MARCH 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Solar-powered water stations could expand
use of Crown range Off-the-grid ranching possible
by CHRIS YATES
SMITHERS – Solar power could support greater agricultural use of Crown land in the Bulkley Valley, says Kevin Pegg, owner of Energy Alternatives Ltd.
Smithers-based range
officer Marc Schuffert is working with local ranchers on projects designed to provide solar-powered watering stations to cattle on three grazing licenses. One, a prototype mobile solar pump owned by the Skeena Stikine District of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO), will be tested in two grazing licences. Another, a stationary solar-powered pumping system, will go ahead on a third grazing licence if the Wet’suwet’en approve the project. Pegg told the Bulkley Valley
Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting in January that he will act as a resource to operate the mobile system and will install and
commission the solar side of things on the stationary system. The installation should take about a day. “I can’t stress enough how simple and effective these units are,” he told his audience. “I’m not sure about the mobile unit – it’s not my design – but the pump in the stationery system has a 100% chance of working. These are highly proven systems and as long as there’s enough sun and enough panels, it will provide the energy needed to pump the water.” Pegg adds that BC tends to
be “a bit behind the curve” in adopting solar power. He has pre-made solar kits available that individuals can assemble. An investment of $6,000 will provide a pump that will move 2,300 gallons of water a day.
Schuffert says he’s spent a couple of years looking for a location to try a solar solution to watering cattle but it’s been challenging to find a location that gets enough sun. When he heard that a rancher was watering cattle in a fish and wildlife preserve in the Bulkley Valley, he investigated. The terrain made a sling pump unsuitable but the access point in the river was open enough to make solar power possible. A mobile unit developed by Lee Fennell of Okanagan
VB 2200 SERIES VARIABLE CHAMBER ROUND BALERS
• Fast, consistent bale starting in diverse conditions • Simple, heavy-duty driveline and chains for reliability
Integral Rotor
Matsqui Ag-Repair
Abbotsford, BC 604-826-3281
Produces 4x5 and 4x6 bales Noble
Tractor & Equipment Armstrong, BC
250-546-3141
Tractor & Equipment Kamloops, BC
250-851-3101 Noble INVEST IN QUALITY®
Fence Supplies in Armstrong was available and Schuffert thought it might solve the problem of getting water to the cattle without the cattle entering the river. Fennell is experienced in designing solar-powered water pumping systems but the system Schuffert is using has yet to be field-tested. “The system is unique,”
Schuffert points out, noting it comes with a battery backup. “It’s pressurized and has some unusual features, so I’m looking forward to testing it this spring.” Smithers-area rancher
Heath Walton is one of the licensees involved with the project. He’s excited at the prospect of being able to water his cattle anywhere he can source water on his property or his grazing licence. “You could just set the unit up right beside the creek and pump into a trough from there or from dugouts that you couldn’t run a gravity feed from because it’s flat. This would be tremendous; I’m really looking forward to trying it out,” adding, “I’d have more cattle if I had more places to water them. Water is
Kevin Pegg of Energy Alternatives works on a solar pump system for a client. CHRIS YATES PHOTO
becoming more of an issue every year.” He says he’s now looking at a stationary system with battery backup from a dugout if the mobile unit isn’t suitable for his land. The third grazing licence to get a solar powered watering station acquired extra space after pine beetle-infested trees were removed. The licensee will use that additional land as a holding area for cattle in the spring, Schuffert says. The cattle will eventually move onto the original pasture before returning to the holding area at the end of summer. Previously, the cattle
watered at a dugout on the original piece. Schuffert says the project will involve fencing off the dugout. The new solar watering system will be stationary. It has no battery back-up, he added. “There would be two
troughs: one, 130 metres away from the dugout in the holding pasture and a second trough near the dugout. A pipe would extend below the frost line from the dugout and carry the pumped water to the furthest trough,” Schuffert explains. “Once the trough is full, a float switch will stop the pump. Later, when the cattle are moved to the pasture near the dugout, the second
trough will be gravity-fed from the one in the holding pasture and the upper trough will act as water storage. Schuffert says the troughs
will have overflows that feed back into the dugout so all waterlines can be easily drained for winter maintenance. “The project would have a number of benefits,” he says. “The water in the dugout is protected as well as a nearby wetland that would benefit from reducing the cattle pressure on riparian vegetation. The cleared area becomes usable pasture and the rotational grazing will help the health of the grasses.”
37
DENSITY WHERE IT COUNTS
KuhnNorthAmerica.com
Farm Equipment Prince George, BC
250-560-5431 Huber
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
