Wind and Water

View the project final report

Commodities

• Agronomic: general hay and forage crops
• Additional Plants: native plants

Practices

• Animal Production: watering systems
• Crop Production: foliar feeding
• Education and Training: extension, farmer to farmer
• Natural Resources/Environment: grass waterways
• Production Systems: integrated crop and livestock systems
• Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures

On the high plains near Buffalo, Wyo., grass quickly dries up when rain is scarce. But there’s no shortage of wind. Betty Rodriguez plans to use her Western SARE grant to drill two wells and build old-style windmills, harnessing her daily supply of wind to draw irrigation water for a pasture of nearly 10 acres. She will cross fence the pasture, part of a 913-acre ranch, to control the pasture’s grazing use. Her project, she says, is a way of using Mother Nature’s wind to make the land more productive by irrigating with groundwater that was previously unavailable. Given that her only continuing costs are maintenance of the windmills, she should be able to produce winter feed for cattle and sheep more economically.