Farm Factor - Dragon-Line Irrigation Technology - January 24, 2017
(Jamie) We’re back! Now Kyle and Monty discuss Teeter Irrigation’s Dragon-Line technology.
(Kyle Bauer) Hi, this is Kyle Bauer visiting with Monty Teeter. Monty has been with Teeter Irrigation for 40 years, but in recent times, Monty, you've developed a new technology for center-pivot irrigation that is probably as revolutionary as center-pivot is, can you explain it to us? (Monty Teeter) I sure can. When I say we came up with the idea-- it’s an idea that's been around for many years, but it's never been able to be perfected because of the time and situation of the products that have been made. But, upon the invention of the pressure-compensating emitter, which means you remove your regulators and nozzles from a pivot and when you reach six PSI in the tubing it delivers the exact amount of water to each emitter out there on the system regardless of elevation. When that was developed it took about four years to get the product made for me, the style that we needed, a year to try to get someone to try it and without anyone taking that up because we didn't have it proven that it would really work. We bought a farm with just 200 gallons a minute on two circles and we set off to try that and to prove that it worked and we've grown four corn crops now from that and three wheat crops. (Kyle) Truly the technology is relatively simple after they developed the pressure-compensating emitter. Basically, as you're at the center of the pivot the hoses are shorter than out at the end. (Monty) That's true the length of the hose dictates the amount of water flow that is delivered to the field. To start, some of the tubing may only be a foot long and at the end it could be up to 100 feet long depending on the application of the GPM of the system. (Kyle) Now, you talked about wells as small as 200 gallons a minute, but if you have more you can put on more or it just isn't necessary at all? (Monty) We believe that you can use 30 to 40% less water and get the same yield-- almost the same yield. K-State has done a good job of promoting this or proving what I have said. We only have 200 gallons a minute on our farm and we're raising over 230, 240 bushels of corn. I was saying that people that have 600 gallons a minute could probably raise almost two circles if they have tight soil, sandier soil, of course, will be a little less. But, when you think about the savings of 20, 30% percent of the water in the whole area, southwest Kansas, it would be a huge number that would extend our aquifer for many, many years. (Kyle) Even after they developed the emitter for you though, you adapted that technology, there was still some tweaking that had to be done to fit the questions and the needs of the producers, at this point you've pretty much addressed all of those things? (Monty) Yes, we've developed four different styles of application of our unit; the use of Dragon-Line from a high profile to a low profile to accommodate any crop. We have addressed -- been able to reverse with the system without kinking the tubing. We can water down to 10 degrees without shutting off because on the application wells they need the water in the wintertime. We keep the water off the foliage. We deliver fertilizer directly to the soil. We just reduce all the evaporation and sun loss and wind loss that you normally would have. In a sense, we bank water rather than evaporate that water. That in a sense, that’s what we do. (Kyle) We're visiting with Monty Teeter. He's with Dragon-Line or Teeter Irrigation in southwest Kansas. This is Kyle Bauer reporting. Back to you, Jamie.
(Jamie) Thanks, Kyle! Folks, stay tuned for more Farm Factor after these words from our sponsors.
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