When Scott and Nicole Wells took over their dairy farm at Kyabram four years ago it had five very old, rusty Dethridge wheels and was split by one kilometre of irrigation channel.
The Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) channel still had wooden bars, leaked badly and struggled to meet delivery targets.
“We had severe leakage through the channel system, it was just pouring out, at the bottom of our farm, into Mosquito Creek drain,” Mr Wells said.
“We had multiple attempts to fix it, I don’t know when these channels were put through, but they were really old.
“The wheels were small and struggled to get head, one wasn’t too bad, we could get 10 megalitres (ML) a day, but the other was only four to six ML.”
In winter 2016, Mr Wells and Ms Soper agreed to a modernisation plan, which saw them fill in most of the channel and transfer to a pumped pipe system with 50 risers.
They now get a high delivery flow (17Ml a day) at the rise furthest from their pump. A 200 cow herd currently produced 1.2million litres of milk, or 97,000 kilograms/milk solids (kg/MS) for Murray Goulburn.
The farm was sown down to annuals and perennials, with lucerne, ryegrass, millet and sorghum in the mix.
“The process started before we came here, the Connections discussion had been happening, to the best of our knowledge, for a couple of years before that,” Ms Soper said.
Further plans were then drawn up, with a long term view of what was best for the property – “not just for us, because hopefully this farm will still be producing milk, 50 years after we are gone.”
The farm was “relatively lumpy”, with short, steep bays, but good soil type. “But the Shepparton fine sandy loam is as good as you will find, anywhere in northern Victoria,” Mr Wells said.
During negotiations with GMW, the plan was modified and the scheme extended.
“We may, in fact, use more water, but use it more wisely to grow more fodder. What will not be there is the losses, so GMW will save that water, through less loss.”
He said the farm had not yet used its entitlement.
“Under normal contions, under the pipe and riser system, we would be more than likely to use it, but the water savings will still be real.”
An advantage of modernisation would be the data on how much water had gone down the old channel, against the live figures as to what was currently being pumped under the new system.
The scheme was commissioned at the end of February, with contractors GM Poly being very good to deal with, Ms Soper said. ‘That adds to the positive feeling about Connections. We watered from the start of March, to the end of April, when we had 120mm of rain over a weekend,” she said
The automated outlets allowed for speed of delivery and consistency of supply.
Speed of watering improved the pastures and lucerne, as well as resulting in less weeds and better plant composition. That, in turn, allowed for better quality feed, with a higher protein level.
“It was really slow, really inefficient – it’s cut the time by a third, the first annual watering will be done in 24 hours,” Mr Wells said.
His only concern, now, was energy costs.
“We will explore our options, in terms of alternative energy sources, in terms of generators, or solar, because we have to run a profitable business.”
