Friday, January 22, 2021
CapitalPress.com 7
Drone makes ranching easier
By DIANNA TROYER
For the Capital Press
CARSON KELLY
Rancher Carson Kelly has
become a trendsetter in central Idaho,
flying a drone to help raise breeds of
cattle originating in Scotland.
Kelly, 29, began flying a DJ
Mavic Pro drone in 2016 to check
on his cattle year-round near Moore
in the Lost River Valley.
“I’d read about them on the inter-
net and how they were making life
easier for ranchers, so I thought I’d
give it a try,” he said.
Besides ranching, Kelly works
as a construction foreman for North
Wind, a contractor at the nearby
Idaho National Laboratory.
“With working a full-time job,
flying my drone to take care of the
cattle has saved me so much time,”
he said. “It’s another tool for me to
use, plus it’s fun to fly.”
As Kelly kept checking on his
herd with his whirring aerial assis-
Age: 29
Education: Animal science degree
from Brigham Young Universi-
ty-Idaho
Family: Wife
Dianna Troyer/For the Capital Press
Carson Kelly relies on his drone to check on his herd in the Lost Riv-
er Valley of central Idaho.
tant, a neighboring rancher noticed.
“He talked to me about flying a
drone and bought one, too, to make
life easier.”
Kelly said he chose the DJ Mavic
Pro because it was affordable, com-
pact and durable. If a propeller or
camera malfunctions, it is easy to
replace the parts.
Learning to fly it was easy, too,
he said.
“It only took me about an hour
to read the owner’s manual, watch
some videos on the internet and start
flying it,” he said.
To become registered to pilot it,
the software required him to cor-
rectly answer a short series of safety
questions. The drone must remain in
the pilot’s line of sight and cannot fly
higher than 400 feet or in restricted
airspace.
Set to a regular mode, it automat-
ically avoids objects. Once clear of
buildings and obstacles like trees, he
puts it in the sport mode of about 40
mph to fly it out and back within the
20-minute lifespan of the recharge-
able battery.
It is programmed to return to its
launch site if its battery is running
low. If it does go down, its location
can be traced with GPS.
During calving season in win-
ter and spring, Kelly said the drone
is vital for checking on his herd in a
pasture near his home.
“Some cows like the shelter of
shrubby willows and cottonwoods,
so it’s easy for me check on them
with the drone.”
He relied on it when he intro-
duced some distinctive breeds to his
herd recently. In 2018, he bought
several Scottish Highland cattle and
last year added Miniature Belted
Galloways. To make sure they were
settling in with his Angus cattle, he
flew the Mavic to check on them.
This story was first published
Jan. 31, 2020.
Making every drop count
Jeremiah Neibling
The University of Idaho’s Howard Neibling at a vari-
able-rate irrigation pivot and control panel.
Application system 30 to 36
inches above the ground, and
92-94% if the LESA is placed
down into the plant canopy.
Drip irrigation can be 95%
efficient or more depending
on the approach used.
Those rates account for
losses from evaporation,
leakage or deep seepage
from over-application. They
are lower in windy or dry
conditions.
Researchers at UI, Utah
State University, Brigham
Young University and BYU-
Idaho have been studying
variable-rate irrigation, which
adjusts sprinkler pivots or
individual nozzles according
to water need. Electronic con-
trols customize applications
to areas that are wet already,
or especially dry, for example.
“Variable-rate makes the
most sense where you have
non-uniformity in soils in a
field, or have areas of rock,”
Niebling said. “We are trying
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to say we have variability out
here, and how do we set our
systems up to manage it?”
Such systems don’t pencil
out where water is plentiful
and inexpensive, but can pro-
duce major savings in other
locations.
“In the Rupert (Idaho) area
or other areas where there are
rock piles or rock blowouts,
you could program this so
when it goes over a rock pile,
it shuts off,” Neibling said.
Variable-rate systems also
can help save on chemicals
applied via irrigation.
Drip irrigation is also
advancing. From a connec-
S221866-1
Wendell, Idaho
www.MVAidaho.com
Occupation: Extension water management engineer, Univer-
sity of Idaho Kimberly Research and Extension Center; educa-
tion chairman, Idaho Irrigation Equipment Association
Education: B.S. (1974) and M.S. (1976), agricultural engineer-
ing, Kansas State University; Ph.D. (1984), Purdue University.
Home: Between Kimberly and Twin Falls, Idaho
Family: Wife, Marcia, a nutrient-management consultant for
dairies and feedlots; four grown children.
Hobbies: Gardening, camping, canoe camping.
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HOWARD NEIBLING
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Howard Neibling helps
farmers
irrigate
more
efficiently.
“A lot of water users are
being more careful with their
water and trying to stretch,”
said the extension water man-
agement engineer at the Uni-
versity of Idaho Kimberly
Research and Extension Cen-
ter. “Basically, what I’ve been
doing for a long time is help-
ing growers get the most pro-
duction for the water they
have. A lot of that is minimiz-
ing losses and making sure
they time their applications to
avoid water stress.”
He helps growers evaluate
the efficiency of their irriga-
tion system and determine if
changes are warranted.
“I present to growers that
you have a whole palate of
options depending on how
short you are (on water) and
how much you want to save,”
Neibling said.
He likes to focus on
water-delivery efficiency.
Average amounts of
pumped water that get into the
soil range from 60-70% for
hand- or wheel-line sprinklers
up to 80% for a conventional
center-pivot nozzle placed 5
or 6 feet off the ground, Neib-
ling said.
About 90% of water gets
into the soil if delivered by
a Low Elevation Sprinkler
tion to a groundwater pump or
filtered surface water, tubing
or drip tape is rolled out and
placed at the desired depth.
Neibling has been watch-
ing developments in mobile
drip irrigation, in which
lengths of drip tubing replace
sprinkler heads on a pivot.
Potential benefits include uni-
form application as the pivot
moves around the field, less
wind drift and water concen-
tration at the root instead of
foliage to make the plant less
disease-prone.
“We are seeing some
usage,” he said. “Again, it’s
more expensive. But if you
don’t have enough water to
grow a decent crop, it may
make sense to you.”
Neibling said costs to
convert to various systems
include about $8,000 per pivot
to go from sprinkler heads
5 to 6 feet off the ground to
LESA set at 30-36 inches, or
about $12,000 if they’re at
18-24 inches because more
heads are needed for narrower
spacing.
This story was first pub-
lished Aug. 14, 2020.
S221675-1
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
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