ANY FARMERS OR IRRIGATORS ????

[WHT_MTNMAN]

We have some land I want to start "farming" or raising hay on and I have a pretty bad Prarie Dog problem. I can shoot them but I can't seem to flood them out or make a very big dent in their population, does anyone have any good methods or poisons? 

Also does anyone use water reels? vs wheel lines etc... just looking at cost effective and minimum time to irrigate about 50 acres.   Thankfully the land has a large well on the property already  

Thanks, 

[AzDiamondHeat]

I've been known to irritate every now and then....

[Edge]

Where is the land and what elevation? What are you wanting to plant and ultimately feed? In a wet year you can get two cuttings of alfalfa and by planting the dry land strain but the first cutting is too rich for equines.  Beauty of it is, no irrigating, no leveling the land for flood and no well and pumping costs. Crested wheat makes a great permanent pasture as well as alfalfa for cattle and equines and is an annual. Cut and put up, equines can graze on the secondary growth 

 

[Chef]

Be prepared to know your pressures coming from your well pump.

Also distances and elevation changes from your water source to the farthest starting point on your field/s.

This will correlate to what components will work best for you with reels. (diameter hose etc.)

[creed]

I would go with wheels. unless there are severe elevation changes in the field they are the safer choice. Know how many gpm's your pump puts out and nozzle accordingly.  We irrigated hundreds of acres with wheels without any major issues. As they aged they would go to twisting drive axles but you get years of use  before that starts happening. 

As to prairie dogs there may be a bait that can be used but secondary poisoning becomes an issue. I know of guys that use road flares down the holes. They claim good success but on a small scale.

[NE AZ Guy]

I bought and used a oxygen/propane rig, that you put down the hole, run the mixture and send a spark to the end of the hose remotely. I got rid of about a 400 burrow town in a cpl of years. I dont need it anymore as they are gone. I would sell it if you think you would like it. Before I used this, I tried oat bate, shooting, traps. Even had Animal Damage Control come in for 4-5 yrs and poison. no long term help. I can send you info on this equipment if you like.

[creed]

4 minutes ago, NE AZ Guy said:

I bought and used a oxygen/propane rig, that you put down the hole, run the mixture and send a spark to the end of the hose remotely. I got rid of about a 400 burrow town in a cpl of years. I dont need it anymore as they are gone. I would sell it if you think you would like it. Before I used this, I tried oat bate, shooting, traps. Even had Animal Damage Control come in for 4-5 yrs and poison. no long term help. I can send you info on this equipment if you like.

something like the Rodenator? Looks like too much fun to me!

Pocket Gophers being blown away by the Rodenator Pro - YouTube

[bigorange]

1 hour ago, AzDiamondHeat said:

I've been known to irritate every now and then....

That still doesn’t get rid of prairie dogs…they just annoy back. 

[NE AZ Guy]

Yes its similar to the Rodenator,  its a blast. no pun intended, my kids love using it. I had to retreat maybe 20% of the holes one more time. its takes a lot of time. But it worked for me.

[creed]

 

[PRDATR]

2 hours ago, creed said:

 

That was entertaining. Now the ground is nice and soft for them to expand. LOL I guess he never heard of Amdro.

[CatfishKev]

4 minutes ago, PRDATR said:

That was entertaining. Now the ground is nice and soft for them to expand. LOL I guess he never heard of Amdro.

That was hilarious. Poor dogs right next to it.  Bet he never heard the end of it from his old lady.

[PRDATR]

45 minutes ago, CatfishKev said:

That was hilarious. Poor dogs right next to it.  Bet he never heard the end of it from his old lady.

Should have burned his flipflops. Those old dogs probably didn't need to poop for days. Looks like somewhere in the UK.

[yotebuster]

We’ve got some center pivots up here in ND.  They are nice but not sure how much water you have.  We have about 900 GPM at our pumps and that will easily run a 7 span (130 acre) pivot.  I can put on 0.75” a turn in 24 hours.  Prob looking at $30-40k for a 3-4 span pivot which would irrigate around that much land.  If you’ve got the water I’d invest in it.  Irrigation is something that has only gotten harder and harder to get permitted for and the permits that are locked in are so valuable and only getting higher. 

[PRDATR]

12 minutes ago, yotebuster said:

We’ve got some center pivots up here in ND.  They are nice but not sure how much water you have.  We have about 900 GPM at our pumps and that will easily run a 7 span (130 acre) pivot.  I can put on 0.75” a turn in 24 hours.  Prob looking at $30-40k for a 3-4 span pivot which would irrigate around that much land.  If you’ve got the water I’d invest in it.  Irrigation is something that has only gotten harder and harder to get permitted for and the permits that are locked in are so valuable and only getting higher. 

900GPM. Is that a 6" pipe and how many hours does it run? I'm guessing it just runs once a week?