2014-04-09 Parkers Prairie Irrigator Assembly

Parkers Prairie,Minnesota
The new Irrigator arrived,time to assemble it.

A little 'Farm Art' on I-94

There are seven spans, 180 feet long

 

The funny dog.

They told me "Don't let him let him lick you...he isn't fussy about what he eats".

Putting the irrigator up at the farm.

Damn hard work....don't remember the last time I worked this hard.

Brutal...but I was keeping up with the hardened farmers.

We have 7 booms to assemble @ 180 feet each. ( we got 2 done Tuesday )

But you are in awe after you see a bunch of pipes & plate bolted together,
to become this huge structure.

Learned a bit about the irrigators:
They take about 36-40 hrs for make one revolution.
Each pass drops about 5/8 inch of rain ( adjustable amounts for different crops )
They really only run them in July & August. ( but will start them up if it gets dry )

slowly takes shape,we could assemble two sections per day

Mark towing a section out

We took a two hour break & attended a near by auction

Towing the last section out.
The last section has a extra boom attached to it.
It has it's own sprayer & a 2hp booster pump.

I stayed in the new Parkers hotel on near Lake Adley
They had some interesting historical pictures on the wall.

The assembly is done

Waiting for the field to dry,so they can be towed to the center of the field.

Herman's farm from the north

Got to stop at Lakeside once during this week.
Too tired to eat there,just headed home & ate.

 Drove past Julie's new irrigator,just pipes in a field right now.

Two weeks later,finally dry enough to pull to center,not the greatest picture.



There are a couple of 75 yr old retired farmers,helping us.

Super interesting guys.

One of the guys left early ( 5:30pm ) because he has 25 tapped maple trees.

One of his many hobbies is making maple syrup.

He also rescues antique tractors,gets them running and sells them.

Apparently New Zealand like buying our old tractors,he exported 23 tractors to NZ last year.

Say he goes to NZ almost every year.

Really reminds me how much I miss my grandparent's generation.

Delmer were telling me that before 1970,this region was a net food importer.

Alot of farms were dairy,but they couldn't grow enough in the region to feed the livestock.

( Delbert had a dairy herd until 1971 )

When the irrigators started popping up in the 70's,it was revolution. ( their words )

After that,they could feed the herds & are now exporting food out of the state.

This area has a very stable aquifer.

We are replacing a irrigator that Delbert put up in 1976.

( I remember that as a teenager...kind of a big deal. )

Grandpa Herman would like to drive by them while they were running.