Efficient Dairy Management Strategies
Managing dairy operations entails the careful distribution of manure to avoid surface runoff, deep percolation, drift to off-target areas, and odor concerns. Valley® Irrigation, through its Prospera solution, offers efficient strategies to maximize water resources in dairy farming. By collaborating with your local Valley dealer, you can develop a nutrient management plan tailored to your specific needs, utilizing center pivot equipment for precise and site-specific application. Additionally, Cascade Earth Sciences (CES) provides valuable technical resources to aid in managing municipal wastes, conducting environmental impact assessments, and implementing practical water management solutions.
Benefits of Center Pivot Irrigation for Dairy Farms
Center pivot and linear irrigation methods offer various benefits to dairy farms. These methods help irrigate larger areas efficiently compared to traditional methods, ensure no land leveling is required, reduce labor demands by enabling one person to operate multiple systems, facilitate conservation of clean water resources through effluent waste recycling, provide uniform material distribution, and decrease the need for fertilizers as process wash water can return essential soil nutrients. Valley center pivot and linear systems serve as ideal solutions for dairy operators, offering the flexibility to apply nutrients at different rates to match crop needs and supporting the development of nutrient management plans that minimize nitrogen and phosphorus movement to water sources.
Remote Management Capabilities
To enhance dairy farm management, Prospera's remote management solutions integrate Valley BaseStation3™ and the Water Sentinel from CES. The BaseStation3 empowers farmers to monitor and control center pivots using smartphones, tablets, or PCs, thereby optimizing operation efficiency with reduced time and labor requirements. By collecting application and flow meter data, the BaseStation3 complements the Water Sentinel, an internet-based data management service specifically designed for simplified data handling at all land application sites. Customized Water Sentinel applications cater to dairy operators' needs, offering features such as field monitoring, analytical data collection, nutrient loading assessments, and annual report generation, ensuring successful nutrient management practices for dairy farms of all sizes.