Dairy Farmers Stay on Top

Dairy farmer, Asim Ismet, recently installed a Total Eden Group pumped pipe and riser system to irrigate one-third of his Congupna dairy farm, "Rexstar", which he and his family have owned since 1972.

Like most Goulburn Valley dairy herds, the continued drought has seen Asim’s herd scaled back in recent years; from a peak of 500 to 340, “Mostly to match the reduced water allocation we were getting.”

The new pumped pipe and riser system, which was funded through the FutureFlow Program, now allows Asim to do a lot more on the farm with a lot less water. 

“Before with the open channel system, most of the water soaked away into the channels or evaporated before even getting to the paddocks. It was very wasteful and inefficient.It’s also about control,” Asim said. “I can turn on a valve and irrigate just one paddock or two with a lot less water than before. Now the pipe is always full and away we go pumping out 25 ml a day when we need it, without any waste."

"It puts the right amount of water exactly where and when we want it. I can fill the dam up and catch water in the recycling dam as well, ready to be pumped back and used again. I wish we could have done it before but we didn’t have the money."

"Now we have this system we will look at increasing our numbers again. It has certainly made us more efficient farmers. I would certainly recommend the system to others, as our experience with the Total Eden Group, right from the design, through to the finished job, was first rate.”