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Tag Archives water management

rocky mountains alberta
Columns

Selenium sits on thinnest line between health and hazard

Agronomy Management: Removing selenium from water is costly and difficult at best

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There are increasing concerns about the potential effects of a proposed coal mine development in southern Alberta and the impacts selenium could have on the environment in southern Alberta and into Saskatchewan. The proposed Grassy Mountain Coal project would be an open-pit mine built on a former coal-mining area about seven km north of Blairmore […] Read more
laying tile
GrowPro

Understanding tile drainage

Tiling can be a good solution for fixing multiple problems, but it can also be complex to install, and costs vary widely depending on the farm. Make purchasing decisions easier by doing your homework first.

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Removing excess water is the big payoff for tile drainage. Submerged fields and saturated soils can slash yields, cause salinity problems and even spell the loss of the entire crop, if it’s bad enough. However, it is not an inexpensive fix, nor is it a simple solution, and it won’t work for every farm. That’s […] Read more
When stock water levels drop, a solar water system can help extend the quantity and preserve quality in the remaining water.
Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Prepare your ranch and business plan for bouts with drought

A Little Bit Western: There are ways to extend feed and water — but do so with caution and monitoring

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In late summer I was invited to the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Saskatoon to share my perspective on navigating drought. I would prefer covering a more cheerful topic, but as a fourth-generation Palliser Triangle dweller who resides on a ranch abandoned not once but twice by its former occupants, I’ll admit I’ve got experience […] Read more
Your fearless columnist tosses the cell for electrical conductivity (EC) measurement into the Montreal River at Saskatchewan Highway 2 in July 2005. Results are recorded in a notebook and all is carried in a briefcase. I have notebooks like that all the way back to 1982. At this location, water EC is 260 uS/cm. In the north, water is mostly low EC; the standard for comparison is the South Saskatchewan River system that runs through Saskatoon, with an EC of about 450 uS/cm at 25 C.
Columns

Water chemistry: a Coles Notes version

Soils & Crops: Conductivity and hardness of water samples show what you can use it for

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First of all: readers who have Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water can check out pages 124-125 for a detailed discussion of water chemistry, complete with calculations. Water is considered to be the universal solvent because it is capable of dissolving more substances than any other liquid. Therefore, one of the first things we might […] Read more
A hydrologist and a farmer draw water from a 30-foot sampling well in western Iowa, testing for nitrate and herbicides.
Columns

Nitrate down the well

Soils & Crops: If you move onto an old farmyard with an existing well, don’t drink the water without first getting it tested

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This column has dealt with this topic several times over the decades we have been scribbling. Recent sources have raised the nitrate issue again. It deserves repeating once in a while, to make sure no more infants die from the blue-baby condition (methemoglobinemia). The link between nitrate-contaminated farmyard wells and blue-baby was first reported by […] Read more
standing stubble from a fall harvested crop
Columns, Crops

Drought preparedness through soil and crop management

After each dry year, adapt your drought plan based on your experiences and what you learned

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As spring approaches, the agricultural community is becoming increasingly concerned about potential forecasts of drought across the southern Prairies. And rightly so; the print and electronic media have posted numerous drought-related articles. Wide areas of southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan and their dryland farms, irrigated farms and ranching areas could be affected. But what helpful […] Read more
Water lines are trenched in on the field to feed drip lines placed at the root level.
Features

Subsurface irrigation called way of the future

Early adopters in southern Alberta are using drip lines to run water directly to crop roots

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Glacier FarmMedia — Subsurface drip irrigation is a relatively new system to the Prairies, but one of southern Alberta’s early adopters is confident it’s an effective way to grow crops with water efficiency rates second to none. Subsurface irrigation systems deliver water directly to roots using drip lines and is commonly designed to be spaced […] Read more
After carefully filling in around the well, Dan Mitchell makes a pad for the trough, then works on sloping the hillside behind so that the animals don’t have a drop off.
Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Securing another water source

Eppich News: A stream 13 feet underground was tapped and will water cattle on the northeast side of the home section

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! In December our weather continued to be mild. We had a few cold days with a cold wind but for the most part we were still above normal temperatures. The animals are quite happy with the temperatures. On Dec. 15 we had Dan Mitchell from Kerrobert come out with […] Read more

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