Rolling A Ranch

The Situation
The nine pastures are each irrigated by 3 inch, 30 foot aluminum pipeline, and 1020 tech sprinklers with a 1/8 inch nozzle. With the old system, water was dispersed at the same pressure and head, regardless of which field needed irrigating. When there was a line that needed to be shut down, the entire system had to be shut down. If too many lines were shut down, the entire system was susceptible to failure. Additionally, water control in California is regulated by water consultants. There are restrictions on the use of water per minute for a specific well. At Rolling A Ranch, water and electricity were being wasted with the old system.

The Grundfos Solution
In June of 2007, Kurt Bollinger, of Miller Drilling, Templeton, CA, installed an 800S Grundfos SP submersible with a 100 hp drive to help improve the situation. By replacing the old system, David Martin, Ranch Foreman of Rolling A Ranch, was able to shut multiple irrigation lines down without turning off the pump, and irrigate only one field. Water and money savings were achieved immediately. “This system is the new way to go – it is the future of irrigation” said David. Although they are only expected to monitor one of their wells and report findings to the water consultants, Rolling A Ranch has elected to monitor all of their wells to show their water and electricity savings.

The Outcome
The savings of both water and electricity have been so great with this installation, they are planning to change out an old 30 hp system with a Grundfos submersible on the other side of the Creston ranch, replace an old 75 hp system at the main farm / headquarters in Atascadero, and switch out an old 60 hp system at their Broodmare location. Rolling A Ranch will have four new installations by the end of 2008. David added, “We should have done this years ago!” With water restricted in California, a good, efficient irrigation system is needed to continue to care for the nation’s best racing Quarter horses. And Grundfos is in stride with keeping irrigation out in front.