Sheep and beef farmers Janet and Philip Smith had a plan to develop Janet's family farm. A water scheme was needed to irrigate the crops and deliver clean water to the higher paddocks.
The farm is owned by Cairnhill Limited and is situated at Becks, in Otago. The farm is a mixture of hill country with westerly and easterly aspects, rolling down to flat country which is north and west facing. Pasture type varies from unimproved tussock in the hills to pasture in the flat areas where short rotation cropping is practiced. Pasture is rotated with chicory, fodder beet and kale, all under irrigation.
Carrying large numbers of sheep, some beef, and grazing 150 dairy heifers over an 18-month period, having a clean and consistent water supply is imperative.
The Smith family have been long-time PGG Wrightson customers, so when Philip was looking into a system, his first call was to PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative Tony Sanders, based at the Alexandra store.
“Tony and the Alexandra store team are well known to us. They are always easily contactable and know our farm and the area well. So, when they put me onto Waters & Farr, I knew we would receive good advice,” says Philip. Once I started talking to Phil Forrest at Waters & Farr, I was immediately confident that they knew what they were doing. On his first visit to the farm, Phil quickly identified our challenges and found us workable solutions.”
In this case, the main challenge was pumping water to paddocks that were 100 m higher in altitude than the pump. Using a gravity-fed system, it needed the right pipe sizing accompanied by the right amount of pressure.
Philip found working with PGG Wrightson and Waters & Farr made a seemingly complex job easy. “Once we agreed on a design, Tony arranged for everything to be delivered on-farm. The components were simple to put together, having received detailed plans that included a list of every piece of equipment with clear instructions on how to put it all together. Literally where every joiner, junction and pipe should go.”
Philip’s new system was designed around his existing pump, so the system design and pressure settings had to match it. Ready to go in October 2022, the system has been running for just under a year.
“The performance of this system could not be better,” says Philip. “Even in severe frost conditions, we have had no problems. We can get water to every single paddock. This has made pasture renewal easier and the farm is future-proofed for rotational grazing subdivision.”
From start to finish, Philip found the stock water design process through PGG Wrightson to be straightforward. “It was simple, thorough, and stress-free, delivering on our objectives. I would recommend PGG Wrightson as your ‘go to’ for a job like this,” he says.
CAIRNHILL FARM
- 1,200 ha sheep and beef farm
- 2,400 ewes, 700 ewe hoggets, 300 store lambs, 55 cows, 55 R2 heifers, 50 store calves, 83 heifer replacements, 150 dairy heifers grazed
Sponsored by Waters & Farr