An automated irrigation system from Water Dynamics is helping Tasmania in its goal to lead the nation in research and innovation to support the productivity, sustainability and future of the dairy industry.
The farmlet system involved in the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture’s Tasmanian Dairy Research Facility at Elliott in the state’s north-west is among the ongoing projects supported by the Tasmanian Government as part of its target to grow the state’s annual farm gate value of agriculture to $10 billion per year by 2050.
“The upgrades at TDRF are part of a $7.8 million joint investment by the Tasmanian Government and the University of Tasmania to support the success of TIA research farms,” Water Dynamics’ national operations manager Andrew Summerton said.
The TDRF upgrade includes a 50-bay rotary dairy, a new 12.5 megalitre effluent dam, and a boost to irrigation water storage capacity in one of the dams, from 24 to 115 Ml.
The increased storage capacity is distributed by 11km of underground pipeline installed by Water Dynamics to irrigate 32ha of previously unirrigated land for farmlet trials.
The TIA will use four farmlets, each with eight 1 ha paddocks, to test research hypotheses under real farm conditions and ensure the results provide practical solutions for farmers.
“Fine control of irrigation system is essential to the function of the farmlets, so we had to combine a system that was simultaneously capable of extensive water reach over the area, as well as elegantly simple automation system to ensure fingertip control by PC or smartphone,” the Water Dynamics Longford branch said.
Based on extensive experience in major irrigation areas — including in Tasmania, Mt Gambier, Mildura, Yarrawonga and the Northern Territory — Water Dynamics employed a next-generation central control system called Goldtec DREAM 2. It allows combining various technologies to suit each project’s specific need.
“It is an internet-enabled controller system, so the user can control everything from a PC or Smartphone, which is essential on a widely varying and extensive project such as this,” Andrew said.
“The automation system can handle multiple irrigation heads installed on the TIA project, enabling the user to manage medium-to-very-large projects with many irrigation lines using a single controller.
“Such a flexible system — employing user-changeable network definitions — is important to an irrigation system as sophisticated and extensive as the TIA project.”
The system, installed by Water Dynamics and now successfully in service, includes:
- 11km of PVC and polypipe.
- A new pump shed and high-efficiency pump from the global Caprari Group.
- 187 Toro Perrot PS2 piston-drive sprinklers with a maximum throw of more than 50m and high rotation speeds that can be adjusted as required.
- 43 Netafim control valves operated by the Goldtec control system, through remote terminal units solenoid valve configurations.
- Overall system control capable of handling multiple irrigation lines with flexible and user-changeable network definitions. The system’s large pool of irrigation programs each contain the sequence of participating valves, water and fertiliser dosage, operation timing and conditions.
“This was a complex job,” Andrew said.
“One of the challenges was the sheer size of the area and being able to co-ordinate work within it to efficiently complete the job in a short timeframe needed by the customer.
“The project needed to happen time-efficiently in order to secure millions of dollars’ worth of government funding, so time was of the essence.
“Fortunately, we had a strong, well-equipped Tasmanian team on the ground and experience in working in the customer and state regulatory framework.
“This undoubtedly saved time, and we also had pools of expertise in other Water Dynamics branches which we could draw to bolster resources as needs arose.”
In order to get the job done on time in 2022, Water Dynamics’ service technicians from its Yarrawonga branch were flown in to assist in moving the project along.
“Work was fast-tracked to ensure the farm was operational for the start of the milking season in August to enable a five-year research program that has been co-funded by Dairy Australia,” Andrew said.
The TIA’s $6.5 million Dairy HIGH 2 (high integrity grass-fed herds) project will focus on pasture-based dairy systems and seeks to address industry challenges and opportunities to achieve highly productive and profitable dairy operations that are sustainable into the future.
“The research at Elliott has become more relevant over the past 12 months, with high input costs and the need to better understand major nutrients like nitrogen,” Dairy Australia managing director David Nation said.
Andrew Summerton said the TIA project would help transform knowledge of agriculture, food production and post-farm gate practices, to the sustainable economic benefit of Tasmania and farmers further afield.
“Sustainable use of water plays an absolutely critical part in ensuring the viability of farming not only in Tasmania, but also throughout Australia and globally,” he said.
“Whether we will all have to address water scarcity is no longer a question: it is a given. This applies whether the projects in which we are involved are individual farms or agribusinesses, or far-sighted industry projects such as this TIA initiative.”