Plain Talking: On-farm water management planning

When rainfall drops and dams run low, keeping water clean and reliable is a challenge for every farm.

In this episode, we break down practical on-farm water management strategies with Riverine Plains’ Sayra Samudio, irrigation consultant Peter Smith, and district vet Elke Erregger. 

Learn what’s working, what needs fixing, and the steps you can take now to keep your livestock healthy and productive.

This episode was produced as part of the Farm Water Management Planning Project, delivered through the Southern New South Wales Innovation Hub and funded by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund.

Chapters

• 0:08 Setting The Scene: Why Water Matters
• 0:44 Project Overview And Planning Basics
• 1:53 Measuring Dams And Knowing Demand
• 3:13 Dry Times: Quality And Volume Risks
• 3:41 Strategy: Supply Sources And Reticulation
• 4:28 Build Right: Design Over Cheap Fixes
• 5:33 Sensors And Remote Monitoring
• 6:38 Hidden Losses: Evaporation And Seepage
• 7:23 Vet’s View: Why Quality Drives Intake
• 9:10 Clean Troughs, Safer Access, Less Contamination
• 9:54 Fencing, Revegetation, Biodiversity Benefits
• 10:58 Resources, Webinars, And Next Steps

Transcript

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Riverine Plains podcast, Plain Talking. I'm Claudia Pattinson, and today we're talking on farm water management, a critical part of livestock production. We know that access to clean, reliable water is essential for animal health, productivity and welfare, but when rainfall drops and dam levels fall, things can get tricky. Not just in terms of supply, but also water quality. In this episode, we're taking a look at on-farm water management planning, what's working, what needs improving, and the practical steps farmers can take to plan ahead. We'll be speaking with Syra Samudio from Riverine Plains, irrigation consultant Peter Smith from Sapphire Irrigation, and district vet Elke Erregger from Murray Local Land Services. Sayra, can you tell us a bit more about why Riverine Plains is focusing on farm water storages?

Sayra Samudio, Riverine Plains: 1:06

We know dry times are part of the job, which is why we're working with farmers to make their water systems more resilient. We've just wrapped up a project aimed at helping local farmers make sure their livestock have access to reliable water all year round, even during tough seasons. A key part of that is developing what is called an on-farm water management plan. I know it sounds technical, but it's really just a practical tool to help you figure out a couple of things. First, what your stock and household water needs are now and into the future. And second, whether your current setup, dams, tanks, trough, can meet those needs.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 1:52

Peter Smith, an independent consultant with Sapphire Irrigation, specializes in helping farmers assess livestock water requirements, calculate dam capacities, and identify practical ways to mitigate or improve water supply issues. Peter, what can farmers do if they're concerned about being able to deliver clean water through their current system?

Peter Smith, Sapphire Irrigation: 2:15

There are some simple things farmers can do to get a good handle on what they're uh doing. Obviously they need to know their own livestock numbers, and they can do that, add them up. But in terms of capacities for dams, there's some really simple ways to work those out or get a pretty good uh handle on it. You can simply walk around the perimeter with a measuring tape or a measuring wheel and you work out the uh the surface area, and you can measure the depth using a little tool called Dam Deep, which the Riverine Plains can supply to you for nothing as part of the project, let you to let you measure the depth of your dam. And sometimes that might show you just how much silts there, too, that you haven't realized. Uh that's good, simple technology, and uh then you can you're on a good base to work out where losses might be or where you might need to have room room for improvement.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 3:05

What are the main challenges farmers face in providing water to stock when conditions turn dry or during drought?

Peter Smith, Sapphire Irrigation: 3:13

Water quality and water volume are two very important issues that uh come into play in droughts. Uh water quality declines also in uh drought times, which means yes, the stock might have something to drink, but it may not be doing them a lot of good. And in some cases it could be doing them harm.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 3:33

Thanks, Peter. That makes a lot of sense. What else should farmers think about in terms of having enough water to get through a dry period?

Peter Smith, Sapphire Irrigation: 3:41

Uh yeah, look, that's a a good question. The the factors should be what is your water supply? Like where is it coming from? How much can you get? What is the quality of it? Can you capture it easily? Can you capture it uh sorry, do you need a license or a permit to capture it? There's a range of issues involved in that. Then whether you're going to use dam feeding or trough feeding and reticulate the water supply, in which case you've got to consider where would I put a header tank, where will I pump the water from and to, how many troughs do I need, what pipe sizing do I need? Quite a lot of specifics there, but it's thinking what is my overall strategy and am I going to be able to get the water at the required quantities in the required rate to the stock when they need it.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 4:28

What's some advice you can give to farmers who might be looking to improve the way they provide water to their livestock?

Peter Smith, Sapphire Irrigation: 4:35

I think the first thing would be to say seek advice first. Try to find out as best you can what is your stock water requirement. It's often not as simple as it sounds. And seek advice if you're going to put in dams about where to put them, how to construct them so you're getting a good job, not a dam that in is almost useless to you. And if you're going to do a reticulation system, find someone who knows how to design and construct a good system. Uh any of those things, the dam or the reticulations, if they're not done well, they can actually be negative for you. They might end up starving the stock of water because things haven't been properly done. It's the usual thing, I can say, don't buy cheapness, buy value. And it's very easy to go for the cheap option. Usually the cheap option is not uh not the best.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 5:33

There's a lot of new tech coming through that can make managing water significantly easier for farmers. What's your view on this?

Peter Smith, Sapphire Irrigation: 5:41

Oh yeah, look, there is a lot more technology coming around that is quite helpful to farmers uh to save them time uh and to save them hassle and to save them not knowing what's going on in their farm. Uh technology for sensors for measuring, for example, what's the volume of water or the height of water in a tank? Uh, is a pump coming on and off at the right times? Uh is their water getting down at the trough where the animals uh are needing it. Those sort of sensors are becoming uh much more available, relatively cheap, and quite uh reliable. And the fact that you can have those things going to your mobile phone to give you an alert means you might save stock from, you know, r uh being in a really dire situation for some days. So, yes, there's a lot of that technology around that is uh quite helpful for farmers nowadays.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 6:32

Thank you for your insights, Peter. As we wrap up, do you have any other tips?

Peter Smith, Sapphire Irrigation: 6:38

Do your homework to check out the things that we were just talking about before, but there's usually uh a number of things that uh uh farmers haven't sort of realized. Uh one is the losses that they get out of dams from evaporation and seepage, it's usually a lot more than uh people think. Uh recognising how much water you've got for your stock, people often think they've got plenty that will last a long time in a dry period, whereas often it just won't last very long at all. And do get your reticulation system designed well because um it can cause you more grief than uh than good if you don't have a lot of people.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 7:23

Elke Erregger is a district vet with Murray Local Land Services who has attended several on-farm water management days hosted by Riverine Plains. Elke, good water management for stock is critical for maintaining health and productivity. Why is water quality for stock just as important as quantity?

Elke Erregger, Murray Local Land Services: 7:43

Um if you drink less, uh you eat less, and automatically the productivity of those animals reduces. So basically, um I think there was a study where they just showed even just with 20 to 40% of less water intake, the food intake risk um decreased quite significantly and automatically obviously your your animals will produce less. Now, water, not just that you know, we have to make sure that they have access to water at all times, it's also important what the water quality is like. Now, your water quality could be affected by different things. This could be, you know, contamination, then obviously your just simple things like your pH and you know your salinity, so how much salt is in the water, your minerals, all those kind of things that are normal. But then, as I said before, also are there any pathogens in there? Is there any contamination with things? Is there like green-blue algae in there? Or um even you know, are there some carcasses rotting in there? Is there any animals getting stuck in there? All those kinds can basically affect your livestock and how it will drink. And it's just like us humans, you know, if water looks really disgusting, you don't want to drink it. And it's the same with your cows or your sheep. They will look at it and they will avoid it. So they will automatically go less frequently to drink. They will still drink, but you know, it will be less and less. And then your productivity will will come down as well.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 9:03

Elke, can you tell us some other things farmers can do to better manage their stock water?

Elke Erregger, Murray Local Land Services: 9:10

The other um thing to consider is as I said, you know, how clean is your water, how does your water look? It basically isn't just for your troughs or your um, well, your dams or anything. It's it's simple things. Your your trough could be really dirty, um, and you know, loads of algae growing in there. Then you have your dams where, you know, if if your loads of your livestock, you know, has the full axis and they go in and out, um, they will stand in the water, they might urinate, they might defecate in the water, and automatically you're getting contamination, more risk of infection.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 9:42

Sayra, after hearing from Elke and Peter, there's a lot that goes into delivering good, clean water for livestock. Is there anything else that farmers need to consider in terms of improving their water supply?

Sayra Samudio, Riverine Plains: 9:54

I'll also say that it's worth paying attention to the areas around your water sources. Going back to what Elke said about water quality and how it impacts consumption, simple actions like re-vegetating, fencing off water points, and setting up hardened access area where stocks need to drink directly can really make a difference. These practices help protect water quality, reduce erosion, and keep sediments out of the dams. And beyond that, they also support on-farm biodiversity, creating habitat for native plants, birds, and beneficial insects. In the long run, it all adds up to a more resilient, productive and balanced farming system.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 10:41

A big thank you to Sayra Samudio from Riverine Plains, Peter Smith from Sapphire Irrigation, and Elke Erregger from Murray Local Land Services for sharing their insights on how farmers can better manage water resources, reduce costs, and improve long-term farm sustainability.

Claudia Pattinson, Riverine Plains: 10:58

If you'd like to learn more about this project, head over to the Riverine Plains website. You'll find a range of practical planning tools and resources to support your water management decisions, including a series of recorded webinars. These sessions cover everything from mapping farm water infrastructure and estimating water needs and storage capacity to planning for dry conditions. They also explore common challenges like evaporation, seepage, and water delivery, with strategies for getting water where and when it's needed on your property. This episode was produced as part of the Farm Water Management Planning Project, delivered through the Southern New South Wales Innovation Hub and funded by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund. I'm Claudia Pattinson, and this is Plain Talking. Thanks for listening.