Irrigation system alleviates farming stresses
USU Cooperative Extension introduced a type of solar-powered, round-the-clock ranching technology to the state of Utah that could change farm operation forever.
The technology, known as the satellite-radio-stock-water monitoring system, came to Utah last year and its awareness and production are still ongoing.
Designed by Automata, Inc., a California-based company, the system can help ranchers monitor their stock water – privately-owned irrigation water – through e-mail and phone alerts. This helps limit the trips that ranchers need to make – some can be as long as six hours round-trip – in order to make sure that their stock water is still at appropriate levels.
“When you realize that you can check your stock water and not even start your pickup, it’s pretty amazing,” Heaton said.
Kevin Heaton, a USU cooperative extension agent for Kane and Garfield counties, is the principle investigator responsible for writing the Conservation Innovation Grant, a bestowal that allowed the technology to come to Utah.
The system has the capacity to assist southern Utah ranchers in saving both time and money, and is being utilized by ranchers throughout Kane, Garfield and Washington counties.
Heaton said that a great advantage of the system is the luxuries it affords to focus on other tasks that don’t require such time and distance.
“If (a rancher) has the option where he can check his water during the day, he can do other things in his schedule that are more important than just checking his water,” he said.
The monitors send data via satellite radio, powered by a solar battery.
“It’s accessible anywhere, as long as you have access to the sky,” he said.
The unit has a mini-satellite that transmits data generated from a transducer, or energy-converting, sensor to a website. The system is powered by a solar panel that charges the battery and operates the system 24 hours per day.
“A rancher can use the Internet to monitor the stock water,” Heaton said. “If the water is depleted, or there is some other abnormal change to the water level, caused by something like a leak, break or vandalism, the satellite-radio-stock-water monitor will email the rancher or his cell phone with an alert.”
Escalante rancher Todd Phillips is one consumer who has benefited as much.
“I was wary at first,” said Phillips of the monitors. Phillips was approached by Heaton about trying it on Phillips’ own land.
“I know that some of the monitors have had problems, but we’ve had no problem with ours,” he said.
Phillips said he is grateful for the stock-watering system because it allows him to pay more attention to several important matters home on the range.
“With a ranch, there’s always many things to be concerned about,” he said. “I now have more time to focus on those sorts of things.”
Chad Reid, the Iron County director of agriculture and natural resources for USU Extension, largely agreed with Phillips’ assessment.
“The ones I’ve seen have appeared to work well, and the savings in having to drive out to these remote locations saves both fuel and time,” said Reid, who indicated that he is interested in installing a system for his property, especially after having been exposed to its capabilities. “From an animal management and animal health perspective, that’s an important thing.”
Reid did acknowledge that in first being approached by Heaton about the technology, he was concerned how it was going to work.
Now, Reid sees the only major concern about the monitors are the risks of vandalism and theft, but believes when the monitors are installed in remote locations in the ranch, the concern is largely an aberration when compared to the benefits that come from owning a system.
“The equipment is well-designed and seems to work well,” he said.
Another benefit of the system, Heaton said, is that it can be installed just about anywhere.
Some are installed within 5 to 10 miles of the Grand Canyon – traditionally a place with no cell-phone service – where a lot of cattle from Utah are moved for the winter months.
“Even if (the ranchers) can save two to three trips per month, it’s worth the money,” Heaton said.
Heaton has recently proven such a statement. After surveying 15 consumers, the average savings made because of the conserved time and gas and vehicle maintenance expenses was $165 and 11 hours per month. The surveyed customers’ traveling distance varied from 30 to 200 miles.
The stock water monitor itself costs $1,800 per month, with a $100 installation fee. Approximately $3 to $10 per month are required for website use. Transferring data on the system even every hour costs less than $10 per month.
Heaton gave an example of a friend who would fly his plane from St. George during the winter months to check irrigation systems in Mule Canyon, near the Grand Canyon. Even the flight would take an hour round-trip, or six hours in a car. However, with the satellite-radio-stock-water monitoring system, Heaton’s friend has the answers he needs in seconds.
“(He) thinks he can live until he’s 100 years old because of the system,” Heaton said.
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu