There is no doubt that irrigation has changed agriculture for the better. Irrigation is what makes farming in a large portion of the Great Plains possible on a large scale. Since the dawn of time farmers have been working to get water too their crops. Large ditches were dug in Mesopotamia to support civilization. Ancient Egyptians used the Nile River Valley to grow their crops. To this day states fight one another over water to be used for irrigation. Endless court battles are fought over water and who has a right to use it. Somewhere down the line, someone decided that it was more efficient to water crops with a center pivot sprinkler system than it was to keep digging ditches and flooding crop ground with water to help it grow.
There have been many improvements made to pivot irrigation systems since their inception, safety features that keep them from wrecking themselves, automatic reverse features so that you can keep them watering nonstop, and apps that connect to your smartphone to keep you informed about all the workings of your pivot system. The one thing that these pivot companies have yet to account for is the cowboy who has to look after one. Pivots are a complex system of wires, water, gearboxes, tires and headaches for your average American cowboy. Cowboys are simple creatures, they usually have a simple solution for most any problem. Pivots are a tad more complex than cowboy logic allows sometimes.
When a cow is sick, the cowboy has a simple solution. He can spot her, diagnose what her problem seems to be and then administer the proper dosage of medication to fix her problem. Down ears, sore feet, drooling and lack of socialization are all ways that cowboys spot their problems so they can fix them. Pivots do not allow for such simple fixes. The reason the pivot stopped could be as simple as the power flickered or the diesel unit ran out of fuel. They can also be as complex as a center drive motor that is on its final leg but will run fine for a while then quit without warning, only to not show any sign of fault when the pivot is started again. Mice that decide electric wires are a culinary delicacy are so much fun to deal with after they have somehow managed to make their way inside the power box and chewed on no less than half the wires before shorting them out and ending their own furry life in the process.
Sore footed pivots, those with flat tires or bad gearboxes, are always so fun to doctor. If there is no crop in the field, you can simply drive your pickup right up to the tower that is broken down and fix the problem. Let the corn under the pivot get about 7 feet tall in 100-degree weather in August, changing those gearboxes isn’t nearly as fun. Rolling flat tires out at the end of the row so you don’t flatten the crop has made more than one cowboy consider a job sacking groceries at Walmart. You can’t fix a broken pivot with a shot of Draxxin, and it won’t pull off from the herd and show drooped ears and sunken shoulders when it doesn’t feel good. Too bad, life would be simpler if you could fix them that way.
I’m thankful for our pivot, especially in these dry years. I’m convinced however that pivots are of the female persuasion, they’ll never tell you what is wrong, “if you don’t know then I’m not telling you.” They are prone to having temperamental mood swings and are always willing to take your money. That’s all for this time, I’m going to go sweet talk my pivot to see what the problem is this week. Keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire and God Bless.