Introduction
Meet Greg Popkes, NutraDrip customer from Rock Rapids, IA. Greg has been using drip irrigation for 3 years on 125 acres; last year was his best production with 300 bushels per acre on corn. He also has a deep pit hog barn that supplies manure to spoon feed his crops with fertilizer.
Gregs System
Water Source
Greg did not have an aquifer to pump water out of, so he had a bowl ditch dug out and dammed to use as a water source.
Greg's water source.
Monitoring
With this NutraDrip irrigation system, team members like Wyatt Beyer, the IA sales rep, can monitor everything remotely. Greg has a few moisture probes: one on each crop. Moisture probes work well alongside subsurface drip irrigation and give us data to make informed decisions on when and how much to irrigate. Water pressures at various points in the subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) system can be monitored through the controller and ensure the system is running properly.
Manure Separation
Greg also has manure from his deep hog barn pit pumped out and separated to run through his drip lines. This manure separation process really showcases what can be done with efficient use of water and correct, in seasonal application. The separated manure can be spoon fed right to the root zone as a fertilizer.
Liquid manure is pumped out of the pit and ran through a screw press and two microfilters to separate out the solids. The liquid is smooth and clean enough to put through the drip lines. There will only be a small 10-12% solid pile of what was pumped out of the deep pit. This manure separation process can give the grower great opportunities to manage the nutrients from manure better and optimize what the plants are able to produce year after year.
Manure separation trailer.
Screwpress to separate solids.
Micro filters to separate fine particles.
Greg Popkes hog barn in Rock Rapids, IA.
Learn more about the separation process here.
Greg has been mostly running his manure on the alfalfa fields. They are shooting for 3,000 gallons an acre. So far this year, 200,000 gallons of separated manure have been put out through the drip lines.
One of the challenges growers have with applying manure, especially in the springtime, is compaction from the heavy equipment driving across the field. This tends to set the crops back. With a permanent subsurface drip irrigation system, we can replace those spring and fall applications of manure, reduce compaction, and apply the nutrient rich manure right during the growing season.
Maintenance
Every spring the pressure will be checked on the lines and valves of the drip system along with looking for leaks from possible rodent chews. In the fall, the lines will be blown out with an air compressor, so no liquid freezes in the PVC lines. If needed, acid will be run through the lines to clear emitters.
Conclusion
“What we envision this to be for the farmers in this whole area with hog farms, dairy farms, whatever it is, we can grow so much more food for the people and use natural fertilizer out of these hog barns. We think that we're just here at this first step to grow this the next three years. (It’s) just huge because of the way we have it, and we don't need a lot of water. With this fertilizer that we can get on at certain times, whatever time that your plant needs it, these guys at NutraDrip can get it on for you. Experience with NutraDrip has been wonderful. We're glad that we can help out NutraDrip to be a greener company and to not only to make the farmers more money, but to get rid of their fertilizer (and use) a natural way to grow corn, beans and hay. To save them (growers) time to be more efficient and not having to be able to haul the manure out of our barns in the fall. I would tell them to get in contact.”- Greg Popkes
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