In A Drought? We Are. So I Got Busy!

PreCd

My father and I have a herd of cattle on his farm and water is getting scarce here. So we have made use of an old hand dug well on the back of the farm. I built him a 6x6 well house on a slab right in front of the old well, built the electrical service, plumbed the house for a well pump (air bladder) and just finished sinking his well pump today. It has been a month long project and I can see the light of day finally. I have the electrical inspection next week so we will see what is what then. I did a great job on the electrical section and if it fails it will be something simple. We had a contractor install Ritchie water feeders in the pasture and will be pumping water to those.

I measured the well and have about 1,250 gallons of water there at this time. Only drawback with this type of well is that you need rain to replenish it. Groundwater is where it gets its water as the old timers only dug the hole to bedrock and stopped. Good news is that rain is on the way. Of course we have been hearing that for 2 month now.......

txcoastal1

Great job, we went through the **** draught last year and surpassed in 5-months the rain we received all last year.

Good luck with the cattle

chumlie

Good luck with the inspection. And enjoy the beef.

Erik Tracy

PreCd wrote: »

My father and I have a herd of cattle on his farm and water is getting scarce here. So we have made use of an old hand dug well on the back of the farm. I built him a 6x6 well house on a slab right in front of the old well, built the electrical service, plumbed the house for a well pump (air bladder) and just finished sinking his well pump today. It has been a month long project and I can see the light of day finally. I have the electrical inspection next week so we will see what is what then. I did a great job on the electrical section and if it fails it will be something simple. We had a contractor install Ritchie water feeders in the pasture and will be pumping water to those.

I measured the well and have about 1,250 gallons of water there at this time. Only drawback with this type of well is that you need rain to replenish it. Groundwater is where it gets its water as the old timers only dug the hole to bedrock and stopped. Good news is that rain is on the way. Of course we have been hearing that for 2 month now.......

Dang! That rocks!

All I did today was cut back some weeds and chop down some unwanted vines....

SoCal is semi-arid, only about 12" annually, so I'm cuting back on the water as much as possible: drip irrigation, tore up my front and back lawn and replaced it with rocks and heat tolerant plants, got low flush toilets...still doesn't seem like enough though.

Good thoughts for rain your way.

Mike Reeter

Good for you, I'm sure your dad is very appreciative of your endeavors, We have had .91" rain since the first of May. Today was the ninth straight day of 100+ heat. We are heading into some dire straits ourselves.

PreCd

Eric:

Wow. That was also a lot of work my friend. Not and easy chore I am sure. We have a small creek that borders the property that bubbles up from the ground so we are not waterless at the moment however we are beginning a pasture management program and need to keep the herd in their square as much as possible. The lack of water is hurting our pasture and we have cut them up in 4 squares and move them once a week. The well is crucial to this and we plan on firing that bad boy up next week. Good luck to you also.

Erik Tracy wrote: »

Dang! That rocks!

All I did today was cut back some weeds and chop down some unwanted vines....

SoCal is semi-arid, only about 12" annually, so I'm cuting back on the water as much as possible: drip irrigation, tore up my front and back lawn and replaced it with rocks and heat tolerant plants, got low flush toilets...still doesn't seem like enough though.

Good thoughts for rain your way.

jon1redleg

Great job sounds like a butt load of work... it'll be all worth it. It hit a 110 today but looks like rain now temp is
dropping also, sky is getting dark like a good ol thunder boomer is on way.
We are under a water ban and I have been saving shower, bath water and also the water from the A/C to water my plants. They told us we can water with water cans though.

Good luck with inspecion

gudnoyez

Ditto your fathers lucky to have a son such as yourself. We are having a drought like most of the rest of the Midwest. I wish you and your father the best of luck on your project.