Drainage Down On The Farm

 

 

 

Something new to our farm within the last few years is tiling.  I'm gonna be honest here, this is some boring stuff in my mind, but I know it's important, and afterall, my man is into it, so.....I'm into it....errr well kinda.

 

We have always tiled, but until recently, we have had a tiling company do it.  Well, things are changing and due to accessability of GPS and an intense interest in drainage from my husband, we have started doing our own tiling.

 

Drainage is a WEIRD thing to take on as a hobby, but I marreid a hard-core farmer and I guess that's par for the course.  Several years ago, I kept finding him watching videos and reading articles about tile plows and GPS and grid systems and pipe.  Some guys have Fantasy Football and Justin has tile plows!  To each his own I guess.

 

This is a quick pic from a field that they were working on this week.  When I take pictures of this kind of stuff, I try to get the big picture, showing the angles and the guys etc. to add a little excitement.  This my friends, is excitement to him and he sent me this picture to share with all of you! You are floored by the spectacle of it, I can tell! 

 

They "lay tile" into these trenches that they have carefully planned throughout a field in order to direct the excess  rainwater off of the field.  The "pipe" is HUGE BLACK PLASTIC tubes.  So to me, it's not "tile" and it's not "pipe," it's plastic tubes!  Historically drainage tile was actually made from tile,  hence the name.

 

They have a tile plow that is pulled behind a tractor that digs the trenches guided by GPS. It picks up the tile that has been laid on the ground by my dear brother in law.   The tile is guided into the trench and the dirt falls back on top of the tile and trench!  Our man Lamar is in charge of the hard labor of hooking up the pipe to the main at the end of each row. That's a hard job man!  Kudos to you Lamar, and bummer the pipe got you in the eye the other day!

 

Then it's all ready for the ground to be worked and the pipe to do it's job during the next big rain.  If you see big puddles and ponds in a field, be assured, it is in need of a little drainage tile.  Call my man Justin.  He'll be all over it.