| Solar watering project benefits livestock, wildlife, and rangeland health |
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Solar panels run a pump at the McKinnon ranch.
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Finding water is tough on Mike McKinnon’s Crook County ranch, both for livestock and wildlife. “Water is scarce in this country,” he says.
But someone – a previous landowner or operator - did find water on the ranch, and had drilled a well at some point. McKinnon recently discovered the well and has combined the valuable water resource with another resource – energy from the sun – to create a high quality source of water.
McKinnon had just rested some rangeland for two years to help it recover from grazing and protect sensitive streamside areas. He was interested in developing off-stream water to keep grazing pressure off of the streamside areas and encourage cattle to graze the uplands. After he discovered the well, he had it tested to make sure the flow rate and quality would be adequate to water his livestock. “The well tester called me from the site,” he explains. “He said he’d been there pumping for over three hours at 15 gallons per minute and the water level had barely dropped. He said it was some of the highest quality water he’d ever seen.”
McKinnon then contacted Libby Rodgers with Oregon State University Extension Service in Prineville for advice on how to develop the well for livestock and wildlife watering. “I called Libby and it all started from there,” he says.
Rodgers suggested a solar-powered pumping system because of the remoteness of the site. “It’s not practical to run power out to the site, or have to come back again and again to fuel a diesel pump,” she explains.
Rodgers helped McKinnon submit a grant application for Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board funding. OWEB funds provided cost-share to put in solar panels, a pump, and a protective fence, along with three livestock troughs. In addition, Rodgers put McKinnon in touch with the Crook County Soil and Water Conservation District and Natural Resources Conservation Service, which helped him receive Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program funds to develop wildlife watering ponds.
McKinnon invested additional funds to add some important details to the pumping system, including concrete pads under the solar panels and tank, and a gravel base around the system to prevent weeds from coming in and creating fire danger.
“I’d rather do it right and have the system last,” he explains.
The pump, manufactured by Grundfos, can be powered either by solar energy or a generator. Consolidated Pump and Supply in Grants Pass sold the pump and panels for the project. “They were great to work with. They asked me for some details such as the number of head I wanted to water, then sized the system for me. They told me where to get the pole to mount the panels and sent instructions on how to set up the system.”
McKinnon set up the system himself. Three solar panels provide enough power to pump 7 to 8 gallons per minute into the holding tank. The tank gravity feeds to the troughs and ponds.
“It’s very low-maintenance,” McKinnon says. “This is the first time I’ve been here in ten days.”
He explains there are a couple things he would potentially change about the system if he were doing it again. “The only things I’d probably change would be to add a fourth solar panel to help pump a little more water, especially at the beginning of the season when I’m trying to fill everything up. I also might put a tracking system on the array so it would follow the sun and capture more energy, but I think the fourth panel would probably be enough.”
Overall, he is very pleased with the project. “It’s a great system. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
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