Watering/grass pasture ideas & help

[Laner7]

I need some help/ideas/opinions on watering and grass type to go with in west texas. I have about 5 acres in front of our ranch entrance that I would like to plant in some sort of grass. Have talked to several people on the type of grass I should go with. Most abundant suggestions have been native grasses, Bermuda, Buffalo & bluestem. I don’t have a specific grass that I want to go with, but something that is perennial & doesn’t require tons of water.. I’ve sent in soil samples, just waiting on results to come back.
I’m not sure what to do with the water situation either. I have a water well not to far away, but it only does about 10gpm. I do have a stock tank and a pond that I could put a water pump in to run a few sprinklers? Maybe something like a Honda self priming water pump? The farthest distance that it would have to reach to water is about 900ft. Land is flat so it wouldn’t have to pump vertically at all. Would this work or is there better suggestions? I’m not sure on sprinkler type either if any of y’all have suggestions. Thanks in advance!

[Laner7]

No one has done something similar?

[Bruiser]

5 acres and 10 gpm aint gonna cut it

[Laner7]

Yes sir, that’s why I was seeing if a pump would work. I have a Honda 2” inlet/outlet pump I think it’s 5hp that I’ve used for one acre & did good, just didn’t know how it would do having to push water 900’ to pressure a sprinkler

[brokeno]

Just run pvc pipe above ground and t off a couple of sprinkler heads. P I a having to move it around. This is what I did for a tifton nursery I had but only ran it about 200 yards

[newmathewsfan]

I seeded about 13 acres with Giant Bermuda and let God take care of watering it. First year (2016) was pretty wet so I got a good start.I watch the weather and fertilize when we have best chance for rain in the spring. It has done very good so far.

[RedBear78]

Pulling out of pond and trying to irrigate that much I would look at getting a athletic field water cannon.They can Handel dirty water and different ones will travel on there own.Once you get things established you can sell it.

[Laner7]

Thanks for all the feedback. is the giant Bermuda pretty good? What part of Texas are you in?

For laying the pvc on top of the ground, did you run it off a well or from a water pump?

Is that one of those irrigation reels that roll up on its own?

[newmathewsfan]

I am in the Abilene area and my ground is really tight black ground. The giant has done wonderful for me. I primarily graze it but have also cut hay a couple of times. I fertilize and put down weed killer every spring when chances of rain are best and then let nature take care of it.

[Jamvo]

I prefer electric pumps for most scenarios. No priming and no babysitting. And they typically handle more head pressure than their gas powered counterparts.

[RedBear78]

Thanks for all the feedback. is the giant Bermuda pretty good? What part of Texas are you in?

For laying the pvc on top of the ground, did you run it off a well or from a water pump?

Is that one of those irrigation reels that roll up on its own?

Yes some of those water cannons reel themselves.Your gonna want to see what your GPM and necessary working pressure is on what ever you decide and make sure pump and mainline are suitable.your probably gonna use 20-40 gpm and will probably need 40 psi at outlet.Your probably going to need a 2 inch mainline and can run it on top or bury it.For long term it may be best to bury it and have a few outlets along the way so you can tap into it as needed.I’m not familiar with different grasses out west except for Bermuda it just seems to grow all over the state.You can probably go on Ewing irrigation,Site one,or Longhorn to check out athletic field hose reel cannons.

[Austin]

Look into turffalo

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/newsletter/stories/vol1_no4/turffalo.html

[wickll]

Keep in mind that to put 1 inch of water on 1 acre is over 27,000 gallons.

[Laner7]

I appreciate the suggestions. I’ll look & check it all out. I know it’s takes a lot of water to irrigate, just need to get it established and then I think it will do good. I thought about a electric pump, but power source isn’t very close. Probably about 200 yards away. Depending where you dig on our ground, you can dig forever or barely make 6”