Soil, Water, Sun, Steak

The High Desert of Central Oregon is home to the DD Ranch, a diverse and beautiful cattle ranch on about 260 acres. To the left, the DD Ranch boundaries are outlined in red, and the DD Ranches' land leases are outlined in blue. DD Ranch has a herd of approximately 200 Black Angus Hereford cattle. Their cattle are fed completely on Organic pasture and hay. I worked on this ranch during the summer of 2020. Irrigating hay is one of my favorite activities (despite my grass allergy). There is an idyllic beauty to the way the sun and water turn sandy soil into luscious grasses that sway in the wind like waves in the ocean.

Ideally, every acre of DD Ranch stays luscious green all through the haying season to ensure the animals have plenty of feed for the harsh winters, but that isn't always an easy task. Terrebonne, Oregon, the closest town, has an approximate elevation of 2,867 feet. The yearly average rainfall for the area is around 10 inches. The unmanaged areas of the high desert are mostly populated with drought-resistant juniper trees. This means that in order to maintain feed supply for the livestock a complex irrigation system must be used.

Irrigation canals, marked in white, are maintained and regulated by irrigation districts. The districts, marked by shades of purple, are somewhere between a government and a business, and they wield immense power in the high desert agricultural community. The irrigation districts determine water allotments to ranches and farms in their area and have enforcement systems to ensure ranchers and farmers don't overdraw water. The DD Ranch, marked in red, is in the Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID).

The canal water can be applied to the fields and pasture in two ways. The first is flood irrigation. Small canals are dug around the perimeter of the fields that feed from the COID canals. Then, by using the slope of the field small breaks are dug in the canal, and heavy plastic dams are put in to direct the water onto the field. Flood irrigation can be difficult to do efficiently, and because the water for a certain area all comes at once, some water is expected to be lost to evaporation, and the roots may not be able to absorb all the water. Since flood relies totally on the topography of a field, it can be hard to cover a field evenly. The DD Ranch uses flood irrigation for pasture only.

The second type of irrigation uses sprinkler pipes. The pipes are between 4 and 6 inches in diameter, aluminum, and can either be moved by hand (my favorite!), by coupling and decoupling pipes at their joints, or on a "wheel-line". The wheel-line functions the same, except the pipes are run through 5-7 foot tall wheels, and a small (usually 6 horsepower) engine turns the wheels. The sprinklers build up pressure from the water being pumped out of a pond or a several-thousand-gallon concrete "vault" that holds water from the COID canals. DD Ranch uses sprinklers to irrigate hay fields, horse pasture, and a few other special areas.

Ranching is not easy work, but a rancher's life will always be easier if they don't have to worry about having enough hay in the winter. The more hay that gets grown, cut, and baled on the ranch, the less money leaves the ranch. I used GIS mapping to determine the ideal location for expanded hay production based on several factors. The less time that the rancher or ranchhand has to worry about long winters, the more time there is for riding the ranch horses, hiking in Smith Rock State Park, and enjoying the delicious fruits of their labor.

In the above map, I've marked out the areas on the DD Ranch that are flood and sprinkler irrigated. In order to give a better idea of the existing infrastructure, I've marked the "Existing Mainline", which is the wider pipe that each sprinkler runs off of. Sometimes, this pipe is buried. The pump that moves water for this mainline is marked with a red marker.

The DD Ranch sometimes buys hay from other farms around the ranch in order to have enough winter feed. This is usually more expensive than growing your own hay, and hay production can bring in extra revenue if there is a surplus at your farm or ranch. The next couple of maps show soil analysis that I've done, culminating in a recommendation for expanding sprinkler irrigation and hay production into an existing field.

This map shows the sections of the DD Ranch that are classified as "Prime Farmland if irrigated" by the United States Geologic Survey soils data. Almost all of the ranch is classified as this. The other soils in the ranch are classified as "Farmland of Statewide Importance". The areas that are marked as "prime farmland if irrigated" line up very well with areas that are sprinkler areas used for hay production.

The above map shows soil permeability. The data is collected by the USDA NRCS. The two values present on the DD Ranch are "Moderate" and "Moderately Rapid" soil permeability. This means that the DD Ranch's soils can absorb between 48 and 305 centimeters of water per day. The areas that are already being used for hay production are mostly in the "moderate" category. The range of water per day is between 48 and 151 centimeters. This data is very important for making irrigation plans because overwatering wastes water and can cause erosion.

Soil slope is also an important concern when planning for irrigation and planning to prevent soil erosion. Soils that have higher slopes are more prone to runoff and uneven irrigation. Soils with slopes between 0 and 3 percent are ideal for irrigated crop production, including hay irrigation with sprinklers.

Of the four distinct soil types on the DD Ranch, one seems to be ideal for irrigated hay production, the Redmond Sandy Loam soil, represented by an orange color on the above map. This is the ideal soil in terms of permeability, slope, and farmland classification, it is also the soil used for hay production already. Both of the fields used by the DD Ranch for hay production (as well as the horse pasture) are classified as Redmond Sandy Loam.

I recommend that the DD Ranch expand sprinkler irrigation into the field west of the horse pasture. This area has the right characteristics for hay production, and it would be convenient for the DD Ranch to expand into this area because of the existing irrigation infrastructure nearby, marked by a solid blue line. The mainline, which will run water to the sprinklers is 1,830 feet. Mainline generally is 30 feet long, and, when bought used, costs about $35 per piece. The mainline will cost $2,135. Although ranchers are notoriously thrifty, I recommend that the DD Ranch purchase new wheel line to irrigate this field. The southern irrigation line will be close to the maximum recommended length for WadeRain wheel line. When wheel lines get too long, they are more prone to bends, kinks, and damage. Purchasing wheel line new will save labor, and, in the long run, save money.

Using the WadeRain price calculator, the cost of wheel line for the line north of the mainline is $13,500. The cost of the southern line is $21,688. The total cost of the new irrigation equipment would be $37,323.

The average yield for the DD Ranch is 5 round bales per acre in a season (each weighing approximately 700 pounds). The price of hay around Terrebonne, Oregon is around $225 per ton. Each season, 1 acre of hay production can be expected to yield 1.75 tons of hay, or around $394.

The recommended expansion would increase hay production by 69 acres. If each acre brings in $394 a year and the DD Ranch is able to sell all of the hay from the new field, the first year would bring in $27,186. This means that in two seasons the new hay field would pay for all of its equipment (including new wheel line) and net $17,000.

Ranching has deep historical roots in Oregon. Although the way that Oregonians grow their cattle might have changed the cultural importance of these animals has not. The more ranchers are able to innovate, work efficiently, and develop sustainability, the more they are able to enjoy doing what they love. This mapping project might seem like it's about making more hay, but it's actually about making more time to enjoy working cattle, gardening, riding, and exploring the natural beauty of Oregon.

Special thanks to Gordon Longsworth, the Geographic Information Systems Foundation class, and Linda Anspach.