Do-It-Yourself Pasture Irrigation

Do-It-Yourself Pasture Irrigation IRRIGATION Acessories A recent article in the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association APPPA member publication Issue 132 outlined a towable pasture irrigation system Matt Cadman came up with the idea in 2022 when he was faced with dead grass as he turned out 1 200 pullets “The solution to our lack of rain was to construct our very own K-Line irrigation system ” recalled Cadman The K-Line system consists of a long line of sprinklers on sliding pods attached with irrigation hose It can be towed with a 4-wheeler In his article on the APPPA forum he laid out a detailed how-to He also listed all the materials needed to build it as well as the tools he used Cadman made sprinklers on skids made out of the sides of 50-gal plastic barrels He drilled holes in the skids for the 45-ft lengths of 3/4-in HDPE black plastic pipe to enter and exit They were joined at each skid with PEX couplings and an upright for a sprinkler head Cadman used 10-in pieces of 2 by 4’s to sandwich the pipes and PEX couplings as well as to fix them to the skid Once the sprinkler heads were attached all that remained was to hook it up to a water source with a flexible hose The hose made it easy to change sprinkler positions without reconnecting He estimates the system let him put down about an inch of rain in a 12-hr period With a 5-head line he could water about 3 acres a week “The skids worked better than I imagined ” reported Cadman “In the odd event that they flip over they almost always right themselves The flexible PEX line that holds up the sprinkler head can take a beating without any issue ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup APPA Grit American Pastured Poultry Producers Association P O Box 85 Hughesville Penn 17737  ph 888-662-7772; www apppa org

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