set amount of flow and a priority date. My GG grandfather constructed the first ditch on the river, so my cousins still have the water right with the first priority date, I think the flow is around 10 cfs. (cubic feet per second). T&Y irrigation district has the second, Their water right is for around 180 cfs. On dry years like this one often these are the only two water rights that the river flow will accommodate, all of the other farmers are using stored water.(water that is in the reservoir) You do not have to pay for your water right, Stored water in the reservoir was boughten with a contract that was payed out over many years, plus an annual opporation and mantanince fee for the dam. If you have a water right, you are obligated to keep your water dilivery systom opporational. If you do not use your water, the right can be challanged as abbandon. There is no truer statement than in the west we drink wiskey, water is for fighting over.
JEL
Well-known member
Chickpeas, yellow peas, lentils, mustard are all being planted. Cereal grains don't pencil out at the current market price.
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