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Farm irrigation guided by technology Soil moisture monitoring technology has helped Mid Canterbury dairy farmer and irrigation advocate Mark Slee to be more efficient with water, which is benefiting business profitability and the environment. Mark describes himself as a first generation dairy farmer. “I grew up on a sheep farm and shifted to Canterbury from Southland in the late ’80s, and we’ve been dairying here since 1987.” |
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With his wife Devon, Mark runs three 850 cow herds and a support block on 880ha, 25km south of Ashburton. The farm is on the Mayfield Hinds Irrigation Scheme, supplied by the Rangitata Diversion Race.
Caring for every drop | |
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Centre pivot irrigators and soil moisture monitoring equipment enables dairy farmers to use water responsibly. The information provided by soil moisture monitoring is key to decision-making. It helps a farm manager know:
The financial and farm incentives to use water effectively are significant. | |
Useful Resources | |
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Five Canterbury dairy farmers, including Mark Slee, have shared their stories about how they use water well – thanks to technology, innovation, management, investment and experience.
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The property has seven centre pivot irrigators. The pivots use about half as much water as traditional border dyke irrigation and so they only apply what’s needed, each centre pivot has an Aquaflex soil moisture sensor in the ground beneath it.
“It’s a long, thin flexible tape which senses the soil moisture every three hours and that information is telemeted back to the dairy shed,” says Mark.
In the office beside the milking platform, the information sent from the paddock is displayed on a computer screen. The trick is to keep the moisture level between field capacity – the top line on screen – and the refill point, the bottom line.
Mark only turns the irrigators on when the moisture level dips towards the refill point – at which, grass growth is below optimum.
“If the soil moisture’s at the right level you’ll grow the optimal amount of grass,” he says. “If the ground’s too moist, then you’ll actually grow less grass. And equally if things get too dry, the grass growth drops away, so it’s just keeping that balance at the right levels. This is a scientific way of doing it, instead of just going by gut instinct.
“By doing that, we’re using a lot less water than if we didn’t have this information. So it’s benefiting us because we’re using less water, it’s costing us less in electricity and you’re having less leaching of water through the soil profile.
“It’s just a good management tool that saves you money and it’s better for the environment as well.”
As well as farming, Mark is an IrrigationNZ board member and a previous director of Rangitata Diversion Race Management Ltd.
“The modern irrigation systems are as efficient as we can get at the moment and we’ll keep finding ways of being more efficient if we can.”
- To view Mark's video clip click here
